Some help with genealogy please?

[Coemgen]

I've signed up for the 14 day trial at ancestry.com, and using their resources, I have traced my lineage through my mother's side into the 1580's in Germany and Switzerland, and into the 1660's in Prussia.

However, my father was adopted, and ancestry.com has no information about his adoptive parents, or his biological parents. I do know a little bit: I know his biological mother's name, and I know the history (to a few generations, anyway) of his adoptive parents.

But, I would like to know more. Do those of you who've done lots of genealogical research have any advice for finding out more about my father's background?

[gilmore]

While ancestry.com has a lot of info, much of it is not so good, especially that that is contributed by individual researchers, as opposed to transcriptions of public records. The latter are OK, but you will run into typos, misspellings, and other problems, such as M(ale) mistakenly entered for F(emale), or vice versa. All of it needs to be verified independently, but can be helpful.

You might also try the Mormon site, http://www.familysearch.org/ but it also has problems like the above-mentioned ones. They do no quality control, as I understand it.

The best way to start genealogical research is to go to the oldest members of your family and ask them about their ancestors. Then go to the public and other records to verify and expand. If you or your father know his biological mother well enough, talking to her would be the best place to start. If you don't, you might try Y chromosome DNA testing to see about your father's father's ancestors. True, it is something liek casting your bread upon the water. Family Tree DNA http://www.familytreedna.com has the largest database, and is therefore most likely to have some one with results close to yours. After you receive the results, you can also post them at www.ysearch.org which is open to test results from all the companies.

You could also test your father's mitochondrial DNA, which he inherited from his mother, for some clues as to where to look further, though this isn't used as much in genealogical research as Y chromosome DNA.

If you father's mother was born before 1930, she should be listed in the census for that year at ancestry.com, possibly in her parent's household.

Good luck and happy hunting.

[Coemgen]

Well, my mom's side of the family is remarkably very well documented - at least, for those who lived in the U. S. There are family reunions ad such that have put together comprehensive lists and such. The oldest members came over to the US in the 1600's, and beyond that it's fuzzy anyway, and I'm just trying to figure out where I came from.

It's really my Father's side I'm interested in, and that has the least information! I'd get one of the packages from Family Tree DNA, but I don't have a spare $900 sitting around waiting to be spent.

[gilmore]

Their most expensive Y DNA is only about $300, as I recall. You can always get the cheapest one, a 12 marker test, and if you get a 12 out of 12 match with some one, you can then upgrade it and test for more markers to see how closely you are related to him.

[Archangel]

There are limitation to the DNA test that make the process questionable.

You can really only relate to living people so you still have to go back to whatever reliability you put on the "historical" data.

The margin for error is pretty high.

The principal clues go all the way back to the dawn of time and don't tell you too much about the recent past.

Have a look at the Wikipedia article before you spend too much. Google some other critiques as well and then make your decision from an informed perspective.

[gilmore]

I was very surprised at some false statements in the Wikipedia article, such as "There is no usefulness in Maternal DNA because the mother displaces the father's maternal DNA ( from his mother). Maternal DNA continue only from mother to daughter." Mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to both sons and daughters. I don't know what the author means by "displaces father's DNA." That is just strange.

As to Archangel's post, it contains statements that are way, way off, such as "There are limitation to the DNA test that make the process questionable."
The process is not at all questionable. How the results are interpreted may be.

"The margin for error is pretty high." That is simply untrue. The tests are rather simple. If errors occur, I have never heard of them. Comparing results from two Y chromosome DNA tests can tell with a very high degree of propability how closely related two individuals are, how distant their most recent common ancestor was.

"The principal [sic] clues go all the way back to the dawn of time and don't tell you too much about the recent past" is totally untrue in Coemgen's case. It could very well be a first step in discovering who his biological grandfather was.

DNA testing may not tell an adoptee what his biological parents' address and phone numbers are, but are being used increasing by adoptees to find out bout their ancestry. As I said, it is casting your bread upon the water. It may identify close relatives, or it may not. Genetic genealogy is relatively new, about six years old. FTDNA keeps the samples for 25 years. You just never know what will show up.

[Coinneach]

Some people do just seem to disappear. My cousin finally found our great grandmother by searching the census in the location she was supposed to be in page by page. She had been taken in by an Aunt when her parents were both gone. What we know her as turned out to be her middle name...at least in the census. That's a long and arduous process and is not recommended unless all other searches have failed.

The SSDI (Social Security Death Index) will indicate for either parent if SS benefits were requested by either. It will give the death date. Always send off for a copy of the official record, if you can. There may be other clues on them.

If you have a birth date and place for your father...that, with his mother's maiden name might get you a birth certificate from the state where he was born. You may also be able to search for marriage records for his mother in that location.

And yes, do try to account for misspellings of the surname.

Genealogy is a great treasure hunt sometimes, so don't give up. I thought my grandfather's mother was going to be a dead end. Turns out she was a cousin once removed of a US President. But I don't jump up and down about it...he wasn't that great.

Good luck.

[gilmore]

Some people do just seem to disappear. My cousin finally found our great grandmother by searching the census in the location she was supposed to be in page by page. She had been taken in by an Aunt when her parents were both gone. What we know her as turned out to be her middle name...at least in the census. That's a long and arduous process and is not recommended unless all other searches have failed.

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You don't have to do that any more. At ancestry.com you just type in the name, click a search and get a list of hits.

[Cawdorian]

If you know the county or state where your father's family resided, you may be able to find a county historical society that can provide some information on the family, you may be able to locate some cousins of both families that you were unaware of. Most people who supply information to these organizations have some interest in genealogy and may be willing to share or help you locate information. I have found quite a bit of family information using these resources.

I had a Y DNA test performed to help isolate my father's family line because my GGF did not show up on my records such as the census etc. In some ways the test only added to the confusion, but it did help me through a brick wall. What we determined is that my DNA does not match anyone with my surname who participated in my surname project (about 50 males). What we did find was a case of surname adoption, we were able to confirm that my GGF was adopted. (my surname project is very open and is willing to share information) Now the problem is that the surname project for my GGF's biological surname is very tight and close with information, I have not been able to get information from them. The DNA test did redirect our research and enable us to find the adoption, but I am unable to confirm the line with Y-DNA until someone unlocks the information.

[Coinneach]

You don't have to do that any more. At ancestry.com you just type in the name, click a search and get a list of hits.

That's the way it should work, but every once in a while a person falls through the cracks. I should have mentioned, too, that the name we were looking for was now a middle initial in the census. It might not have mattered anyway...when she passed on, there were two newspaper stories and her name was spelled differently in each one and neither matched what was on her gravestone. It's what makes genealogy fun and keeps us young at the same time.