Monday 7 May 2018

The PM Mystery is Solved

Now I know why PM doesn't answer emails - she passed away two years ago.  I recently found her cousin Kim, who gave me that news, and told me how I'm related to them both.  I'm rather disappointed to learn that they're not descended from the Doyles after all.  Surprisingly, they connect to me in my Ellis line. My great grandfather Isaac Doyle married Sarah Ellis, but the link is not through him, it's through her.  PM and Kim are both 3rd cousins to me, descended from Sarah Ellis' sister Barbara, so our common ancestors are Sarah and Barbara's parents, John Ellis and Mary Ann Huffman. 

So why doesn't PM's DNA match ANY of my other known Ellis relations?  Well okay, she matches my brother and my cousin Graeme, both of whom have Ellis and Doyle DNA.  But she doesn't match any of the many other people I know are descended from John Ellis and Mary Ann Huffman, including a few who, like PM, are descended from their daughter Barbara Ellis?  One might think that PM was adopted, but then she wouldn't match me either....

DNA is a strange beast.  At least now I know how PM and I are related, so I can stop obsessing about that (but like I said before, I wasn't obsessed anyway...).

Last week I cancelled my Ancestry subscription - not because I'm not interested any more, but because they charge their loyal members, especially those of us who don't live in the US, an arm and a leg every 6 months.  But they offer good deals like 50% off to new members.  So lots of people cancel their subscriptions regularly and then rejoin when a good offer comes up.  That's what I'll do.  I just hope it doesn't take too long to get a good offer, because I'm feeling withdrawal symptoms already - and my current subscription doesn't actually end until next week!