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Are You My Cousin or Half-Sibling?

DaveNV

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My daughter loves doing research on Ancestry.com. My brother, my only sibling who has the same father I do, looks very little like me. The features we share are our Mother’s features. I look a whole lot like my Dad. My brother, not at all.

Daughter had my brother do the DNA test, and sure enough: We’re half-siblings. My Dad is not his Dad. All the parents are gone now, so we can’t ask anybody about it. And it doesn’t change anything - he’s still my brother. But at least now we know.

Dave
 

clifffaith

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I am sure all sorts of interesting stuff comes up. My parents knew of one family where the youngest girl was raised as a sister, but she was actually the daughter of the eldest girl. It was unclear to me when or if she was ever told that her sister was her mother, and her mother was really her grandmother. Another of their friends had her father die when she was an adult with children of her own. When she and her mother started dealing with the funeral home, turns out dear old dad had a second family the next town over (and I believe that woman thought she was married to him). Those children were the ages of his grandchildren from his first family. He traveled extensively so it was not unusual for him to have to leave town on Christmas day, when actually he was pulling a "Hey kids, I'm home!" routine a few miles away. I can't imagine how he kept two families secret from each other. It even ended up in the local news. Ancestry-type DNA testing would seem to make it hard to keep those type of secrets in this day and age.
 

SmithOp

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How about this guy in the news suing a sperm bank? He donated as a student and found out through testing that he’s fathered 17 kids! His contract was for no more than 5.

I haven’t done mine since a cousin has traced our family back 400 years in the same small village, probably lots of inbreeding there, lol.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 

shorts

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I never knew who was my dad’s father and he never talked about it. My 23 and me results came up with several second and third cousins locally that I had no idea how they were related. After some conversations we discovered who my “grandfather” was and that he was actually married to someone else when he got my grandmother pregnant. Quite the scandal back then! So probably no wonder that his identity was kept quiet all those years. So now I have lots of new cousins and was even invited to a family reunion/gathering.
 

WVBaker

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All these DNA kits and not one law firm has found a way to help someone claim back child support from the Father they never knew. :whooopie:
 

Glynda

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The 1/2 relationships can really throw one off when doing a search. I am searching for my biological father. My birth mother named him in a letter to my parents when arranging my adoption, along with some information that 25 years later proved to correct, but since having my DNA tested, I do not match two women with whom I should share a great grandfather. Oddly though, I have about 18 4th to 6th cousins who have his great-grandmother in their family trees on Ancestry. So I am related in some sense. Very strange.

I have a strong first to second cousin match on Ancestry. I suspect he is on my paternal side and he would be a 1/2. He's a year older than me, and is realtor in CA. I also match his daughter, son, nephew and great-nephew. His only sister passed away several years ago. Before contacting him, I built a private family tree of his family (No one can see it but me unless I extend an invitation; a privilege I can also revoke.) It might have errors as some information was sketchy but it's far more extensive than his 7 person tree. I finally contacted him and his nephew. Neither responded. It's frustrating. At least respond and tell me to get lost so I know you have received my message! I really just want to know who I came from, who my birth father was (he's most likely dead by now) and some medical information. A photo would be great. I've already seen, from Googling and FB, that there are a lot of redheads in his family. I am the only one on my maternal birth side as far as I know. I don't have to have a relationship with any of them if they would prefer it that way. Right now, I don't plan to contact his children or great-nephew but his ex-wife lives close to me. :ponder::ponder: Hmmmm....
 

WVBaker

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The 1/2 relationships can really throw one off when doing a search. I am searching for my biological father. My birth mother named him in a letter to my parents when arranging my adoption, along with some information that 25 years later proved to correct, but since having my DNA tested, I do not match two women with whom I should share a great grandfather. Oddly though, I have about 18 4th to 6th cousins who have his great-grandmother in their family trees on Ancestry. So I am related in some sense. Very strange.

I have a strong first to second cousin match on Ancestry. I suspect he is on my paternal side and he would be a 1/2. He's a year older than me, and is realtor in CA. I also match his daughter, son, nephew and great-nephew. His only sister passed away several years ago. Before contacting him, I built a private family tree of his family (No one can see it but me unless I extend an invitation; a privilege I can also revoke.) It might have errors as some information was sketchy but it's far more extensive than his 7 person tree. I finally contacted him and his nephew. Neither responded. It's frustrating. At least respond and tell me to get lost so I know you have received my message! I really just want to know who I came from, who my birth father was (he's most likely dead by now) and some medical information. A photo would be great. I've already seen, from Googling and FB, that there are a lot of redheads in his family. I am the only one on my maternal birth side as far as I know. I don't have to have a relationship with any of them if they would prefer it that way. Right now, I don't plan to contact his children or great-nephew but his ex-wife lives close to me. :ponder::ponder: Hmmmm....

You may want to try 23andme.com for additional information.

They offer the same testing and also provide separate tests for the following:

Health Predispositions
"Learn how your genetics can influence your chances of developing certain diseases such as late-onset Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson’s disease."

Carrier Status
"If you are starting a family, find out if you are a carrier for certain inherited conditions such as cystic fibrosis or a form of hereditary hearing loss."

Wellness
"Are you likely to be an especially deep sleeper? Wonder if you're likely to be lactose intolerant? Learn how your genes play a role in your well-being and lifestyle choices."

Traits
"Learn how your DNA influences traits such as your facial features, taste, smell and more."

The possible relationship information given from each provider is based solely on those who have taken their tests. Results are not shared between providers. You may have a different list of possible relatives from another provider.

It's really quite interesting to see just how many people out there share the same strands of DNA. :ponder:
 

Glynda

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You may want to try 23andme.com for additional information.

They offer the same testing and also provide separate tests for the following:

Health Predispositions
"Learn how your genetics can influence your chances of developing certain diseases such as late-onset Alzheimer's disease or Parkinson’s disease."

Carrier Status
"If you are starting a family, find out if you are a carrier for certain inherited conditions such as cystic fibrosis or a form of hereditary hearing loss."

Wellness
"Are you likely to be an especially deep sleeper? Wonder if you're likely to be lactose intolerant? Learn how your genes play a role in your well-being and lifestyle choices."

Traits
"Learn how your DNA influences traits such as your facial features, taste, smell and more."

The possible relationship information given from each provider is based solely on those who have taken their tests. Results are not shared between providers. You may have a different list of possible relatives from another provider.

It's really quite interesting to see just how many people out there share the same strands of DNA. :ponder:

Thank you. I was DNA tested on 23andme a long time ago, before the FDA shut down their medical reports for a period of time. I also have been DNA tested on Ancestry.com and uploaded both my 23andme and my Ancestry DNA (one or the other) to FamilyTreeDNA, My Heritage, and Gedmatch/Genesis. I'm out there just waiting for the right match to unlock the door.
 

Grammarhero

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I think if someone bought Ancestry, it’s free autosomal transfer to FTDNA and gedmatch.
 

Grammarhero

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My daughter loves doing research on Ancestry.com. My brother, my only sibling who has the same father I do, looks very little like me. The features we share are our Mother’s features. I look a whole lot like my Dad. My brother, not at all.

Daughter had my brother do the DNA test, and sure enough: We’re half-siblings. My Dad is not his Dad. All the parents are gone now, so we can’t ask anybody about it. And it doesn’t change anything - he’s still my brother. But at least now we know.

Dave
So my uncle was supposedly adopted. Turns out he, my dad, uncles, and aunts had the same dad, and my uncle was the result of a love affair. Some family secret discovered from 23andme. I used gedmatch as well.
 
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WVBaker

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So my uncle was supposedly adopted. Turns out he, my dad, uncles, and aunts, and the result of a love affair. Some family secret discovered from 23andme. I used gedmatch as well.

Did GEDmatch result in any additional information being learned?
 

Grammarhero

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Did GEDmatch result in any additional information being learned?
No. Because my family used ancestry or 23andme, and I had access to all their accounts. If I didn’t have access to their accounts, gedmatch would have been useful. In my fam, I’m known as the “timeshare guy” or “DNA guy.”
 

Glynda

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I think if someone bought Ancestry, it’s free autosomal transfer to FTDNA and gedmatch.

Yes. It's seems as if one, perhaps MyHeritage, no longer allows 23andme transfers but 23andme is working on whatever the problem is with that. But most allow both 23andme and Ancestry. All my transfers were free, as I recall.
 
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