About Mackenna

My dad was adopted in 1935. It was a closed adoption with almost no information available. Using Ancestry.com I was able to track down his biological parents. I found living cousins who kindly shared photographs and stories about my biological grandparents and great-grandparents. It gave me a great feeling of peace to learn where half of my genetics came from.

 

From that point on I've been obsessed with researching lineages. Once I'd uncovered several mysteries within my own family tree, I had a craving to solve more, so I began reaching out to friends for work. As it turns out, I have a knack for this work. After years of being a genealogy hobbyist, I have developed expert-level skills. I'm a pro at documenting lineage in Ancestry.com, which gives my clients free forever-access to their family tree and all my findings. In fact, I am so quick with Ancestry that I've been hired to input handwritten family-tree data, just to save time for my clients.

​

It is an honor to find evidence of lives that, in many cases, have been forgotten. It feels like a window back in time where I can rediscover long-lost memories, which is why the name "Finding Memories" felt right to me. I feel like I am getting to know the people who I research, not only through old photographs, but also in researching data. I can put together the kind of work somebody did, the kind of home they lived in, and see where that kind of life fit within their place in time.

​

In the case of my dad, since we had no names to begin our search, we used AncestryDNA to get started. However, with nearly all of my clients I have found everything they were looking for by following paper trails - no DNA needed.

​

My family mostly originates from West Michigan, Traverse City, and Chicago areas, so I have extra knowledge about the history of those places. Also, most of us have at least one line in our family tree that goes back to Ellis Island, so I have studied a decent amount about the New England area. However, with so many records available online, my research is not restricted. I've done plenty of research in all areas of the country (and also internationally, when the records exist and are made available by the country in question).

​

In my work, I've proven some family legends, like the origin of an African American surname. I've also disproven family rumors, like relation to a famous historical figure. On many occasions I've uncovered forgotten history that came as a complete surprise, and sometimes even secrets that have been hidden for 200 years. My research isn't always focused on the past. I am excited to say that I have located living long-lost relatives for several people now (including foy myself!). I take my clients' privacy seriously, and understand that some surprises or secrets aren't happy. When I am trusted with personal information I consider it a privilege.