So here is what you need to know first off. My father and his siblings (my aunt & uncle) are believed to have different father's. My Grand-mother lived her life for herself and the fun she could have. It has been known and spoken of since I can remember that they have different fathers. My father is most likely the son of John F Goodwin and my uncle may have also been. However it is believed his father is a truck driver my Grandmother is known to have been with around the time he was concieved. My aunt is believed to be the child of an Italian corner store/butcher shop down the street from their home at the time. My uncle was dying of cancer in the summer of 1992 and wanted to go to his grave with them all finally getting the truth from their mother and laying it all out and then putting it behind them; so he could die having this resolved. We were all to get together for my birthday and talk to her. She always insisted they had the same father and wouldn't talk about anything beyond that. Early that day she got all worked up that my aunt was in town a day early and we had gotten together the night before with out her (we did to go over how to handle the talk with her, so it was agreeed it would be straight forward without harshness or judgement...we just want to get to the truth). So she got worked up, as I said and sent to the hospital complaining of pain in her chest. Later at work I got a call from a friend of her's saying she went to the hospital but no one their would tell her how she was. I called and they said they were trying to get a hold of my dad, I identified myself and told them I could get a hold of him; but how was she? They informed me she had died. Yes she died that day, hours before we could meet and get the answers. She took the secrets to the grave with her. That is until now. DNA testing is now affordable and can be done by anyone. We will finally get to the bottom of this family mystery.
Now for my aunts test, we expect to find that she has some Irish/Scottish heritage; so England, Wales and the like along with some french from her mother's side. Her father as I said we expect to see a large portion of Italian and or a mix of that region of Europe.
Her Breakdown was as follows.... top to bottom -
Africa <1% from Southeastern Bantu (primarily South Africa, Kenya, Nambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Tanzania, Mozambique, Uganda). This is a low confidence area.
Europe 99% from - Europe West 35% (Primarily Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein).
- Ireland 25% (Primarily Ireland, Wales, Scotland).
- Iberian Peninsula 21% (Primarily Spain, Portugal).
- Great Britain 11% (Primarily England, Scotland, Wales).
These following European ones are Low Confidence
- Finland/Northwest Russia 3% (Primarily Finland, Russia (Northwest)).
- Italy/Greece 3% (Primarily Italy, Greece)
- European Jewish <1% (Primarily Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary, Israel)
- Scandinavia 0% (Primarily Sweden, Norway, Denmark)
Then there is a section of Genetic Communities and her heritage is showing, French Settlers of Montreal & Metro Detroit (which includes surrounding areas including Windsor, Ontario, Cananda), which is where our family is.
So biggest surprise is that she shows only 3% Italian in the low confidence area. So the Italian shop owner wasn't her father or people assumed he was italian and he was maybe Western European (German) or Iberian (Spanish) maybe. The English and French make sense from what we know although 35% Western Europe??? I would also have expected that if she had the same father that maybe a genentic community in Illinois or New York leading back to England as that is were Goodwin came from. So we really need mine and then my fathers to compare to her and see if and how much of a difference.
The other thing is the matches to cousins (First, second, third, fourth and beyond). When we look at the possible cousin matches and the names on the trees of the ones that have trees; we find names that I have not found in my research of our family as of yet. So again I would asume 'Yes" they have different fathers. I see names like Renaud x5, Leclair, Meloche x5, Pettitclair, Moisan, Brooker x3, Dufour x3....there are many more that show up multiple times, however this gives you an idea.
So we will have to check into these for her. These may very well be one of the names of her father. More will come of all of this.
Now I want to note here. As I have been looking at this I have noted that a lot of people have been getting this test done. Presumably to find out where they come from. However most don't have a full membership on Ancestry and have not filled in a tree of anysort or they do but only like 3-15 people. Finding your matches with others is going to be hard if you have no one to match to. The other part of this is that they do have a large tree on line; but have locked it as private. This goes further into the whole genealogical community in which you find people that have their tree locked private and or won't share info with other potential distant family members. I don't personnaly understand FAMILY research which we lock and don't share. We are all trying to find out about our history and make connections. Why the secrets? Just my thought on this. I am open to sharing and meeting new family.
Until the next test comes available to compare, let's all Remember When...and share together.
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Image of Ancestry DNA kit. |
