Identifinders - Identifinders International, LLC

Unknown Child on the Titanic – Part II

By Austin Bethell|2023-06-10T16:21:54-07:00August 17th, 2010|

After eight and a half decades, there was little left of the child's body. Only a small piece of wrist bone and the crowns of three tiny baby teeth had survived the inclement weather and damp, slightly acidic soil.In the spring of 2002, when Parr and Ruffman determined that the child was not Gosta Paulson based on a mismatch between the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) obtained from the bone shard and DNA provided by a maternally-linked Paulson relative, the teeth became more significant in the identification efforts. Dr. E. J. Molto, an anthropologist and the director of the Paleo-DNA Laboratory at Lakehead University, suggested that the three teeth belonged to "quite a young child". [...]

Unknown Child on the Titanic – Part I

By Austin Bethell|2023-06-10T15:44:42-07:00August 14th, 2010|

Index card from 1912 describing the Unknown Child On April 20-23 1912, on its mission from Halifax to salvage remains from the Titanic, the crew of the cable ship Mackay-Bennett pulled 306 bodies from the frigid waters of the north Atlantic. Only one of them, body No. 4, was that of a child. At the time, the best that forensic identification could offer was the observations, recorded on an index card, that the child was a boy, about two years of age, probably a third-class passanger.Since no one came to claim the baby, the crew of the Mackay-Bennett took responsibility for the child's remains, arranging a beautiful funeral for him at [...]

Jeni's Family Reunion

By Austin Bethell|2010-08-13T01:26:51-07:00August 13th, 2010|

Jeni Reed was raised by her maternal grandmother and knew almost nothing about her dad Thomas McKay. Yet we were able to find him! I surprised Jeni with the news on June 16. To add to the excitement, we discovered that Jeni has three sisters and a brother she had never met, plus a new aunt and two new uncles. She was in shock when she contacted her dad. He was delighted to hear from her! In July, Jeni got to meet many family members for the first time. As she describes the reunion: Well, the big meeting was this past weekend and it was so fun. I met my dad, one sister and [...]

23 and Me Male and Female Haplgroups

By Austin Bethell|2010-08-10T22:34:31-07:00August 10th, 2010|

I just spent the evening reviewing the male and female haplogroups of Benjaman's 23 and Me matches that are predicted to be at the 3rd and 4th cousins levels. I was hoping to find a geographical pattern that might indicate his origins. Unfortunately, the haplogroups of his matches do not reveal too much information because of their variety. His male haplogroups are mostly R1b1b2a and its downstream subclades, with one I1* [European], one Q1a3a [Native American], one E1b1a8a [African America], and one G2a [Turkey and the Mediterranean]. His female haplogroups are quite varied. These include HV0 and various subclades of H1, H5, and H7, also subclade U2, various subclades of U5, one T1, two [...]

August 2010

Unknown Child on the Titanic – Part II

Unknown Child on the Titanic – Part I

Jeni's Family Reunion

23 and Me Male and Female Haplgroups