Have you ever considered trying ancestry.com? (page 2)

moomanchu

I just did it.

I thought I was Syrian, German, Hungarian,

but the test said I'm German, Hungarian, Scandinavian. 0% mideast DNA. lol

It's on sale right now.

Summer Sale 40% off Ancestry DNA. Only $59. Buy now.

Slidin Fast; sorry you had bad luck with the DNA. I have met many who have contacted unknown relatives. My own niece found her birth father and his family. Over 20 aunts and uncles! My father's own father was a mystery. At 89 he found out he was the firstborn of the only father he knew and loved. But his birth certificate said different. DNA confirmed that when he changed his name to the one on his birth certificate he actually gave up his true birth name. He died with the knowledge the mystery of his birth father was finally cleared up. Thank god for Ancestry DNA.

punkofnice

Yes. I wonder how many on here are 'matched' to me. Most of my fam are in America. I think that's mainly because the Yanksstarted doing it before we Brits did. It's newish, I think, in Britland.

I came across some genuine family tree members.

The big mystery for me, is who was my Dad's real Dad? 80 years on, we'll never know.

zeb

I have 'Campbell-morgan' spots so I know I have considerable celt ancestry.

minimus

Maybe i have some Japanese brothers or sisters. My mom always told me that my dad loved his geisha girls!

pale.emperor

I was on it for months. Quite addictive. I researched my family tree back to 1690 with the help of people who's tree's overlapped with mine.

The trick is to double-check information from the research of others before accepting it as absolute.

This is good advice. Sometimes it's tempting to jump on the first lead you find and want to believe it but check each one thoroughly.

dubstepped

I just did the 23 and Me DNA test but haven't received results yet. It also covers genetic markers for health related issues.

rebelfighter

Five years ago at the age of 62, for the first time in my life I needed my birth certificate. Simple you would think but not if your mother is a pathological liar. So it took the Clerk of the Clerk and myself 6 months of research to find it. Her name on it was not her married or maiden name. She went back a generation and used her grandparents name as her last name. For my last she did not use the name which I went by the first 25 years of my life. She listed her step-father as my dad.

All of this required that I obtain a lawyer and go before a judge to change my birth certificate so I could get my driver's license and register my vehicles.

Shortly afterwards, I did the DNA from Ancestry. I have found my biological father (he had passed 5 yrs prior to me finding him), a half brother, a first cousin, 100's of 2nd and 3rd cousins. At this point only met my half brother and talked to a few of the cousins.

Both my biological parents families believed strongly in extremely large families, I still cannot get past recording family trees beyond 3 generations. On both side my grandparents all 4 were 1 of 14 to 18 children.

LoisLane looking for Superman

@RebelFighter ~ Wow. Tough row for you to hoe.

I am on Ancestry and am good at blocked walls.

Read all available documents throughally. I have found so many clues to further my search by reading old documents.

And you found your (RIP) father and 1/2 brother and first cousin. Fabulous!

Do you have American black DNA by any chance? Three generations probably takes you back to 1880's ~ 1900. Not far. Those DNA cousins of mine who's great great's were slaves have a very hard time with blocked walls galore. I have only been able to help one DNA cousin because his 1st and 2nd and last name was past down and also it was known where they lived. He was a 3rd great uncle's (slave owner) illigetimate son. (Same name as the slave owner).

And if you are American (I don't know) the early Colonists were very British with precise record keeping. Religiously, if they were Quakers, so much info is available.

In my Tree I have helped DNA cousins who have been adopted, and like you have had walls. Because my mother was like yours, a pathalogical liar, I am like a bloodhound on a scent to find the truth. I find it a fun challenge to dig the truth out from publicly available documents and expose their lies.

Many people have discerned that who their grandparents were, was something that they wanted to distant themselves from and start over. Change their name (your mother did) birth location etc. and especially age (so many kept making themselves younger in US Census through the decades). Lies, lies and more lies but it gave them what they wanted. A new start. Some had shady pasts and didn't want that name to be used (might get arrested?).

One of my ethnic groups is rare. On MyHeritage I have only 10 matches for this group. None of them know our vast history that my grandfather told me so I share and they are thrilled.

My suggestion is everyone should do it. I can't imagine what it must feel like to be adopted and not know...

NewYork44M

I am very intrigued by the DNA testing. Those that did the test, how has this changed your life?

Have you ever considered trying ancestry.com?