No DNA matches on great-grandmothers line

[belindy]

Hi everyone,
I have a mystery great-grandmother. Last year I decided to pay a DNA expert to delve into my dads ancestry dna matches to locate matches from her side.

The expert came to the final conclusion that there were 0 matches from that line.

Does anyone have any suggestions moving forward?
Said great-grandmother was born c1893.

[Janelle]

Hmmm, interesting

Which company did you test with
?
Have you uploaded your raw data to other platforms ?
Where was the lady born ?
Is her ethnic origins well represented in the database of your test company ?
Does she have siblings or cousins with descendants who you know have tested ?

[belindy]

Hi Janelle
Many thanks for your reply.
I have had my dad tested with: ancestry, Myheritage, FTdna, livingdna and also uploaded to gedmatch.
His sister: Myheritage, FTdna, livingdna and uploaded to gedmatch.

I have no idea where she was born. Her life pre-1917 is completely unknown.
In the 1921 census she states she was born in Kensington, London.
Cornwall is quite high up in the ethnicities and I THINK that could be from her.

There has been a lot of research done by myself and others who have kindly looked for information about her.
Dorothy May Barnes.

[Ruskie]

From what I understand, it is most unusual not to get ANY matches on a specific side of the family.

There are numerous reasons why you may not have been able to find her using the usual paper trail research, however zero DNA matches is odd.

Presumably you have investigated Ancestry’s parent one / parent two matches for that side of the family, and looked at, matches in common? Are there none at all? I take it that you and your DNA expert were looking for more than just known surnames which appear in your tree?

Have you asked for help on rootschat to find g grandmother before 1917?

[bearkat]

It seems that we have tried

https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=151719.msg699251#msg699251

[Biggles50]

With my two Paternal Great Grandfather’s there are zero DNA match’s to them or along their lines that I can identify as a positive DNA linked ancestor.

There is one, maybe two NPE events in my lines, the problem is identifying the person(s) who is missing.

Hence what you are experiencing is not necessarily unusual.

It can be a waiting game for other match’s to be revealed.

Meanwhile if you can get First Cousins of your Dan DNA tested, just by Ancestry, you can upload their DNA results to the sites quoted, you do not need to pay for multiple tests by different Companies.

DNA testing of Second Cousins again of your Dad on the same line can also help.

Problem it getting others to test.

Good luck

[coombs]

I think if someone said "Neither of my grandfathers are biological" when they did a Ancestry DNA test, I would think while not impossible, it is unlikely. It does not always mean something is awry, but maybe no one on their sides has yet tested or inheritance of DNA can be shaky. I have done FH for several decades but still not fully aware of how Ancestry DNA testing works though.

[Petros]

Some people can be very elusive inrecords.

I have multiple connections through a lady who appears to have been fathered by one of my grandmother's brother, and then had 9 or 10 children by two husbands. She appears in the 1939 index as born in 1920, and married in 1939, but appears to lack a birth registration. Her death register index suggests she was born in 1922. Neither she nor her mother or older (illegitimate) sister can be found in the 1921 census index and there is no evidence that the lady's mother married the alleged husband.