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Known Mother - adopted by Father

Known Mother - adopted by Father

Posted: 17 Apr 2015 8:34PM GMT
Classification: Query
As I would imagine most adoptions are complicated and mine is no different. I was born to my Mother (LOL - of course) as in I have no doubt about her. I was born in '57 and she was unwed. My alleged Bio-logical Father was married and wanted nothing to do with me. I have biological half siblings on my maternal side which I grew up with. I also have half siblings on my paternal side however they refuse any acknowledgement. When I was in my 20s I contacted my biological Father and he affirmed he was the Father. I was told to avoid any other contact. He did send me several letters and birthday cards. NOW... the question at hand... My "Father" is of Swiss descent and my Mother of English descent. My biological Father is of English descent. If I do DNA and my maternal half brother takes one would we show different descendancy? I am looking to verify my biological Father by the differences in ancestry. Both biological parents are now deceased. My adoptive Father isn't so sure of who my father is. Any opinion would be greatly appreciated. Thank You in advance!

Re: Known Mother - adopted by Father

Posted: 11 Jun 2015 1:38PM GMT
Classification: Query
atDNA tests for you and your brother will be similar. Some DNA labs will show all your matches and then you look for those you have in common. Those not in common are likely a different descendant. I found FamilyTreeDNA testing works best for this when you take the FamilyFinder test. I am not sure how well ancestry DNA works.

Re: Known Mother - adopted by Father

Posted: 11 Jun 2015 4:41PM GMT
Classification: Query
The autosomal DNA test will give you two things:
1. Ethnicity, which can vary widely even between siblings. This is no help for genealogy. People moved around too much and that "English" mother could test out to be mostly Scandinavian and very little English due to Viking settlements in parts of England. Also Swiss will not break out separately. It would be lumped in with Western Europe.
2. A match list of people who share significant portions of DNA (relatives). By examining the closer matches and eliminating the ones that are on maternal siblings side, you can develop a list of people who could be related to you on your biological father's side.

For autosomal, I recommend Ancestry due to the size of its database and the fact that you can download the raw DNA for use at Family Tree DNA and GEDMATCH. If you test at FTDNA, you cannot upload to Ancestry.

As a male, you have an additional option to use in checking your father. That is the Y-DNA test. That is not offered by Ancestry so you will need to do that one at FTDNA. This tracks the straight father/son descent back into time. Anyone who comes up a match shares a common male ancestor in a straight male line only descent. I.e, your father, his father, his paternal grandfather etc and their male line only descendents.

The number and quality of matches you have will depend on how many people have tested.
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