DNA tests

kuepper

I was born illegitimate and I'm trying to id my birth father. I did an Ancestry.co.uk dna test to see if I could find relatives and I did but only 4th cousin or more distant. Someone has suggested I do a y-chromosome dna test which flags up direct male descendants but Ancestry don't do that test and I don't understand how that would give me any new info as surely I have all the male and female descendants I can discover as it is, so I'd just be wasting money wouldn't I? If it's a good idea where would I get it done and where to usefully upload the dna data to get some new information?

Grumpelstiltskin

As you have discovered with the Ancestry test you can only find relatives if they have taken the test.

So the chance of your father having taken a test is very very small.

Can you work out how the cousins you have discovered on Ancestry are related to you?

I do know someone who has discovered a half sibling through the Ancestry test but that is unusual.

Floxxie

A Y-DNA test is the male line only. It may or may not help (depending on if any relatives have tested)

Before going for that expense, I would upload your test results from Ancestry to Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) and MyHeritage as well (and you could also consider making a note that you don't know who your father is to notify the matches)

hollydays

kuepper wrote: »

I was born illegitimate and I'm trying to id my birth father. I did an Ancestry.co.uk dna test to see if I could find relatives and I did but only 4th cousin or more distant. Someone has suggested I do a y-chromosome dna test which flags up direct male descendants but Ancestry don't do that test and I don't understand how that would give me any new info as surely I have all the male and female descendants I can discover as it is, so I'd just be wasting money wouldn't I? If it's a good idea where would I get it done and where to usefully upload the dna data to get some new information?

What did/ does your mother say on the subject?

harrys_nan

How about uploading your DNA to" My Heritage". You can also join Ancestry UK Discussion Group on Facebook, you will get help and advice from the people on there
Also try My Heritage also on Face book.

You can only get any results if any of your fathers family or him have tested

kuepper

hollydays wrote: »

What did/ does your mother say on the subject?

I was adopted a few weeks after birth and never met my mother, she died almost 30 years ago.

kuepper

harrys_nan wrote: »

How about uploading your DNA to" My Heritage". You can also join Ancestry UK Discussion Group on Facebook, you will get help and advice from the people on there
Also try My Heritage also on Face book.

You can only get any results if any of your fathers family or him have tested

Already uploaded my DNA to myheritage with similar (distant) results. I didn't know about the facebook pages, I'll have a look, thanks.

kuepper

Floxxie wrote: »

A Y-DNA test is the male line only. It may or may not help (depending on if any relatives have tested)

Before going for that expense, I would upload your test results from Ancestry to Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) and MyHeritage as well (and you could also consider making a note that you don't know who your father is to notify the matches)

yes i've done Myheritage. I also uploaded to Familytreedna but i've never been able to access any matches there

kuepper

My mother's family I've traced back several generations and are all England based so much to my surprise the DNA test revealed my ethnic origins are ~50% mainland Europe with Ancestry suggesting an area including parts of Lithuania /Poland/Czechia/ Slovakia/ Germany and Myheritage suggesting it could even extend into the Balkans. So I'm guessing my father was from there or a direct descendant of parents from there.

Floxxie

I wouldn't look too deeply into your ethnic origins at this stage. I'm English and apparently have zero percent English origins.

What you actually need to work out is what you have inherited from either parent...amd also hope that connected people have tested. You may be able to find a genealogist who can assist you. I don't cover adoption/unknown parentage cases but I know I handful of people who do.

kuepper

Floxxie wrote: »

What you actually need to work out is what you have inherited from either parent...

I don't understand that, can you explain? I know all about my birth mother and her family going back about 180 years. The European ethnicity is important as it must have come from my father, none of my maternal DNA matches have any ethnicity from outside the UK