DNA reveals that you are not who you thought you were.

Question

DNA reveals thirty years of research has been up the wrong tree and its on wikitree.  What do you do ?

Comments

You likely share no detectable DNA with probably 6 or so of your 128 “biological” fifth-great-grandparents. Perhaps that seems a false equivalency. But it’s food for thought.

Answer 1

A few months ago I read of some medical research that was done to find donors by matching DNA of siblings (sorry, can't put my hand on the reference for the research at present). After six months the research project was stopped. The reason? Over 30% of the supposed biological fathers were not the genetic fathers of some of their children. Some children had been adopted without the children being told, but the majority of the 30% plus mothers had a child by a different father without the person they were married to being aware of the fact.

That doesn't mean your family tree is wrong. The person who brought you up as your father, or grand father, still brought you up. He was the responsible parent, even though not the biological parent. It would be a pity if all this meant that person was removed all together from your family tree and replaced by your genetic parent that you have probably never met.

If that happened to me, I think I would leave my existing tree alone, but add notation explaining what had happened.  You can't change or deny the truth of what may have happened in the past, and the facts are the facts. But I would leave the tree alone. It contains information about the family that raised me, but I would also include a link to the genetic parent or grandparent.

Answer 2

I've had a similar experience. Thirty five years of research only to find out through Y-DNA 67 test that I am not related to my grandfather. My father must have been adopted. Half a tree gone. To your question, what do you do? I'm going to take a break, adjust my thinking and then dig deeper.

Comments

You should do a DNA test to see if your father is related to his mother.  It's possible he wasn't adopted and just had a different father than what the family thought.

---

My thought exactly.  My best friend just told me that his paternal grandfather tested out as not related.  He and his mother confronte granny (grandpa was dead already) and she admitted to an affair.  Unfortunately, they didn't get his name before she died so the seach is currently ongoing.

---

Lowell, taking the Y67 test from FTDNA establishes the STR unique to your paternal line.  The values for the 67 markers reflect. You, your father, grandfather and the others in that direct line.  To say your test proved you are not related to your grandfather, could only be correct if both your father and grandfather took the Y67 tear as well, and the results of the test did not match the values you received when you tested.  If on the other hand, if your father and grandfather’s results differ, then a NPE would be in play.

---

His father and grandfather wouldn't have to test. If Lowell's first cousin who descends from his grandfather through a paternal uncle tested and had significantly results, that would prove one of them had an NPE in the line to grandfather (i.e., Ellen's answer). If autosomal testing showed that the cousin had a bunch of matches through grandfather's line, then Lowell would know the NPE happened in his line.

Answer 3

Are you sure that it is your ancestry that is incorrect, and not the ancestry of the other DNA tester(s) you are comparing with?

Regardless, I think you (and also Lowell St. Cyr) would appreciate the book The Stranger in My Genes, by Bill Griffeth.

Answer 4

Tom,

Who you are has not changed.  It does not matter what we learn about our past and our ancestors, we are still the same people.  Perhaps older, hopefully wiser and with some luck a little more knowledgeable about ourselves, but still we are still the same person that started down the path that got us to the point that we are in today.

Learning about second marriages, extended affairs, illegitimacies does not change who we are, it can change what we know about ourselves but it does not change who we are.

If we have not learned about these things in our family history it simply means we have not looked far enough.  Every family has them - often hidden, perhaps forgotten but always there.

This all leads us to who were my ancestors? How do I verify the information?  Rule one:  Never accept until you check for yourself.  I keep coming back to the baptismal record for my grandmother that shows she was a boy, her name was unusual and in written material it was often assumed she was male.

Comments

Philip,

How did you handle it when you found out that your father wasn't your biological father? Did it have any effect on you at all?

Answer 5

Cheer up!  Hopefully you've created some good profiles, and they are still real people who lived and died, even if not related to you.  Someone else may be grateful for your work.

Answer 6

I kind of understand where you are coming from. although I hadn't done all of the research.

My mother was adopted as a baby so her biological family was always unknown. And I did not have a sense of who I was until I knew. So I spent years trying to persuade her to get her original birth certificate (which she finally did) and then many more years before I could finally persuade her to do a DNA test to find her fathers family. She turned out to be an NPE. Once she did her DNA test we were lucky enough to find her family.

This brought us into contact with a biological first cousin of my mothers. He too had an NPE in his family. His family stories were that his grandfather may possibly have not been his biological grandfather. So he was finally persuaded to take a DNA test, whereupon, he also found that his paternal legal grandfather - whose name he carries - was not his biological grandfather. After learning that news, he went silent for a few weeks while he adjusted to the news that he actually had the wrong surname.

This cousin and I have spent the last 12 months busy finding out the trees of those who are in his and also my mothers side of the family. My (part of the) family tree here on wikitree, has just exploded and we are still working on it.

It is a daunting thing to learn that one of your parents or grandparents, is not your biological family. But they are the parent who raised you so that still makes them your family.

Answer 7

I had over 50 years of research on my maternal grandfather's tree before I discovered I wasn't related. It was a blow, no denying. But I set to and researched the new family who were also very interesting, and I'm still researching his family too, after all, he was my adoptive grandfather and a much-loved one to all his grandkids. At the moment I'm researching unsourced stuff for my county team, which is every bit as interesting. So don't be downcast, there is still loads to do!

Answer 8

DNA can be confusing sometimes.  

As Barry noted if you simply do not see matches to a specific ancestor that could be due to how the DNA recombines in each generation and you may simply be missing DNA from that line.  It does not mean you are not related to that line, just your level of relationship is below the thresholds we normally work within,

If however through DNA you discover you are not related to a line but you are related to a different line then that points to what we call an NPE (non parental event).  Meaning an unknown ancestor which is usually a male.  In that case you will need to disconnect the non biological ancestor.  You can leave a link in the bio to the line  you researched because after all they may be related by law (common or marriage) and have passed down traditions, values, etc.  I have a great great grandfather whose bio father died when he was very small.  His Mom remarried and he took his step father's name.  No one in the family knew this until I started doing genealogy.  I research both lines because my grandfather knew his non bio grandfather as a loving influence.  And for him, that was his grandfather.  Blood relationships are really just one kind of family.  

I have adopted people in my family and they are just as much loved and family as bio family members.  So put in a link to the non bio relative who had an impact on your family and link your DNA to the bio one.  

Hope that helps.

Answer 9

One of my grandpa's was not really a blood relative. It later turned out my real (blood grandpa) was shot to death back in 1939 by his second wife.  Something my mom never knew.

Anyway, grandpa Floyd was the man who walked to school with me, taught me about buying candy and how to bait a hook.  He was a history expert, a train engineer, and was a Square and Level cowboy type man.

While he may not have been my DNA grandfather, he certainly was my real grandfather.  How I act, how my careers worked out, and how I treat my wife all hinge on what he taught me.

I would not change any of it...