The Dolphins Make Me Cry.com - Forums

Out of curiosity have you tried 23 and me, or signed up for Ancestry.com,or Genealogy.com to find out about your family history? What was your thoughts on using them?

Have you ever researched old family stories (lore),to verify them,etc? Did you find any answers,etc.

I perused I think ancestry.com a long time ago and wasn't all that impressed.

My Mom is always wanting to look up to see if I can find any info about someone she worked with,friend,aunt,uncle,acquaintance from her past to see if they're dead.(She thinks everyone she knew,is dead now  :-[ )

I've learned ton the past 5yrs about,stories,that I've heard growing up, bunked a couple,and verified a couple...Got info on 1 yesterday,and a couple of weeks ago  learned I'll have a (cousin?) relative attending college here in town this fall.

My Mom revealed to me in the hospital a few months ago,that her dream job was to be a telephone switch board operator when she grew up.... ;D

My mom has.  We can trace back most of my family coming over between WWI and WWII.  What records existed (along with the entire villages) were destroyed by the Nazis as part of the final solution

I've never really been into this but I had a great Aunt who was on the kick for a while. She and my Grandfather were orphans at a young age so I can see why she had an interest. I personally don't even really feel a connection with those people you get introduced to at family reunions for the first time much less dead family members I have never met. I'm not sure if this makes me an oddball or not.

Not many people know this and I don't have a lot of time to explain but I did the DNA search on Ancestry.com a few years ago.  During the time since I have found a 1st cousin who was given up for adoption that we didn't know about and I found out my father isn't my biological. (both of my parents had died just before I found out so imagine my surprise)  I have another 2 half-brothers and 2 half-sisters from my biological father (I'm still the youngest) and several step or adopted siblings.

Be careful with how much you want to know because I really had no clue until I was 45 years old. Crazy huh???!!! 

CF, I'd like to hear some more on this when you have the time. Have you had contact with the others? Was the biological father someone that you were aware of ( I mean was this someone in the family's life)? Are you 100% trusting of the findings?

I'm not one for having my DNA put into a database and I'm not sure if I would be 100% on board with what came back if I did do it.

I have not looked into this, but I think it's because my family history is rather vanilla, from what I do know.

I have an uncle who was super into this as a hobby, pre-Internet.  He used to go looking up old newspapers and stuff on microfiche and look up court records and all this to build out the tree.  It was something that was always around, so I didn't appreciate it, because I was a kid.

No need...The incubation capsule I was in when it landed on Earth came with a complete history of my family tree...

I did the Ancestry DNA test about a year ago after my mom died.  I don't know who my biological father is, so I was just curious about my heritage.  I have no interest in finding out if there are unknown siblings or relatives though.  I also don't like the idea that my DNA is in a database.

Yes  .. I trust the findings. My cousin reached out to me as he had taken the test after I did. All he or we knew was that he was showing up as 99% chance of being a first cousin. After speaking with him for a while I deducted his mother had to be my aunt so I called my cousin to help figure it out. Long story short she (my aunt) admitted it was true and my mother told me everyone knew it back then. Apparently she got pregnant with her second child and then got divorced before she had the baby. She couldn't see raising two kids as a single mother in the 50s so she gave him up for adoption.  He had been looking for years since his parents died with little results until the DNA test linked to me. I got to meet him and his wife when they came to visit shortly after we discovered everything. He lives in Texas and is a developer.

After my parents died I got another message from a young woman in Arizona. Actually she is a professor at Arizona State.  She had taken the DNA test and it looked like she was either my niece or cousin. After much discovery talk we came to the conclusion her mother and I were either Aunt/nephew or we were siblings. We had her mother take the DNA test and it came back pretty conclusive that she was my sibling.  My mother and father were separated for almost a year before I was conceived and lived in Kissimee. I think you can guess where they were from. Her mother took the kids and moved to Pennsylvania the year I was born. Coincidence? 

There is confusion about how long my parents were back together before I was born (I'm going off my oldest brother's memories and he was about 12 at the time). My aunt (the one who gave up my cousin) tells me my parents knew. I find it hard to believe as my dad was a bad alcoholic for many years and it never came out. Either way ... if he did know he never let me know and I took care of him his last couple of years.  Although not my biological he will always be my father.

I've spoken to my sister several times but she lives in Pennsylvania. I did meet a brother and his family who came into town over the Christmas holidays. They live in VA and came to visit "Dad" and other family members. He tells me I look just like our father. Unfortunately "Dad" denies everything and doesn't want to meet me. He is definitely the leader of the family and it doesn't appear any of them like to confront him. He's 84 so not sure how much time we have left to meet. He owns a lot down in the Davenport area so I wonder if he is concerned I'm after money or something. Who knows? Weirdest thing to me is we even have the same exact birthday of July 5th. What are the odds?

It's kind of funny in that everyone who has reached out to me is doing very well in life. It's pretty obvious they aren't looking for anything. I swear I had no clue about any of this so I was pretty blindsided. The last few years have been a whirlwind and most people around me don't know. I have discussed it with my brothers.  I still am waiting for the next chip to fall and see who's next?

 

I  recently found out my brother that died 22years ago, had daughter from a drunk encounter in the mid 80's.He never knew she existed,her Mom decided to get away from the party scene,and raise my niece by herself.My nieces Mom decided to try to find my brother,discovering his death,tried to find his family.

So...I have an addition to my family,a 33yr old married niece,her husband and 2 kids...Her mom,and their family...

I remembered this thread,and Cf's post...I thought it was a CF post actually... :-[

After reading the fine print for both Ancestry.com and 23 and Me, I think I am just going to avoid those for now...

I know about 23 and Me, but what now about Ancestry.com?

My nieces' Mom,found My Mom,and then Me...Not using DNA,but just good research.

Just assume the worst and you will be safe. I'm not going to waste the time to read it.

^ I have no idea what's up with Ancestry.  What's the issue?