Finding New Relatives

Jules

Jules

SF VIP
With 23 and Me, Ancestry, etc, have you ever found a new close relative or have they found you?

Depending on who it was, would you want to be in touch with them?

I’ve always had the philosophy that just because I’m related to someone, it doesn’t mean I would have an emotional attachment.
 

I found and have been in contact with distant relatives in Pennsylvania. A relative who left the UK; departing Liverpool to New York. He was just 15 years old at the time & traveling alone.

Found some documents my great grandmother had. Became aware of them when My grandmother passed away. Then linked everything together via Ancestry.com

Not really found any new close relatives though.
 
Last edited:
Jules said:
With 23 and Me, Ancestry, etc, have you ever found a new close relative or have they found you?

Depending on who it was, would you want to be in touch with them?

I’ve always had the philosophy that just because I’m related to someone, it doesn’t mean I would have an emotional attachment.
Click to expand...
Yes I found I had a half Brother. when I did an Ancestry DNA, the connection lasted all of 3 Emails , He wanted to know the circumstances of what happened , I wasnt willing to give the information up , I was 10 at the time . A very hard time back then and I remember it well .

I might add that not all my Siblings know about him , and Ive been wondering whether I should tell them .
 
One thing I did discover is that a male cousin of mine who worked in the US for a few years, got married in San Antonio in 2002 to an American. I also found their marriage certificate & marriage license. They are both now living in the UK. I’m the only member of the family who knows they are married; they never told their parents, and they don’t know I know.
 
Jules said:
With 23 and Me, Ancestry, etc, have you ever found a new close relative or have they found you?

Depending on who it was, would you want to be in touch with them?

I’ve always had the philosophy that just because I’m related to someone, it doesn’t mean I would have an emotional attachment.
Click to expand...
funny you should mention this because for the last 2 weeks I've been pondering this question. I had a favourite auntie. My Fathers' younger sister. She was the fun aunt... but soon after she had her first child.. we as a family moved to England ( I was 19).. and we just got on with out lives ( us kids)... apart from my granny I never gave my relatives another thought..apart from nice thoughts.. but never thought to contact them..

My father kept in touch , and through him we learned that auntie had had 2 more children.

She's always been in my mind over the years as have most of my other relatives.. but they were like another life..

I was doing some research for births and deaths a while back and was shocked to learn my aunt had died in her 50's.. she was just 10 years older than me!

2 weeks ago, I found her youngest child on facebook.. he's a grown man.. married with kids.. I;d never met this son of my Aunt, even as a baby.

So.. I've been sitting on my hands wondering whether to contact him, or just leave things be as he doesn't know me anyway..
 
My dad was married twice and I knew very little about his first family or his early life. A few years ago a daughter of his first born child contacted me. We emailed and eventually spoke on the phone, we each learned some interesting history about my dad (her grandfather).

But you know what? That was good enough for me. She was wanting to meet and co mingle families but I kind of shut that down, I'm simply not interested in adding a bunch of relatives to my life.
 
There's too much chance of a new relative creating problems so I won't be giving anyone my DNA.

Also, it seems that police departments have been able to access those records sometimes and it helps them to find the families of criminals. That could be a real shocker.

How police can use your DNA to solve crimes without consent​

https://nypost.com/2022/10/01/how-police-can-use-your-dna-to-solve-crimes-without-consent/

How FBI uses genetic genealogy websites to nail murder suspects like Idaho's Bryan Kohberger: Agents run DNA through public websites, find their suspect, then secretly (and legally) collect their DNA to match to crime scene​

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...pect-Bryan-Kohbgergers-distant-relatives.html
 
Jules said:
That’s a finding that I consider good.
Click to expand...
Absolutely.

For over 2 decades a scum here in Calif assaulted, tortured, and killed numerous people, mostly young women. He was named The Golden State Killer in northern Cali, and The Night Stalker in southern Cali. When detectives used genetic ancestry, they finally got him.

To avoid the death penalty, Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. pleaded guilty to 13 murders, 51 rapes, and 120 burglaries. DNA proved many more rapes but the statute of limitations had run out on them. He was suspected of hundreds more murders, but the state settled for the 13 confessions and gave him life in prison, no chance of parole.

He was an old man by the time the technology was available. Good to know we don't ever have to wait practically a lifetime again.
 
None of my known relatives are criminals and I don't want to find an unknown relative that is a serial killer. On the other hand if you guys find one that would be very interesting so please, do tell. :ROFLMAO:
 
I'm not really interested in finding any new close relatives- only the very rich, and very old ones, looking for an heir. My sur name is quite common in Canada, and France with lots in the UK, who don't use the French pronunciation. So, there are so many branches of the family, while we may have the same last name, we really aren't related anymore.
BTW, I was blown away by how diverse my ancestors were. In the 1500s, you wouldn't think a Frenchman could have relations with someone from Southeastern Asia and Mexico.
 
I know of all my Norse relatives on my Mother's side
but I wanted to find out about my Dad's side, Welsh and Irish.
"Ancestry" only told me more about where my Norse relatives
hailed from. Oh Well!
 
My brother gifted me 23 and Me, for my birthday, several years ago. I rarely look at the messages from them. There was one person who contacted me early on, but that fell to the wayside .. a 2nd cousin, or
something like that. Apparently, I have a long list of Asian 2nd & 3rd cousins. Many are not Japanese, and
many are American.
 
Oh, dear Lord, yes......and not all of them through genetic testing.

When I started digging years ago, I went out to the Mormon genealogical headquarters in Salt Lake City and that started me on a quest. Through that and other diversions, I found all sorts of relatives and visited them.

Then, a very shocking phone call from a stranger opened up what could only be described as a real can of worms and a lot of what I thought I knew wasn't true. It turned out well, though, and I found and met some delightful relatives I would have never known otherwise.

I'm glad I found out all of that before I got tested because I would have been astounded at what the testing results revealed.

Recently, through genetic testing, I was able to speak to the daughter and niece of two second cousins that I hadn't seen since we were children. Unfortunately, one had died and the other one had dementia. We lost touch because of family problems and I had always wondered about them.
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top