No Jewish matches

[zilch]

Thanks all. A part of my family immigrated from Germany to Poland (or at least they spoke German). I was sceptical about the Jewish connection, but Bulgarian and Italian one is way more surprising.

[zilch]

I have another question, motivated by curiosity this time. I plan to go through genealogical archives to find out the details about my family. If I find a Jewish great grandmother or grandfather, then in the view of the above does this mean that (with a high probability) there was an infidelity/adoption/etc, so that there are no obvious Jewish lines in DNA?

[josh w.]

I have another question, motivated by curiosity this time. I plan to go through genealogical archives to find out the details about my family. If I find a Jewish great grandmother or grandfather, then in the view of the above does this mean that (with a high probability) there was an infidelity/adoption/etc, so that there are no obvious Jewish lines in DNA?

A good chance. There is no telling when such an event might have happened. Alternatively, an ancestor might have converted to Judaism.

[josh w.]

A good chance. There is no telling when such an event might have happened. Alternatively, an ancestor might have converted to Judaism.

While there was more conversion to Christianty, there was some conversion to Judaism. See the story of Franz Kafka's family.

[dna]

While there was more conversion to Christianity, there was some conversion to Judaism. See the story of Franz Kafka's family.

Also there were (rare) events, when a Jewish male had a child with a non-Jewish female out of wedlock.

Mr W

[zilch]

I've noticed that there is a significant spike in EAST_MED when I compare the results of Jtest and EUtest. I understand that this means that the (false, I assume) 4.5% Ashkenazi originate from EAST_MED. Is this consistent with a possible Italian or Bulgarian ancestor?

I asked a bit more about the family history. France, Hungary and Germany came up when it concerns great granparents, but no Italians and Bulgarians at all.

I'm a bit puzzled. Do you think that testing aDNA of my mother might be worth a try?

[josh w.]

I've noticed that there is a significant spike in EAST_MED when I compare the results of Jtest and EUtest. I understand that this means that the (false, I assume) 4.5% Ashkenazi originate from EAST_MED. Is this consistent with a possible Italian or Bulgarian ancestor?

I asked a bit more about the family history. France, Hungary and Germany came up when it concerns great granparents, but no Italians and Bulgarians at all.

I'm a bit puzzled. Do you think that testing aDNA of my mother might be worth a try?

The spreadsheet at Eurogenes shows the average levels of East Med for various populations. Known family history is seldom complete if one goes back a few generations.

Testing any close ancestor would be helpful

[zilch]

Do you know anything about the variance of the data from these tables? It seems that my results differ from the averages when it comes to the Asian/Medditeranean part, but I do not know how significant this is. My mtDNA haplogroup is pretty rare too, as it is U2.

The non-european, non-trace data:

EUtest averages for PL:
WEST_MED EAST_MED WEST_ASIAN
6.62 4.42 3.74

My results:
WEST_MED EAST_MED WEST_ASIAN
9.32 9.37 6.58

Jtest averages for PL:
WEST_MED ASHKENAZI EAST_MED WEST_ASIAN
6.15 3.11 3.33 3.20

My results:
WEST_MED ASHKENAZI EAST_MED WEST_ASIAN
8.68 4.51 7.67 5.76

I'll ask my parents to test their aDNA.

[CuriousAdoptee]

I'm 0% Ashkenazi, no known Jewish ancestors with family tree going back to 1700 on every line, many lines back to the 1500s and very Catholic. Two of my four grandparents are 100% German.

99% of my matches are Ashkenazi. Many 3rd to 5th cousins who are currently living in Eastern Europe, Russia or Israel. It really makes no sense.

[John McCoy]

How do you know that 99% of your matches are Ashkenazi? Where do you see that information? I ought to have a few Ashkenazi matches, but I don't see any way of identifying them.

[dna]

I'm 0% Ashkenazi, no known Jewish ancestors with family tree going back to 1700 on every line, many lines back to the 1500s and very Catholic. Two of my four grandparents are 100% German.

99% of my matches are Ashkenazi. Many 3rd to 5th cousins who are currently living in Eastern Europe, Russia or Israel. It really makes no sense.

Paper trail not matching DNA is a quite plausible explanation.

Since all who might have known are quite likely not among us, your research needs to widen and deepen.

Mr W

[CuriousAdoptee]

Paper trail not matching DNA is a quite plausible explanation.

Since all who might have known are quite likely not among us, your research needs to widen and deepen.

Mr W

Well, the fact that my ethnicity shows only a very small percentage of Ashkenazi matches the paper trail. The only sign I have any Jewish heritage is all the matches on FTDNA and also 23 & Me.

On Ancestry, two of my mom's 1st cousins have tested now, one has a small trace of European Jewish and the other doesn't have any.

My 2nd cousins on my dad's side through the same line have the same - small trace of 1-2% European Jewish.

Seems like I got a small trace from both my biological parents.

How do you know that 99% of your matches are Ashkenazi? Where do you see that information? I ought to have a few Ashkenazi matches, but I don't see any way of identifying them.

When I do common matches, most of them all match each other. Chromosome browser shows they match on specific genes. I have about 6 segments that are Ashkenazi and 99% of my matches on FTDNA are on those genes.

My top surnames of matches are Kaplan, Rosenberg and Cohen. I also have a lot of matches with Russian names. Names aren't always a sign, but most of my non-Ashkenazi have names that would be common in Kentucky and Tennessee.

[josh w.]

Well, the fact that my ethnicity shows only a very small percentage of Ashkenazi matches the paper trail. The only sign I have any Jewish heritage is all the matches on FTDNA and also 23 & Me.

On Ancestry, two of my mom's 1st cousins have tested now, one has a small trace of European Jewish and the other doesn't have any.

My 2nd cousins on my dad's side through the same line have the same - small trace of 1-2% European Jewish.

Seems like I got a small trace from both my biological parents.



When I do common matches, most of them all match each other. Chromosome browser shows they match on specific genes. I have about 6 segments that are Ashkenazi and 99% of my matches on FTDNA are on those genes.

My top surnames of matches are Kaplan, Rosenberg and Cohen. I also have a lot of matches with Russian names. Names aren't always a sign, but most of my non-Ashkenazi have names that would be common in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Do you mean that you know that your segments are Ashkenazi because Ashkenazis match on these segments. You would need something like Gedmatch's chromosome painting to suggest the origin of the segments.