Same sorry story!! It’s 3:30 as I start this message. After an hour of not going back to sleep, I felt compelled to “do something.” I’ll write about my recent–and current–mystery.

Out of the blue, the other day, a woman sent a comment via Ancestry messaging because she was advised we are 5th to 8th cousins. (I very rarely look at  the DNA relationships because I’m busy with family I can identify.) My curiosity was whet so I checked and the identification didn’t make sense. She is the step-daughter of the step-son of my second cousin-three-times-removed. Question: How can we be DNA cousins with “step-child” relationships?? I’ve devoted two days to exploring… hoping to find our common ancestor. I probably added three-hundred more relatives to my database!! No small fete; I finally identified the “second-cousin-three-times-removed.”  I have worked so many angles; I’ve identified “her” family all the way back to the boat. (LOL) There’s a marriage (yet to be identified) that is our DNA relationship. I enjoy the challenge but “mulling it over in my mind” kept me awake!!

I’ve added two-thousand more individuals to my Ancestry database in three weeks. Multiply that number by five or six to fifteen or twenty “hints” and “sources” for each individual and that indicates I’ve processed a lot of information lately. (But I don’t know [yet] the common ancestor of a DNA cousin.)