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  #16  
Old 12-12-2016, 09:20 PM
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honeychile honeychile is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 1964Alum View Post
Thanks for your story, navane. I am very interested in hearing how this turns out. My mother's ancestry is very well research to way before her gateway ancestors, but not my father's, other than the Quakers. I connected some time back with a contemporary on my mother's maternal line. Lo and behold we had 12 ancestors in common, all in England, where he still resided. He even came to a family reunion here in the US with a huge genealogical chart of his family in England and its connection to the family here. We had an immediate personal rapport. He also had the same rapport with a cousin in my mother's generation who had roughly the same careers in their respective countries. There are also contemporary Swedes who are cousins on my mother's paternal line.

But my roadblock is on my father's side as I can't go back any further than my gateway ancestors with the exception of the Quakers. I did, however, come across a picture of a WWII German officer who was the spitting image of my father. He was a "von", which is part of that family's lore. I couldn't find any further record of him so that is all that I have. Germany is about the only European country I haven't gone to, mainly because of what happened here. There is, however, a street in my beloved Vienna, Austria bearing my family's surname.

Ah, the mystery!
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Originally Posted by navane View Post
1964Alum,

Interesting! What has been a problem for us is that Polish last names are often spelled incorrectly in many records, ship manifests, etc. Just a couple of days ago, I got a small break in the case when I found the funeral mass card of a great-aunt (one of my grandmother's sisters that I didn't know about). When I added it to the family tree, Ancestry.com started pulling up old U.S. census records matching her married name. Apparently she and her husband were still living with her folks (my great-grandparents). Those census records were showing with my grandmother's maiden name spelled incorrectly. The only reason I found those records is because my great-aunt and her husband were in the household (with their names spelled correctly). Similarly, Polish people often changed their first names to something more American. So, right now, I'm stuck on trying to find information on a great-grandfather Wojciech who apparently also went by "Albert" or "George".

Hopefully you'll catch a break and find something that links you to the big clue you needed!
Have you tried Soundex with the names? That would be my first suggestion.

Another is the back story of Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak. She was born Megan Smolenyak, and then met and married a man with the last name of Smolenyak. She was able to trace their lineage to a small town in Slovakia, and there were four distinct Smolenyak families. Through DNA, they were able to isolate one of the families from the other three, and so it happened that she & her husband were not even remotely blood related.

Navane & 1964, I immediately thought of Megan when I read your posts. So often, the very "tribe" to which we think we belong is not indeed ours. I know that, at best, I'm only half-related to all but seven people with my maiden name. One of my ancestors seems to have had an illegitimate child, and while pregnant with #2, was sent to the United States (to avoid the stigma?). She met & married a man who never adopted her children, but they did use his name. In tracing their mother, it seems that she may not have been German/Swiss after all. This is one of the puzzles I'd like to solve, since there's not proper records otherwise.
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  #17  
Old 12-12-2016, 11:42 PM
aephi alum aephi alum is offline
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I used Family Tree DNA because my MIL, who is very into genealogy, asked me to do it and paid for the test.

So far it's told me exactly two things.

1. I have Irish ancestry. (Not a peep about my English, Scottish, Indian, or Polish ancestry. My father's whole family is Polish. )

2. The closest relatives it's shown me are possible fourth cousins. (Which means I am not closely related to my husband.)

I tried to get my dad to do the Y-DNA test, but he refused, and I don't have a blood-relative uncle or other male relative I can ask.

Guess I'm just a mystery wrapped in an enigma.
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  #18  
Old 12-13-2016, 02:14 AM
navane navane is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by honeychile View Post
Navane & 1964, I immediately thought of Megan when I read your posts. So often, the very "tribe" to which we think we belong is not indeed ours.
And that is certainly possible. That is why I asked my honorary cousin to take the DNA test. I told him via Facebook the other day, "Even if the test shows were are not blood family, I will always still call you cousin." His response to me was, "heheheh [family surname] is blood family. we are conected but we dont know where and how. we are conectet even with that part they say no we are not conected. yes we are just must find how"

(Specific note to honeychile: The last name you know me by on Facebook is my last name....however, it was not our original surname. Our family name was shortened when my dad was in the first grade. Our original surname is slightly less common.)

Quote:
Originally Posted by aephi alum View Post
I used Family Tree DNA because my MIL, who is very into genealogy, asked me to do it and paid for the test.

So far it's told me exactly two things.

1. I have Irish ancestry. (Not a peep about my English, Scottish, Indian, or Polish ancestry. My father's whole family is Polish. )

I believe that some companies have tests which are only based off of either the Y chromosome or on the mitochondrial DNA. Those would search the paternal and maternal sides, respectively. If you did an mtDNA test, then you would be looking at your mother's lineage and, therefore, your father's Polish side would not have shown up.
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Last edited by navane; 12-13-2016 at 02:24 AM.
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  #19  
Old 12-13-2016, 10:36 PM
aephi alum aephi alum is offline
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Originally Posted by navane View Post
I believe that some companies have tests which are only based off of either the Y chromosome or on the mitochondrial DNA. Those would search the paternal and maternal sides, respectively. If you did an mtDNA test, then you would be looking at your mother's lineage and, therefore, your father's Polish side would not have shown up.
I did their standard kit and mtDNA. I would have thought that the standard kit would have turned up something about my Polish ancestry based on the X chromosome I got from my father. And it doesn't explain why my English and Indian ancestry don't show up.

I do wish I could have gotten a Y-DNA test. But my father flat out refused, and now it's too late.
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  #20  
Old 01-08-2017, 10:55 PM
Jen Jen is offline
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I did 23andme over a year ago. Here in Canada you get health info as well, which factored into the choice. Recently I decided to do AncestryDNA as well because I built my family tree there and would like more family matches.

It was really worth it to me. I went in for the ancestry info, but found running the raw data through Promethease gave me so much health info that actually helped me choose medications (turns out I'm an ultrarapid metabolizer of some which explained a lot).

Ancestry wise 23andme gave me some snippets of ancestry I didn't expect, like little bits of Iberian and Southern European I'd love to trace. I'm curious how Ancestry will break down the UK/Irish because 23andme lists it as "British and Irish" while Ancestry.com breaks down Celtic ancestry separately.

Overall it's been totally worth it. If you're interested in health info, try out Promethease - https://promethease.com/

You just download the zip file of your raw data from whichever site you used and upload it. For 5 bucks you get a TON of health info. Ancestry actually tests more SNPs than 23andme right now so I'll be running the Ancestry DNA test as well.

I got my mom and 23andme test for Xmas, so I'm excited to see how that affects my results (and I'll be able to break down which side some DNA came from). I find 23andme is better for comparing results to family members which is why I got her that one.
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  #21  
Old 02-06-2017, 04:37 PM
navane navane is offline
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In all, I was pleased with the product. About 15 years ago, we found a family in Poland that shares our uncommon surname and comes from the same region that my family comes from. Looking at photos, their great-uncle and my father bear a striking resemblance. We figure we're related somehow; but, we've not been able to work out the common ancestor. We've kept in touch as "honorary family" all of these years. I went to Poland a few years ago to visit with my mother's side of the family. While there, I got to meet the other family possibly related to my dad's side. They were really great and we're hoping to figure the mystery out some day. Well, part of that mystery is going to be solved shortly. I ordered an extra Ancestry DNA kit and I'm going to send it out to Poland. My "honorary cousin" in Poland agreed to spit into the tube and mail it back to the U.S. Then, using Ancestry DNA's matching feature, we will finally be able to determine if we are blood related or not! It won't tell us who the common ancestor is; but, it will be able to give us a scientific probability of whether or not we are blood-related. I have the extra kit here and plan to mail it out to Poland sometime this week. I will try to remember to come back and let you know how it works out!

Update! The kit went out to Europe, my "honorary cousin" spit into the tube and I just received the kit back today! I immediately put it right back into the mail to be sent to the lab. So, provided the sample was good and the solution was able to stay fresh enough during the long trip in the mail, we should have some kind of answer in a few weeks!
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  #22  
Old 02-06-2017, 06:01 PM
1964Alum 1964Alum is offline
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How exciting for you Navane! I look forward to hearing the results.
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  #23  
Old 04-11-2017, 08:58 PM
navane navane is offline
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The DNA test results for my "honorary cousin" in Poland came in today and, sadly, he did not turn up on the match list for me or for my father.

There are two other women on ancestry.com who have ancestors with the same last name from the same general area as my family. Those two women are distant DNA cousins to each other; but, they did not match with me.

"Honorary cousin" in Poland has known family from both of the two exact towns where these ladies' ancestors came from. I was certain that, if he didn't match to me, he would match to one or the both of them. If so, then I could put them all in touch with each other and they could "meet" each other.

Unfortunately, neither one of the two women came up as a match for him either! So, either we have a lot of unrelated people with our uncommon last name running around or the DNA test isn't able to go far enough back to pick-up the connection.

I do understand the complexities of DNA and how these things can get muddied up based on the various combinations and scenarios. Though, I was a bit surprised that the other two women didn't match either. I don't know about the two ladies; but, me and "honorary cousin" did both separately come up as having DNA from the same specific region in Poland.

Oh well...we'll keep plugging away at the family tree the old fashioned way!

Quote:
Originally Posted by honeychile View Post
Another is the back story of Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak. She was born Megan Smolenyak, and then met and married a man with the last name of Smolenyak. She was able to trace their lineage to a small town in Slovakia, and there were four distinct Smolenyak families. Through DNA, they were able to isolate one of the families from the other three, and so it happened that she & her husband were not even remotely blood related.

Navane & 1964, I immediately thought of Megan when I read your posts. So often, the very "tribe" to which we think we belong is not indeed ours. I know that, at best, I'm only half-related to all but seven people with my maiden name.

This may very well be a similar situation here. One village has a current population of 650 and the other 13,060. So, kinda small...but, yeah, maybe they are unrelated, but decided to use the same last names.
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Last edited by navane; 04-11-2017 at 09:03 PM.
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  #24  
Old 04-12-2017, 12:07 PM
Sciencewoman Sciencewoman is offline
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My aunt and uncle were tested. My uncle (my mom's brother) and mom thought they were 100% German, but it turns out they're only 78% German and 22% English and Irish. My mom said that made sense, because some of the ancestors lived along the coast of the Baltic/North Sea.

My aunt from Minnesota thought she was 100% Norwegian. It turns out she's 50% Norwegian and 50% Swedish and she's really ticked off about it! LOL -- in my mind, this is hardly a dramatic revelation, but it matters to her. I think if you have the testing done, you need to be prepared for surprises.

On the other side of the family, my cousin was tested. We had a great grandfather who was maybe German and maybe Dutch, and from her results, it turns out he must have been Dutch.

So, I'm less German than I thought, and more English and Dutch than I thought, but it's only the percentage of the predetermined mix that changed.
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  #25  
Old 04-12-2017, 08:55 PM
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We do DNA tests all the time.. but it's more about confirming the identity of a father than anything else.
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  #26  
Old 04-12-2017, 10:11 PM
Sen's Revenge Sen's Revenge is offline
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A half-sister found me through AncestryDNA.

I used it to honestly get an idea of my European ancestry. I knew I'd obviously have West African ancestry.

<---- 21% British
<---- 36% Nigerian
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  #27  
Old 04-13-2017, 11:41 AM
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honeychile honeychile is offline
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Originally Posted by Sen's Revenge View Post
A half-sister found me through AncestryDNA.

I used it to honestly get an idea of my European ancestry. I knew I'd obviously have West African ancestry.

<---- 21% British
<---- 36% Nigerian
It's absolutely none of my business, but I'm intrigued: what is the other 43%?
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  #28  
Old 04-13-2017, 06:28 PM
Sen's Revenge Sen's Revenge is offline
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It's absolutely none of my business, but I'm intrigued: what is the other 43%?
Nigeria 36%
Ivory Coast/Ghana 14%
Africa South-Central Hunter-Gatherers 4%
Mali 5%
Senegal 4%
Cameroon/Congo 4%
Africa Southeastern Bantu <1%

Great Britain 21%
Europe West 4%
Iberian Peninsula 2%
Italy/Greece 1%
Scandinavia 1%
Finland/Northwest Russia <1%

The remaining one percent is Asian and Pacific Islander.
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  #29  
Old 04-14-2017, 04:29 PM
ellebud ellebud is offline
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We did it...23andme. Mr. Ellebud was 47% Ashkenazic Jew. 3% yahkot...an Mongol tribe who, in the 1400s, married into the Jewish population. Then on his mother's side...French Canadian, Italian, English, Alsace, Irish and I don't remember.

Me: 3% Yahut...and97% Ashkenazic Jew. I am boring.
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  #30  
Old 04-14-2017, 06:33 PM
glittergal1985 glittergal1985 is offline
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We did it...23andme. Mr. Ellebud was 47% Ashkenazic Jew. 3% yahkot...an Mongol tribe who, in the 1400s, married into the Jewish population. Then on his mother's side...French Canadian, Italian, English, Alsace, Irish and I don't remember.

Me: 3% Yahut...and97% Ashkenazic Jew. I am boring.
I just did 23andMe me and am also part Yakut, as is DH! Never knew about this before!
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