Who Are These people?
Watch the video below to hear how Ilene Alexander, while searching for information about her ancestors, became part of a “Not Parent Expected” category of people whose DNA test brought unexpected discoveries.
A paternity surprise
Wed, Sep 3, 2025, 10am
You are invited to join the UMRA Family History Interest Group meeting from 10 to 11 a.m. on Wednesday, September 3, via Zoom for a presentation by UMRA member Ilene Dawn “Ida” Alexander titled “Who are these people?” or “How did a slew of Ancestry matches to descendants of the three wives of a Mormon convert, banished from his Iowa family, let me begin to acknowledge—on what would have been my raising-up father’s 88th birthday—that my genetic makeup included a paternity surprise?”
Here’s a bit more about what to expect, in our presenter’s own words:
“In 2018, rather than joining my dad’s cousin in learning about descendants of my third great-grandparents’ siblings, who’d stayed in Wales, I became part of a then, still rather new, “Not Parent Expected” category of people whose DNA spit test brought unexpected discoveries.
“In this presentation, I’ll explore how and why returning to my trees made it possible for me to understand myself among the other people who had [not] gone missing from my raising-up, maternal, and ‘bio-dude’ family genealogical stories across multiple generations.”
A Zoom invite will be sent to all UMRA members one month and again one week before the program. We hope you can join us.
—Lynn C. Anderson and Craig Swan, co-chairs, Family History Interest Group
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