DNA - What's the point?

[medpat]

Pat ..I'm on a very similar project for a war baby now know that her highest match MUST be grandson of her birth father but no tree and not answering messages yet .

Hope you do have contact with the grandson.

The son made all the contacts and was lucky all wanted to help. He sent me a copy of the message naming the mother. I sat and cried, didn't realise how emotionally involved I'd become. It's a marvellous feeling helping someone find their family. 

[LizzieW]

DNA - the point for me is that it is bringing me nearer to finding out who my g.grandfather was.  I know he lived with g.gran from mid 1880s onwards (my gran born 1884) and he died in 1935.  I have photographs of him too.  But his origins are a total mystery.  He didn't marry g.gran so no marriage cert, although I think he may have been illegitimate and Jewish so a marriage cert probably wouldn't have helped.  It's possible his mother was called Da Costa, but when my gran died her eldest daughter who lived with her burned all the photographs and paperwork relating to this Da Costa lady saying "We don't want to know all about that do we?"  Whether it was because she was Jewish and that was a touchy subject just after the war, who knows?

Anyway I have been in touch with a 4th cousin in USA (via DNA and 23andMe, not Ancestry), who is Jewish and I'm now researching all his family to find the missing link.  Hopefully, I'll get there in the end, if not at least I know I was right about the Jewish connection.

[AngelaR]

Just to add to my previous comments - I've just checked some relatively recent additions to the Ancestry DNA set and have found some very convincing connections back to 5xgt grandparents.
However, what I've found before with ancestors from that particular village is that there was a certain amount of inbreeding so it's possible that this particular contact is connected via more than one route (and thus potentially increasing the level of DNA match)

[brigidmac]

Lizzie W
I've just done name search of  Cost costA & Decosta  :on my mother's huge DNA matches

There are a few matches from Portugal & France & south Africa none interlink
one from Lithuania who  may have been Jewish

[LizzieW]

I've just come across a tree on Ancestry which links into some of the Da Costas I found in my research of the ancestors of my 4th cousin in USA.  Although the tree owner hasn't done her DNA, there is someone (possibly) a granddaughter who has and I link into that tree too.  Now to find who my g.grandparents parents were.  There are very few possibilities, so someone somewhere must have the missing link.

[Albufera32]

Click on DNA matches, then shared DNA on the new page.  It shows you the numbers.

My son has 11,000 matches, 270 fourth cousin or better.

Where do you see the total number of matches? I can only see a number for 4th cousin and closer on mine.

NB 4th cousin & closer is misleading, as it includes matches assessed as likely 4th-6th cousins.

Thanks Nanna52, I just got my results today and couldn't figure out how to see how many matches I had in total. I knew I had seen something about it on roots chat and a few minutes turned up this post. Turns out I have 26 554 matches, which should keep me busy for a while.

[dawnyj]

For me, It's been a game changer.  In my DNA matches I've found out who my Great Grandfather was. My Nan only ever knew his name and that he went to Montreal. My second DNA match linked to a Canadian woman with his surname and a third with him in his tres and being born where my family live.

It was a gift from my husband and the best gift too !

[LizzieW]

I've just come across a tree on Ancestry which links into some of the Da Costas I found in my research of the ancestors of my 4th cousin in USA.  Although the tree owner hasn't done her DNA, there is someone (possibly) a granddaughter who has and I link into that tree too.  Now to find who my g.grandparents parents were.  There are very few possibilities, so someone somewhere must have the missing link.

Well so far I've found 3 people who are all descended from the same man, Isaac Da Costa b.1715 through different children of his and a 4th who I think is descended from the same man but I'm researching that one myself at the moment.  Also coincidentally, via Zoom my U3A group had a talk from a family history researcher who was called Da Costa.  He kindly agreed to look at my research free of charge and thinks we are possibly distantly related as he is descended from Isaac Da Costa's brother!

I will find out who my g.grandfather's parents (or at least one of them) are even though it's taken me years so far.  All I need is just the one DNA match, maybe descended from my g.grandfather's siblings (if he had any).

[Guy Etchells]

DNA like every other record resource available to genealogists/family historians is a very limited resource that depends on other resources being available for it to be useful.
It does not prove any relationship but may show the possibility of a relationship being correct, this is the same as written records they do not provide proof but build up information to draw conclusions.
There are basically three different routes in family history, legends/remembered knowledge, written records and DNA.

Under UK law if a married woman gives birth to a child that child is assumed to be the child of her husband unless it can be shown the husband could not have had contact with her during the relevant period.
In a similar way a DNA match is normally assumed to be made through the closest common ancestor but some matches may actually come from a more convoluted source.

In reality a well researched tree complied from written records may be enhanced by both family legends/knowledge and the results of a DNA test, but a DNA test really requires written records to become useful in a similar way to family legends requiring written records to supply support for them.

However I have been interested in family history since about the age of 3 or 4 when I was shown by my mother a “huge” family tree complied by my grandad. That tree fascinated me and got me hooked, despite researching throughout my life DNA revealed a half-brother I never knew about and through a cousin contact with a half-sister I knew very little about.

In other words use every tool you have available to form a picture of your family, every source is valuable in it's own right and every source needs to be investigated to find the full picture.

Cheers
Guy