How to 'get over' finding out your ancestry is not what you were told?

[erwoo]

I was brought up being told that my great grandfather was Jewish. I recently took an ancestry DNA test, and I now know that this was not true. He had lied about his origins after 'running away' as a young man. He was actually from Newcastle. Growing up, this was a big part of my identity, as my grandmother was raised with stories about grandparents escaping from Russia et cetera. Now we know it is all a crock of

Not Welsh, but from the West Country. What intrigues me is that he was from a very isolated village, and I'm wondering what the chances are that some random person found him in flagrante delicto.

I should imagine with the history of state sponsored forced adoptions and hidden pregnancies, a lot of us aren't exactly who we think we are. I doesn't necessarily mean the story is untrue, only that his genetic background isn't what he said or possibly what he believed it to be.

Or it could all be nonsense.

My ggrandfather is one of three Irish brothers - probably will never know which one - and not the man named on my gran's birth certificate.
Found this out when my dad did the ancestry test and had 47% of his dna matching people from Connaught, a second cousin he'd never heard of and over 80 new American connections.
I'd spent years researching the wrong person!
Seriously it left me feeling quite sad for my ggrandmother. These were different times and we can't really know what they experienced.

Try a different company and see if it matches. My grandmother was 100% Italian, family can be traced back for many years, we got my son a gene kit for Xmas, no Italian at all. Nothing. So they aren't great

I recently did a DNA test & was expecting Italian to be quite a high %.
It came in at 6.9%. Surprisingly (to me) Azhkenazi Jewish came in at 4.9%
(I appreciate this does not 'make me Jewish' but it was interesting to me)

I'm sorry to say, but that is statistically impossible. Your grandmother is either not his genetic great-grandmother, or she was adopted.

I don’t think you should even begin this process unless you are prepared for skeletons in closets.
DH found out that his beloved grandad probably wasn’t his grandad but that his biological grandad was probably a Russian rapist during WW2.
To be honest I kind of had an inkling and it put a lot of things together.
DH said it made no difference to him at all

Hi
Forensic scientist here. Deal with dna rests frequently.

You're saying it's your GREAT grandfather yeah? So not your parent, not their parents, but your parents parents.... this covers an estimated time of 220 years.

If your great grandfather was half Jewish, then your grandmother would have been 10-25% Jewish (providing your great grandmother wasn't Jewish at all)

Providing this happens again, your mother would have been 2-8% Jewish.

This leaves you, providing the same is true again, <1%-4%.

Sounds like your closer to the <1% mark.

I thought the OP was saying her ggrandfather was 100% Jewish, so her gfather would be 50%, mother 25% and she would be 12.5%. (Obviously, the actual figures would vary from this, due to the randomness of reproduction.) It would be statistically unlikely for her to have no % Jewish DNA, under the Ancestry test.

The OP would also have lots of Ancestry matches who were 100% Jewish, because Jewish people are over represented in the Ancestry tests.

It's impossible to be 100% anything.
Ancestry tests can show a 99.9% probability, but many ethnic groups share the same genes.

Also the percentage of genes you inherit aren't exactly half.... (hear me out) if dad is 20% Jewish, and 80% Chinese, then the genetic material you receive at conception is more than likely going to be predominatly chinese.

Not only that, but when sections of genes swap they can become even less jewish.
Ancestry tests are a bit of fun. But they miss out vital infomation, and we tell our clients to steer clear. They don't test for the thing you think they do. They test for the probability of genes from a given area. They look for basic markings and patterns. They don't go deep enough to confirm anything, especially when you are potentially talking about genes passed to the family 210-250 years ago.

I'm a biologist, so I get all that. 🙂But my point still stands.

If her ggrandad were 100% Jewish in the Ancestry tests (obviously this is different from biology), then in the Ancestry tests, she would likely have some % Jewishness, and also many of her matches would be "100% Jewish".

My point is that the tests may not be accurate. She is definitely my grandmother, my mum and her sisters look just like her, she looks just like her mother. I look like my mother! We are all very clearly related!
I am going to do one for myself to see what it says. Some parts of my sons were accurate, my dad is from Manchester, it linked to there and they have some links to Scandinavia which was mentioned

The other thing to bear in mind about the Jewish great grandfather is that Judaism is a religion as well as an ethnic group. In traditional Jewish law, Jewish status comes from the mother - if the mother is Jewish, the child is Jewish. The status of the father is irrelevant. Add to that the possibility of conversion to Judaism. Add to that all the other possibilities pp have mentioned. To me it's entirety plausible that you could have a Jewish ancestor and not have 'Ashkenazi' DNA.

We did the DNA in conjunction with tracing back the family history through Ancestry.com - it was exactly as we expected and matched the family history back to the 1850s exactly. Mums side 50% Irish 50% North Yorkshire. Dads side all North Yorkshire.

Mums maternal side were Irish immigrants, her paternal aide from York. Dads maternal and paternal side came from
Thirsk and Leyburn.

Obviously we were not a well travelled family.

that’s said there’s some pretty shady characters in there. My great grandfather was in and out of Wakefield jail for drunkenness and not paying fines and was sent down for child neglect as well. His daughter was killed age 5 when she was knocked down by a horse and cart. Her father owned a horse and cart and was a drunken green grocer. Now I may be making 5 from 2+2 but I don’t think so.

one of dads uncles deserted during the first world war and another suffered so badly with PTS that he ended up a tramp.

Fascinating stuff. Very sad, but I think we all probably have some skeletons in our cupboards.

*Mrs Squirrel" Yes, good point.

The OP mentions Newcastle, so I read it that she'd done the test, then done conventional research, and found out he'd been born there rather than Russia, as she'd supposed.

Did my family tree during lockdown and once I got beyond great grandparents it was basically a whole load of people who died in debtors prisons, workhouses or by suicide.

While incredibly sad, it doesn't change who I am and who my parents, grandparents......etc were, it just illustrates how incredibly awful society has been for a very long time in dealing with the 'undesirables'.

Your ancestor will have had a reason for the story they created.

That's not what the TV adverts want you to believe!

I expected my DNA test to show my 'Dad' was not my bio father, especially given his behaviour to me over the years. Turns out he is, but his paternal grandfather was not his grandmother's husband!

I have dumped thirty years of research and tried to make contact with all of my close DNA matches, who are also descendants of this previously unknown man, but none of them will answer. I must admit I find this a bit odd as the indiscretion took place 150 years ago!

I've known for a couple of years, but am still getting my head round it. It's very odd when you and your immediate family look like people who won't talk to you!

My 23 & Me was boringly exactly what I'd expected, 24% Ashkenazi Jewish and 75% British & Irish.

It's interesting that Jewish people are overrepresented on DNA sites. I think I've only got two DNA relatives on there that aren't Jewish

Nowt wrong with being a Geordie op..

The percentage is not a probability, it's a measure of the proportion of the DNA sites tested that match a specific ethnic group on the company's database. You certainly can be a 100% match to a group, although not sure how common that is in practice.

Also not sure where you're getting 210 years from for a g grandparent.

Same here, but mine is one of three Scottish brothers. American DNA link was the breakthrough here also.

1. These tests are hugely unreliable
2. There are Jews in Newcastle
3. There are other Jewish ethnicities besides Ashkenazi, and these tests don't pick any of them up reliably
4. Not all Jews are related by blood - there are converts too, maybe your ancestor was descended from converts
5. You have 8 great grandparents, finding one is not the exact ethnicity you thought does not affect your identity in any way

Complete non issue as far as I can see. Why would he have been lying? I doubt he was, but why does it matter to you if he did?

@JudyJulie i have had similar. I’ve found my half cousins on ancestry. The dna shows they’re my half cousins but they are convinced they’re my second cousins even though they can’t be. So my mum is their dads half sister. My mum is dead, their dad is dead but they’re still in denial.