OP
OP
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
You should get someone professional involved in this, it sounds like some of it might be important to historians!
Ancestry / family research
- Thread starter Flying_Monkey
- Start date
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You should get someone professional involved in this, it sounds like some of it might be important to historians!
Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
I had an Ancestry DNA test and found out that my father had Melanesian rather than Malaysian ancestry. It would explain the linea nigra on my abdomen - they normally only occur in pregnant women!
I also found over ninety 4th cousins (or closer). One of them was an indirect descendant of Nathan Bedford Forrest, it seems our families merged around 1850. You can't find a much bigger skeleton than that.
If you've got a spare £100 and want a shortcut to finding distant relatives then I'd recommend that you get one. They work on matching inherited DNA so they're fairly accurate if you only want to go back four generations. I was matched with a second cousin in Australia who I didn't even know existed.
I also found over ninety 4th cousins (or closer). One of them was an indirect descendant of Nathan Bedford Forrest, it seems our families merged around 1850. You can't find a much bigger skeleton than that.
If you've got a spare £100 and want a shortcut to finding distant relatives then I'd recommend that you get one. They work on matching inherited DNA so they're fairly accurate if you only want to go back four generations. I was matched with a second cousin in Australia who I didn't even know existed.
Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
My mother also had an Ancestry DNA test. Most of her ancestors came from Western Europe but she had traces from Eastern Europe and the Caucasus. It would fit in with rumours about Jewish ancestry, about 12% of Ashkenazi Jews have genetic links to that area.
Globalti
Legendary Member
Plenty of skeletons emerged when my aunt began researching our family. Firstly she discovered that, shock horror, the family have not always been devout Catholics but only a couple of generations ago were Methodists - the horror!
Then she discovered that not one but TWO great-great grandparents had been fond of the booze and both had drowned in the river Avon where it runs though Salisbury. One, according to reports she found, wandered down to the loo that was perched over the river at the end of the garden but took the wrong heading in the dark, missed the gunny and fell straight in the river. Oops.
Nothing changes, illegitimacy and scandal have always been part of family life. My BIL has two children by two of his three partners (one he married then divorced) and each of them has an illegitimate child. None of them talks to him because he's such a weirdo.
My Dad's Dad was an Irishman and a fantasist and he reckoned he was descended from the love child of Sarah Curran (daughter of John Philpot Curran) and Robert Emmet, a revolutionary. These names mean something to anybody who has studied Irish history.
Then she discovered that not one but TWO great-great grandparents had been fond of the booze and both had drowned in the river Avon where it runs though Salisbury. One, according to reports she found, wandered down to the loo that was perched over the river at the end of the garden but took the wrong heading in the dark, missed the gunny and fell straight in the river. Oops.
Nothing changes, illegitimacy and scandal have always been part of family life. My BIL has two children by two of his three partners (one he married then divorced) and each of them has an illegitimate child. None of them talks to him because he's such a weirdo.
My Dad's Dad was an Irishman and a fantasist and he reckoned he was descended from the love child of Sarah Curran (daughter of John Philpot Curran) and Robert Emmet, a revolutionary. These names mean something to anybody who has studied Irish history.
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OP
OP
Flying_Monkey
Recyclist
- Location
- Odawa
Sounds interesting. In our case, apart from the music hall crowd, any rumours about famous or important people we might have been descended from have turned out to be bollocks. People make all kinds of bogus or hopeful claims about their ancestry, I think because they have this residual idea that it reflects better on them or that they might be a 'better class' of people. There is a lot of both lies and snobbery over family roots about!
Vidor06
Long term loafer
- Location
- Deepest, darkest Belfast
Im sure you know this already as you've done quite a lot if work already, but just incase you dont. A significant number of Irish records from the turn of the 20th century and before, which were held by the record office in Dublin, were destroyed in a fire. So there are a lot of incomplete family records. Really the only way to get any information is from parish records, both Catholic church and Church of Ireland.
I found it very difficult searching for any record of my maternal grandmother as her family all originate from Ireland. My paternal grandfather was much easier as they were from Scotland and their church/parish records are very detailed and extensive.
Globalti
Legendary Member
If I had a lot of time I would tell you the full poignant story of my Irish pal Liam who grew up with adoption parents. His father died before he was born and his mother died in childbirth. The nine kids were all fostered out by the parish priest and were told Liam had also died. However his brother John didn't believe it and in his fifties as a successful businessman in Australia he decided to find his baby brother. It took three or four successive annual visits to northern Ireland before he succeeded, along the way there were a whole lot of red herrings and false trails and yes, records burned in a fire. Eventually he found one of the midwives who gave him the proof that Liam had lived. Much later he discovered Liam had moved to England (which is when I met him). Then it was easy to find his telephone number, ring him and say: "Hello, I think I'm your brother!"
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MontyVeda
a short-tempered ill-controlled small-minded troll
- Location
- Lancaster... the little city.
When my dad retired, he decided to start researching the family tree (he's original like that).
He didn't get very far on his own side, but did discover that his great great something or other grandfather was not the founder of the Chivers Jelly company; a 'fact' he'd been told since childhood (paternal grandmother's maiden name was Chivers). On the upside, he no longer felt obliged to keep sending his brother Joe (who emigrated to the USA in the early 60s) a steady supply of the 'family' marmalade. Dad's dad's side of the family came over from Ireland. Presumably Dublin since there's a Tymon park and Tymon castle there (that's the Monty bit of my cunningly spoonerised username).. but other than that, no idea.
He had a little more success on my mother's side of the family, in so much as discovering that one of my mum's cousins had already done the family tree which went back to the 15 or 1600s. That relied mostly on parish records and the family didn't seem to move far from the Appleby area and were farmers. But with a common family name of Potter to trace, it's likely that the research jumped track and mum's cousin ended up tying another unrelated Potter family in with our own.
Hopefully i'll have better things to do when i retire.
He didn't get very far on his own side, but did discover that his great great something or other grandfather was not the founder of the Chivers Jelly company; a 'fact' he'd been told since childhood (paternal grandmother's maiden name was Chivers). On the upside, he no longer felt obliged to keep sending his brother Joe (who emigrated to the USA in the early 60s) a steady supply of the 'family' marmalade. Dad's dad's side of the family came over from Ireland. Presumably Dublin since there's a Tymon park and Tymon castle there (that's the Monty bit of my cunningly spoonerised username).. but other than that, no idea.
He had a little more success on my mother's side of the family, in so much as discovering that one of my mum's cousins had already done the family tree which went back to the 15 or 1600s. That relied mostly on parish records and the family didn't seem to move far from the Appleby area and were farmers. But with a common family name of Potter to trace, it's likely that the research jumped track and mum's cousin ended up tying another unrelated Potter family in with our own.
Hopefully i'll have better things to do when i retire.
I like Skol
A Minging Manc...
- Location
- Sunny Ashton-under-Lyne
Bazzer
Setting the controls for the heart of the sun.
- Location
- On the edge of reality
Currently haven't the time for it, but had got back to mid 18th c for my family and my wife got back to the mid 19th c.
I find it fascinating and it made me admire their courage at doing certain things and how they coped with life.
Found one relative in the early 19th c who seems to have seen there was no future as a tenant labourer in Lincolnshire, married at 20 and immediately upped sticks to the USA and brought his family up in a log cabin.. A descendant kindly sent me photos.
It can also be amusing to spot quirks, such as the x3 great uncle and his wife who had 11 children. The first initial of each child's first and second christian names was unique to the child. Anne Agnes, Charles Cecil, Frederick Francis etc.
I find it fascinating and it made me admire their courage at doing certain things and how they coped with life.
Found one relative in the early 19th c who seems to have seen there was no future as a tenant labourer in Lincolnshire, married at 20 and immediately upped sticks to the USA and brought his family up in a log cabin.. A descendant kindly sent me photos.
It can also be amusing to spot quirks, such as the x3 great uncle and his wife who had 11 children. The first initial of each child's first and second christian names was unique to the child. Anne Agnes, Charles Cecil, Frederick Francis etc.
Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
You inherit a random half of your parents' genes so you don't usually inherit a quarter from each grandparent. In theory ethnic markers can completely disappear after just two generations.
If you already have an Ancestry DNA result you can upload it to GED Match and use their tests for free.
https://www.gedmatch.com/login1.php
Some of them include trace regions that Ancestry DNA ignore. They've also got tests for archaic DNA.
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Reynard
Guru
- Location
- Cambridgeshire, UK
Ideally, I need a military historian. The paperwork is a pretty eclectic mix of stuff, but with some nice vignettes about life in wartime.
For instance, I have a paper trail for a typewriter... The original machine was taken by the company sergeant when they had to evacuate by train ahead of the advancing Germans. When it became a every man for himself, the sergeant had to abandon the typewriter as it was too heavy to carry on foot - I have a copy of the sergeant's testimony. When the Polish army regrouped in Scotland a few weeks later, a request was put in for a replacement typewriter - I have a copy of that request. I also have the purchase order and the invoice. And I have also inherited the actual typewriter (complete with instruction manual) that was bought to replace the one abandoned in France in 1940...
Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
"If, however, you look for the most recent person that everyone alive today is descended from, the best current estimate is that the individual lived only 3,500 years ago"
That can't be right - Modern humans left Africa 60,000 years ago and there are an estimated 100 uncontacted tribes in various parts of the world.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24090-how-many-uncontacted-tribes-are-left-in-the-world/
I think whoever worked it out assumed people have family trees when in reality they have family webs with various ancestors related to each by various degrees of separation.
That can't be right - Modern humans left Africa 60,000 years ago and there are an estimated 100 uncontacted tribes in various parts of the world.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn24090-how-many-uncontacted-tribes-are-left-in-the-world/
I think whoever worked it out assumed people have family trees when in reality they have family webs with various ancestors related to each by various degrees of separation.
Chris S
Legendary Member
- Location
- Birmingham
That's why a DNA test can only ever be a starting point. Any relationships they uncover are only predictions with varying degrees of probability. They still need substantiating by other means.
The OP was looking for third cousins or nearer, these people typically share 90-180 centimorgans of DNA. Ancestry DNA tests are highly accurate at predicting relationships were more than 60 centimorgans of DNA are shared and still have a good degree of accuracy with as little as 30. The limit seems to be 4th cousin predictions, these people typically share 20-85 centimorgans of DNA.
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