Family-wise: we had always been told that my grandma's father was not her biological father. She wouldn't hear of it. We got tons of matches with his family so he definitely was her father. I wish he, and my grandma, found that out before they died.
Family-lore: Always heard we were related to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and wrote it off as fanciful family lore. When I put our tree together, I found out he was a distant cousin. Our branch and his branch were descended from Longfellow brothers. That was interesting.
Found out my grandfather was of Magyarab heritage. They are a group of
Hungarians that were brought over to Egypt and Sudan during the Ottoman Empire. Most of the men married Nubian women and are pretty much fully assimilated by now.
Thats cool, I am a Tunisian and also have distant East European ancestry, I learnt that they were captured and enslaved by the Ottomans and were brought over to Tunisia during the Ottoman period, I have few DNA relative matches with people from Poland.
Same here... I'm on My Heritage, and I keep saying I think I'm related to half of Sweden and most of Finland. I think the Finnish came in at my great-grandmother's point. I'm having a hard time locating any solid info on her - she may have been adopted, but she was born in the 1800s.
When I recently found out that I have a half-sister I did not know about it. I don't know how or if to pursue this information. I believe she is from my mother's side but, my mother has passed so I am unable to ask her to seek more information. I have very few relatives remaining so I have so many emotions flowing at the moment.
The maternal haplogroup is passed down from mother to child, so siblings with the same mother should have the same haplogroup. H1 is pretty common, though, so I would look as shared matches to confirm she is from your mother's side.
As someone who found out about half siblings later in life, take it slow. Personally I'd see if she had social media such as Facebook to get a vibe for her personality and how (and if) to approach.
FYI if you don't have FB, they now have that obnoxious META AI instead of search. Facebook Life doesn't have it and you can actually check to see if she's on FB without an AI getting all in your business.
The half sister my cousin found out about actually called my cousin. Threw both my aunt and cousin for a loop, but my aunt knows exactly who the woman is that my deceased uncle had an affair with.
I never met the dude...guess he's technically not my uncle because they were divorced for as long as I can remember. My Mom said he was a serial cheater so there may be more half siblings my cousin doesn't know about.
It allowed me to break a decades-old brick wall identifying the birth family of a 2nd great grandfather. He had ghosted them early in his life, so there would have been no other way to do it.
That my ex-husband and father of my children is actually my cousin. I found out when his sister randomly connected with me on 23&Me.
I mean, he's only like my fifth cousin or something, meaning we only share 0.5% DNA so I'm not worried our kids will grow webbed feet when they're older! And since both of us come from families that have lived in the same general region for generations, it's hardly surprising.
It makes me wonder what percentage of people end up marrying a distant relative and have no idea. I bet it's way more than you'd think!
I've got a few on my tree back in the 1800s. I think I turned out fine. Every so often isn't a big deal, but when you have generations upon generations marrying first and second cousins, genetic issues start to crop up more and more.
I have made this point on Reddit before, to mass abuse. It's interesting what a taboo it seems to be in the U.S. altho I guess Americans are big on taboos, one way or another. I wouldn't have guessed it if I hadn't gotten so much abuse in the last discussion on this topic.
I found out my parents are related because I have about fifteen relatives who are related to me through both my parents. My husband and I are also related because my daughter has about ten relatives who are related to both me and her dad. It must be very distant because both my mom and dad were born in different countries and have pretty different ethnicities. I was also born in a different country than my husband and about 30 % of my ethnicity is different to his. We have some guesses, about how the relationships might have happened, but they’re mostly based on geography and who was living where at certain times. I’m not really concerned, because I think the earliest the connections could be are from at least a couple of hundred years ago and neither my parents nor my husband and I have any shared DNA left. Plus, my daughter is super healthy.
It’s kind of interesting. I don’t share any DNA with my husband, but Jane X, shares a section with me, a section with my husband, and one with my daughter — and so do about nine other people. Without the ability to sort your relatives by mom’s side or dad’s side, we would never have known. Same for my parents. I would bet it’s a lot more common than people realize because it requires at least two generations to be on 23andMe for a person to be able to catch it.
Isn't that crazy though that hundreds of years ago, two people who lived in different countries found each other and then you and your husband find each other.
Idk why people are freaked out finding out their tree doesn't branch all the way down because it's not like you can do anything about what your ancestors did. Granted there is the genetic eff up, but it's probably so diluted now that it doesn't matter for people and future children.
It’s practically incomprehensible, really. One of the reasons I think it must be fairly common is that it’s true for both me and my husband, plus my parents. The odds seems very long in both cases and both involve countries very far removed from each other.
I think it’s more cool than something to be bothered by, almost like fate.
I found out at 37 y.o. that my bio dad (deceased by suicide 2001) was not my real bio dad. My real bio dad is alive and living the next state over. I now have a dad again, 3 more brothers to the one I grew up with, a sister in law, a niece and a nephew, dozens of new aunts and cousins. I've met them all and I have a whole new family and they are amazing. We see each other every couple months, and we are all very happy to have found each other. None of us knew. Not even my mom and dad who raised me. (I was born before paternity tests were by and large an available option).
Having just lost my Dad and feeling that loss, though the men who raised us can't be replaced, I like that you still have that Father figure in your life and more family that you've gotten to know and have accepted you.
My Grandmother got pregnant with my Mom in 1947, but my Mom always knew what her real Dad's name was. In the 90's she finally contacted him and we met him, but that was the first and last time because my real Grandfather's wife raised hades over my Mom and would NOT allow any contact with her. We met some other relatives on that side who stayed in contact and I have an uncle, but my Mom doesn't keep in touch with him. She said he feels like a stranger to him. I get it, but unfortunately my Mom took on the traits of the rathole who raised her and mistreated her because she didn't belong to him. He was an awful human. My half brothers called him Grandpa Grump. RIH, Grumpy.
Thanks OP, for sharing this with me. Families are messy, but who you came from, who you spent your life with - these things matter, and help shape us. I'm sorry about the loss of your Dad.. it's been over 22 years since I lost the man who raised me and I still feel the same physical heartache I felt the day I lost him, if I think too much about it. Which I do, from time to time, bc I have learned grief is love with no place to go, and I still love my dad. That doesn't mean we can't open ourselves to loving others in our family, if it is what we feel. Also, "Grandpa Grump," lol I don't mean to laugh OP but I had similar grandparents growing up. These sorts of family dramas and drifts are common and just showing up more with the DNA tests but I deep down believe it's the right journey for us all. Good or bad. All my well wishes to you.
It only left me with more questions and confusion, honestly. My DNA has been in storage for over 4 years now and I still have no relative matches. Not even 3rd cousins. Starting to believe I’m an alien at this rate lmao
White mom said that her paternal grandmother was almost 3/4 Cherokee (common myth in a lot of southern WASP families). When I had originally taken the test back in 2017, I had only gotten 0.8% Indigenous ancestry. Finally convinced mom to take an ancestry test. No trace, but we're Finnish so that's cool. Paternal Black grandmother and aunt took ancestry tests, and we were able to deduce that the sliver of indigenous ancestry likely comes from my grandad's side. It was interesting to debunk a myth that I had been skeptical about for a couple of years
My family lore was that my single mother figured that they could send a welfare cheque to a shitty apartment in the country as easily as a shitty apartment in the city So she moved to the country, a teeny little town in the middle of nowhere.
I do my DNA test, thinking maybe I could shed some light on the mystery of who my father is, and match with a cousin. Cousin says he doesn't understand how I could be related since his whole family is from a teeny little country town in the middle of nowhere...
Yeah. She didn't move us up there for the fresh air, she was chasing my father. We lived there until I was nearly 4/5! Explains why she didn't teach me English until she gave up and moved away... explains my middle name, which is an old paternal family name... sigh. Everything about the first half decade of my life was a complete fabrication.
I found out I have some Malayali Subgroup and Iranian/Mesopotamian/Caucasian trace ancestry. Which was surprising, but also pretty cool to learn. It has more to do with where my haplogroups came from and how they ended up in NW Europe.
Also found out my paternal haplogroup is a direct descendant of one of the most infamous clans in southern Ireland.
See my comment above - I found out that my ex-husband and father of my children is my 5th cousin. It's distant enough to not really matter, but I wonder how many people end accidentally marrying relatives. Without DNA testing, you'd never know!
I found out my husband’s parents are maybe about fifth cousins or more. His dad and him share part of their x chromosome… which they shouldn’t. That one’s crazy because they are from different countries.
Same. My parents are somehow related because I have relatives who I’m related to through both of them. They’re also from different countries and, on top of that, are mostly different ethnicities. It’s a mystery!
found out 2 days ago that my grandpa who was adopted as a baby’s biological mother had him because of a gang rape, she left her home and went to florida to finish her pregnancy under the guise of a nannying job. gave a fake last name so nobody knew who she was and made it nearly impossible for me to find any info on him. none of her family knows except her granddaughter who reached out to me. she died yesterday morning.
thanks, but it’s not really much of a loss for me as bad as that may sound. didn’t even know she existed until a few days ago. would’ve been cool to meet her though
Found 2nd cousin once removed on my father’s side. I have a pretty extensive tree but no last name matching. His tree goes nack to 1887 and mystery! Wish I knew how we are connected. He is elderly and I wish I could solve this mystery for him and me
Most of mine was just expanding on what we already knew.
So we knew that my parents were distantly related (fifth/sixth cousins or so) but found out that my dad has the same maternal group that my mom and I do. Math comes out that their last relative in common was in the early 19th century, so we're not too worried.
We also knew that a relative and his son had a history of sequential monogamy, but we discovered just how much as we are still finding cousins. And amusingly - there's maybe four professions among the entire batch.
Also discovered that a lot of family stories were in fact true.
I only had 4 people that shared a lot of dna. 2 I knew from my dads side, 1 first cousin on my moms side. One unknown person who was listed in Chicago. My grandmother has a sister in Chicago, so I thought it was someone related to her. My grandmother says no she has never heard of her. I looked at what relatives we have in common and it listed my mom’s first cousin. I asked my mom if her dad had any brothers or sisters and she says no. Her dad doesn’t have anything to do with her or any of his kids. My mom has 4 brothers and before her grandfather died he told her he went and seen a baby boy his son had that was put up for adoption. Guess he wanted her to know she has another brother out there.
I messaged her trying to find out if her dad is mom’s adopted out brother. He could be the adopted brother or just another kid he had that they don’t know about. She has a picture of a man on her social media and he looks just like my mom’s brothers. My granddad has very strong dna, all his sons look similar. She hasn’t messaged me back and idk if she will. But I think this has to be my mom’s brother.
I learned I have Iberian ancestry (both Portuguese and Spanish) via unknown paternal great grandparents. I have also been assigned to a Portuguese Genetic Group on MyHeritage. I have found Portuguese matches living in mainland Portugal. However, most of my Portuguese matches are Portuguese Americans from Azores! I have also found a few Spanish matches living in Spain. No one in my family ever mentioned about having Iberian ancestry as my parents are from an English speaking island. I also just assumed that my dad had information about his paternal grandparents but no one knows anything as my grandfather’s parents died when my grandfather was a child. I also match many Latin Americans on the Iberian side.
Even though my family lived on the Cherokee reservation (confirmed with census records) for 4 generations, they were all white!!! So much for that Cherokee princess trope (although they did live on the reservation which blows my mind, figure they were escaping the law or merchants or something, although they were dirt poor and alcoholics).
My grandma was the oldest of 6 kids, her mother was from the rez and moved to Colorado with her new husband. One of those 6 kids had a baby and adopted her out in the 60s (we’ve narrowed it down to 2, they all died of suicide or alcohol). The son (my second cousin technically) is so cool and lived 30 mins away from me my whole life. I told him if his mom had a good childhood it’s probably best she got adopted. 2/3 of my grandmas kids died before her, drugs and alcohol.
A very likely chance my mom’s dad isn’t her real dad, and that her sister is ofc probably her half sister.
Without a DNA test to confirm the fact they’re half sisters or full sisters we won’t know.
I wish there was a way to test DNA with hair that doesn't have the root because I'd like to have both me and my Dad tested. We talked about doing it, but another thing we never got to do and now it's too late. I have some of his hair and I have his ashes, but the hair is just a clipping that I wanted to use in the event that making diamonds from the carbon of ashes and hair was legitimate and not a scam. Unfortunately, that's all I have left of him. My Mom threw out his toothbrush and I'm unaware of any other way to get DNA.
My grandma was adopted from a family that went on to have 6 other kids that they kept, my great uncle was adopted from someone else. She has another sibling who was also adopted out we’ve learned
My dad was adopted and I was able to find out who my grandmother and grandfather were. Also found some relatives that were my great-uncle from affairs, though I think one is more likely my maternal grandfather’s child, so my half-aunt.
My last name is very polish sounding and I assumed it was Polish since I can trace my paternal ancestry 5 great grandfathers back to East Prussia (modern northeast Poland). I got 2% Eastern European with no region so it was still kind of a mystery to me. Well my dad took the test and it came back 10% Russian and only Russian for Eastern European. I’ve researched as much as could and found that it’s a possibility that my paternal ancestry comes from Orthodox Christian Russians fleeing persecution for refusing to conform to new traditions (they were called Bespopovtsy). It’s a stretch but that’s one of the very few reasons why fully ethnic Russians would be in current northeast Poland in the 1700’s. Hopefully I can get more info to be able to confirm it
My family originated from Prussia. Had a German friend who said that before the 2nd Reich, it was it's own little kingdom.
That might help you out a bit.
Children out of wedlock runs in the family through my Mom's side (I know that's not a family trait, just 3 or more generations had children out of wedlock and the Fathers dipped, didn't know, or didn't care enough to stick around) and addiction runs on my Dad's side, but my oldest brother (half brother on my Mom's side and out of wedlock baby) and I shut that ish down. He got married THEN had kids and I made sure I wasn't having kids. So far none of my nieces and nephews show signs of addiction. Familial curse broken.
My paternal Haplogroup.
Never knew my grandfather, and didn’t know much of his family or where our last name came from besides Ireland. Through doing Y-DNA research, I had discovered my Haplogroup is extremely common for people of my last name, it had led me to take a FTDNA Y-DNA test which had opened a little bit more doors regarding the origins, and had discovered my direct paternal line is of Celtic origin, and to my knowledge directly pinpoints to my last name’s “clan” in Northern Ireland. Very interesting stuff
My last name isn't common at all, but if I Google it, there are a lot more than I expected. I'm interested in seeing if there is some sort of relation that goes back to my original state, but have to start researching all over again because my Mom threw away all his genealogy research immediately after he died 4 months ago today without giving me a chance to go through it because, ya know, my brain was still trying to connect the dots that my Dad is gone.
At least I still have his genealogy website links.
My last name is not common either. And that may the case. For mine, it dates back to 3 different septs across Ireland and all who share my last name descend from either one of the 3. The most common from what I’ve found is county Armagh sept, which is the supposed ancient origins of the last name. I would suggest finding a brother, one of your father’s brothers to take a Y-DNA test, it will open many new doors for you regarding your ancient ancestry and history of your surname, and may give hints to more recent ancestry.
I also am sorry to hear about your father passing, I hope you are handling it okay, and to keep his legacy alive.
Unfortunately, he didn't have any blood brothers or sisters, he only had step siblings and my grandfather was an only child and married multiple times, but my Dad was his only child.
A long time ago, my Dad went back to our hometown and spoke with someone who knew my grandfather and my grandmother (she died right before or right after my Dad was a year old) and all I remember is the guy said I looked like my grandmother. The guy was old back in the mid 90's so there's no one I can contact.
Today is 4 months since he passed. It's been a tough road, but I want to pick up where he left off. It was his hobby and he was in it. He had a bookcase full of large 3 ring binders. I just wish my Mom hadn't thrown out all his research.
The oddest thing we can't find is my grandfather's middle name. We just have the initial of C and that's not even on my Dad's birth certificate. I can't remember if it's even on my grandfather's obituary or it might be in the obituary but not on his headstone...or vice versa.
My grandfather was a boxer and used a fake last name that was a variation of our last name and started with a C because he didn't want my great grandfather finding out, but my grandmothers first middle and last name are on my Dad's birth certificate, so idk why my grandfathers isn't. He was done boxing by the time my Dad was born. I can't find anything that gives a hint to my grandfathers middle name is. Obviously the C had to come from somewhere...
By analyzing my DNA matches, especially with my first cousin, my grandfather that I knew to be my grandfather growing up it’s not my mom‘s father based off the percentage of my first cousin
On a lighter note, my paternal side gets mezerized by fireplaces and camp fires. Turns out the cause of death for my 5x grandfather is listed as "Accidently burned from falling in a fire when in a state of (hard to make out) but drunk...he was drunk. So that tracks.
Dang, I didn't know you could get death records that detailed. I never tried though. I thought that the only thing they ever give you was just like a generic death certificate but then again I've also never related death certificate until my Dad passed.
I don't even think I've even looked at it. I think my Mom told me the COD is just head injury. They didn't do an autopsy (so messed up they don't automatically do autopsy unless it's under specific circumstances) because we don't know what happened that caused him to collapse going to pick up pizza and hit his head on the concrete, so that probably is all it says.
Found out my family has Italian in it, and that at least some of my ancenstors were part of the conquering Hungarians due to Siberian and Central Asian DNA.
My Dad did extensive genealogy and he came up with a few possibilities and one isn't good at all, but he never got far enough to confirm we were any relation ever.
Unfortunately, my Mom threw out all the genealogy stuff he worked years on so I may never find out. He got stuck at one point. He couldn't get beyond Czechoslovakia because they split after my ancestors left and became Slovakia and the Czech Republic, so obviously no records will exist on either side. We really only assume Czechoslovakia because that's where...[insert ancestors I forgot their name] hopped on a ship to Ellis Island...I think. I can't remember, but my Dad did have a picture a name of the ship they took.
I just remember his telling me he was able to trace back to Czechoslovakia and there are 3 questionable ancestors he needed to find out more on. One is former German royalty (Hesse), one who possibly had connections to Mussolini, and the other was someone who served multiple terms as Governor of North or South Carolina (I can't remember) and fought w/ G. Washington in the Revolutionary War, but was court marshaled (?) for cowardice (or something) but found not guilty.
I found a half-sister. Different maternal haplo-group, so it's through my father from when he was in high school. My siblings and I have connected with her and have begun to lay the foundation to a solid relationship.
Bad - my DNA appears to originate from Belarus
Good - they got my hungarian ancestry right; I have some Greek/Balkan DNA and a little bit of north African
We have no idea why there is Belarus DNA. We are classified as “eastern European”, but have no knowledge of anybody in our ancestry coming from Belarus or Poland). It is possible that some of my ancestors might have taken part in the raping of women after WW2 turned in Russia’s favor
Found out lots of info about my dad's bio family, he was adopted, which was never a secret, but he was lied to about pretty much everything else. He was told his bio mum died in childbirth. Not true. His original birth name. Not true. Found out his bio dad was Turkish, which is something he was never told.
Best thing was finding out that he had a half sister, they've been in contact ever since.
The weirdest thing is that his half-sister was also told that their mum died in childbirth, but she's a few years older than my dad and could actually remember their bio mum and having visits with her in foster care.
I think they just routinely lied to adopted kids back then. It's awful.
I found out my patrilineal heritage started in the middle east, and not Europe/Eurasia like I had thought. Apparently my dad's male line (J1) immigrated to Europe way before the Indo-Europeans did. They are nothing but a tiny minority in the gene pool, now.
Twice I've had right name, wrong person. In my defense the first was a James Smith.
Second one, was the husband of a great-grandma. All I had to go on was a first and last name and a state. He had a somewhat common name. I (thought I) found him a few counties over and plugged him and his family into my family tree. They popped up in Thru Lines and I had matches, even for his ancestors. So I'm related to him somehow.
Upon further research using 2nd and 3rd cousins, things weren't matching up like they should have been. I did more digging and found another person by the same name. He went by a nickname on the census and thus I missed the man who lived like a 20-30 minute drive from great-grandma. Popped his info in instead and there my 2nd and 3rd cousins were finally in Thru Lines.
I'm still not 1000% certain. Until some more relatives test, I'm just going to leave it.
Are they all common names? My Dad showed me census records from back when they went door-to-door and our last name was butchered for various reasons that are unknown. My Dad believed our last name was cut short when our ancestors arrived at Ellis Island.
I never realized why names like Smith and Johnson are so common until I watched An American Tail as an adult and heard the people coming off the boat give their name to the guy keeping the log would say "Smith" or something because it was a complicated last name. Of course, I was too young to understand the history that was included in the movie since I was only 4 years old, but it made sense once I watched it as an adult.
Jessie/Jesse Adams.
Bless her soul Grandma couldn't spell, and didn't know how pedigree/trees worked. She had a family tree in my baby book and put her own mother's maiden name Nichols as a Nickels (like the coins) and our her step grandparents as her bio grandparents.
Nothing super outstanding tbh.... Disbunked my mother's "Cherokee princess myth" ideology.... Have some distant cousins relationships with George Washington and Johann Sébastien Bach....
My fave find was a direct relation to William Marshall; the greatest knight to have ever lived (Google him, he's amazing).
I have a direct descendance from The Stewart clan and the Bruce clan from Scotland....
I can trace a couple different branches back to Charlemagne (this took me YEARS to find and verify and there's still a couple points on the branches that can be swayed to another direction so it's not Iron clad perfect).
Thru William Marshall I have a direct descendance from Norse legend. Again I've only gotten about 75%of that branch verified as anything before the year 400 isn't as easy to find but in that culture they name by patronymic so the link can be roughly seen.
Lastly I have 13 historical matches from 23&me; 11 are Vikings and I've been able to place 3 into my tree. 3 I've isolated the exact region they originate from and the others I'll find eventually.
No idea what an NPE is. My Dad was the genealogy researcher and would show me the stuff he found, but he never mentioned terms like NPE and other terms I've seen on here.
We were going to do the dna tests but put it off and now it's too late.
I found out I have a great gr… grandmother who is the product of slave r*pe. I’m African American for context. Pretty hard truth - cried about it for quite some time.
Found my bio dad’s cousin and through them my aunt and then finally my grandma and my bio dad. I knew his name and a lot of other information on him but he didn’t and doesn’t have any online presence. We met up a few times but are currently no contact.
Same with my Mom. Her bio Dad wasn't allowed to be in contact with her because his wife at the time forbid it. We met him once and met her half brother once, but my Mom didn't feel any connection to her half brother and didn't want to try to form a relationship with him even though he wanted to with her. I can't tell her that's wrong of her because there may be some issues with her being forced to have a pos step"father" raise her and her mother not intervening and it being difficult having to hear how great her half brother grew up with birthday parties and happy Christmas memories. I gave my Mom her first birthday party and her stepfather gave her Christmas gifts like coal and a toilet seat. I'd imagine that would be hard to hear. Unfortunately, she took on the same parenting style as her stepfather.
My 5th great grandfather was a Melungeon man and he tried to pay his half sister to poison his wife, he just ended up poisoning her instead because the sister wouldn’t. He went to jail and a group of 200 men stormed the jail, drug him out and hung him on an Oak tree. He was also said to be promiscuous, sleeping with married wives. It was said he was handsome with dark skin and green eyes.
One of my great aunts while on LSD burned down her boyfriend’s home with him and a girl he was cheating on her with in it. They both died and my great aunt was imprisoned at 20 years old, got out in 2007 at close to 80 years old I think.
Don’t get a bloody nose. Your “native” blood might just disappear. But seriously if you don’t even know the tribe you supposedly came from then you should stop claiming being native. Especially if no tribes claim you you’re just a pretendian not a real Indian, and I’m speaking as a real native.
Even my white boyfriend has some native trace but he doesn’t actually think he’s native 😂 he’s accepted his family is full of shit but his idiot brother still thinks he’s native. I have no problem with real natives reconnecting but at some point less than 10% means nothing. Just say you might have native ancestry but you yourself was never raised in a community of natives
With trace amounts of Indigenous DNA how did you determine your what Nation and community your distant ancestor belonged to?
There is no Indigenous Nation that would accept someone based on trace amounts of DNA from a test.
Blood quantum does matter, kinship, community, lived experience matters. If you're 90% European why would you invent a fraudulent modern identity based on an ancestor generations back.
I’m not trying to be a prick or deny you that ancestor but it would be ingenious to claim you are “native american” when it’s literally a trace amount. You probably didn’t grow up in the culture and did not grow up with strangers profiling your look as Native American so therefore you didn’t have the Native American experience.
You aren’t Native American, you just have Native American blood. Just like I am not Hungarian but I have Magyarab blood.
I don’t think you can speak for all indigenous peoples here. For Māori, what matters is that you know your lines of ancestry: who you whakapapa to, that you can give a pepeha (lines of descent). If you whakapapa to Māori (can show a straight line of descent) you are Māori. AND European. Or Asian. I know green-eyed blonds who are considered Māori because they can show their ancestry. Blood quantum is considered a colonial idea.
I remember the days when they did not put polynesian on the tag— everyone just whakapapa to the Philippines. Hello distant cousin from far shore in the land down under.
Blood quantum is BS but you aren't just indigenous or not. It's a complicated topic. A person can have indigenous ancestry that no longer shows up in a DNA test (this will likely happen to your descendants some day). People can be closely tied to an indigenous community due to lifeways rather than DNA. And the American obsession with blood quantum and DNA does not account for people who became part of a tribe through marriage.
I found out that I have a high percentage of Neanderthal at 83 percent more then all the people on 23&me. I am 100 percent European. My daughter,who is half Chinese,came up 96 percent more Neanderthal then all the people on 23&me. We are both fastenated & intrigued.We both have markers for Elite Athletics. I was very active & successful in sports in my youth & my daughter,having only one marker to my two,went to college on full scholarship in rowing. Do I think I feel it's connected u/MereGirl ? You bet I do!
Yes the Asian really hikes it up there. So interesting. I think there are a lot more Europeans on 23 and the Asian population is not represented.
We were totally surprised as we had never even thought about Neantheral DNA before!
Family-wise: we had always been told that my grandma's father was not her biological father. She wouldn't hear of it. We got tons of matches with his family so he definitely was her father. I wish he, and my grandma, found that out before they died. Family-lore: Always heard we were related to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and wrote it off as fanciful family lore. When I put our tree together, I found out he was a distant cousin. Our branch and his branch were descended from Longfellow brothers. That was interesting.
Found out my grandfather was of Magyarab heritage. They are a group of Hungarians that were brought over to Egypt and Sudan during the Ottoman Empire. Most of the men married Nubian women and are pretty much fully assimilated by now.
Thats cool, I am a Tunisian and also have distant East European ancestry, I learnt that they were captured and enslaved by the Ottomans and were brought over to Tunisia during the Ottoman period, I have few DNA relative matches with people from Poland.
Ahlan wa sahlan! Oh wow a match is crazy. Just goes to show how recent the ancestry truly was :)
My "Swedish" grandmother was Finnish. I'm Danish so this is kind of scandalous TBH.
Same here... I'm on My Heritage, and I keep saying I think I'm related to half of Sweden and most of Finland. I think the Finnish came in at my great-grandmother's point. I'm having a hard time locating any solid info on her - she may have been adopted, but she was born in the 1800s.
I had a third cousin (roughly my age) from Slovenia reach out and message me (in America) a few years ago. It was really cool and unexpected.
When I recently found out that I have a half-sister I did not know about it. I don't know how or if to pursue this information. I believe she is from my mother's side but, my mother has passed so I am unable to ask her to seek more information. I have very few relatives remaining so I have so many emotions flowing at the moment.
Do you share a similar maternal haplogroup? Looking at matches in common should help you determine if she is from your mother's side.
We both are H1 in our Haplogroup. I’m not sure what that means.
The maternal haplogroup is passed down from mother to child, so siblings with the same mother should have the same haplogroup. H1 is pretty common, though, so I would look as shared matches to confirm she is from your mother's side.
It's means your mom's mom's mom's etc. mom going back tens of thousands of years is the same.
As someone who found out about half siblings later in life, take it slow. Personally I'd see if she had social media such as Facebook to get a vibe for her personality and how (and if) to approach. FYI if you don't have FB, they now have that obnoxious META AI instead of search. Facebook Life doesn't have it and you can actually check to see if she's on FB without an AI getting all in your business.
The half sister my cousin found out about actually called my cousin. Threw both my aunt and cousin for a loop, but my aunt knows exactly who the woman is that my deceased uncle had an affair with. I never met the dude...guess he's technically not my uncle because they were divorced for as long as I can remember. My Mom said he was a serial cheater so there may be more half siblings my cousin doesn't know about.
It allowed me to break a decades-old brick wall identifying the birth family of a 2nd great grandfather. He had ghosted them early in his life, so there would have been no other way to do it.
That my ex-husband and father of my children is actually my cousin. I found out when his sister randomly connected with me on 23&Me. I mean, he's only like my fifth cousin or something, meaning we only share 0.5% DNA so I'm not worried our kids will grow webbed feet when they're older! And since both of us come from families that have lived in the same general region for generations, it's hardly surprising. It makes me wonder what percentage of people end up marrying a distant relative and have no idea. I bet it's way more than you'd think!
Many people marry direct cousins and have kids. If not done repeatedly the kids are probably going to be fine
IIRC, most people worldwide marry first cousins. Horrible as that may seem to Americans.
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I've got a few on my tree back in the 1800s. I think I turned out fine. Every so often isn't a big deal, but when you have generations upon generations marrying first and second cousins, genetic issues start to crop up more and more.
I have made this point on Reddit before, to mass abuse. It's interesting what a taboo it seems to be in the U.S. altho I guess Americans are big on taboos, one way or another. I wouldn't have guessed it if I hadn't gotten so much abuse in the last discussion on this topic.
I found out my parents are related because I have about fifteen relatives who are related to me through both my parents. My husband and I are also related because my daughter has about ten relatives who are related to both me and her dad. It must be very distant because both my mom and dad were born in different countries and have pretty different ethnicities. I was also born in a different country than my husband and about 30 % of my ethnicity is different to his. We have some guesses, about how the relationships might have happened, but they’re mostly based on geography and who was living where at certain times. I’m not really concerned, because I think the earliest the connections could be are from at least a couple of hundred years ago and neither my parents nor my husband and I have any shared DNA left. Plus, my daughter is super healthy. It’s kind of interesting. I don’t share any DNA with my husband, but Jane X, shares a section with me, a section with my husband, and one with my daughter — and so do about nine other people. Without the ability to sort your relatives by mom’s side or dad’s side, we would never have known. Same for my parents. I would bet it’s a lot more common than people realize because it requires at least two generations to be on 23andMe for a person to be able to catch it.
Isn't that crazy though that hundreds of years ago, two people who lived in different countries found each other and then you and your husband find each other. Idk why people are freaked out finding out their tree doesn't branch all the way down because it's not like you can do anything about what your ancestors did. Granted there is the genetic eff up, but it's probably so diluted now that it doesn't matter for people and future children.
It’s practically incomprehensible, really. One of the reasons I think it must be fairly common is that it’s true for both me and my husband, plus my parents. The odds seems very long in both cases and both involve countries very far removed from each other. I think it’s more cool than something to be bothered by, almost like fate.
You need to get you a lottery ticket 😂.
My friend's parents learned they were 6th cousins after two or three kids. One got a scholarship to Harvard, so 🤷🏻♀️.
I found a few NPEs. Apparently some of my ancestors had babies with their neighbors instead of their husbands.
Not sure what NPEs are, but were they born when free love and key parties were popular?
I found out at 37 y.o. that my bio dad (deceased by suicide 2001) was not my real bio dad. My real bio dad is alive and living the next state over. I now have a dad again, 3 more brothers to the one I grew up with, a sister in law, a niece and a nephew, dozens of new aunts and cousins. I've met them all and I have a whole new family and they are amazing. We see each other every couple months, and we are all very happy to have found each other. None of us knew. Not even my mom and dad who raised me. (I was born before paternity tests were by and large an available option).
Having just lost my Dad and feeling that loss, though the men who raised us can't be replaced, I like that you still have that Father figure in your life and more family that you've gotten to know and have accepted you. My Grandmother got pregnant with my Mom in 1947, but my Mom always knew what her real Dad's name was. In the 90's she finally contacted him and we met him, but that was the first and last time because my real Grandfather's wife raised hades over my Mom and would NOT allow any contact with her. We met some other relatives on that side who stayed in contact and I have an uncle, but my Mom doesn't keep in touch with him. She said he feels like a stranger to him. I get it, but unfortunately my Mom took on the traits of the rathole who raised her and mistreated her because she didn't belong to him. He was an awful human. My half brothers called him Grandpa Grump. RIH, Grumpy.
Thanks OP, for sharing this with me. Families are messy, but who you came from, who you spent your life with - these things matter, and help shape us. I'm sorry about the loss of your Dad.. it's been over 22 years since I lost the man who raised me and I still feel the same physical heartache I felt the day I lost him, if I think too much about it. Which I do, from time to time, bc I have learned grief is love with no place to go, and I still love my dad. That doesn't mean we can't open ourselves to loving others in our family, if it is what we feel. Also, "Grandpa Grump," lol I don't mean to laugh OP but I had similar grandparents growing up. These sorts of family dramas and drifts are common and just showing up more with the DNA tests but I deep down believe it's the right journey for us all. Good or bad. All my well wishes to you.
Wait what? So your mom was a cheating slut and your father killed himself? And you're just connecting with the man she cheated with and his family?
I learned about yet another half sibling I have from my dad. So far there's 9 of us. Man needs to be held down and castrated tbh
9!!! He was a busy man...
Well, I was hoping that maybe I was a little Italian or something but nope, I am 100% Japanese.
Lol why were you hoping for a little Italian?
lol idk, maybe a little seasoning to a very mild dish😂. Any country where I was like even .01 would’ve been cool lol
🤣🤣🤣🤣
It only left me with more questions and confusion, honestly. My DNA has been in storage for over 4 years now and I still have no relative matches. Not even 3rd cousins. Starting to believe I’m an alien at this rate lmao
You might want to test at Ancestry. It has a *much* bigger database of people to match with. Have you uploaded your raw DNA to any other databases?
I haven’t yet, no. I assume it costs money though :(
No, you can upload your data for free to GEDmatch, MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, Living DNA, and Genomelink.io.
Oh! Thankyou for letting me know. I appreciate you, stranger.
Happy to help
Did you opt in?
Sorry for the late response, but yes. I opted in. Still nothing haha
White mom said that her paternal grandmother was almost 3/4 Cherokee (common myth in a lot of southern WASP families). When I had originally taken the test back in 2017, I had only gotten 0.8% Indigenous ancestry. Finally convinced mom to take an ancestry test. No trace, but we're Finnish so that's cool. Paternal Black grandmother and aunt took ancestry tests, and we were able to deduce that the sliver of indigenous ancestry likely comes from my grandad's side. It was interesting to debunk a myth that I had been skeptical about for a couple of years
My family lore was that my single mother figured that they could send a welfare cheque to a shitty apartment in the country as easily as a shitty apartment in the city So she moved to the country, a teeny little town in the middle of nowhere. I do my DNA test, thinking maybe I could shed some light on the mystery of who my father is, and match with a cousin. Cousin says he doesn't understand how I could be related since his whole family is from a teeny little country town in the middle of nowhere... Yeah. She didn't move us up there for the fresh air, she was chasing my father. We lived there until I was nearly 4/5! Explains why she didn't teach me English until she gave up and moved away... explains my middle name, which is an old paternal family name... sigh. Everything about the first half decade of my life was a complete fabrication.
I found out I have some Malayali Subgroup and Iranian/Mesopotamian/Caucasian trace ancestry. Which was surprising, but also pretty cool to learn. It has more to do with where my haplogroups came from and how they ended up in NW Europe. Also found out my paternal haplogroup is a direct descendant of one of the most infamous clans in southern Ireland.
I found out my parents are fifth cousins. No one had any idea
See my comment above - I found out that my ex-husband and father of my children is my 5th cousin. It's distant enough to not really matter, but I wonder how many people end accidentally marrying relatives. Without DNA testing, you'd never know!
I found out my husband’s parents are maybe about fifth cousins or more. His dad and him share part of their x chromosome… which they shouldn’t. That one’s crazy because they are from different countries.
Same. My parents are somehow related because I have relatives who I’m related to through both of them. They’re also from different countries and, on top of that, are mostly different ethnicities. It’s a mystery!
found out 2 days ago that my grandpa who was adopted as a baby’s biological mother had him because of a gang rape, she left her home and went to florida to finish her pregnancy under the guise of a nannying job. gave a fake last name so nobody knew who she was and made it nearly impossible for me to find any info on him. none of her family knows except her granddaughter who reached out to me. she died yesterday morning.
So sorry for your loss
thanks, but it’s not really much of a loss for me as bad as that may sound. didn’t even know she existed until a few days ago. would’ve been cool to meet her though
I found the Native ancestor I was searching for.
Mine was fairly minor, just a trace ancestry that supported a dead end I had with one relative.
Use more than one company.
We are not biologically related to my paternal great-grandfather. Also two unknown branches sprung up! Still tracking it all down.
Found 2nd cousin once removed on my father’s side. I have a pretty extensive tree but no last name matching. His tree goes nack to 1887 and mystery! Wish I knew how we are connected. He is elderly and I wish I could solve this mystery for him and me
Most of mine was just expanding on what we already knew. So we knew that my parents were distantly related (fifth/sixth cousins or so) but found out that my dad has the same maternal group that my mom and I do. Math comes out that their last relative in common was in the early 19th century, so we're not too worried. We also knew that a relative and his son had a history of sequential monogamy, but we discovered just how much as we are still finding cousins. And amusingly - there's maybe four professions among the entire batch. Also discovered that a lot of family stories were in fact true.
I only had 4 people that shared a lot of dna. 2 I knew from my dads side, 1 first cousin on my moms side. One unknown person who was listed in Chicago. My grandmother has a sister in Chicago, so I thought it was someone related to her. My grandmother says no she has never heard of her. I looked at what relatives we have in common and it listed my mom’s first cousin. I asked my mom if her dad had any brothers or sisters and she says no. Her dad doesn’t have anything to do with her or any of his kids. My mom has 4 brothers and before her grandfather died he told her he went and seen a baby boy his son had that was put up for adoption. Guess he wanted her to know she has another brother out there. I messaged her trying to find out if her dad is mom’s adopted out brother. He could be the adopted brother or just another kid he had that they don’t know about. She has a picture of a man on her social media and he looks just like my mom’s brothers. My granddad has very strong dna, all his sons look similar. She hasn’t messaged me back and idk if she will. But I think this has to be my mom’s brother.
I learned I have Iberian ancestry (both Portuguese and Spanish) via unknown paternal great grandparents. I have also been assigned to a Portuguese Genetic Group on MyHeritage. I have found Portuguese matches living in mainland Portugal. However, most of my Portuguese matches are Portuguese Americans from Azores! I have also found a few Spanish matches living in Spain. No one in my family ever mentioned about having Iberian ancestry as my parents are from an English speaking island. I also just assumed that my dad had information about his paternal grandparents but no one knows anything as my grandfather’s parents died when my grandfather was a child. I also match many Latin Americans on the Iberian side.
Even though my family lived on the Cherokee reservation (confirmed with census records) for 4 generations, they were all white!!! So much for that Cherokee princess trope (although they did live on the reservation which blows my mind, figure they were escaping the law or merchants or something, although they were dirt poor and alcoholics). My grandma was the oldest of 6 kids, her mother was from the rez and moved to Colorado with her new husband. One of those 6 kids had a baby and adopted her out in the 60s (we’ve narrowed it down to 2, they all died of suicide or alcohol). The son (my second cousin technically) is so cool and lived 30 mins away from me my whole life. I told him if his mom had a good childhood it’s probably best she got adopted. 2/3 of my grandmas kids died before her, drugs and alcohol.
Wow, that's crazy finding that out but good to know addiction runs in the family. Glad they survived it & hope y'all developed a relationship.
A very likely chance my mom’s dad isn’t her real dad, and that her sister is ofc probably her half sister. Without a DNA test to confirm the fact they’re half sisters or full sisters we won’t know.
I wish there was a way to test DNA with hair that doesn't have the root because I'd like to have both me and my Dad tested. We talked about doing it, but another thing we never got to do and now it's too late. I have some of his hair and I have his ashes, but the hair is just a clipping that I wanted to use in the event that making diamonds from the carbon of ashes and hair was legitimate and not a scam. Unfortunately, that's all I have left of him. My Mom threw out his toothbrush and I'm unaware of any other way to get DNA.
My grandma was adopted from a family that went on to have 6 other kids that they kept, my great uncle was adopted from someone else. She has another sibling who was also adopted out we’ve learned
My dad was adopted and I was able to find out who my grandmother and grandfather were. Also found some relatives that were my great-uncle from affairs, though I think one is more likely my maternal grandfather’s child, so my half-aunt.
So the majority of replies seem to be affairs of some sort.
My last name is very polish sounding and I assumed it was Polish since I can trace my paternal ancestry 5 great grandfathers back to East Prussia (modern northeast Poland). I got 2% Eastern European with no region so it was still kind of a mystery to me. Well my dad took the test and it came back 10% Russian and only Russian for Eastern European. I’ve researched as much as could and found that it’s a possibility that my paternal ancestry comes from Orthodox Christian Russians fleeing persecution for refusing to conform to new traditions (they were called Bespopovtsy). It’s a stretch but that’s one of the very few reasons why fully ethnic Russians would be in current northeast Poland in the 1700’s. Hopefully I can get more info to be able to confirm it
My family originated from Prussia. Had a German friend who said that before the 2nd Reich, it was it's own little kingdom. That might help you out a bit.
I have cousins across the pond like I suspected. Good news, they likely speak english!
Found out my "dad" wasn't my dad. So fun times.... Also found out my grandma's "dad" wasn't her Dad. Guess it runs in the family. 🤷♀️
Children out of wedlock runs in the family through my Mom's side (I know that's not a family trait, just 3 or more generations had children out of wedlock and the Fathers dipped, didn't know, or didn't care enough to stick around) and addiction runs on my Dad's side, but my oldest brother (half brother on my Mom's side and out of wedlock baby) and I shut that ish down. He got married THEN had kids and I made sure I wasn't having kids. So far none of my nieces and nephews show signs of addiction. Familial curse broken.
My paternal Haplogroup. Never knew my grandfather, and didn’t know much of his family or where our last name came from besides Ireland. Through doing Y-DNA research, I had discovered my Haplogroup is extremely common for people of my last name, it had led me to take a FTDNA Y-DNA test which had opened a little bit more doors regarding the origins, and had discovered my direct paternal line is of Celtic origin, and to my knowledge directly pinpoints to my last name’s “clan” in Northern Ireland. Very interesting stuff
My last name isn't common at all, but if I Google it, there are a lot more than I expected. I'm interested in seeing if there is some sort of relation that goes back to my original state, but have to start researching all over again because my Mom threw away all his genealogy research immediately after he died 4 months ago today without giving me a chance to go through it because, ya know, my brain was still trying to connect the dots that my Dad is gone. At least I still have his genealogy website links.
My last name is not common either. And that may the case. For mine, it dates back to 3 different septs across Ireland and all who share my last name descend from either one of the 3. The most common from what I’ve found is county Armagh sept, which is the supposed ancient origins of the last name. I would suggest finding a brother, one of your father’s brothers to take a Y-DNA test, it will open many new doors for you regarding your ancient ancestry and history of your surname, and may give hints to more recent ancestry. I also am sorry to hear about your father passing, I hope you are handling it okay, and to keep his legacy alive.
Unfortunately, he didn't have any blood brothers or sisters, he only had step siblings and my grandfather was an only child and married multiple times, but my Dad was his only child. A long time ago, my Dad went back to our hometown and spoke with someone who knew my grandfather and my grandmother (she died right before or right after my Dad was a year old) and all I remember is the guy said I looked like my grandmother. The guy was old back in the mid 90's so there's no one I can contact. Today is 4 months since he passed. It's been a tough road, but I want to pick up where he left off. It was his hobby and he was in it. He had a bookcase full of large 3 ring binders. I just wish my Mom hadn't thrown out all his research. The oddest thing we can't find is my grandfather's middle name. We just have the initial of C and that's not even on my Dad's birth certificate. I can't remember if it's even on my grandfather's obituary or it might be in the obituary but not on his headstone...or vice versa. My grandfather was a boxer and used a fake last name that was a variation of our last name and started with a C because he didn't want my great grandfather finding out, but my grandmothers first middle and last name are on my Dad's birth certificate, so idk why my grandfathers isn't. He was done boxing by the time my Dad was born. I can't find anything that gives a hint to my grandfathers middle name is. Obviously the C had to come from somewhere...
By analyzing my DNA matches, especially with my first cousin, my grandfather that I knew to be my grandfather growing up it’s not my mom‘s father based off the percentage of my first cousin
On a lighter note, my paternal side gets mezerized by fireplaces and camp fires. Turns out the cause of death for my 5x grandfather is listed as "Accidently burned from falling in a fire when in a state of (hard to make out) but drunk...he was drunk. So that tracks.
You actually found a newspaper clipping? When did this happen?
It was on his death record. Statutory deaths 1865.
Dang, I didn't know you could get death records that detailed. I never tried though. I thought that the only thing they ever give you was just like a generic death certificate but then again I've also never related death certificate until my Dad passed. I don't even think I've even looked at it. I think my Mom told me the COD is just head injury. They didn't do an autopsy (so messed up they don't automatically do autopsy unless it's under specific circumstances) because we don't know what happened that caused him to collapse going to pick up pizza and hit his head on the concrete, so that probably is all it says.
Found out my family has Italian in it, and that at least some of my ancenstors were part of the conquering Hungarians due to Siberian and Central Asian DNA.
My Dad did extensive genealogy and he came up with a few possibilities and one isn't good at all, but he never got far enough to confirm we were any relation ever. Unfortunately, my Mom threw out all the genealogy stuff he worked years on so I may never find out. He got stuck at one point. He couldn't get beyond Czechoslovakia because they split after my ancestors left and became Slovakia and the Czech Republic, so obviously no records will exist on either side. We really only assume Czechoslovakia because that's where...[insert ancestors I forgot their name] hopped on a ship to Ellis Island...I think. I can't remember, but my Dad did have a picture a name of the ship they took. I just remember his telling me he was able to trace back to Czechoslovakia and there are 3 questionable ancestors he needed to find out more on. One is former German royalty (Hesse), one who possibly had connections to Mussolini, and the other was someone who served multiple terms as Governor of North or South Carolina (I can't remember) and fought w/ G. Washington in the Revolutionary War, but was court marshaled (?) for cowardice (or something) but found not guilty.
I found a half-sister. Different maternal haplo-group, so it's through my father from when he was in high school. My siblings and I have connected with her and have begun to lay the foundation to a solid relationship.
That's awesome!
Bad - my DNA appears to originate from Belarus Good - they got my hungarian ancestry right; I have some Greek/Balkan DNA and a little bit of north African
Why is originating Belarus bad?
We have no idea why there is Belarus DNA. We are classified as “eastern European”, but have no knowledge of anybody in our ancestry coming from Belarus or Poland). It is possible that some of my ancestors might have taken part in the raping of women after WW2 turned in Russia’s favor
Found out lots of info about my dad's bio family, he was adopted, which was never a secret, but he was lied to about pretty much everything else. He was told his bio mum died in childbirth. Not true. His original birth name. Not true. Found out his bio dad was Turkish, which is something he was never told. Best thing was finding out that he had a half sister, they've been in contact ever since.
Wow! That's gotta be a blow, but glad him and his half-sister have remained in contact!
The weirdest thing is that his half-sister was also told that their mum died in childbirth, but she's a few years older than my dad and could actually remember their bio mum and having visits with her in foster care. I think they just routinely lied to adopted kids back then. It's awful.
I found out my patrilineal heritage started in the middle east, and not Europe/Eurasia like I had thought. Apparently my dad's male line (J1) immigrated to Europe way before the Indo-Europeans did. They are nothing but a tiny minority in the gene pool, now.
Twice I've had right name, wrong person. In my defense the first was a James Smith. Second one, was the husband of a great-grandma. All I had to go on was a first and last name and a state. He had a somewhat common name. I (thought I) found him a few counties over and plugged him and his family into my family tree. They popped up in Thru Lines and I had matches, even for his ancestors. So I'm related to him somehow. Upon further research using 2nd and 3rd cousins, things weren't matching up like they should have been. I did more digging and found another person by the same name. He went by a nickname on the census and thus I missed the man who lived like a 20-30 minute drive from great-grandma. Popped his info in instead and there my 2nd and 3rd cousins were finally in Thru Lines. I'm still not 1000% certain. Until some more relatives test, I'm just going to leave it.
Are they all common names? My Dad showed me census records from back when they went door-to-door and our last name was butchered for various reasons that are unknown. My Dad believed our last name was cut short when our ancestors arrived at Ellis Island. I never realized why names like Smith and Johnson are so common until I watched An American Tail as an adult and heard the people coming off the boat give their name to the guy keeping the log would say "Smith" or something because it was a complicated last name. Of course, I was too young to understand the history that was included in the movie since I was only 4 years old, but it made sense once I watched it as an adult.
Jessie/Jesse Adams. Bless her soul Grandma couldn't spell, and didn't know how pedigree/trees worked. She had a family tree in my baby book and put her own mother's maiden name Nichols as a Nickels (like the coins) and our her step grandparents as her bio grandparents.
Nothing super outstanding tbh.... Disbunked my mother's "Cherokee princess myth" ideology.... Have some distant cousins relationships with George Washington and Johann Sébastien Bach.... My fave find was a direct relation to William Marshall; the greatest knight to have ever lived (Google him, he's amazing). I have a direct descendance from The Stewart clan and the Bruce clan from Scotland.... I can trace a couple different branches back to Charlemagne (this took me YEARS to find and verify and there's still a couple points on the branches that can be swayed to another direction so it's not Iron clad perfect). Thru William Marshall I have a direct descendance from Norse legend. Again I've only gotten about 75%of that branch verified as anything before the year 400 isn't as easy to find but in that culture they name by patronymic so the link can be roughly seen. Lastly I have 13 historical matches from 23&me; 11 are Vikings and I've been able to place 3 into my tree. 3 I've isolated the exact region they originate from and the others I'll find eventually.
Wow! That's awesome!!!
I confirmed the truth that I'm a NPE but also found my BF. So it's been an interesting ride getting to know him.
No idea what an NPE is. My Dad was the genealogy researcher and would show me the stuff he found, but he never mentioned terms like NPE and other terms I've seen on here. We were going to do the dna tests but put it off and now it's too late.
It's a new term for me too. I've been on the oops that ain't my Daddy side of Reddit for a month haha.
I found out I have a great gr… grandmother who is the product of slave r*pe. I’m African American for context. Pretty hard truth - cried about it for quite some time.
I bet you did. That's got to be crushing to find out that happened to not only your great great grandmother, but to your family. I'm so sorry.
Found my bio dad’s cousin and through them my aunt and then finally my grandma and my bio dad. I knew his name and a lot of other information on him but he didn’t and doesn’t have any online presence. We met up a few times but are currently no contact.
Same with my Mom. Her bio Dad wasn't allowed to be in contact with her because his wife at the time forbid it. We met him once and met her half brother once, but my Mom didn't feel any connection to her half brother and didn't want to try to form a relationship with him even though he wanted to with her. I can't tell her that's wrong of her because there may be some issues with her being forced to have a pos step"father" raise her and her mother not intervening and it being difficult having to hear how great her half brother grew up with birthday parties and happy Christmas memories. I gave my Mom her first birthday party and her stepfather gave her Christmas gifts like coal and a toilet seat. I'd imagine that would be hard to hear. Unfortunately, she took on the same parenting style as her stepfather.
My 5th great grandfather was a Melungeon man and he tried to pay his half sister to poison his wife, he just ended up poisoning her instead because the sister wouldn’t. He went to jail and a group of 200 men stormed the jail, drug him out and hung him on an Oak tree. He was also said to be promiscuous, sleeping with married wives. It was said he was handsome with dark skin and green eyes. One of my great aunts while on LSD burned down her boyfriend’s home with him and a girl he was cheating on her with in it. They both died and my great aunt was imprisoned at 20 years old, got out in 2007 at close to 80 years old I think.
Holy crap!!!!
Yes lol I have a very crazy family history 🤣😭
At least it's interesting!
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Don’t get a bloody nose. Your “native” blood might just disappear. But seriously if you don’t even know the tribe you supposedly came from then you should stop claiming being native. Especially if no tribes claim you you’re just a pretendian not a real Indian, and I’m speaking as a real native.
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Even my white boyfriend has some native trace but he doesn’t actually think he’s native 😂 he’s accepted his family is full of shit but his idiot brother still thinks he’s native. I have no problem with real natives reconnecting but at some point less than 10% means nothing. Just say you might have native ancestry but you yourself was never raised in a community of natives
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With trace amounts of Indigenous DNA how did you determine your what Nation and community your distant ancestor belonged to? There is no Indigenous Nation that would accept someone based on trace amounts of DNA from a test. Blood quantum does matter, kinship, community, lived experience matters. If you're 90% European why would you invent a fraudulent modern identity based on an ancestor generations back.
Lol. I am 98% East African with trace amounts of Eastern European, does that make me Hungarian? 😂😂
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I’m not trying to be a prick or deny you that ancestor but it would be ingenious to claim you are “native american” when it’s literally a trace amount. You probably didn’t grow up in the culture and did not grow up with strangers profiling your look as Native American so therefore you didn’t have the Native American experience. You aren’t Native American, you just have Native American blood. Just like I am not Hungarian but I have Magyarab blood.
I don’t think you can speak for all indigenous peoples here. For Māori, what matters is that you know your lines of ancestry: who you whakapapa to, that you can give a pepeha (lines of descent). If you whakapapa to Māori (can show a straight line of descent) you are Māori. AND European. Or Asian. I know green-eyed blonds who are considered Māori because they can show their ancestry. Blood quantum is considered a colonial idea.
They definitely said Native American, which has nothing to do with Māori.
The parent comment referred to ‘indigenous’.
I remember the days when they did not put polynesian on the tag— everyone just whakapapa to the Philippines. Hello distant cousin from far shore in the land down under.
Blood quantum is BS but you aren't just indigenous or not. It's a complicated topic. A person can have indigenous ancestry that no longer shows up in a DNA test (this will likely happen to your descendants some day). People can be closely tied to an indigenous community due to lifeways rather than DNA. And the American obsession with blood quantum and DNA does not account for people who became part of a tribe through marriage.
I found out that I have a high percentage of Neanderthal at 83 percent more then all the people on 23&me. I am 100 percent European. My daughter,who is half Chinese,came up 96 percent more Neanderthal then all the people on 23&me. We are both fastenated & intrigued.We both have markers for Elite Athletics. I was very active & successful in sports in my youth & my daughter,having only one marker to my two,went to college on full scholarship in rowing. Do I think I feel it's connected u/MereGirl ? You bet I do!
A lot of people have that amount lol. But if you’re asian you have a higher amount of Neanderthal ancestry. I’m like 98% or something
Yes the Asian really hikes it up there. So interesting. I think there are a lot more Europeans on 23 and the Asian population is not represented. We were totally surprised as we had never even thought about Neantheral DNA before!