General Chat

I've mentioned on the boards before that I was adopted at birth.

I can trace my maternal line with detail from my birth cert and have a reasonable tree, but all I knew about the paternal line was a name and an approx. age. My adoption file also mentioned that my natural father jioned the army straight from school.

I did the Ancestry DNA test earlier in the year and got some hits on my fathers side, but no close relatives and no one responded to messages (I think they had all done the test for the ethnic results and had no tree loaded).

Recently I uploaded my DNA profile to MyHeritage and a hit for second cousin or first cousin once removed. This time I did get a response! He confirmed the name I had for my natural father was in the tree, was the right age, and had been a paratrooper in WW2. He has promised to ask round the family (and its quite a large one - at least 10 children) to get a bit of history for me.

So it looks like after many years of wondering, i might be able to fill in the blanks on my tree. Have already sent for his birth and marriage certs. If he is the right chap then he had a fling with my natural mother after he was married.

Thinking about a DNA test? Do it.

Thanks for reading

Andy

more than an excellent reason for doing your DNA

i did mine and have come up with some matches that i an already in contact with which confirms some of the family tree

one match i did have was for a lady who was a widow and married a grt x umpteen grandad in 1850

he confirms he is connected to a child from her first marriage whereas i am from the second marriage

another match who i have already made connection with is through my maternal grandfathers mother born 1852 and the contact is descended from one of her younger brothers

Just shows how far back it goes

I did mine on 23andMe but I have also downloaded the results onto GEDmatch to give me a greater database.

I'm glad Andrew has got a result that may give him answers. I don't have such a reason but I have got some of my paper trails confirmed.

My best result has been with a gentleman in USA. We were supposed to be 4th cousins so I asked if he knew of a UK link and he told me where his UK grandparents came from and that he knew little of the town. I gave him the info. about the town - my birthplace. He was grateful and gave me his grandparents names, they were already on my tree. :-D

My 3rd gt grandmother Harriet born abt 1818 and his 3rd gt grandmother Ann born about 1820 were sisters so we meet at our 4th grandparents born abt 1790 & 1794 and we are in fact 5th cousins.

I now have a line confirmed from myself through my maternal grandmother to my 4th gt grandparents out through Ann to the American gentleman. All those layers of generations proved. :-D

Andrew thats great news,,,,but a more positive result ifs from any off-springs the named man had, ie--- your half siblings,its now possible to define yours and theirs DNA.the cost is not so cheap.but gives a better match of parental connection.

Thats great news Andrew.so chuffed for you.

Funnily enough I have been thinking of having my DNA tested.

Yes, that's great news Andrew and has filled in a lot of gaps for you! I was unsure about my maternal grandfather after an aunt told me my grandmother left with my mother as a tiny baby to be with another man for a few years before returning home again! I heard this after my parents had died so couldn't ask my mother about it. A DNA match had no same surnames in their tree as mine, but I decided to fill in some gaps in their tree by tracing some wives that weren't shown. One of the wives I traced turned out to be in my family tree and was related to my grandfather, so proved he really was my grandfather!

Wonderful news, Andrew :-D

My dad never knew who his father was - a name was mentioned, and it is a possibility.
My sister, her son and I have had our DNA tested - but had no matches.
Really, we need one of our brothers to have the test done :-(

Edit: My dad was brought up by his mum - and had her surname.
She said this man who was around a lot when dad was young was his dad - but he was married - however he's a strong contender!
This man got killed in the war, and gran married a widower - to give dad a father's name on his certificate, so he could join the Navy as an officer - he joined as a rating!

Birth and marriage certs arrived today.

His DOB is spot on for the info in my adoption file and he was in the army(Highland Light Infantry) at the time of his marriage. The only thing that differs from the adoption file is his fathers occuaption, but he may have been trying to impress perhaps, by 'biging it up'.

My Heritage said that my contact could be 2nd cousin of 1st cousin once removed, which he is. Common ancestor would be my GF, his GGF.

Andy

are you going to follow it up to try and see what happened to him ,or leave it alone in case the family had no idea of his connection

bit of a dilemma i would think to make the right choice

Tricky one isn't it.

I know he died in the 1990's, but his wife is still on the ER's in 2010 with no trace of a death. I don't know at this stage if they had children as Scotlandspeople doesn't show MMN and its a common name. (One birth jumps out as its middle name is MMN). I wait to see if my contact gets back to me.

Andy

Good Lock Andrew.hope they get in contact and keep in contact.

Well this is moving faster than I could hope......

I've built a tree with the details from the certs I have and, suddenly Ancestry has other trees with the same person.....including photographs!! They aren't good(look like blown up 1950 wedding snaps) but there is a definite family likeness

So it would appear I have found my natural father.

Andy

Brilliant! <3

How exciting, Andrew. I hope everything falls into place for you.

Liz