Your ancestors had only one way of producing a child. Today, technology has enabled children to be produced by sperm donation. A married couple in the Netherlands are using donated sperm from the husband’s father so that the couple can have a baby. This greatly alters the kinship terms that would normally be applied to a family. Sperm donation is an option that a couple, or a woman who is single, can use in order to conceive a child. People choose this method for a variety of reasons. A woman who is single may want to become a mother without … Continue reading →

A thirty-three year old man from Boston donated his sperm several times while he was attending law school. He has recently learned that the result of his donations has created over 70 children. This is a situation where medical science and genealogy connect in strange ways. Genealogy is the study of family. Typically, a person’s immediate family consists of their parents and siblings. Extended family could include grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. When a person becomes an adult, their family might be their spouse and their children. All of these relationships are very simple to fit into a standard family … Continue reading →

A sperm donor in “the Washington area” has fathered at least 150 children. This means that the children are all half-siblings to each other. How would one make a family tree for this situation? There are many other potential problems that could happen as a result of having so many half-siblings. The term “half-sibling” is used to describe two people who have one parent in common with each other. These people also each have a parent that is not the parent of their brother or sister. Half-siblings share more genetics with each other than do two people who are unrelated. … Continue reading →

Today, genealogists seek out vital records that can help them to determine who the father of a particular ancestor was. Technology has changed in ways that could impact the way that future genealogists do this type of research. Sperm donation, the use of frozen sperm, and paternity testing could make things a bit more complicated. What happens when you aren’t sure about who the father of your great-great-great-great- Uncle George was? You start doing some genealogy research. One way to answer this question is to locate his birth certificate. Both of his parents should be listed on it. What if … Continue reading →