Leeann’s search

*All names have been changed

Search goal: Identify Leeann’s biological parents

Leeann reached out a few months ago for help with her search. She was adopted and hoping to identify her biological parents. Leeann had her biological mother’s name [Jane Montgomery], some non-identifying information about her, and had also done an AncestryDNA test.

Leeann invited me as a collaborator to her AncestryDNA results and I got to work. Both of her parent sides were from endogamous French Canadian communities, and I did not see the last name Montgomery in the trees of matches on either parent side.

Her Parent 1 side had a close family type match, so I started with this side first. Her top match, Jacques, appeared to be a half sibling match based on his centimorgan numbers shared with their matches in common. Jacques had a very common French Canadian full name and no tree, so it took a little work to find out who he was and who his parents were. Leeann’s second highest Parent 1 match also did not have a tree, but had a more unique first name of Clarabelle which helped me find her on social media.

From there, I built Clarabelle’s tree back a ways and found that her grandfather was a sibling of Jacques, and Jacques’ father Pierre, based on numerous other shared matches, had to be Leeann’s biological father. Pierre had died several years ago, leaving twelve children, which meant Leeann now had a dozen half siblings on her paternal side!

With the paternal side now sorted, I turned my focus to Leeann’s maternal side. I tried splitting the maternal matches further into two groups, but due to the extreme endogamy of the area in Quebec where her biological mother was from, it just wasn’t possible.

Leeann’s top maternal match was just over 600cm, which I figured was likely a first cousin to her biological mother. I started going through family trees done by members on Ancestry, looking for a family that fit with the DNA as well as matched the little bit of non identifying information she had- Jane was from a small family, with just one older sister and one younger brother.

After some searching, I found a family that seemed to fit. An obituary of Jane’s mother named all of her children in probable birth order as it fit with Leeann’s information. It also listed Jane as still living not far from where Leeann was born.

The Montgomery last name was presumed to be a married last name that Jane had at the time Leeann was born. Jane’s mother’s obituary also did not give a last name or current spouse for Jane, making her rather challenging to find online.

Eventually, Leeann reached out to one relative who helped put her in touch with her biological mother Jane, who was happy to hear from her. She is very pleased to have found her biological mother and looks forward to getting to know her more.