This  is a true tale of unbelievable coincidence and shocking revelations.  It involves a recent episode in our lives that has caused us to question the past and the lives of those we knew.  A family secret that was never meant to be known and a truth that remains buried with persons who have long since passed. It all begins quite unremarkably.  Mr Gin&Genealogy has, in the past, not wanted to have a DNA analysis done.  Something to do with owning his ‘last piece of personal data’ and a concern as to what would happen to the sample and whether he might erroneously be linked to a murder in the 1970s.   I should confess that I made that last one up. All the same, DNA analysis is a big part of modern genealogy and Ancestry make the results interesting and as well as showing any matches with others in the DNA sharing community there is a section showing ‘traits’ you may have inherited through your DNA.

Late last year while we were reviewing my Ancestry DNA page, Mr G&G decided it was all rather interesting with the analysis and ‘Ancestral Journeys’ shown. Maybe he would take a test after all.  His grandfather was Jewish and we knew his ancestors came to England from Russia/Poland in the late 1870s and so it was likely a good part of his heritage would stem from this, but he was keen to know how much and what the rest of his genetic make up consisted of.   

So in January of this year Mr G&G took an Ancestry DNA test.  

The results appeared on his Ancestry account about 6 weeks later, showing he is 56% English/Northwestern European with his Jewish makeup being 27% Ashkenazi. The rest was Germanic with a smattering of Welsh and Irish, so no great surprises so far.  We linked his results to the relevant trees on my Ancestry account where we could see if there were any DNA matches with those people who have taken tests and posted their results online at Ancestry.  Mr G&G has a very small living family but one of his first cousins popped up as she had done a test and she matched as such.  However there was a closer match, a name totally unfamiliar, which showed a young man to be a half nephew on Mr G&G’s paternal side.  I spent the next few hours staring at this result.  In order to have a nephew, Mr G&G would need to have a brother or sister and it follows that to have a half nephew would mean him having a half brother or half sister.

 He is an only child.  Or so he thought.

It was not until the following day that I ran this result by Mr G&G and he got it immediately, his late father must have had another child with another partner.  This was shocking and difficult to process but we decided not to jump to any conclusions until I had contacted his half nephew, lets call him ‘A’.  So through the Ancestry site I made contact with ‘A’ who responded quickly and without going into all the details, Mr G&G doubled the number of known family members overnight. He now has three half nephews and a half niece.

His father had fathered a child with ‘A’s grandmother who, like him, was married and their son was brought up by her and her husband who reportedly knew or found out later he was not the biological father.  Mr G&G had indeed had a half brother, ‘P’ who had been born six months before him, but who had sadly died in his 40s.  ‘P’ too had been an only child.  Everyone involved was shocked by the unfolding story and emails between all of us flowed daily as we tried to make sense of it all and get to know a little about each other .‘A’s father and Mr G&G had not known of the other’s existence and we wondered what everyone else knew too.  Since everyone involved has passed away we can’t expect to know the full story but there are various avenues of research that we are persuing including trying to identify  two photographs of a woman that were  found some years ago in an old, crumpled wallet in my late father in law’s papers and keepsakes.

It is simply a huge coincidence that both Mr G&G and ‘A’ took the Ancestry DNA test and published the results online.  The family connection would otherwise never have been known.  

Over the years a number of interesting or scandalous stories have come to light while I have been researching my own family history but they lie in the past among generations long gone and it’s difficult to know how it felt emotionally to be involved in these events.  With these latest DNA revelations, however, the repercussions are still among the living and it has been an extraordinary time while everyone involved comes to terms with this.  

There is sadness in much of this story but there has also been a real joy in finding other close members of the family.  They have shared photos and memories and been able to talk openly about their feelings as they process this.  Mr G&G has understandably  been through a range of emotions and is now of the view that nothing can change what has happened.

I believe his main concern now is that he owes four family members a lifetime of Birthday and Christmas presents. That must be that 27% of his DNA kicking in there.