Over the past 8 months I have really been getting into researching my genealogy. I have, for some time, been interested in my family roots, however recently I have made it my mission to convert all the family photos, documents and certificates into digital PDF format so they can be kept, copied and printed easily for future generations. In doing this I also hope it will prevent the valuable history only being handed down one family line and other decendants missing out - even if the original paper copies go one way, at least digital copies can be duplicated as many times as needed.

I have been struggling getting past a brick wall tracing my 'Saunders' paternal line after the paper trail went cold after just 4 generations. Being my own surname I am keen to try and get further back with this surname so I have turned to the genealogical research method of the 21st century - looking into my DNA.

No longer do you have to look in dusty old books or have to decipher unintelligible writing on old documents I have got my Genes tested with Family Tree DNA, based in the USA they host the largest database of Y-Chromosome DNA results categorised by surname, these surnames are then grouped into Projects which you can join and compare others DNA results with similar surnames.

If you are a Saunders, Sanders, Saunderson or Sander I would encourage you to join the Saunders DNA project, the more who join the greater the chances of finding matches.

"I've been single-stranded too long! Lonely ATGCATG would like to pair up with congenial TACGTAC" --DNA Joke