Our Stories: From illness to discovery

In September 2015, Jacob Eric Stathers, 63, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and began treatment. While undergoing chemotherapy, he found himself with extra time on his hands, and he decided to dedicate this time to exploring his family history.

He began searching for the best tools and technology for his research and soon learned about MyHeritage. What he didn’t realize then were the new and exciting discoveries that genealogy would bring, and that it would open up a broader world during this difficult time in his life.

A British Columbia native, now Eric lives with his wife in Bellevue, Washington. They each have two children and two stepchildren. He holds a BSc (Agriculture — Soil Science), an MBA (University of British Columbia, Canada), and also studied at the Advanced Management College (Stanford University, California). A senior executive with 35 years of experience in business software, consulting, and management, he is today the managing partner of Stathers & Associates LLC. He is also co-editor and publisher of In the Ditch: Stories of the Pacific Great Eastern Railway 1929-65, authored by his grandfather, Eric Prince Stathers.

Eric became interested in family history as a young boy when his UK-born paternal grandfather, who lived with Eric’s family while recovering from a heart attack, began compiling his family tree and writing his memoirs.

I took a break from university to visit my maternal grandparents’ home and relatives in The Netherlands and later to visit my paternal grandparents’ relatives near Hull, England.

Eric joined MyHeritage on November 10, 2015. He found the Western European database and family tree connections to be deep and rich, and the Discovery and Smart Matching™ process very useful. He has enjoyed linking with other people and family trees via email, along with DNA tests through 23andMe.

As his research progressed, a whole new world opened up and increased his thirst for learning more about his family history every day.

I have discovered that my family emigrated from England and Western Europe from a 100 km radius of four cities/villages in England, The Netherlands, Germany, and Poland. The big surprise for me was discovering, through DNA testing, I am 85% Western European and only 9% British despite having a British surname.

Eric has shared his family tree with family around the world and persuaded other family members to do DNA testing. The book creation and printing tools on MyHeritage have also proven useful.

Eric's paternal great-grandfather, William Stork Stathers, from Kingston upon Hull, England, wearing his sea captain's uniform.

He has even started a project for his wife Shanon’s Knight-Voiles’ family tree going back to the 1300s. Recently, he discovered one of his wife’s ancestors was “ostrich keeper” for the king!

Of particular joy has been helping my niece with her school genealogy research project.

Eric currently has 2,329 individuals in his family tree, primarily from Canada, USA, England, The Netherlands, Germany, France, and Poland. He has been able to trace his family back to the 1300s for several family lines, thanks to the detailed databases at MyHeritage.

William Stork Stathers' "Master of a Foreign-Going Ship" certificate.

He has received hundreds of Smart Matches and continues to follow up on new ones every day as part of his ongoing research to validate primary sources of information and to disprove false leads. As a result of Smart Matches, he has connected to several other family trees from around the world.

During his illness, support came from an unexpected source.

As a result of my research, I am connected by email with a distant cousin in The Netherlands who has proven to be a great source of information and a new email friend. She has been a great source of support as I have gone through cancer treatment. She was involved in cancer healthcare. Being Dutch, she has provided a wealth of information related to The Netherlands branch of our family.

Gijsbertha Donselaar — Eric's maternal great-grandmother from Loosdrecht, The Netherlands, wearing traditional clothing.

During his chemotherapy, Eric found the MyHeritage mobile app to be particularly useful for reviewing Smart Matches™ and Discoveries.

I’ve spent many hours undergoing chemo infusions and waiting for appointments. Using the MyHeritage mobile app, I have been able to build my tree and validate primary sources of information.

He has already used the new Audio Recordings feature in the mobile app to record interviews with family members.

I’ve used the MyHeritage mobile recording capability to record stories about various ancestors from my father, 85, using my smartphone and to also link the stories to family members in the Stathers-Manten family tree.

I put my iPhone on the table unobtrusively and record 20-minute segments, post them to the tree matched to the right person. I have also learned to convert the MP4 files created by MyHeritage to text files so that I can include the content in future memoirs to share with family and friends.

By far, Eric’s most amazing genealogical achievement has been publishing the first volume of his grandfather’s memoirs on Amazon.

The information and confidence inspired by my genealogy research helped spur me on to meet this goal.

For those that are new to family history research, Eric advises everyone “to go for it!”

• Do a little bit every day so it isn’t overwhelming.
• Validate primary sources of information.
• Be suspicious of errors in other family trees that you access.
• Date your trees.
• Don’t be afraid to create multiple trees, or to delete family lines when you make a mistake to avoid going down the wrong path.
• Get your DNA tested and link it to your family tree.
• Don’t be afraid to share information.
• Use all of the resources available – the mobile app, recordings, etc.
• But most of all – have fun! It shouldn’t be a chore and it needs to fit into your life.

Eric is nowhere near finished in his quest to uncover his roots. His genealogical journey is only just beginning.

I would like to thank MyHeritage for the great technology and content that it provides. The story continues every day as a work-in-progress as new discoveries and matches broaden my understanding of our family history.

Did you enjoy Eric’s story? Share your comments below. Do you have a story to tell? Send it to us at stories@myheritage.com.