DNA ethnicity logic check / Unexpected result

[Stanwix England]

This chart is useful for understanding what your potential relationship is with someone you have a DNA match is. I know you've sort of got that information already, but this page is so useful for a quick comparison I thought I would share it.

https://eu.customercare.23andme.com/hc/en-us/articles/204703390-Average-Percent-DNA-Shared-Between-Relatives

It seems to me there is a possibility that your bio-father is from the Irish family. Either a member who was travelling for work in England or a descendent of someone who did.

With that in mind, I would consider looking in the newspapers for your birthplace, at the time you were conceived and see if the surname of that family appears at all. It's an extreme long shot - it relies on your bio father having that surname, and having made the news for some reason - but it is a slim possibility.

[Heb66]

Hi Andy,
I have a 543 cm proven relationship on my DNA matches.....she is the daughter of my grandfathers brother.
I have already offered to research your connection for you using your DNA results and  building trees for you.
You now have to get down to the hard work of researching and building trees of your shared matches of this closest family match.
It won't be hard at all with such a close match !!!
Helen.

[heywood]

I have been following your posts with interest and hope that you will find an explanation soon.
I have found that people are often not forthcoming to answer or help if they do answer.
My closest matches are 247cm and 236cm.
The next being 234cm who is, I know, the child of my first cousin.
The first match replied but his parent is adopted and knows nothing of their biological parent/s.
The second hasn’t replied but, as I know my family, I assume that match is a similar situation - certainly an unknown (to me) parents.

I am posting this, just to say, that I did the Leeds method, as mentioned by Rosinish with my husband’s matches. I found that method quite helpful as I could see a pattern emerging re shared links. Just out of curiosity really. There is a Youtube video too.

We both have lots of Irish/American matches and these go way back. In fact, just this week I had a new match - 4th/6th cousin (no details) and then when I was checking my husband’s DNA, I recognised the photo - she is his 5th-8th cousin. We will leave it there -too much to contemplate.
 

I did do some work on his paternal line - again Irish - with someone in Australia. We shared the list of ‘shared matches’ to try and find connections. We didn’t find a real connection - too long ago- but again that was an interesting exercise.

[lisalisa]

Are there any other members of the 'niece's' family, who might be willing to have  a test?

You say the matches you share with her are on her mother's side, so has her mother done a test?

If she had, that might be a closer match (higher cMs) to you.  She might be a cousin?

Depending on all of your ages and whether the mother has any male siblings, might indicate whether you need to be looking at that generation or a generation further back to find a possible father.

If so shared matches between you and 'niece' might indicate whether you'd be looking on her mother's maternal or paternal side.

good luck with it all

[AndyH81]

Have you looked at Ancestry shared matches for you and your match, if there are any? Are any of them people who you already know of or recognise that link to a specific side/branch of your tree? Do any of them have trees that you can also investigate?

There's no connection between our family trees at all, and I've investigated all of theirs and dug as deep in to mine as I can go and find no connection. All I can tell from their trees is that they're related either by blood or marriage. And until this test, I had absolutely no idea they even existed - and vice-versa.

It's 100% total mystery to me. I feel like I am trying to play a game, but I don't know the rules or whose side I am on.

[heywood]

I have some matches e.g. 5/8th cousins who when i click on shared matches, there are none.

Do you mean that you have no shared matches? I don’t mean the trees, just look at the Leeds method, or similar, and log your shared matches. It is a colour coded way and you see who is likely to be connected to whichever line.

[AndyH81]

This chart is useful for understanding what your potential relationship is with someone you have a DNA match is. I know you've sort of got that information already, but this page is so useful for a quick comparison I thought I would share it.

https://eu.customercare.23andme.com/hc/en-us/articles/204703390-Average-Percent-DNA-Shared-Between-Relatives

It seems to me there is a possibility that your bio-father is from the Irish family. Either a member who was travelling for work in England or a descendent of someone who did.

With that in mind, I would consider looking in the newspapers for your birthplace, at the time you were conceived and see if the surname of that family appears at all. It's an extreme long shot - it relies on your bio father having that surname, and having made the news for some reason - but it is a slim possibility.

Not at all - that chart is a great and easy guide for me, so it's perfect! Thanks a lot for bringing it to my attention. I did try the paper thing, but it didn't reveal much. I did learn a member of that family, very sadly, died in a crash in my home town the same year as I born (and he wasn't very old, so couldn't have been my father).

I did speculate that perhaps his father and my father *could* have been the same person perhaps, as presumably his father (or another male member of his family) would have been in the area at some point around the time I would have been conceived - but, again, that's just wild speculation based on ideas my brain is spitting out, because I honestly do not have a clue and have no one to ask. I'm still trying to get my father to produce a document which may enlighten me on whether or not I have an older sibling (a different saga, mentioned in the other thread!) - clearly my family is a mess.

[decor]

I have some matches e.g. 5/8th cousins who when i click on shared matches, there are none.

Do you mean that you have no shared matches? I don’t mean the trees, just look at the Leeds method, or similar, and log your shared matches. It is a colour coded way and you see who is likely to be connected to whichever line.

This is really useful advice from Heywood. The Leeds method will help you find clusters of your matches...and point you towards the common ancestors.

I'm happy to take a look at your matches for you. If that's something you're interested in, send me a PM

[AndyH81]

Hi Andy,
I have a 543 cm proven relationship on my DNA matches.....she is the daughter of my grandfathers brother.
I have already offered to research your connection for you using your DNA results and  building trees for you.
You now have to get down to the hard work of researching and building trees of your shared matches of this closest family match.
It won't be hard at all with such a close match !!!
Helen.

I might have to accept help at this point. I just don't know where to begin really. I'd already built as much of a tree as I could using the information they had available, but I was really struggling to find any Irish records - it seems like a lot of them were destroyed or just aren't available publicly?

By rights, the woman with whom I have the closest match (the "niece" / 1st cousin, once removed / 2nd cousin) would have to be the child of a 1st cousin, meaning my father would need to be a sibling of her parent? We'd have to share a grandparent, or for the other suggestions a great-grandparent?

I can find nothing on either side.