Who Am I???

[hedergurl]

I was adopted as a newborn and the adoption records are sealed. I am fine with this because my family is my family and I have no interest in knowing anything about any biological relatives. However, from a pamplet that was given at the time of my adoption, it says that my mothers background is English, Irish and French but there is no information on my fathers side. I am always asked what ethniticity I am but I have no answer. I would like to know my background but have ZERO desire to know anything else. I don't want to know if i match with anyone else or that I have a connection to anyone else. Is there a test that can give me what I am looking for and nothing else?

Heather

[tomcat]

If you are a GUY you can do a Y-DNA test to learn about your father's ancestry, but if you are a GIRL (gurl) your only hope is an autosomal test, see - www.ancestrybydna.com/ - www.dnatribes.com/

Now that FTDNA has bought DNA-Fingerprint there may be an X-DNA testing regime forthcoming that could tell you more about your father. You could write - www.dna-fingerprint.com/ See their price list.pdf - they offer consulting and testing on Family Reconstructiom.

I would also go back to the state in which you were adopted and see if any more non-identifying information is available on your father. Most states have such a program for adoptees. ('Course, it could have been that your bio-mom didn't know much about your bio-dad)

Hope this helps,

Tom

[Piobaireachd]

This site has some great information concerning adoptees rights as well as state laws and contacts. http://www.bastards.org/

Click on "learn"

I'm also an adoptee.

[taba2much]

If you are a GUY you can do a Y-DNA test to learn about your father's ancestry, but if you are a GIRL (gurl) your only hope is an autosomal test, see - www.ancestrybydna.com/ - www.dnatribes.com/

Now that FTDNA has bought DNA-Fingerprint there may be an X-DNA testing regime forthcoming that could tell you more about your father. You could write - www.dna-fingerprint.com/ See their price list.pdf - they offer consulting and testing on Family Reconstructiom.

I would also go back to the state in which you were adopted and see if any more non-identifying information is available on your father. Most states have such a program for adoptees. ('Course, it could have been that your bio-mom didn't know much about your bio-dad)

Hope this helps,

Tom

Im interested about that X-DNA test,,,, what have you heard on that the results of that test, what are they going to test ?????? it new too me

[Lost-Sheep]

I would like to know my background but have ZERO desire to know anything else.

Heather,

Please consider not distancing yourself from your ancestry for the sole reason that your biological parents placed you in adoption. Even if they were bad people, their parents might have been decent and that statement might hold true for the entire lot of the rest of your ancestors.

Certainly your adoptive parents love/d you more than your biological parents. However, you have a biological ancestry that is just as important as anyone else's biological ancestry and you are certainly entitled to know your biological lineage without feeling guilty of hurting your adoptive parents.

It is understandable that you certainly may want nothing to do with your biological parents and that is acceptable, but please reconsider not wanting to have anything to do with the rest of your biological ancestors. Only your biological parents are to blame for your adoption. Thank God that your biological mother did not have an abortion.

I sincerely hope you find what you seek...

[KerryODair]

Lost Sheep, well said!!!!

[tomcat]

Hedergurl,

If you are a younger person, if there is a likelihood that your birth parents and their contemporaries are still alive, you could run an advertisement in the newspaper of the locale in which you were adopted, giving your particulars and asking for any information on your birth parents.

Tom

[Piobaireachd]

I feel the same way as Hedergurl, I really don't want to meet my birth parents (if they are still alive). I just want to know a little more about myself.

My sister (also adopted) found her birth mother and they met for the first time this summer. I undestand it went really well, I don't have a great desire to do that.

[Lost-Sheep]

"I feel the same way as Hedergurl, I really don't want to meet my birth parents (if they are still alive). I just want to know a little more about myself."

So...what knowledge does one seek after denouncing their biological ancestry? Obviously, you must have a biological ancestral interest if you come here.

All I know is that if my mother or father was an adoptee, I would be very disappointed that I might never find out "Who am I" simply because I had a parent who was adopted who had personal issues with their ancestry soley based on biological parents that put him/her up for adoption.

If you have children, you might be contributing a dis-service to them as they might someday desire to know their ancestry. It does not soil the names of adoptive parents by seeking one's biological ancestry...

If nothing more, do it for the sake of your children and your children's children. God knows that I wish I knew the exact biological father of my mother's grandfather

There is nothing more that I can say...good luck I suppose...

[tomcat]

Regarding X testing

From the press release on the FTDNA-DNA-F merger (available as .pdf on FTDNA home page) -

>> Thomas Krahn, the scientific head of DNA-Fingerprint added: “We see a big future for new developments in DNA analysis to answer genealogical questions. Our new technologies will make it possible to resolve previously inconclusive genealogies even outside of the direct male or female lines. All the new technologies, like linked X-STR testing or sequencing of larger chromosomal regions will only make sense if they are accessible to a huge international customer base, which Family Tree DNA already has.”

Based in the outskirts of Berlin, capital of Germany. Since 2003 DNA-Fingerprint specializes in more complex ancestry testing, including extensive Y-STR, X-STR and mtDNA analysis. DNA-Fingerprint's laboratory can provide nearly any marker system that a customer desires. Its research is focused on asymmetrical multicopy markers in the palindromic region of the Y chromosome with the purpose to explain apparent mismatches in closely related individuals by recombination processes on the palindromic arms. <<

The database of population frequencies for X markers is small at present but will grow quickly, I expect, with FTDNA's support. When I was first tested last spring the database of mt-haplogroup C was only about twenty entries and now it is over one hundred.

My mother was adopted and I have not been able to locate any records for either of her parents, my maternal grandparents. My only knowledge of them is genetic. I know my grandmother's mt-haplogroup. And have autosomal test results that yield a blurred multiple image of ancestry - overlays of my parent's DNA.

But as my x-chromosome is a 50/50 blend of my mother's parents' DNA, testing it will give the clearest picture yet of my maternal grandparents and of their ancestries other than Native American.

Tom

[fmoakes]

From the press release on the FTDNA-DNA-F merger (available as .pdf on FTDNA home page) -

My mother was adopted and I have not been able to locate any records for either of her parents, my maternal grandparents. My only knowledge of them is genetic. I know my grandmother's mt-haplogroup. And have autosomal test results that yield a blurred multiple image of ancestry - overlays of my parent's DNA.

But as my x-chromosome is a 50/50 blend of my mother's parents' DNA, testing it will give the clearest picture yet of my maternal grandparents and of their ancestries other than Native American.

Tom

Can anyone explain the "ancestries other than Native American"?
Floyd
I1a* K

[tomcat]

Ancestries as in ethnicities or admixtures in addition to, or other than, Native American - as indicated by mt-haplo C (and autosomal results) - to be determined by a comparison of individual x-chromosome results to a database of population frequencies for x-chromosome markers (that database is small but will develop).

Tom
MitoUser 5u5hb

[Piobaireachd]

So...what knowledge does one seek after denouncing their biological ancestry? Obviously, you must have a biological ancestral interest if you come here.

All I know is that if my mother or father was an adoptee, I would be very disappointed that I might never find out "Who am I" simply because I had a parent who was adopted who had personal issues with their ancestry soley based on biological parents that put him/her up for adoption.

If you have children, you might be contributing a dis-service to them as they might someday desire to know their ancestry. It does not soil the names of adoptive parents by seeking one's biological ancestry...

If nothing more, do it for the sake of your children and your children's children. God knows that I wish I knew the exact biological father of my mother's grandfather

There is nothing more that I can say...good luck I suppose...

All I'm looking for is my ethnic background.

I'm 48 and have no kids. I've never had a desire to be a parent.

It's not that hard to comprehend...

[Lost-Sheep]

All I'm looking for is my ethnic background. I'm 48 and have no kids. I've never had a desire to be a parent. It's not that hard to comprehend...

I comprehend now. After all, it is of dire importance to know which block to choose whenever filling out that DMV driver's license renewal application to correctly check what race you are!

Ethnoancestry would probably suit your requirements better than knowing that you are R1a...

[Piobaireachd]

I comprehend now. After all, it is of dire importance to know which block to choose whenever filling out that DMV driver's license renewal application to correctly check what race you are!

Ethnoancestry would probably suit your requirements better than knowing that you are R1a...

So you are able to get all of that from three posts? You're pretty amazing.

Please, I know what I'm looking for and what my requirements are.