My husband ended up ordering an Ancestry DNA kit for me and the results came in yesterday! I was surprisingly impatient with it all and the longer it took in the analysis phase the more convince I was that it had failed. The wait which was not really that long at all (Ancestry received my completed DNA kit on September 30th and I had the results online on the 19th October) however did give me time to further evaluate how I would handle surprise relatives or unexpected results, which can and does happen but did not so far in my case. My husband did however have two unexpected close family connections, we reached out and one replied who was searching for a biological parent after getting unexpected results themselves a couple of years ago. Together we went through my husbands tree and found the likely connection and last we heard they were having more testing done to establish the exact nature of their relationship. The stress, emotional turmoil and unpredictability of people’s reactions to unexpected DNA results is definitely something to be seriously considered when embarking on this process and people need to understand there will not always be satisfying results and welcoming families at the end of it! We are very hopeful that my husbands new relative does have a good outcome however or at the very least gains the knowledge they were seeking. We believe that the other close relative that was revealed is his niece through his older brother who lives in the United States. Currently we have not heard back from her and do not have contact with his brother (they were raised separately in different countries after my husbands parents marriage ended).
My husbands DNA test was not the only one I know to knock down brick walls in family trees! My son in law and his mother’s DNA tests have confirmed that his grandfather (who was adopted) was indeed the biological son of an American serviceman and an Australian girl during the Second World War. I did some research using the DNA results and believe that I found the serviceman concerned, whose ship was in Sydney on leave at the required time but to my knowledge neither side has reached out yet to pursue it any further which is completely understandable.
One of my trees biggest mysteries has also been solved recently, when some of my other relatives DNA test results led to us finally finding out what happened to my Great Great Grandfather Edward Battye. Family legend had him running off to the United States or Europe with another woman and the proceeds of his gold discoveries (which were rumoured to be considerable) however none of us who have been researching the tree for decades now could find any record to confirm this. After over twenty years of research I had basically come to the conclusion that he had ended up dead down a mine shaft somewhere, as the trail went cold on him living with another woman (name unknown) near Yarrangobilly in the early 1900s. It turned out he had simply changed his name, moved to another part of the state, changed occupation, had another family and lived out his days. I had considered this option years before but there was no way to trace it then and I thought the gold bug had bitten him too hard to ever give up on it! Anyway the brick wall has been knocked down now and he seems to have lived a good life with his second family. More posts concerning him can be found here, here, here, here, here, here.
Getting back to my DNA results now, my ethnicity estimate is below. So far I have over 323 4th cousin or closer DNA matches, no surprise relatives and no unexpected results. My Nan’s father was indeed her biological father, something that had to be considered as her parents did not marry until the year she turned three and this was in the 1920s and both were single. My son in law and I are as I thought distant cousins with a very small amount of shared DNA. My Great Great Grandfather Edward Battye did change his name and have a second family. There were no clues as to the indigenous connection in my Grandfathers tree however, I am hoping when some of my Mothers siblings do their test we might get some answers in that direction. My Mother refuses have it done, as is her right to. Overall I am very happy with the results and currently working out where all the DNA matches fit in my trees.
My husbands DNA test was not the only one I know to knock down brick walls in family trees! My son in law and his mother’s DNA tests have confirmed that his grandfather (who was adopted) was indeed the biological son of an American serviceman and an Australian girl during the Second World War. I did some research using the DNA results and believe that I found the serviceman concerned, whose ship was in Sydney on leave at the required time but to my knowledge neither side has reached out yet to pursue it any further which is completely understandable.
One of my trees biggest mysteries has also been solved recently, when some of my other relatives DNA test results led to us finally finding out what happened to my Great Great Grandfather Edward Battye. Family legend had him running off to the United States or Europe with another woman and the proceeds of his gold discoveries (which were rumoured to be considerable) however none of us who have been researching the tree for decades now could find any record to confirm this. After over twenty years of research I had basically come to the conclusion that he had ended up dead down a mine shaft somewhere, as the trail went cold on him living with another woman (name unknown) near Yarrangobilly in the early 1900s. It turned out he had simply changed his name, moved to another part of the state, changed occupation, had another family and lived out his days. I had considered this option years before but there was no way to trace it then and I thought the gold bug had bitten him too hard to ever give up on it! Anyway the brick wall has been knocked down now and he seems to have lived a good life with his second family. More posts concerning him can be found here, here, here, here, here, here.
Getting back to my DNA results now, my ethnicity estimate is below. So far I have over 323 4th cousin or closer DNA matches, no surprise relatives and no unexpected results. My Nan’s father was indeed her biological father, something that had to be considered as her parents did not marry until the year she turned three and this was in the 1920s and both were single. My son in law and I are as I thought distant cousins with a very small amount of shared DNA. My Great Great Grandfather Edward Battye did change his name and have a second family. There were no clues as to the indigenous connection in my Grandfathers tree however, I am hoping when some of my Mothers siblings do their test we might get some answers in that direction. My Mother refuses have it done, as is her right to. Overall I am very happy with the results and currently working out where all the DNA matches fit in my trees.
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