I've had my DNA (and my brothers, and my husband's, and my sons and my in-laws..) DNA tested at other companies and now is my chance to do the same with Ancestry DNA in Canada
The more places you test, the better so I'm really excited about this! So far, with our DNA tests we've learned many new things - not just our ethnic background but family secrets. That's right.
We learned, for example, that the family rumours were true and that hubs' grandfather's father was not the man married to his mother. Nope, the rumour that Great-Grandma had been messing around with the hired man named Cooper turned out to be true! DNA connected my husband and his mother with first cousins through the Cooper family.
We also were able to verify our paper research showing my Native American heritage, and my husband's black ancestry.
One more secret recently came to light, and this was something no one had any inkling of. Not a whisper, not a rumour, nothing - so it was a real bombshell. We had a first cousin match to one of my sons. A first cousin we'd never heard of. No one in the family knew of this person. I'm sure my genealogist readers can figure out pretty quickly that a first cousin match meant that a sibling to my son's father (or to me) had a child no one knew about.
I can't reveal more (yet) as I don't have this person's permission but if/when I do have it, I'll tell the whole story here. It's mind-blowing! And it's been wonderful to learn. Because of DNA this amazing person is now in our lives and attends our family functions. It was a win-win situation except for one tiny blimp on our delight at finding this match. I promise I'll share all this in a future blog post once I have the thumbs up to do so.
Meantime, why not find out what secrets lie in your family tree? Take the Ancestry DNA now.
Order my AncestryDNA kit and mailed it back (to Ireland?). Looks like the process will take a few months, in the meantime I am looking at ancestry education program regarding DNA. I think it is important that focus taking the AncestryDNA test remember it only works well if you have an Ancestry tree posted.
ReplyDeleteLove your attitude regarding secrets. What our ancestors did does not reflect on us or our moral character and that makes finding the Ooops moments through DNA even more fun. I follow, with interest, your posts on Hubs DNA since we share one common line and thank you for sharing all that you do. Looking forward to future installments of the saga.
ReplyDeleteIn my personal DNA testing (mT and Family Finder at FamilyTreeDNA and Autosomal at Ancestry) I have not learned much. Right away, I found the daughter of a 3rd cousin once removed who tested (she cousin had since passed away) but her daughter, who is not interested in genealogy, verified my prior research and paper trail.
Next a cousin in England contacted me on my maternal grandfather's lineage. We share a common 2nd great grandfather, making us 3rd cousins. I did not know of her previously. We have now joined forces in researching the 3rd great grandfather.
Brian shows up, of course, as my 5th cousin. *grin*
Finally, I saw that a first cousin on my paternal side had tested (my closest match) and I tried to contact him since I knew little of his branch of the family, but his email bounced and he didn't post any surnames or other helpful data to his profile. I do know, from other sources, where he lives and will be able to pursue contacting him.
Otherwise, in nearly 400 hits, I have not made any other new connections. People I have tried to contact either do not answer their email, or have a connection that is further back than either of us has researched. An interesting note is that a lot of them have a huge list of Scandinavian surnames, and I have NO KNOWN Scandinavian ancestors. There is much to be learned.....
Wow! You're excited about finding family secrets. I'm dreading it, and will delay my own DNA testing until there are fewer of my relatives that might get hurt.
ReplyDeleteInfidelity, scandals, hidden adoptions.
Anything's possible.
Louis, I wouldn't say I'm excited about learning family secrets but I am open-minded about them.
ReplyDeleteAlso the secrets our DNA testing have revealed have had very positive outcomes. We have 3 wonderful new family members in my family that we never knew existed before, and they have been welcomed with open arms.
I hope you do get your DNA tested. You don't have to tell anyone else if you stumble on a secret that concerns you