DNA shows 1st and 2nd cousins whose family names for 4-5 generations back are not recognized.

Question

My husband’s DNA shows VERY close (1st and 2nd cousins) relatives he never heard of.  There are no recognizable names in any of their generations.  Although his known ancestry is Eastern European, specifically Polish and Ukrainian/Russian, his DNA reveals a lot of English and NW European ancestry.  None of these relatives have Eastern European names.

We know many immigrants changed their last names, but could all of his close matches have done this?  

Could this reflect an illegitimacy in the last few generations? (We wouldn’t be ashamed of this because one of my grandmothers was illegitimate, and that certainly didn’t reflect badly on her.)  We’re reluctant to suggest this possibility when contacting these close cousins.

We appreciate any thoughts and suggestions you have.  Thank you!

Answer 1

If your husband's presumed ancestry is Eastern European but his DNA shows British and Irish and NW European, then the most likely explanation would be that his father or one of his grandfathers is not who he thinks. DNA tests are generally good at distinguishing Eastern European ancestry from Western European ancestry; it is highly unlikely that someone who was actually of recent Polish and Ukrainian ancestry would get a DNA result that indicated their ancestors were from the British Isles.

Comments

Thank you, C Handy.  To clarify, his DNA is 45% E. European and Russian, which is exactly what his known family is.  But, his 39% England and NW Europe ancestry really surprised us.  We aren’t surprised about his 12% Norway and Baltic ancestry because of their relative proximity to Poland.

Because Poland and Western Russia have been overrun for millennia, we understand that he would have some English and Western European ancestry.  However, since all his known grandparents/great grandparents immigrated from E. Europe before 1895 and these identified cousins are his generation or younger, I believe your conclusion is accurate.

Perhaps some of my unrecognized DNA cousins are descendants of my unknown great grandfather.  All we know from a family legend is that he supposedly died in a bar fight in St. Louis.

Thanks, Jan

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Norway is not really that close to Poland and there tends to be more overlap with the British Isles (particularly Scotland and the Isles and the northeast of England) because of trade routes across the North Sea; 39% British/NW Euro and 12% Scandinavian is more consistent with having one parent who is of mostly British Isles ancestry (many British people will get a result that includes some percentage of Scandinavian from commercial DNA tests).

Answer 2

If he has 2nd cousins who are closer and they are *not* matches, then that would confirm there is a non-biological link between them. There are no known confirmed instances where biological second cousins or closer do not share a detectable amount of DNA. Once you get to 2C once removed, there are a few rare instances of non-match, so you can’t use this idea at this distances.

If no close cousins have tested, you can still process of elimination to see which great-grandparents can be confirmed and focus your search in the ones who are not yet confirmed.