DNA Testing: Criminal Records, Lizzie Borden as an Ancestor
Editor’s Note: Joe cautions that anyone taking a DNA test has to be ready for what turns up — a non-paternity event in your own direct line, or one you uncover for somebody else — and notes that these are among the more benign surprises compared with finding criminal records for ancestors. I mentioned the California serial killer undone by genetic genealogy, and Joe recounts his brother-in-law’s suspicion that Lizzie Borden lurks somewhere in his family line, since one branch changed its name from Borden to Burden at about the time Lizzie became notorious. I close by thanking Joe for broadening my picture of how DNA has changed family history since my mother’s era.
Transcript
Speakers: WJB — William J. Bowe; JH — Joseph Hart. Transcribed from the recording; punctuation added and obvious mis-hearings corrected.
WJB: Well, that’s quite —
JH: That’s the other thing that happens with DNA, whether it’s a non-paternity event for you or discovering the non-paternity event for somebody else. You have to be ready for those kinds of events, especially, well, when the non-paternity event is something that is in your direct line, that’s back between your grandfather and his parents, or your mother and her father, or —
WJB: Yeah.
JH: — yeah. And that’s one of the more benign things that you can come across compared to criminal records for ancestors.
WJB: Yes, like the California serial killer, undone by a —
JH: Right. And my brother-in-law believes that in his family line someplace is — oh, who is the gal who killed her parents with an axe?
WJB: Oh, Lizzie Borden.
JH: Lizzie Borden. Because his one line of ancestors changed their name from — looks like they changed their name from Borden to Burden. Was probably about the time that Lizzie was notorious. Anyway, so yeah.
WJB: All right. Well —
JH: You have to be careful what you might —
WJB: Yes.
JH: — come across.
WJB: Well, this has been a very interesting discussion for me. I’ve always been curious about this aspect of modern technology coming in. I have a feeling myself, Joe, of course, about how the internet research capabilities have permitted this whole area to change since my mother’s era. But I was really completely unfamiliar with this further advance of the complications and pluses and minuses. So thank you for giving me that kind of broader picture about this.
