Family History and Ancestry DNA

[HotSince63]

Loosely inspired by another thread... have you researched your family history or done one of those Ancestry DNA type things, and what have you dug up?

DH discovered that his grandma's younger brother is in fact her nephew. He was born to her sister when the sister was just 13 years old and DH's grandma was 2 and he was brought up within the family as the baby brother.

DH grandma is 89 now and her sister and nephew/brother are both dead, the sister in her 40's and the nephew very recently.

We've not discussed with anyone what we've found out, I'd love to know if his grandma knows but she's never mentioned it and DH wouldn't dream of asking.

There is no hint within the family that anyone, including the brother/nephew knew, but his birth certificate states his actual birth mother, so I'm assuming he must have found out at some point.

Have you found out anything interesting?

I do a lot of family history research, my best DNA find so far was that my 3x great grandfather was a bigamist, before he married my ancestor (as a bachelor) he had a first wife in Ireland when he was in the navy. I’ve had to break it to his descendants that he wasn’t a Jew fleeing persecution, but a sailor from Suffolk 🙈

Ooof how'd they take the news Grace58? Have you managed to trace the first wife in Ireland, were there any children?

My own family find was that extended family in America (like fourth cousins or something) who are in their 60's, are actually siblings not cousins, so Auntie J must have had an affair with Auntie K's husband and that resulted in a child - and again their parents have all died so the cousins/siblings can't really find out what happened.

Yup. Me and my DB discovered that our DF wasn't actually our DF through an Ancestry DNA test.

I wrote a long post about it which MN kindly deleted when I asked as it was a bit outing. I have kept this one far more generic.

It's all fine. Me and DB aren't bothered in the slightest; we don't feel like we've lost anything - apart from the horrible hereditary heart condition which our not DF had and died from in his early 50s. The same condition killed his DF in his early 60s. The relief from not being at risk to that is huge.

Our DP's marriage wasn't happy, probably best described as lacking in affection and cold, and our DM found that affection and love elsewhere as our DF lost all interest in her within a year of their marriage. Perfunctory marital relations continued so my DM never questioned our parentage.

Me and my DB knew our actual DF and spent time with him without any of us knowing the true nature of our relationship. He always thought he was unable to have children and my DM - now nearly 80 - wishes he could have known before he died a few years ago.

I still love my non biological DF as he was the one that brought me up. He wasn't a great husband to my DM but he was a great Dad. He's still my Dad and always will be and I still miss him nearly 30 years after his death. But, I feel like I've gained another DF rather than losing anything if that makes sense.

My advice to anyone planning to do a DNA test for genealogical purposes is to be prepared for anything. You might think you know everything about your parentage but there is a chance that you might find things out that you either didn't know or might not want to know.

Proceed with caution!

@HotSince63 There was one child, his granddaughter had tested at MyHeritage which is how I found the link, I doubt I ever would have found the marriage in Ireland otherwise as he later married my ancestor bigamously claiming to be a bachelor! It was one of my more interesting finds. His descendant I was in touch with never replied after I messaged her that 🤷‍♀️

I've mentioned on another thread that my paternal g-grandfather was someone else. Everyone has long since died, including my grandmother who probably never knew.
I'd been researching my tree for over 15 years when my dad did an AncestryDNA test for me. At first I was puzzled by the 47% of roughly county Mayo matching results, but then a 2nd and a 3rd cousin turned up and as I'd got a really well researched tree by then I knew it could only be a break somewhere.
Took me ages to work it out though. I ended up creating a separate tree from combining the 2/3rd cousins trees, then started placing my dad in it till I got the right spot.
I don't know which male from the family was my grandfather as 3 brothers don't have any children officially iyswim, but I was able to match to the generation above exactly so I know who my gggrandparents were.
I'm still unpicking other connections.

Through one DNA test and then confirmed with a second, we have found the origin of my great-grandfather who, it is said, walked down from Liverpool to London to find work. It turns out he also changed his surname on that journey - we have to wonder whether perhaps he was running from something. We now have an even bigger family having linked family trees to the cousin who contacted us and instigated the trace

Curiously on DH side, we have two sisters. One definitely married a Charles S and had four children, and he died locally to them. (He was also a bit of a drunken reprobate, having been admonished for his negligence causing the death of a work colleague!) The second sister married and moved north, I haven't found what happened to that husband; but after moving north she lived with and had two children with a Charles S*** - as in, identical name to her BIL. It's not the same man, but it is an unusual name. It's as though second sister has allowed somebody to "assume" her BIL name for convenience.

Other than that Geneaology has been such an interesting and immersive hobby.
Here are some of the things I've uncovered:
Someone got divorced in the late 1800s - I've read the papers as they are online. Former husband was paid off.
Illegitimate farmers son rose to be a leader in his medical related field - I've even got a text book he wrote in 1920. I'd love to know how this happened and have to go back as my ancestors were all solid working class, I think he must have had his education paid for by someone.
poisoning. He said suicide. His wife's family said murder. All in the papers. 1900ish
Emigration - fascinating to look up where they went to live and work out why. I have some ancestors letters in a local archive which I want to read.
Interesting jobs.
So many rabbit holes....

I recommend an ancestry subscription, their DNA test and a sub to the British Newspaper Archives too.

I also found out my father wasn’t who I’d thought. It’s known as DNA NPE (not parent expected) it’s worked out well as my father who raised me had already died so didn’t need to find out, and I’ve built a good relationship with my birth father. My DM genuinely didn’t know (it was a ONS with a close friend) and didn’t deliberately hide it from me. In fact she bought me the DNA test! My version of this is the best you get really, lots of people are really really damaged by discoveries like this. I would certainly urge caution before doing a DNA test.

What made you think he was a nephew?

It's nice to read that the posters who have found out their fathers aren't their biological fathers have had what they consider an OK outcome from finding out that news - must still have been such a shock to find out.

I quite like (probably not the right word) the stories of great great great's turning out to be bigamists or rogues or not quite who everyone thought they were.

Blueberries0112 I'm not sure what you mean 'What made you think he was a nephew?'. We all thought he was DH's grandma's brother. It's only now that we've discovered he was her nephew... as I explained in my OP we found a birth certificate which showed that he was actually born to DH great-Aunt when she was 13.

Yea I’ve done it since I was 11. I’ve solved my grandmothers birth mother and discovered a wonderful side of the family abroad who knew nothing about her. They have visited us and my parent’s have visited them so that was a great discovery.

I am still working on who my grandmother’s father was.

I’ve also found out who my Dad’s biological father was.

"OP we found a birth certificate which showed that he was actually born to DH great-Aunt when she was 13"

Oh ok , I thought it was something else.

I haven't found anything surprising, they are all what I expected. Now I did not know I had a half brother from my mom but they told me before my DNA testing. I found him but he still haven't responded back to me and that's ok

Found that my GG grandparents were divorced. My GG grandmother committed adultery and lost custody of her kids - sad. She also died at 38.

Further back, I am one of the millions descended from William 1, Edward 111
and so on. I had a number of ancestors who died horrible at the Tower of London. Also had a genocidal maniac involved in the plantation of Ireland and a slave plantation owner in Barbados and his slave trader son in law.