In this fourth episode of Series Seven, host Andrew Martin meets Anglo-Belgian professional genealogist, and country manager at MyHeritage - Marie Cappart, and finds out how she got addicted to researching her family history, what made her a 'DNA geek', and what it's like to work for MyHeritage.

THE LIFE STORY - MARGUERITE NICHOLLS
Marie has chosen to tell the life story of her Anglo-Belgian Great Aunt Marguerite Nicholls, who she discovered in her teenage years was missing from her family tree.

Marie tells how Marguerite remained in Belgium with her Swedish husband as war broke out, rather than returning to the UK with her own family, and how she ended up saving the lives of British and Canadian airmen as a member of the Belgian Resistance.

Whilst Marguerite's story comes to a sad ending, Marie is adamant that she takes her rightful place in her family tree, and that her memory and bravery is never forgotten in Belgium.

THE BRICK WALL - CORNEILLE DE LESTRE
It's a baptism record for her husband's ancestor Corneille de Lestre, somewhere in the mid-16th Century, that has Marie puzzled.
 
Marie has been trying to locate Corneille's baptism for some time, but she lacks both an accurate year of birth and location. She has searched in the 1540s-1550s, and after viewing some work in an archive that had no cited sources, she has attempted to research its theories of the identity of Corneille's father and the travelling that person did. 

However, there's no tangible evidence emerging yet that connects Marie's husband to that person - so it's a mystery that leads her on a process of elimination.
 
Can you help Marie discover;

• Where Corneille de Lestre (or le Lettre) was baptised?
• Who are Corneille's parents?

If you think that you can help Marie with a research clue or idea, then you can either send her a message at her @histfamilles Twitter account, or send us a message and we'll pass it along to her.

In the meantime, Marie is curious of Andrew's offer of help... but can you smell burning?

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Episode Credits:

• Andrew Martin - Host and Producer
• Marie Cappart - Guest
• John Spike - Sándor Petőfi

What will you discover?
Discover your family history with a MyHeritage DNA test.

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