Tag Archives: DNA

Family history, Forster, Poulson

Born in London with ancestors in Utah?

21 Gloucester Crescent, Camden Town, London (picture courtesy Google Street View)
21 Gloucester Crescent, Camden Town, London (picture courtesy Google Street View)

Deciding to take a DNA test has been a source of all sorts of surprises – an unknown cousin, for example. The discovery of Cornish mining ancestors for my husband’s family as another. My current puzzle is how a kid from Camden Town in London (photo on left is the flat my parents lived in) has DNA matches to a group of people who have been living in the USA since the 1860s. The more digging I do, the more clear the picture becomes with one small, but important, missing piece – how this group of related people in the US is genetically connected to me!

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Family history, Snover

Where did all that English DNA come from?

Everyone in the Snover family knew George A Sznarwakowski had been adopted by Anna and John Sznarwakowski in Detroit in the 1910s. The family story had it that George’s last name had been White before the adoption, although there’s no paperwork I can find anywhere that confirms George’s origins. He married Monica Gorzynski whose family were all Polish, and their children, including their second son, Papa – Robert Francis Snover – grew up in Detroit as Polish-Americans. So where did all that (34%) British ethnicity come from?

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Family history, Poulson

In quashing Jeffrey’s teasing, a 66-year-old secret comes to light

Jill & Sven Lindgren
Jill & Sven Lindgren

My lovely husband, Jeffrey, has a vibrant sense of humor, and, after a bout of teasing and joking from him about who was more British, I naively thought I could shut him up by taking a DNA test. From that frivolous (and totally futile) effort, came a completely unexpected series of discoveries – and even more teasing and joking! I should probably start at the beginning…

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