To speak to family about unknown DNA relatives

[pruss]

I did an ancestry DNA test for a bit of fun, and got several close matches with people I have never heard of. They live in Edinburgh, and as far as I was aware, all my family is from Devon and Cornwall.

They aren’t super close genetic relatives, but around 3%. So 2nd cousins or thereabouts. This means that the identity of a great grandparent or great great grandparents is different to what we think.

My dad is still waiting for his results, so I can find out which side of the family this is linked to.

Should I start speaking to extended family and asking if they were aware of any possible family secrets/adoptions/affairs etc.Or is it better to keep shtum about it

It doesn't necessarily mean that the identity of one of your relatives is in question. It might mean that one of your relatives had other children, whether or not they knew...

That’s a good point, one of mine could have had children up there.

Hang on, no. I know the unknown parentage is in my family, as my DNA showed strong links to the area around Glasgow/Edinburgh, when all the rest was accurate with south west england

There could be all manner of reasons. If you took typical numbers of children for each person in the chain (and probably more than this for great great grandparents), then there are:

great great grandparents might have had 5 children together
Those 5 children (great grandparents) each had 4 children (=20 relatives)
20 grandparents generation had 3 children (=60 children)
60 parents generation had 2 children (=120 children in your generation)

Any of these branches of the family could have been estranged and run away to Scotland to start a family, been adopted out, had an affair, or just moved away. It's unlikely that your family know what happened to your great grandparents' siblings.

We have a family tree which was compiled in the 1980s. My great great grandparents (late Victorian) had my great grandad, and 3 other daughters who nobody has ever heard of or knows what happened to (not part of the tree as it tracks the name).

There's nothing to keep a secret, but if really interested some family research starting with your great great grandparents on the census will almost certainly show up some "missing" bits to your family.

People moved around a lot for work - or that is the case for my family going back to ggrandparents and their rellies - Scotland, cornwall, norfolk, london.

A 3% match isn’t very high at all. Second cousin twice removed type connection. This could have come from a sibling of a grandparent or great grandparent, not a direct bloodline. Widen out your family tree search and complete all the branches. I had a similar match and nobody knew the name. They actually emailed me and we pieced it together but the connection is way back.

They aren’t super close genetic relatives, but around 3%. So 2nd cousins or thereabouts. This means that the identity of a great grandparent or great great grandparents is different to what we think.

Why does it mean the identity of great or great great grandparents is different? Isn't it much more likely that one of your distant male relatives had a child that they didn't know about?

DNA showed strong links to the area around Glasgow/Edinburgh, when all the rest was accurate with south west england

Are DNA tests actually this accurate for location within the UK? How would it measure it? I thought they were quite inaccurate for worldwide location, nevermind whittling it down specific cities like Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Wait for your dad's results and see if it comes up on his