About Me: Helen Sargent
I was born in England and now live in the picturesque county of Dumfries and Galloway, South West Scotland, with my husband and 11 year old son. My 31 year old daughter lives in England with her own family.
For 17 years my career was nursing in England, after 3 years of academic study and extensive clinical placements, qualifying as a State Registered Staff Nurse (SRN). Initially working as a hospital staff nurse and the latter 11 years as a District Nursing Sister, after a further year’s study, as well as extensive practical placements and qualifying for my DN Cert.
My own family history journey has shaped my deep understanding of the challenges faced by those searching for their birth families. At the age of 30 I adopted my daughter, who was 2 years old. It was an inter-country adoption. Also in my early 20s, I discovered that the story I had grown up knowing about one side of my family was entirely different from what I had known. This revelation led to a decades-long mystery, which could not be solved until commercial DNA testing became available.
Despite having decades of experience with family tree research, both pre and post the birth of the internet. I faced significant obstacles in solving my family’s mystery because the birth father of a relative was only named by a first name and no surname on the birth certificate, also the first name was a very common one. Determined to uncover the truth, and potential genetic family members, I pursued three Open Studies courses at the University of Strathclyde, focusing on:
Genealogy and Genetic Genealogy. Understanding of Autosomal DNA, X DNA, Mitochondrial DNA,Y DNA, and DNA match analysis.
These courses included projects and exams and I was awarded a University of Strathclyde Open Studies Certificate in Genealogical Studies.
With this knowledge, I was finally able to solve my own family mystery. I identified the birth father of the relative, at last. Although sadly he had passed away, that was something I expected after so much time had passed. After decades of unanswered questions, the mystery was finally solved. I was also able to identify many other relatives within that genetic family and and build a large family tree. Dialogue has begun with a number of key people within that family and it is warm and friendly. Indeed we are all family. Even to this day, new DNA matches are still appearing who link into that family and create another piece of the jigsaw.
How My Experience Helps Others
Since my courses at Strathclyde University, I have gone on to solve a number of cases, the majority of which, have been unknown birth fathers, particularly where there is no name for the father at all, nor any location details known. Of course this also often uncovers other biological family during the process of research. So sometimes, Cousins, Nieces, Nephews, Aunties and Uncles etc are discovered too. Sometimes they are what people are searching for.
Now as a full time, professional Genetic Genealogist my passion for genetic genealogy and my personal experience leads me to help others empathically, in their quests to find their biological long-lost family.
You can reach out to me with any questions you may have. (Remember, no question is too silly!) And you can contact me through the Contact page or via Facebook Messenger by clicking the circled Facebook icon on this page, which takes you to my Facebook business page.
I look forward to hearing from you and helping you on your journey to finding your birth relative/s.
DNA Investigations: How To Find my birth family online