Brandt’s interest in genealogy began in his twenties when his grandmother mailed him a handmade pedigree chart of her ancestors, complete with pictures. His interest grew from hobby to career when he discovered how DNA testing could help supplement and augment traditional genealogical research in new and powerful ways. After spending more than a decade in the retirement plan services and IT fields, Brandt decided to make his passion for genealogy the focus of his career, and began his own genealogy research business. Around this time, he became aware of DNA testing for genealogy, and immediately began attending classes locally and in other states to learn all he could about this exciting new field.
Education and Training
Brandt began his genealogical education at Brigham Young University, taking classes from industry leaders like Dr. George Ryskamp and Kip Sperry. After earning a bachelor’s degree in Linguistics, he continued his genealogical education, earning a certificate in Genealogy and Family History from BYU, and successfully completing one of the first sessions of the now popular ProGen Study Group. He successfully helped clients trace their ancestry and solve family mysteries for two years before joining Legacy Tree in 2018 as a DNA researcher.
Specialties
Specialties: DNA, United States, Canada, and U.K.
Experience
One of the more memorable projects he’s worked on at Legacy Tree was a client who wanted to identify his biological father. Analysis of his DNA matches identified two brothers as paternal candidates, both of whom had passed on but had surviving children. Contact information for those children was provided to the client, who reached out to them. A son of one brother responded, and offered to share some of his late father’s old photos, one of which turned out to be the client’s mother!
Another client from the U.K. wanted to identify her 99-year-old mother’s biological parents. All she had to begin with was the likely name of the mother. Through DNA analysis and traditional research, both of the mother’s biological parents were identified, as well as a living first cousin. She was overjoyed to meet her first biological relative after nearly a century of waiting. Being able to help clients make discoveries like this makes all the effort and toil worth every minute.
Blog Posts authored by Brandt
Ask a Genealogist: Interesting Facts About French-Canadian Research
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