Unknown father - actions?

[dys]

Hello, I revealed that the person who my mother suggested as my father, was not my father. (the person is deceased and lived distantly, I never made any contact with him, nevertheless I tested y-dna with his son and the result is negative).

It is a lot distress for me personally, as I have always been interested in genealogy, history, anthropology etc.

My mother confessed that I was a result of a random intercourses and two men are in question. She does not know their names or any further details.

Is there anything you would suggest for me to do? I tried y-search with no close matches.

Any ideas are appreciated.

Many thanks

 

[Twilight]

Hello there Dys, welcome to Eupedia. Have you tried getting tested by autosomal genetic testing companies like 23andme and Ancestrydna for example? There are genetic testing websites that you can go to and they'll match you up with your cousins. Even though it's going be rare to find a first cousin, at least you can narrow down your search. You can also invite your mom to these genetic testing sites to find out if the cousin is actually from your mom's side; only if she is willing. Wish you the best of luck in searching for your biological Dad

 

[Fire Haired14]

Super interesting.

 

[Maciamo]

Welcome to Eupedia, Dys.

This can be a difficult situation. Many companies like FTDNA, Ancestry.com and even 23andMe would want you to believe that you can find lost relatives by testing your DNA with them. Actually, it is possible, but don't get your hopes up. It will only work if the person you are looking for (or a close relative who knows who they are) also got tested with that company. Needless to say that if that person doesn't want to be found, doesn't know that you exist or has no interest in genetics, the chances that you will get a match are pretty slim.

Your best bet may be to try to identify the surname by comparing your Y-DNA to the tens of thousands of other people who have tested and joined surname projects at FTDNA. But your chances are only good if your biological father's surname is from a region with lots of people in the database, like Britain or Ireland. I see that your country flag is Nauru. Is that really where you are from. If so, your chances are close to nil.

Even if you did manage to find a close match in a surname project, all you'd have is your father's presumed surname (assuming he didn't change his name, a common practice in North America). That should be enough if your mother once knew his surname (but forgot) for her to remember who that one night-stand was. If she never knew or if she isn't cooperative, that might not help you much, especially if that is a very common surname or if you come from a big city. If on the other hand it is a rare surname and your mother always lived in the countryside, then you might have a chance. That's a lot of conditions to be met.

 

[dys]

Thanks for all the answers, much appreciated.

I am new to this so I hope this is not a silly question:

Say I get an autosomal DNA test and have my mother tested too. Can I 'subtract' her profile from mine in a reasonable way and get effectively an image of a half of autosomal DNA of my father? Do things work like this?

 

[srdceleva]

Thanks for all the answers, much appreciated.

I am new to this so I hope this is not a silly question:

Say I get an autosomal DNA test and have my mother tested too. Can I 'subtract' her profile from mine in a reasonable way and get effectively an image of a half of autosomal DNA of my father? Do things work like this?

If you upload your raw data to gedmatch and your mothers raw data there is a tool to theoretically do this. It is not however 100 percent accurate, but you could possibly find relatives by doing that. its not a bad idea.