Trying to find my uncle's biological father

[J.Dekkers]

Hello everyone,

I'm posting this in hopes that someone could point me in the right direction. I'm from The Netherlands and I have experience in Dutch genealogy research. However I'm currently trying to help my uncle find his biological father. My uncle is in his 70s and it turns out my grandmother got cozy with a (most likely) British soldier during the liberation of The Netherlands. My uncle did a DNA test confirming his British roots. We found 2 DNA clusters with common ancestors from the 1800s, mostly in the Shropshire area. They are Thomas Darrall (1801-1885) & Anne Turner (1819-1898) and William Boden (1801-1868) & Sarah Howell (1803-1869). With the help of Ancestry.com I've tried to find as many descendants as possible and now have a list of 115 possible candidates so far of which 32 are in a likely age range. Now, here's where I seem to get stuck. I wasn't able to find a military register online or anything else that could help me further narrow it down, but I might be looking in the wrong places. Any tips would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

J.

[Milliepede]

What parental information is on his birth certificate or isn't there one? 

When was he born exactly?  Don't give out his name because we aren't allowed to name living persons here. 

[J.Dekkers]

I don't know the exact day but he was born in May 1946. I believe my grandfather's name is on his birth certificate.

[KiwiRose]

Hello J,

Thank you for asking about your uncle’s DNA British roots and any British Military registers online, or similar. Rootschatters answers will be of interest to myself and possibly others in a similar position. An Ancestry DNA test recently resulted in a surprise, mystery 2-3 cousin match to a child born to a German woman and an unknown WW2 British occupation solder in my tree. This unknown soldier, with the only clue being a very common Christian name, must be someone in my large extended English family. It is a sensitive subject as the solder’s immediate family may have no knowledge of this child so I need to tread very carefully.

Good luck in your search for your uncle’s biological father.

Regards,

KiwiRose.

[Rosinish]

Welcome to RootsChat 

We found 2 DNA clusters with common ancestors from the 1800s, mostly in the Shropshire area. They are Thomas Darrall (1801-1885) & Anne Turner (1819-1898) and William Boden (1801-1868) & Sarah Howell (1803-1869). With the help of Ancestry.com I've tried to find as many descendants as possible and now have a list of 115 possible candidates so far of which 32 are in a likely age range. Now, here's where I seem to get stuck. I wasn't able to find a military register online or anything else that could help me further narrow it down, but I might be looking in the wrong places. Any tips would be much appreciated!

1st of all, what is your uncles' relationship to his matches - % - cMs - Segments?

When you say '2 DNA clusters', do you mean 2 people or...?

Has your uncle uploaded his DNA to other sites too e.g. MyHeritage?

It may be worth trying the LEEDS METHOD which can be very helpful, check it out...
https://www.danaleeds.com/

Annie

[mckha489]

I wasn't able to find a military register online

There isn’t any register or similar online for WW2.
But FindMyPast has

World War 2 Allies Collection
British Army Casualty Lists 1939-1945
Royal Artillery Attestations 1883-1942
Army Roll Of Honour 1939-1945

And various other lists.  You might be able to use them to at least make your list of possible men shorter. because presumably only some regiments were in the Netherlands.

I would look for names in the newspapers (also on FindMyPast) and The Gazette.

Also, even though you have narrowed it down to Shropshire families, the descendant could well be in a Commonwealth regiment or even the Navy.. my own father-in-law, (a New Zealander of Scots descent so we can rule him out) was commander of a landing craft on D Day. Among their various tasks after D Day  they went up the coast and delivered supplies along canals in The Netherlands. He and his crew were Volunteer Naval Reserve from a mix of countries.

[J.Dekkers]

My uncle hired a genealogist and they tested his DNA through Ancestry, MyHeritage, and FamilytreeDNA. The highest DNA match was 118cM, so not very high. They analysed the matches that were higher than 50cM and looked at their family trees and that's how they found the DNA clusters (so multiple matches with the same DNA and the same ancestors). I'm not sure about the exact process but they indicated that the ancestors from Shropshire are most likely common ancestors with my uncle and his biological father. Unfortunately that's all they could find so far.

I will have a look at the Leeds method, FindMyPast and some newspapers, thank you for the suggestions.

[jaywit]

If your uncle was born in May 1946 then he would have been conceived around August 1945.

So after the war was ended. Which part of the Netherlands was he born in?

I am thinking that at that time British soldiers would have been possibly returning home.

There is a WW2 board on here and maybe if you can narrow down an area the experts on there may be able to suggest possible regiments.

OK If you come back with Amsterdam it could be more difficult.

[J.Dekkers]

If your uncle was born in May 1946 then he would have been conceived around August 1945.

So after the war was ended. Which part of the Netherlands was he born in?

I am thinking that at that time British soldiers would have been possibly returning home.

There is a WW2 board on here and maybe if you can narrow down an area the experts on there may be able to suggest possible regiments.

OK If you come back with Amsterdam it could be more difficult.

I'm pretty sure it was in the Tilburg area in the south. I'll have a look at the WW2 board, thanks.