Exciting News: A New West Cousin!

 On October 9, 2013, my sister and I discovered that both of us genetically match D, a female with the maiden name of West.  About two or three years ago, I became acquainted with D, a second cousin, through e-mail.  At that time we shared information about our common great grandparents, Thomas Harvey West and America Ann McNeil.  Recently, I was elated to find that D participated in Family Tree DNA’s Family Finder test which resulted in the identification of our genetic match.  As we were confirming our genetic match with our paper trail, D confided that she had become interested in DNA testing as a result of reading this blog.  I was pleased that my posts have encouraged others to be tested.

Since we discovered our match, D and I have shared in-common matches and information with each other.  D is also a genetic match with my 4^th cousin, Joanne, another West descendant, whom I have mentioned in previous blog posts.  Working with these ladies to discover our common heritage and share information has been quite rewarding.  I look forward to our continued relationship.

As I have done before, I encourage others who are serious amateur genealogists to participate in genetic testing.  Genetic testing does not preclude documentation with the paper-trail.  Both of these genealogical methods support each other.  Genetic testing provides proof of relationships, but the paper trail is necessary to confirm the degree or level of the relationship.