Commercial DNA testing with those home mail-in kits have helped millions of Americans learn much more about their ancestry.

Thanks to the technology, one local woman found a sister she never knew she had.


When Sarah Crandall sent a sample of her saliva into Ancestry.com, a popular DNA testing company, she had no idea what to expect, “Growing up knowing my mom was adopted I was always curious to know if there was anyone else out there.”

Elaine Crandall of Erie, was given up for adoption at birth on January 6, 1956.

As an only child, she too often wondered if she had siblings, but she never pursued it because she did not want to upset her adoptive parents, “I was probably a sassy 17-year-old when I told my parents, ‘I think I want to find my biological family,’ and I saw how hurt they were, and I said I'll never ever do this as long as they're alive.”

Sarah recently got the results, and found she was a 99% match to a woman named April Grant.

As it turned out, Grant had been searching for decades, for the sister she always believed she had.

Grant took the DNA test on Ancestry.com about four years ago and waited and waited, until eventually giving up, “I had made a decision that this is it, I'm done, I'm not going through no more pain, no more heartbreak, I was just going to leave it in the past and just move on,” Grant said.

Two months after giving up, she received a message from Sarah. After several correspondence and conversations, the two sisters met for lunch recently at Primanti Brothers in Butler, Pa.

Seeing each other for the first time was exciting and overwhelming for both women, “I was like, I can't wait to see the connection, the mannerisms, the personalities,” said Elaine.

Grant was born on January 7, 1957, exactly one day and one year apart from Elaine.

Their resemblance is clear, the similarities in their personalities are uncanny, “Elaine and I, not only do we look alike, I'm pretty sure we have the same personalities,” Grant said with a laugh.

Both women have gotten together several times this summer. While April is Elaine’s only biological sister, she has many half siblings as well.

Both Elaine and April are also both breast cancer survivors.