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CAN DNA RESEARCH REVEAL WHO MY FATHER WAS?
Reader Pat got in touch with DNA adviser Karen Evans to ask about the possible steps for finding out who her father was
PAT: This will be the first time that I have ever divulged my birth to anyone outside my family, husband excluded of course.
Facts:
• I was illegitimate.
• I never knew who my father was.
• My mother never breathed a word.
• My aunts told me one or two things but as they were small children at the time, their memories are unreliable.
I have taken an Ancestry DNA test and frankly haven’t a clue how to decipher it. I have no idea where to go from here, even after reading your very interesting articles! My tree on Ancestry is my mother’s family as I clearly have no idea about the other side. Incidentally, in case you are wondering, my mother is no longer alive, I never felt comfortable about asking about my father as I felt that I should respect her silence and equally she married a wonderful man who became my father (but not adopted by him) although I took on his surname legally.
I would appreciate your ‘silence’ on these details, i.e. that any names are changed to protect those living but I really do wonder if you can shed any light on my DNA and equally on those names of whom none appear in a fairly extensive maternal tree please.
I spent some time emailing Pat and she made it clear that, although she wanted to see what the DNA test would reveal, she had no intention of contacting anyone on her paternal side. She was open to sharing her test results with
