Not all families are composed of individuals who are biologically related to each other. In many cases, those relationships are extremely important to the individuals involved. DNA does not track those relationships where the connection is not biological. For that reason, when it is known that two members in a family are not biologically related, it’s important for the genealogist to clarify the relationship in their database as much as possible (adopted, foster, step, etc.) to help with the DNA analysis. It’s also important to document what is known about that non-biological relationship because it mattered (or matters) to the individuals involved and can impact their lives and records in which they appear together. An ancestor of mine in Massachusetts was raised by a neighbor (after the parents […]
Time is what we occasionally need. The ability to get “immediate” answers to many questions online sometimes makes us think that we should understand things immediately as well. The best realizations or awakenings about a document or a record do not always pop into our motind the moment we first read the item. It takes some a while for connections to be made, particularly if the problem has not been an easy one to solve and the language and terminology is not familiar to us. So give yourself time to understand. Do not expect an immediate answer. Knee jerk reactions sometimes end up kicking us in the rear end. I know that’s not really possible to do, but the statement is not meant to be taken literally.
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