DNA tests

paddyz

Will your fathers dna or a very close relative not need to be on the data bank for it to be a match?

kuepper

paddyz wrote: »

Will your fathers dna or a very close relative not need to be on the data bank for it to be a match?

Yes but there's quite a few 3-4th cousins from Poland I've matched with, just the small matter of finding a relative of theirs who might have been in N Yorkshire around 9 months before I was born. Of course no-one may want to admit anything anyway wondering if there's consequences

unholyangel

kuepper wrote: »

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

Is there anyone in your mothers family that you could track down that might be able to shed some light on his identity?

Usually these things were kept to very close family - sometimes not even siblings knew. But you might get lucky and she had an older sibling who knew more than the parents did or she may have spoke about it to someone later in her life.

Also, back in those days people tended to do everything very locally - there was no 30 mile commute to/from work. So chances are it would've been a farm local to where your mum was living at the time. Although without some sort of correlating information confirming his father was a farmer, I'd be less inclined to spend any time investigating that avenue.

kuepper wrote: »

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.

These ethic origin tests are not reliable, they're good for novelty but useless for information as to ancestry. They don't have the time machine required to be accurate.

They would need to trace individuals, rather than just compare it to common genetic markers found in individuals all over the world.

Because what if one of your parents ancestors originated from spain, moved to italy for 500 years then moved to the uk for the next 300. And during that time, mixing dna with families who have also done the same. Do you think the resulting test from those circumstances will give an accurate picture of where your parents were born or lived?

Grumpelstiltskin

unholyangel wrote: »

Is there anyone in your mothers family that you could track down that might be able to shed some light on his identity?

Usually these things were kept to very close family - sometimes not even siblings knew. But you might get lucky and she had an older sibling who knew more than the parents did or she may have spoke about it to someone later in her life.

Also, back in those days people tended to do everything very locally - there was no 30 mile commute to/from work. So chances are it would've been a farm local to where your mum was living at the time. Although without some sort of correlating information confirming his father was a farmer, I'd be less inclined to spend any time investigating that avenue.



These ethic origin tests are not reliable, they're good for novelty but useless for information as to ancestry. They don't have the time machine required to be accurate.

They would need to trace individuals, rather than just compare it to common genetic markers found in individuals all over the world.

Because what if one of your parents ancestors originated from spain, moved to italy for 500 years then moved to the uk for the next 300. And during that time, mixing dna with families who have also done the same. Do you think the resulting test from those circumstances will give an accurate picture of where your parents were born or lived?

As the OP is 71 years of age the chance of finding older siblings of their mother will be slight.

kuepper

unholyangel wrote: »

Is there anyone in your mothers family that you could track down that might be able to shed some light on his identity?

About 20 years ago (yes that's when this started but the DNA test I only did a year or so ago) I tracked down my mother's 2 living sisters who I thought must know something but they rather nastily warned me off and wouldn't communicate with me. A few years after my birth my mother married and had a daughter but she says I was a shock to her and she also knew nothing.


Re the ethnicity issue. I know it's shortcomings but it can't be just a coincidence I have so many projected 3/4/5th cousins with predominantly Polish/Germanic ethnicity and none that I can see on my maternal side, plus it's all I have to go on

Grumpelstiltskin

This is Wikis list of POW camps.

Maybe one was closer than Eden Camp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_War_II_prisoner-of-war_camps_in_the_United_Kingdom

unholyangel

Grumpelstiltskin wrote: »

As the OP is 71 years of age the chance of finding older siblings of their mother will be slight.

You never know. OP says their mother was a teenager. So the older sibling could still be in their 80's.

But it was merely just one example of who would be likely to have known about it at the time (given attitudes were quite different to today and things normally kept firmly behind closed doors) to potentially pass that information on, rather than a suggestion they'd still be around to tell it today.

unholyangel

kuepper wrote: »

About 20 years ago I tracked down my mother's 2 living sisters who I thought must know something but they rather nastily warned me off and wouldn't communicate with me. A few years after my birth my mother married and had a daughter but she says I was a shock to her and she knew nothing.

Do the sisters have any children that might be more forthcoming? As I've said, attitudes were different back then. Very often these things would be taken to the grave - so older generations are less keen to discuss anything that taints the family history. Or would they maybe reconsider if you made an emotional plea to them, that you're not trying to stir up any unwelcome memories, merely just seeking some answers on your background?

Did you speak to your birth mother? Or has this been passed onto you third hand?

kuepper

thorsoak wrote: »

Look here :- Prisoners of war in British hands - The National Archives
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk ›

yes I tried that and they referred me to local archives in N Yorks but nothing there

kuepper

unholyangel wrote: »

Do the sisters have any children that might be more forthcoming? As I've said, attitudes were different back then. Very often these things would be taken to the grave - so older generations are less keen to discuss anything that taints the family history. Or would they maybe reconsider if you made an emotional plea to them, that you're not trying to stir up any unwelcome memories, merely just seeking some answers on your background?

Did you speak to your birth mother?

Trust me I did make emotional pleas everywhere. Those 2 sisters never married and are since deceased. I've been in touch with other relatives including an aunt (the wife of my deceased uncle) who says she was very good friends with my mother but all say they know nothing, As I've already posted, I never met my mother. Out of respect to my adopted parents I never searched for her until they had passed away but then discovered she had died about 10 years previously.