A chance DNA test leads to an unexpected connection and a delightful discovery of award-winning toffee.
Several years ago, on some gifting occasion or another, I received an opportunity to send some saliva off to Ancestry . While I didn’t expect any surprises, we had a good time filling out the paperwork and laughing over trying to fill the saliva vial with elegance and grace, which is more difficult than it might seem. A few weeks later, we got our results. As expected, there were no surprises.
Part English, part Irish, part Scottish, with perhaps a smattering of stray DNA from the Scandinavian peninsula. I considered telling my sisters they should have their DNA run, but it dawned on me that their results would be the same as mine, assuming there are no skeletons in the ancestral closet. I did not sign up for the ongoing Ancestry subscription, as I have thus far dodged the genealogy bug. In my brief glimpse into the details, I saw the names of a couple of first cousins, so I knew it had gotten something right. And there was the name Mary Ann, a woman I had met in passing at a conference years ago who, according to my mother, is “our cousin,” although Mother couldn’t recall the lineage. I’d mostly forgotten about it all until last September, when I got a friend request on social media from a woman with an Italian surname. I looked at her profile and saw nothing that would suggest any sort of connection, so I left it alone. Several days later, it popped up again – this time with her name altered to include “(Perkins)” between her first and last names. I accepted the request and soon had a private message from a nurse in Arizona named Sherry who was neck-deep in her own genealogical research and had run upon an obstacle. \“Hi Bill I hope you don’t mind me reaching out to you on Facebook. I sent a message on Ancestry in January and I don’t know if you’ve seen it. I have gone WAY back on Perkins ancestry to Kings and Queens, but I can’t find anything past our shared Great Grandfather Elijah Perkins. I’m hoping maybe you have some insight or info on him. I’ve attached a picture of the lines in case that would help. Any information would be appreciated. Any pictures of Perkinses would be great too! I love to put names to faces. My tree is public—hope you get a chance to look it over. Looking forward to hearing from you.” My first thought was that, as trees go, mine seemed to be the wrong one for Sherry to bark up. I hadn’t seen her Ancestry message; I had no idea that I could receive messages there. And as genealogy goes, I can’t forget about the long conversation I had with my first cousin Cary in the reference room of the Draughon Library at Auburn University, all the while wondering who this random guy was and why he seemed to know a lot about my family. But I replied, and put her in touch with both sisters and a Perkins-side first cousin, hoping that they might be able to help Sherry fill out the branches of her family tree. \A few weeks ago, a post from Sherry came through my newsfeed. It was a short clip of a television interview her husband had done for a local station in Phoenix about side hustle Sherry started during the pandemic. She’d been making English toffee and selling it at local farmer’s markets, and had soon gained a following. Next thing you know, she and her husband started a business, The Toffee Merchant, and gained the attention of the international chocolate community. I watched the video and went straight to the website, where I ordered up some of my newly found distant cousin’s award-winning small-batch toffee. I soon received a box with an array of toffee – Bourbon Pecan English Toffee, Sicilian Orange Toffee, Mexican Hot Chocolate Toffee, Double Chocolate Toffee, and Tart Cherry Amaretto Toffee. It wasn’t just good; it was extraordinary. I had to put it away before I ate it all. It’s not just me; Sherry’s confections won so many gold and silver awards at competition that The Toffee Merchant was named a 2025 Superior Chocolatier & Confectioner by the International Chocolate Salon. When many folks talk about their ancestry, they’ll crow about being descended from royalty or fame and fortune. It seems nobody wants to brag about their ancestor, the highland goatherd. I, however, am mighty happy to be related, however tenuously, to an award-winning confectioner. I’ll take that over Charlemagne any day of the week
Ancestry DNA Genealogy Toffee Food Family Connections
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