New Book, "The Lost Family" by Libby Copeland

[ec1970]

I just purchased this on Audible, and so far it is hitting all the topics that those of us who have perused this forum have been involved with over the years. It is interesting to read the personal examples of so many for whom DNA testing has been life altering. So I would recommend this book just...

[ec1970]

When did it become Not Parent Expected?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/dna-tes...CNM-00-10aag7e...

[ec1970]

When a close family member got in touch with me for the first time and I prepared them for revealing possibly a family secret, once I told them whom I believe my father was, the reaction was basically that it was not surprising. It is always a little hard to hear that your father was a philanderer,...

[ec1970]

I agree. But I do wonder what happens when the child becomes an adult and wonders and does DNA testing? Are they entitled to know? They did not sign any contract....

[ec1970]

And now anonymous sperm donors are being discovered: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/16/h...a-testing.html...

[ec1970]

It is tricky. I think people react differently to this kind of news. I have kept my discoveries secret from my non-bio father and my half-sibling. Mainly because my non-bio father is near death, and I want him to die in peace. My half-sibling would probably not believe the DNA even if you printed...

[ec1970]

A year later and critical mass has definitely been reached. A half-niece showed up and recently reached out to me. I basically asked if she had heard of DNA exposing family secrets and would she be prepared to know who I am. I think I may be lucky. It sounds like this family is very open and excited...

[ec1970]

I definitely do this. Basically every ancestor along the path to the common ancestor has become a "proven" DNA ancestor. I know it is not 100% because we could both have mistaken trees. I should probably differentiate actual common DNA ancestors with just those along the path to a common...

[ec1970]

Interesting. Still with all these 50+ cM relatives on FTDNA, most do not provide a family tree so the matches are nearly useless unless you want to get in touch with each person individually. I guess the automatic tree comparison that AncestryDNA does has been fairly useful for me. I have been able...

[ec1970]

I have 35 matches that are 50 cM or higher on AncestryDNA. 7 matches on 23andMe are 50 cM or higher. Amazingly I have 263 50 cM or higher on FamilyTreeDNA. Maybe there are different standards for calculating total shared cM?...

[ec1970]

I have finally tested with all three of the biggest DNA testing companies: AncestryDNA, 23andMe, and FamilyTreeDNA. I also uploaded to Gedmatch.com. Here is my experience in case it helps anyone else who is adopted or otherwise knows nothing about their own genetic ancestry.

My mother...

[ec1970]

True. A lot of people give Ancestry DNA kits as gifts and the people are only doing it for the novelty. To see if they have any Italian blood.

For the most part I have been able to figure out how I relate to all my close matches, even if they only provide their parents names, or else...

[ec1970]

If the forensic labs were smart they would figure out how to fake a saliva sample with their DNA samples. As nice as Gedmatch has been, I have many, many more close matches with Ancestry.com. Not everyone uploads to Gedmatch.

But it would come at a price of at least $69 per test ru...

[ec1970]

I started a similar thread a while ago on the ethics of exposing secrets.

I am an NPE. My bio-father's brother showed up as an extremely close family match to me on Ancestry. I have not made contact and neither has he, but I am betting it has more to do with him not understanding how...

[ec1970]

Who really has any issue with this? If I have genetic relatives who have committed serious crimes or cousins whose remains have been unidentified, I'm more than happy to provide my DNA to help solve the mystery.

I had actually been thinking of this kind of use for a few years. I'm glad...