A few businesses out there let us discover the family members we might need to be aware of; two of the most popular companies are Ancestry (also AncestryDNA) and 23andMe. They focus on finding our roots in our DNA, where our ancestry originated, what ethnicities we have, and getting help with our family tree. They would suggest or hint that someone might be my relative, so they added them to my family tree to let me know how they relate to me. Both of them have a tool that helps us find out where our ancestry root is and what we are in term of ethnicity. That tool I am talking about is that they would ship us a tube for us to take a spit in and then ship them back to them for them to do research in our DNAs to pinpoint what we are. Also, do we have family members we might not know? I went for both. I used 23andMe to find what I am, and then they will try to match my DNA with other family members I might not know. They would send a long list of different person names and compare my DNA with theirs, such as the percentage of the chance that we are related. I used Ancestry (they are also AncestryDNA) for family tree building and found all the information on them that is possibly related to me. Ancestry does offer DNA tests as 23andMe does, but I prefer 23andMe for the DNA test and Ancestry for family tree building and gathering information on possible family members. If you want to know which is best for finding out your DNA and where your ancestry originated, 23andMe is the one to go with. But if you prefer to search for the possible family members using a family tree builder, they would help you with that by giving you a hint that this family member is yours; once you accept that hint that the family member might be yours, then it gets easier from there as they would become more automatic by giving you a whole picture of your ancestry. For instance, I have discovered my family members go past the 1700s. I went with both but only used 23andMe for DNA tests while using Ancestry for research and gathering information on a long list of my family members. In my opinion, you should get both, but for the best DNA test, go for 23andMe over AncestryDNA and use Ancestry (without the DNA test) for finding more family members along with the information on them such as death certifications or draftee and whatnot.
As for my 23andMe, it showed that I am 92.8% British and Irish, 7.4% French and German. 0.3% Ghanaian, Liberian, and Sierra Leonean. Here’s the screenshot if you would like to see my ancestry composition.
Or you can go to this link to see the entire ancestry composition of mine: https://bit.ly/47fG7LP
After getting the result and everything on 23andMe, they quickly matched me up with people I did not know about. There would be different percentages of chance for each person they matched me with, who could be my relatives that I didn’t know about, and right away, the highest percent of chance that this person would be my relative was Catherine. I won’t share her last name for security and private reasons. When I first saw her name as the highest chance that she could be my relative, we contacted each other and found out that she was the daughter of my grandfather’s brother. If you have seen my Facebook or Instagram, you would know that my papaw was my world, and a few days ago, I made a tribute to him on November 17th because that was when he passed away. So, imagine my emotions when I discovered that there was a family member on my papaw’s side, especially that close in terms of lineage. Besides my mom and uncle, who are my papaw’s children, the next thing after them is Catherine, a child of my papaw’s brother. Oddly, my family and I’re rooted here on the Kentucky and West Virginia border, but Catherine was somehow in New Mexico. After we contacted each other, not too long after that, she decided to make a trip to visit us, but then she was hospitalized not too far away from here (about a three-hour drive away) and went back to New Mexico, where she lived with her family. My mom and I were looking forward to meeting her for the first time since I discovered that we have a family member we don’t know about, who happens to be the daughter of my mom’s dad’s (my papaw) brother. So, both of us were saddened to see that she had to be hospitalized on her way here and then turned around to go back to her home in New Mexico. I got my mom and Catherine to contact each other for the first time by phone, so they talked a lot, and it was good to see that. Since I had them in contact, they would call each other often, and we always wished to meet her in person. We almost did, but it didn’t happen. Like I said, she had to turn around and go back home to New Mexico after being hospitalized.
Three years later, we discovered that Catherine and her family, such as her husband and their son, have decided to try again to come back to this area. Still, this time, they are looking for a place to live instead of just coming in for a visit as they sold their house in New Mexico. We were so thrilled to hear that, and we both looked forward to seeing her, not only that but also for us with her to be a family. Finally, Catherine and her family made it to our area. She and her family rented a house through Airbnb for a few weeks while looking for a house in the marketplace with a realtor. We finally got to meet Catherine for the first time, along with her family, which is her husband and their son. My mom met her first, but then, several days later, I finally met her. Her husband made dinner for all of us, which was delicious. Her husband made some Nacho salad with guacamole and whatnot, which is their food because her husband is Aztec Mexican (another word, Mexica). They didn’t know that my mom and I were not fans of avocados, but when he made guacamole mixed with avocados and other ingredients, it got us hooked! While we were having a dinner, or was it a lunch? I am not sure, but we were being fed in the late afternoon, and I had the feeling to tell him that he was welcome to the family because I figured that coming from my papaw’s side of the family. I wasn’t sure if anyone on that side told him he was welcome to the family when they married over 40 years ago. You know, when people get married into your family, you want to tell them that they are welcome to the family, and because her father, who was my papaw’s brother, wasn’t around when they both got married, my papaw is gone, and that gets down to my mom, my uncle and me so I felt the duty to say welcome to the family for my papaw’s side of the family if that makes sense. While eating, we learned more about his ancestry, such as their favorite foods, part of their culture, and whatnot, so it was an honor for me to hear them.
While we were down there, their son wanted to introduce me to a dog of theirs, and some of them were looking at me as if it could be dangerous or something. I was a little bit confused and wondered what was going on. My mom then told me their dog is big, and I thought, oh no, I hope it’s not one of the mean dog breeds such as pitbull, rottweiler, or something like that. Their son went to get a leash for their dog, but that didn’t help my worrying because why would he get a leash inside the house and not for taking the dog outside or anything like that? But I told mom to tell their son to go ahead and get him over here to introduce the dog to me, and then I saw the dog. Their dog is indeed large, but it is so adorable and friendly. Thankfully, not one of these mean dog breeds, as that large dog is a mix of husky and labrador retriever, which, in other words, is called Labsky. It is a light brown-haired dog, and its name is King. When they brought King over to me, I was taken aback because King reminded me of our beloved baby boy (dog), Wiggles, who passed away over a year and a half ago. As I told them, King looks like a giant version of our (my mom’s and mine) dog Wiggles. King took a liking to me immediately; I was sitting on a small part of the thing you put your legs on while sitting in a recliner chair. So, I was sitting a bit low, and that thing that I sat on wasn’t heavy, and the floor was hardwood; when King came over to me, his body started pushing me with that thing that I sat on – trying to lick me, keeping on rubbing against me, and sitting down by me. They told me that they got to watch King carefully because sometimes King would shake his tail too hard and start bleeding everywhere, which is hard to stop, as they say. If we see King shake his tail against the leg of a table or something, they have to stop him from doing that and ensure his tail doesn’t hit anything; otherwise, it would start bleeding. But King is a gorgeous, friendly dog and sometimes gets too excited. I always wanted and dreamed of having a husky dog (full Husky or Siberian Husky).
After we ate, we went outside on the porch because I needed a smoke, and so did Catherine. No one was allowed to smoke inside that house because they didn’t own it, as they rented it out through Airbnb. So, we all went outside on the porch to smoke and converse, especially between my mother, Catherine, and Catherine’s husband. While we were outside having a smoke, Catherine’s husband wanted to show us a few wallet pictures of their family, such as their children, some of Catherine when she was younger, and a picture of both Catherine and her husband, which my mom was surprised to look at it because that picture of them when Catherine and her husband were young many years ago. When they showed me that picture of Catherine and her husband when they were young, my mom asked me if I knew who they were. I answered that I could recognize that it was Catherine, and I then assumed her husband as that picture was of Catherine with a man, so who else would it be? Mom asked me how I knew; I said that I could tell that it was Catherine in that picture because I could recognize the shape of my papaw’s eyes and eyebrows, which Catherine had. I could recognize her right away when I first saw her because her eyes and eyebrows somewhat resembled my papaw’s even though they have different eye colors (my papaw’s eyes were blue). Still, she has the shape of my papaw’s eyes and his eyebrows.
I enjoyed my time with them; I wished my mom and I had more time with them. We both wished we could have them over by inviting them for Thanksgiving dinner here to spend more time with them and be a family again because my mom and I have lost almost everyone on my papaw’s and mamaw’s sides. My papaw is gone, my mamaw is gone, my aunt Debbie and my uncle Brian (my papaw’s children/my mom’s siblings) are gone too, my great-uncle Glenn (my mom’s uncle) is gone, and now my mom and uncle Johnny are all we have. Yes, there are the next generations of them, besides me, such as my uncle Johnny’s children and their children, but I am speaking of my mom’s generation or previous generations of hers. For many years, we thought there was no one besides my mom and my uncle Johnny until I found out that there was one we didn’t know of, thanks to 23andMe – Catherine. But why did I say I wished my mom and I had more time with them? As I mentioned, she and her family decided to come to this area and look for a house to buy to live where we live. The realtor failed to find them a house that they needed in time, and they were running out of time renting a house through Airbnb; they hoped that they could find a house to buy before their time ran out renting a house via Airbnb, but they couldn’t and their time was running out rather quickly as it seems so they were left with no choice but to move somewhere else which I will not share the location. Still, it is about a 5-6 hour drive away from here, which is somewhat far away. They said that they didn’t want to and that they’d like to find a house around here to live nearby, and that was their plan, but time was their enemy as it was running out too quickly, and they couldn’t find a house for them to live in time. That was their plan A, but they had plan B in the case, and obviously, plan A failed, so they were forced to go with plan B. We told them that maybe one day we would drive down there to visit them and that they could drive back down here to visit us one day as well.
Even though they couldn’t find a house around here to live in, I am very grateful that my mom and I got to meet her and her family. I am thankful to 23AndMe for finding my family that we didn’t know existed; I am very glad that I decided to buy a 23andMe DNA test a few years ago because if I didn’t, then there would be slim to no chance that we would find Catherine and her family. We always discussed if there would be a possibility that my papaw’s siblings or my mamaw’s siblings had children that we weren’t aware of, and sure enough, there was, as Catherine is my papaw’s brother, JC’s daughter. JC stands for Julius Caesar Childers, and I believe I have never met him before, as he died before I was born. Awesome name, I know. My papaw was Johnny Bryant Childers, and Julius Caesar Childers was his brother; Catherine didn’t get to know him as she said that JC left her mom, and he then went to Florida, she thinks. I told my mom we wouldn’t have met or known Catherine if I hadn’t brought the 23andMe DNA test. But I am glad I did, so now that we know we have more family than we thought, even though we’ve never known she existed until I found her through 23andMe. She was the one who messaged me first, asking me if I knew who Johnny Childers was, and I told her that he was my papaw. Then, from there, we connected as she said that her dad was Julius Caesar Childers, so I knew immediately that it was my papaw’s brother. She ranked number one of the highest percent in my DNA that she could be my relative, and then she told me that she was a daughter of Julius Caesar Childers, so from there, I knew that she was one of our family.
Here are a couple of pictures we took, first with Catherine and me, then with my mom (behind me) and the rest of her family.
If you haven’t tried the 23andMe DNA test, I highly recommend and suggest you buy one because you never know that you could find your lost family members like we did! 23AndMe is quite simple; you only have to purchase their DNA test, wait for them to ship you the DNA test kit, and then ship your saliva back. Then they will give you login information where you can log in to fill in all information you have on you, on any family members you know you have, and whatnot for your family tree. Then, they will send you a long list of people that could be related to you after matching your DNA with them with some percent. Then, from there, you can message them and talk to them, and then both of you will start narrowing it down to how you are related. They’ll show you a list of the highest percent for a chance that person is your relative to the lowest percent for a chance that person is your relative – even if they are low, don’t dismiss them because they might still be your relative so be sure to message them to find out how could they be related to you.
Here are two different 23AndMe products on Amazon for you to choose from. Right now, they are on sale. I prefer 23andMe+, the second link below, but the first link is the cheapest one.
- 23andMe Ancestry Service – DNA test kit with personalized genetic reports, including ancestry composition with 2750+ geographic regions, family tree, DNA relative finder, and trait reports.
- 23andMe+ Premium Membership Bundle – DNA Kit with Personal Genetic Insights Including Health + Ancestry Service Plus 1-Year Access to Exclusive Reports.
Please comment below if you have a 23andMe story about finding and meeting your family. I would love to hear about them! I wish my mom and I had more time with Catherine and her awesome family. Family is always important! Even though she and her family have left here, we are still in contact with her, so at least we have that, even though I wished we were still in contact with them in person rather than over the phone or the internet.
Thank you, 23andMe! This story is about us finding a family member we didn’t know through 23andMe! If you decide to buy it, which I provided the link above for you to do, I hope that you find new family members that you and your family didn’t know! 23AndMe isn’t just the place to find people who could be your relatives; it is also the place where you get to find out what your ethnicity is, and I shared mine above at almost the beginning of this article.
To Catherine and your family. We both are very happy that we have found you and your family. We hope to see you all again soon and that you all are doing great! By the way, tell your husband not to forget to fax us some of that delicious food! We love you all!
Joshua “Joshie” Sullivan.
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