Detective work can be quite frustrating and I’m certainly no Sherlock Holmes. I’ve spent over 60 years wondering about the mysterious birth mother I’ve never known. I’ve known her name for over 30 years, but only recently have seen pictures. Over the past six months of retirement, I’ve created a massive family tree that has involved hours and hours of work, hoping to identify complete strangers that closely match my DNA results. I’ve paid for access to such “DNA relatives” from both Ancestry. com and 23andMe, both popular certified testing sites. At times, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack, as so far I’ve only been able to identify 8 such matches, all in clusters on opposite sides of the tree trunk. Today, the Jerry Lee Banister family tree database reached the 5,000 level – that’s a minuscule .16 percent success rate on the frustration meter. By the way, the 5,000th relative added to my chart was Luther William Eades who was born on June 5, 1879 – too bad he’s no longer around to celebrate with me, or receive the special Jerry Lee Banister prize. 

As listed on their website, here are my unidentified “DNA relatives” from Ancestry: Tellesa Hadley, Jessy Bramley, Terry Bannister, Jenny Bramley, Donna Pearcy, Krista Hale, Ryan Donohoo, Brenda Blessing, Margaret Long, Jared Stinehart, Linda Thompson, Jon Moore, Walter Wood, Connie Schrob, Tina Sharpe, Kayci Bannister, and Sandra Salas. Only the last name Hadley appears on my tree connected with Tanya R. Hadley Simmons. 

From 23andMe: Phillip Legg, Brandon Willard, Elsa Schneider, Brenda Smith, Arleigh Taylor, Rayna Bowles, Bethany Jurs, Corey Wright, Lindsay Niccolai, Fred Grimshaw, Terry Grimshaw, Lisa Sturm, Christy Pease, Melissa Green, and Nancy Porter are all DNA matches to me. Of those that I have identified on the tree, I’ve talked with two, met with one, and have regularly communicated with two others. 

Sometimes if I just organize my thoughts in words like this, I can find a logical area to probe. For example, I just got a hopeful hit with the surname Legg. There was an Anna “Western” Legg Romine on the chart but no Phillip, so I began to expand on Anna’s descendants. The Legg family looks to have early 1800 roots in Virginia and then branch-off into England. So far, all I could find worth noting was a “Harry” Legg!

By the time I got done counting Leggs, my relative count swelled to over 5300, so trying to find Phillip was more of a challenge than I expected – more Leggs than a millipede that grew into a centipede that became a casting call for the Radio City Music Hall Rockettes. I will continue with the multitude of Leggs, and then also focus on Smith, Taylor, Wright, Green, and Porter. Unfortunately, these are such common last names that it may be another futile effort. I need to stop adding names and spend some time managing the data base. I’m sure there’s duplication and errors associated with assumption. Since I not officially an accepted Banister family member yet, it’s difficult to even verify some of these connections. Has anyone seen my London Fog coat or magnifying glass?