On Tuesday 26^th June we held our first focus group discussion with genealogical researchers at Manchester Central Library. We were lucky to have a great turnout and very lively and wide-ranging discussion, sharing stories and discoveries as well as plenty of tips and tricks and insights into different resources and research tools and methods.

It seemed that everybody had a “black sheep” or controversial story somewhere in their family history (some deeply buried, some much closer to the surface), from Spanish bigamists to Chartist rioters, and we discussed the thrill of piecing together clues in the real-life detective work of genealogy. It was interesting and often compelling to hear how the desire to confirm rumours or make discoveries about the past we share with family members had impacted on our researchers, as we discussed the role of family history and DNA testing in the lives of people who were adopted as children and the difficult feelings and reactions which could be generated, as well as the shocking, entertaining, and (sometimes) underwhelming results of digging into buried stories or getting DNA test results.

Our discussion also began to reveal the numerous ways in which DNA genealogical testing had led to the generation (no pun intended) of new research methods and priorities, offering new leads which perhaps may not have been researched if a link had not been found, often confirming educated guesses or speculative branches of family trees, whilst sometimes producing confusing or downright incorrect results.

As well as providing a powerful new weapon in the genealogist’s arsenal, DNA testing clearly has produced a number of challenges to research, some associated with the understanding of complex scientific methods and information or the spamming generated as long-lost relatives with zero genealogical expertise or previous research attempt to reach out for guidance, sharing of materials, or even to forge relationships.

DNA genealogical testing has also induced researchers to draw close family members into their research by encouraging, persuading, and sometimes arm-twisting siblings, parents, or aunts and uncles into getting tested to broaden the number of familial DNA matches and the importance of keeping an eye out for special DNA testing kit offers, particularly around birthdays and Christmas time!

We have generated a wonderful amount of insight and captured a wide range of experience and we will be working together with the participants over the coming months to both interrogate these findings further and also explore creative ways in which we can enhance genealogical research and communicate some of the narratives and discoveries that have been made. Importantly, for both us and the researchers, we also had fun and got to meet lots of interesting, passionate, and highly skilled people and share expertise and stories.

Lots of work ahead therefore, but very exciting possibilities and potential!

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