My amazing DNA discovery story...

[Heatherlucy]

Ok... I have to share this with some fellow Céline fans because the past couple weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement and idk... maybe I’m overreacting, or maybe not??? I’ve only told a few people so far because I’m still processing this. It was discovered somewhat by accident.

 

A little background... I grew up with my Mom’s maiden name of Baucom and never met my dad. I was told who he supposedly and never questioned it. I wasn’t overly bothered as my grandparents were very much in my life and my loving grandpa likely filled in any void of a father.

 

Anyway... recently I purchased one of those ancestry DNA kits after all those fascinating ads floating around finally got to me. I figured it would be cool to learn a bit about my family history, but mainly was interested in the fact that you could learn about your gene allele codes and use them to learn about traits and all that fun stuff. (Besides I figured I knew my basic family heritage: some German, Irish, Polish and stuff from my Mom’s side and from what I thought on my dad’s side, some czeck and middle eastern stuff I was told.)

 

Anyway, I got results back about two weeks ago. I clicked on the link to begin my DNA story and the first thing that came up was French settlers in Quebec and it linked me to a Quebec community group because of my apparent strong genetic link. I was definitely curious as to how this was! The next odd thing I discovered was an aunt I was matched to but had no tree links to either side of mine. Then I noticed no matches linked to my supposed father’s side at all. After some research and discussion with my newly found aunt, I learned that my mom was wrong and my real dad is a different guy with the last name of Cody, changed from Côté, only two generations up and his whole family is French Canadian from Quebec! (Exciting news for a Celine Fan that has been singing her songs, including French ones since I was a young teen in the 90s!) But of course this meant I needed to delete my “old dad’s” side and start reworking my tree. Ancestry suggests records with names and I searched on a few other sites too to build up on it. I was just loving all the beautiful French names I was adding to my tree. I work up to a 9th great grandfather by the name of Julien Fortin dit Bellefontaine and googled the name to get his parents’ names for my tree. A site comes up called Famous Kin with a little picture of Celine next to it. I think my heart stopped and I could barely bring myself to open the link because I thought no way!!! I opened it and went into complete shock to see Celine shares the same exact 9th great grandparents! I like couldn’t move or breathe or speak lol. 😂 😂😂 Everything was a blur some hours after that as I did what any reasonable and sane person would do and began a tree for Céline of course! 😂 I began discovering many shared surnames, family members and multiple sets of great grandparents and by the time I fell asleep for the mere 3 hrs I slept that night, it was determined she was at least my 7th cousin from the information entered. I waited to tell my husband the next day because I wanted to work my way through what I had so far again and verify through other sites it all matches up because I wasn’t gonna say some big news like that unless I was sure. I began researching again and working on my tree. Another familiar name comes up I recognized from working on Celine’s tree. I double check and it’s another match from a fourth great grandparent!

 

I’m still filling in names, and added Céline to my tree now and as of now with all I have filled in, Ancestry has determined she is my 5th cousin! This has been the household topic for days lol. I had barely slept the first week. I feel *slightly* calmer and more composed this week and slept better. I’m an easily excitable person anyway, so this is through the roof for me. I got tickets in March to see her show in Minneapolis on Nov 1st and now it’s even more exciting! 😂😂😂❤️❤️❤️ Is this just pretty much anyone from Quebec or with Quebec lineage??? (Although that was a surprise for me as well!) What would you do or how would you react? I know it’s just 5th cousin, but that’s still something and it’s Céline! And honestly if at some point in the past I found out it was even like 20th cousin I’d have probably still lost my mind over that! 😂 I mean, a super Céline fan for the longest time, takes a DNA test, learns they’re related to Celine without ever had even knowing about their Quebec heritage!

 

Anyone else here a cousin distant cousin or have a similar story?

[Davey84]

Ok first I thought this topic was some crazy SPAM, but it turns out just to be crazy! How cool is it, to find out Céline is actually related to you!!

 

I don't think Céline and I share any common ancestors the only 'famous' person in my family is George Baker (Little green bag), but that's cos he's married to a cousin of a sister of my grandmother

[Xpresso]

Very cool! I hope you can sing a song if you are related to Celine in any way!

So that would probably mean you are related to Madonna and Camilla Parker Bowles as they supposedly are distant relatives according to some gossip articles.

[MTJ]

woo! My late aunt and Godmother was a Dion in Rosemere, QC. Without knowing anything about her family (my uncle is my blood relative), I like to assume I'm somehow related to Celine's family (at least by marriage). How amazing you've actually pieced together the puzzle!! Isn't Celine distantly related to Madonna and Hillary, too? Maybe you also are....

[Peppercorn1991]

This is very cool and exciting for you!! Nice read!

 

Kev x

[scielle]

woo! My late aunt and Godmother was a Dion in Rosemere, QC. Without knowing anything about her family (my uncle is my blood relative), I like to assume I'm somehow related to Celine's family (at least by marriage). How amazing you've actually pieced together the puzzle!! Isn't Celine distantly related to Madonna and Hillary, too? Maybe you also are....

 

And Duchess of Cornwall, and Ryan Gosling, Avril Lavigne, Justin Bieber... I never heard about Hillary though?

[ehild]

Oh my gosh!! How cool is this!! Makes me want to do this now just to see what pops up. I was adopted and aside from knowing I'm biologically French and Whelsh, I don't know much. I love genealogy and ancestry, etc. This is so exciting for you!!! 😀😀

[Heatherlucy]

Very cool! I hope you can sing a song if you are related to Celine in any way!

So that would probably mean you are related to Madonna and Camilla Parker Bowles as they supposedly are distant relatives according to some gossip articles.

Yes, I can definitely sing!❤️ I love singing. I definitely credit Céline in “teaching” me and inspiring me all my life, and can sing in English and French. That makes this all the more surreal to me. I saw her live in Minneapolis last night and gave her a letter explaining everything lol plus some cool small gifts and chocolates in a pretty bag. I got as close as I could and gave it to a guard or someone in charge of stuff. He assured me he get it to her. I sure hope so! I put my heart into it, plus picked out a few nice things for her. I hope she got it!!!

[scielle]

Yes, I can definitely sing!❤️ I love singing. I definitely credit Céline in “teaching” me and inspiring me all my life, and can sing in English and French. That makes this all the more surreal to me. I saw her live in Minneapolis last night and gave her a letter explaining everything lol plus some cool small gifts and chocolates in a pretty bag. I got as close as I could and gave it to a guard or someone in charge of stuff. He assured me he get it to her. I sure hope so! I put my heart into it, plus picked out a few nice things for her. I hope she got it!!!

 

Aw, I hope she really does get it. That's such a cool story all around.