DNA-Genealogie 5: Fallbeispiele: Unbekannte Vorfahren durch DNA identifizieren
Kann man unbekannte Vorfahren – wenn sie nicht zu viele Generationen entfernt sind – mit Hilfe der DNA-Analyse identifizieren? Wer dies unter deutschen Genealogen äußert, erntet ungläubiges Staunen und riskiert mehr noch, als Spinner angesehen zu werden. Im englischsprachigen Raum, wo die Nutzung der DNA in der Genealogie viel weiter verbreitet und genealogischer Alltag ist, gilt dies hingegen als triviale Selbstverständlichkeit. Dabei ist es klar, dass es niemals die DNA alleine sein kann, die einen unbekannten Großvater, Urgroßvater oder Ururgroßvater zu identifizieren hilft, sondern immer die DNA in Kombination mit klassischer genealogischer Forschung und Überlieferung.
Daher hier zwei Beispiele, die im Internet veröffentlicht worden sind:
- Nancy O’Connor Ewans: How DNA helped find the parents of William Houston Johnson 1878-1964
- Barton Lewis: How I solved my great-grandmother’s NPE using DNA
Aus der Facebook-Gruppe „Genetic Genealogy: Tips & Techniques“ stammen folgende – anonymisierte – Beispiele:
- „I don’t have a blog but I figured out the mystery of my great grandmothers parentage armed only with her maiden name, birthdate, the DNA from my mother, aunt, our first cousin once removed and some well-timed DNA matches with nice trees.„
- „I am very close to identifying the parents of my 2nd great grandparents based on DNA matches. Their parents have been a brick wall for many people for 30+ years.„
- „I’m closing in on the father of my maternal grandfather. This coming week is the first since a couple important results finally made their way out Ancestry that I don’t have a bunch of other stuff to do, so I’m hoping to have a solution by the end of the week.„
- „I am *this* close to proving who my great grandfather’s parents were. He was born in 1871. By „this close“ I mean that I’ll know as soon as AncestryDNA processes a kit that was sent in February.„
- „I have narrowed down the birth father of my great grandfather (born 1874) to one of three brothers. I have hope that I might be able to figure out which one in the future. As well as the identity of the birth mother.„
- „I have narrowed my genetic great grandfather down to four brothers using DNA testing of my father, my paternal male 1st cousin, a ‚4th cousin‘ of the surname family we descend from, and the great great grandson of one of the four brothers. Now I have turned to the documentary evidence to put one of the four brother ‚at the scene of the crime‘ at the time of my grandfather’s conception.„
- „I have finally figured out my maternal grandfather. It takes lots of research and the breakthrough came when the right people finally tested.„
- „I identified my biological great great grandfather (Sweden – 1850s) using atDNA. First I developed a plausible „suspect“ using paper records, then I researched the „suspects“ father’s descendants until I found a person I could test. I was fortunate in that not only did I have my grandfathers DNA, but also the recruited DNA of many of his „other“ relatives whose DNA I could use for phasing and or building a network; and lastly, the candidate I selected for testing (and who graciously agreed to be tested after review the plausibility of my paper research) was double related to my „suspects“ parents. (Incidentally, my testing subject had already done the research on my „suspects“ ancestry — taking it back to the 1600s.) A key principle (when possible) is to develop a research theory and then test it with the DNA.“
- „I’ve also used yDNA to help a NPE cousin identify their true surname, narrow their „specific 1770s real ancestor“ to within a few families and also support our claim of origin in specific village in Germany in the 1600s. In this case we were fortunate to have a unique haplogroup and two different immigrating branches (one in 1752 and one in 1852) whose paper trails went back to the same tiny village in Germany in the 1600s.“
- „we identified the 4 greats grandfather of 5 illegitimate children by cross referencing shared family rumours, ruling out other lineages and ultimately by one of the dna matches going to the courthouse and locating several contested paternity cases connected to the same fellow. his legitimatized descendents continue to be in denial however.„
- „From knowing nothing, have narrowed down a grandfather to one of 5 brothers. You absolutely can do this sort of thing. One has to „get lucky“ or otherwise be able to get test results from the right folks, but it absolutely can be done.“
- „My great grandad was adopted and found out just before he died. I worked out who he was within an hour.“
Eine Reihe von „success stories“ findet sich auf der Homepage von ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy):
- Success stories
- Adoption success stories (mit weiteren Links)