Finding long lost relatives

[Allwasquietinthedeepdarkwood]

Hi,
sorry if this isn’t the right place to post. I was wondering if anyone had ever had any luck finding old relatives and how they went about it?
Im desperate to find out who my father is; I don’t have a name and he’s not on my birth certificate, my mum has refused my whole life to give me any information other than that he has dark hair (helpful). I know my mothers name and my grandmothers name, I have an aunty but only know her first name. I tried one of those online family trees but couldn’t get anywhere with it.
has anyone ever been able to trace their family back? Even tracing back to my aunt would be good as I know nothing about her other than her name. No other family other than DH’s, so I’m keen to find out about my ancestry.

You could do a dna test?

A family member did this. She was adopted and while she didn't find her birth father, she found out lots about where she descended from culturally.

It's quite laborious going through Registets etc . Your best option is join Ancestry UK. Do a DNA test and they match you with relatives. They also link you to trees which will have you family branches on . It does all the work for you basically. Good luck 💖

I’m adopted too and did an AncestryDNA test. I’m now in touch with many members of my birth family. It takes a bit of detective work as my closest matches were a first cousin twice removed on my birth mother’s side and a second cousin once removed on my birth father’s side. It’s been absolutely amazing!

You certainly sound like a good candidate for Ancestry etc.

However, read here, too. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-13/dna-kit-third-party-access-genetic-data-research/102230764

For basic info from registers, try freebmd (search births, marriage & death records for free) - freebmd.org.uk

The biggest drawback is that it only goes up to the end of the 1980s, I think. But it can be very useful, especially with an unusual surname.

Sorry. Wrong thread. I’ve asked for it to be removed.

I found my real dad doing an Ancestry DNA test. It took me months of research- the dna test gave me an ancestor from 1827 and I had to trace every line from her.

Having found him I found I didn't want to contact him. I'm 99% sure he's my dad.