Long lost family reunited in Lancaster after cousin's 'DNA Journey'

Friday, 17 March 2023 07:04

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Relatives reunited in Lancaster - (left to right) cousins Pen, Gail, Jackie and Gail's sister Ellen.

Long lost family members have met in Lancaster after they discovered they lived only a few miles apart.

When Gail Pointon decided on some ad hoc research of her family history on the Ancestry UK website, she had no idea it would connect her with unknown relatives living just around the corner from her home in Lancaster. But Gail’s research and a subsequent DNA test put her on the road to meeting her cousins Pen and Jackie. Gail had never met Pen, and she had last seen Jackie over 60 years ago at a wedding anniversary event for their grandparents.

Originally from the Midlands, they had completely lost touch. Unbeknown to them all, they live within a 10-mile radius of each other, Jackie and Pen in Lancaster and Gail and her sister Ellen in Heysham. Gail and Ellen’s disabled sister Lynda, who also lives in Heysham, was unable to come to the reunion. “I decided to start tracing my family roots out of curiosity rather than a specific search, but I’m so thrilled that it’s resulted in meeting Pen and being reunited with Jackie," said Gail.

They picked Lancaster House Hotel as their meeting point for the happy reunion.

"We’re now working together on tracing other family members and we hope to be back at the hotel again for perhaps an even bigger get together!" said Gail.

"Jackie’s brother is coming to meet us in May.”

The reunion was reminiscent of those seen on popular TV shows including Long Lost Family and DNA Journey, Lisa Ng from Lancaster House Hotel adds: “We got talking to Gail and her reunited family members at hotel reception about how she had started her ancestral research and what a coincidence it was that she had found unknown relatives so close to home.

"Guest stories like these are wonderful to discover on our own doorstep, so we were glad to play host to the cousins.”