The big 'Who am I' Package

Service Description

Sometimes the question is not simply where did my ancestors come from? It is more fundamental: Who was my father? Who were my biological parents? Who was an unknown grandparent — and what family did they come from? The Big ‘Who Am I?’ Package is designed for people who know little or nothing about one or more close biological relatives and want to use every practical avenue available through consumer DNA testing to investigate their origins. This is the most comprehensive DNA service offered. Rather than relying on a single test or database, the package includes four DNA tests across major testing platforms, giving access to several different pools of DNA matches. The results are then compared and analysed together to build the strongest possible body of evidence. Analysis includes your closest and most informative DNA matches, shared-match groups, relationship probabilities, GEDmatch comparisons, segment data where available, and triangulation techniques where these can contribute useful evidence. A major part of the investigation involves reconstructing the family trees of relevant DNA matches. Matches that may initially appear unrelated are traced backwards through records to identify shared ancestors, family groups, geographic connections and recurring surnames. These reconstructed trees can then be compared to determine where different groups of DNA matches converge. The aim is not simply to produce a list of matches. It is to use DNA and traditional genealogy together to work systematically backwards towards the unknown person or family line. The service is offered at three difficulty levels, reflecting how complex the investigation is likely to be. Some cases can be resolved through relatively close matches and well-documented family trees. Others require extensive reconstruction of distant match networks, multiple generations of research and considerably more analytical work. No DNA investigation can guarantee that an unknown parent or grandparent will be identified. Success depends heavily on who has tested, how closely they are related, the quality of available records and the DNA inherited. However, this package is designed to extract the maximum practical information currently available from consumer DNA testing. For someone starting with very little knowledge of their biological origins, the goal is to move from isolated DNA results towards something much more meaningful: names, families, places, ancestral lines.