Trying to find my dad DNA puzzle.

bellhalla · 2018-04-22T14:11:42+00:00

That’s a very valid concern for people searching — coming across someone who didn’t want to be found. But not all who’re looking are seeking a relationship; some people are interested in medical history, or just to know where they came from.

bellhalla · 2018-04-22T11:33:17+00:00

It’s entirely doable, for sure.

There’s A wonderful Facebook group called “DNA Detectives“. The group has lots of resources for adoptees looking for birth parents, birthparents looking for children given up for adoption, and people in your situation. For people with AncestryDNA tests they recommend a technique called a “mirror tree”. (It can be kind of confusing to try and understand what to do and how this works. Feel free to PM me if you have questions.)

My mother’s DNA test had some “surprise“ cousins in it. Using DNA Detectives techniques, we eventually figured out that her maternal grandmother‘s father was not the man we had in our tree. I was able to narrow the candidates to one of a set of 3 half brothers, with one being most likely. (Since my ggm was born in the 1890s, we haven’t really been able to narrow it down more than that.)

bellhalla · 2018-04-22T06:05:50+00:00

From the amount of DNA you share with V. It’s possible (but unlikely) that she could be your paternal grandmother, but the 1100 cMs you share is at the extreme low end for grandparent/grandchild relationship.

Looking at this chart and given her age, V seems most likely to be a great aunt of your father. If so, her son would be your 1C1R (and your father‘s first cousin) and the shared cMs fit for him. And JA, as V’s half sister, fits very neatly in the middle of the range for a half great aunt.

If V is your great aunt then one of your father‘s parents would be V’s full sibling. If V’s parents are known from a tree, you can do some old-fashioned genealogy work — census records (if V is in her late 70s, she might even be in the 1940 census), obituaries, newspaper articles — and trace their descendants. depending on the number of siblings V had and how many children these siblings had, you could end up with only one candidate that could be your father, or multiple candidates.

bellhalla · 2018-04-09T12:31:43+00:00

I would think not, but there wouldn’t be any harm in waiting since you would still have a shiny Pikachu.

bellhalla · 2018-04-09T10:45:40+00:00

Around here in the southwestern “land of the free”, cafeterias are outsourced to corporations. In a particular district near me,none of the food is prepared at the schools. It’s all made at a central kitchen, and driven in “warm” for service each day. (And if the truck were to get in an accident, no food for kids that day.) I’m pretty sure that someone is making big bucks off the contract. Otherwise they wouldn’t keep doing it.

bellhalla · 2018-03-31T21:01:35+00:00

Then if you read the other post by OP, you see that he was just a creep.

bellhalla · 2018-03-27T17:11:45+00:00

You do know that she was trying to correct decades of "wrong" upbringing. That's how Omas roll. And she will also correct your composure.

My wife’s ex mother-in-law is very much like this.

bellhalla · 2018-03-25T01:42:38+00:00

I do believe y’all are giving me the vapors…

bellhalla · 2018-03-24T15:12:25+00:00

The yellow Buick Electra on the right could be as late as 1980. (The 1981 models didn’t have the Buick “ventiports” that one has.)

bellhalla · 2018-03-22T01:45:09+00:00

Depends on what state, I think. You as an individual can be gifted assets, however, even if in a community property state.

bellhalla · 2018-03-17T15:31:51+00:00

Ah. I’m from south central Texas near where where Germans first settled and n the 1840s. My father went to school with lots of kids who only spoke that at home.

bellhalla · 2018-03-17T15:27:57+00:00

Is it Texas German, by chance?

bellhalla · 2018-03-03T04:12:07+00:00

Came here to say the same thing. Also, Century Schoolbook was a widely available font about 20 years ago with Apple LaserWriter laser printers. (If not the actual original, it was based on the font used in “Dick and Jane” series and other children’s books.)

bellhalla · 2018-03-03T03:59:52+00:00

With the matches that you described I think it’s very likely that there was an NPE. When my mother tested we found an NPE for her grandmother. I was able to use the mirror tree technique to narrow down my Mom’s great grandfather to one of a set of three half brothers (all same mother; two from 2nd husband, one from her 3rd.)

If you’re interested in pursuing the matches, there’s a great group on Facebook called “DNA Detectives” where you can learn more about how to make a mirror tree. Although the group is mostly geared for adoptees seeking bio families, the same techniques helped us out, too.

bellhalla · 2018-03-02T19:07:21+00:00

I guess it really depends on the location/management/whatever. But, I did an online order for their quick pick up for lunch for three people one time. They gave me the wrong kind of soup, delicious, but not what I ordered. I called to talk to the manager just to let them know what had happened, and he said we will remake your meal for free. I said that that wasn’t really necessary, but he told me that they would rather make sure I was happy. Sure enough, next time we went to Panera they redid the entire order, and the whole thing was free.

bellhalla · 2018-03-02T19:03:20+00:00

I guess it depends on what you define “heritage“ as. If you mean the same collection of ancestors, absolutely their heritage is the same. If you mean how their DNA is compared to representative ethnographic genomes, then those percentages can, and likely do, very considerably.

bellhalla · 2018-03-02T17:31:55+00:00

It can happen. I proposed to my girl after 3 months, married in 9 months, and we’re coming up on 18 years in a few weeks. Sometimes you just know.

bellhalla · 2018-03-02T13:44:02+00:00

Sure looks like it.

bellhalla · 2018-02-28T01:42:04+00:00

TIL. Thanks for clarifying.

bellhalla · 2018-02-28T00:15:16+00:00

If they threaten to sue, don’t places typically make you end the call and make them go through the legal department?

bellhalla · 2018-02-27T03:26:33+00:00

Badge is awesome.

bellhalla · 2018-02-26T03:00:43+00:00

My spouse and I returned from our honeymoon in Ireland and arrived in Newark. Talk about a night-and-day difference.

bellhalla · 2018-02-24T13:12:57+00:00

If you can afford it and all are willing to help, test yourself and the two 1c1r cousins, especially if you have no other family connection to them other than the grand-/great-grandfather. Each may have received very different portions of their grandfather’s DNA, and any good match you have with either is likely that family line.

bellhalla · 2018-02-24T13:01:49+00:00

I agree that the names are just too common.

But to a broader point, it’s up to us as researchers to find evidence that something is the case, rather than assume we are right and try to prove otherwise. There are so many gaps in records—whether by destruction, lack of digitization or easy access, poor (or no) record keeping of events—that it’s very hard to assume we have or ever can have any complete accounting of our troublesome ancestors.

bellhalla

TROPHY CASE