Recently I was contacted by somebody I have been in touch with over the years about families somewhat peripheral to mine. The gist of the message was that DNA had proved that the wife of George Roberts of Mottram in Longdendale (father of Hannah Roberts) was Mary Massey.
Whether or not George Roberts was actually the father of Hannah Roberts was a bone of contention because the marriage of George Roberts and Mary Massey was in 1719 whilst the first of their (supposedly) identified children was not born until about 1736. Clarifying that was something on my "to do" list.
In the event it did not take too long because Hannah's brother, George, had been a well known, and well documented, figure during his lifetime. There is an undisputed local history record giving George's birthplace, Deepclough in Glossop parish. George's will proves his relationship to Hannah and other siblings, which, along with other documents, provide a match to baptism records of some of the siblings being children of Joshua Roberts of Deepclough (not George).
A sibling of Hannah and George, Rachel, had married a William Massey and it appears that it may have been through that marriage that the DNA match to the Massey family arose.
So, the caveat is (as with so many other records) use DNA matching as a tool but do not trust it as proof on its own.
