Help please with DNA match question

[Swashbuckled]

Hi geneologists!
I’m thinking about ordering an Ancestry test kit and would be very grateful to know if you think it would be the right tool, given what I’m interested in finding out.
I’d like to know who my grandfather was. We know nothing about him, although there have been some vague and thin rumours in terms of first name and family type. Of course, these also may not be true. His identity was a well/guarded family secret and those few who knew his identity have now died.
I’ve been reading the posts on the forum with regard to not trusting the accuracy of published family trees. I don’t really want to compile a family tree; at least, that’s not my primary interest. I just want to find out who he was and if I have living relatives through him. Would I be able to do that just through DNA matches coming up? Or would it still entail me going through historical documents etc.
Please ask if I’m not being clear. This is all new to me so I’m aware I may not be articulating things well.
Hope you can help...🙂

By forum, I meant here on Mumsnet...🙂

Yes. If you do an Ancestry DNA kit, it will provide you with a list of Ancestry members who match with you.

Whether it actually helps will depend on which other family members have tested. I did mine recently and my "best" match was 177 cM. Emailed her, no response. I have had lots of other lower matches who I have been in touch with, but in general terms the lower the number which indicates shared DNA, the more distant the relative. For example - an Australian guy I have been in touch with is my third cousin, our common relations were great great grandparents who lived in the second half of the 19th century. That's not going to help you find your grandfather.

DNA is a great tool but can't really be used in isolation. You still need to do a bit of tree-building to help you understand where the people you match with might fit in. It's the same as paper records - people lie, don't state fathers on birth certificates etc - and they might not be the truth either. Both used together is the best approach.

In terms of your grandfather, you'd really need to find close genetic relatives to be able to find out who he was without more genealogical research.

This chart is useful for looking at the numbers and working out the potential relationship between you and a match:

fh.familysearch.org/system/files/team/ait/images/blog/centimorgan-chart.png

Note the ranges - and due to the way DNA recombines through the generations, it's entirely possible that you can be related and have no DNA in common.

Accuracy of trees - let's just say that some are better than others!!

Hi Raspberry. Thank you for replying so fully; that’s really helpful.

I must admit, the additional documentation aspect feels daunting; in terms of time, at least.

I’m hopeful there may be another branch of my family that I discover. The story told is that my biological grandfather’s marriage to another had been announced when my mother was conceived in the 1940s. This was very shameful for his family. Grandmother was under age and, due to the circumstances, was sent away to deliver. She returned and the baby (my mother) was registered several months later and was raised by my great grandmother as my grandmother’s younger sister.

I’m wondering if this might increase the odds of discovering some matches, assuming bio grandfather went on to have children (I believe this would have been very much an expectation of him, and he was clearly fertile...). Do you think it might?

Thanks again 🙂

It might - but will all hinge on whether those people have also tested. There is also the possibility that people further back have tested and that would let you follow their trees down and identify people of the right age/location to have met your grandmother and got her pregnant. As DNA dilutes through the generations (you get 50% from each parent), you would get stronger matches by getting your mum to test. Is she still alive and would she be up for it?

Thanks 😊.

My mother is still alive and, a few years ago, told me she had trawled through internet archives trying to find clues. I mentioned the DNA testing kits to her about a year ago but she didn’t seem enthusiastic.

She was told her bio father was Jewish (adding to the degree of his family’s shame). She said she’d always felt very Jewish. I wondered if she was afraid of having that identity taken away from her should he prove not to have been....

She seems pretty certain that he was though, so I’m not sure. I agree it would be better if she took the test too. I’m not sure she will though, which was why I wondered if I might get some information just through me doing it.

Go for it, but don’t get your hopes up. The added difficulty is that Jewish people are an endogamous group. This means you will get very many matches and many will be further away than they look. I would recommend doing some reading around after submitting the test. There are also some great Facebook groups. The good news is that Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry is picked up easily by Ancestry, so you should be able to determine the truth as to ethnicity there. I would get your mum tested in preference to you as she’s closer to your grandfather. I’d also advise uploading your raw dna to other dna sites. You may also wish to get tested at 23andme. You may be lucky and work it out really quickly. Or you maybe like me and be 4 years down the line, no further forward. Best of luck. I think you’ll find it fascinating whatever.

Thank you.

I’m just ordering a kit. At least I was... They’ve added a compulsory £20 expedited shipping to the bill. Just seeing whether I can order without it, which may take some time 🙄.

Hope you don’t mind another question...

Heather in Utah said the expedited postage is due to Covid and kits can’t be posted without it. I suppose I need to just suck it up.

Should I click the two week free trial box on my PayPal order? Or is it better to leave this until I receive the results and assess the options then. Some people out in internet land are saying it’s hard to cancel subscriptions.

I bought my DNA kit in November and didn't have to pay expedited postage.... Weird.

I think after your results come through they send you pretty decent membership offers too.

Felt weird to me too and I hesitated. Anyway, I’ve done it now. Paid via PayPal and hoping it will come soon due to expedited bloody delivery!
I clicked the two weeks free trial in the order. I guess I just need to remind myself to cancel it in time to consider the membership offers.
Well, at least the decision has been made. Thanks for your help so far 🙂. I’ll let you know how goes...

DH did his and it took about 8 weeks for results/ matches to come through.

@LadyEloise

DH did his and it took about 8 weeks for results/ matches to come through.

Good to know; thanks. It came today. Will probably do the test at the weekend. In fact, it will likely take me the weekend to generate the degree of saliva required...😳😳

How did you get on, Op?

Still haven’t had the results back.... Have been expecting them, but nothing yet.

I found mine pretty useless to be honest. I've got one potential second cousin, yet not one person in common on our family trees.
The other matches are a lot further down the line in relation and even still...no common ancestors.

I wanted to try and find out if my dad is actually my dad, but I'm no further forward. Unless I do an actual dna test with him but last time I broached that subject it didn't go well.

I hope you get the answers you're looking for.

I presume your Mum's birth certificate doesn't say the name of her father on it? That would be an easy thing to check if you haven't. Do you have absolutely no information about possible names or anything else? It would definitely be worth having a look in the records if you have any information at all to go on?

I hope you got the results back @Swashbuckled

@LadyEloise

I hope you got the results back *@Swashbuckled*

Not a dickie bird.....

That's a long wait. My results were about three weeks, but friends are waiting two months or more now. I managed to solve two family mysteries for other members. One was a woman who didn't know who her grandfather was. It turned out I had known her for years and we were cousins. We correctly found her grandfather. Another was my great grandmother's brother who had gone missing. It turned out he had run away from the army and changed his name. These people were very grateful that I had tested my DNA. I wish you luck and I'm hopeful that you'll get some answers.

Thank you 😊

I posted my kit on 3rd January; this does seem a long time ago. I have emailed them to enquire re progress....

It will probably help if you can convince your mother to take the test as well as she is a closer relative to your grandfather.

Any results back @Swashbuckled ?

@Swashbuckled Do you have your results?
Don’t expect to receive anything through the post. The results will be on the ancestry website where you can also check what stage your test is at. My dh sent his mid January and results were about 7 weeks.

Really?

No, I haven’t received anything in the post and have been assuming I would. Bloody Hell; you mean they could have been sitting there all this time...?!

I shall try to see if I can log on. Thank you for this....

Log in, click on DNA top left and it will tell you where your application is or show you your matches if analysis is complete. Good luck!