Genealogy Chat

Can some advise if its possible for me to find my maternal Grt.Gr/Mother.,
thru a DNA Test.

My father always believed that the man his mother married, was his father,
but on enquiring for his' British Part Pension', he needed his B/Cert...as we live
in Aust.

When that arrived, he was devastated to learn that the man he always knew as his father, was in fact his step/father...both P's were deceased...no one knew in the family.
All i know was some small info, that his father was Scottish..Died in WW1...
My dad i believe was named after him...'Duncan.
If i was to have a DNA test ..is it possible to pick up the female side of my father's Ukn
Gr/Mother ... which would have been his ( ukn/ father's... mother )

Love to hear from anyone who may be able to help me in this matter.

You say,
"All i know was some small info, that his father was Scottish..Died in WW1...
My dad i believe was named after him...'Duncan."

I don't know much about DNA.

For clarity (thinking along "old-fashioned" research lines) -
Do you mean that the father isn't named on the birth cert, and that your father's parents weren't married?

ADDED:
If I'm understanding your query correctly, you are asking about your father's father's mother.
What about your father's father's father? Is there some DNA-related reason why you're not asking about him?
As I say, I don't know much about DNA.

If your father’s father is not named on his birth cert, it’s unlikely that he can be identified with any certainty. There must have been countless men named Duncan who died in WW1 - even assuming that it was actually the unknown chap’s name

I know very little about DNA, but for it to work there obviously have to be samples from BOTH parties for comparison.

Yes it is possible that you will find a connection to the female side. But only if others from that side have taken a test.
Is your father still alive? Are any of his siblings alive as it would help.
If YOU do an ancestry test they will split Your results into two. You are left to decide which parent is 1 and which is 2. Once you have worked that out you should able to pick out matches you don’ t need. You can group your matches by using the colour spots.
With any luck you could find at least the family line.

Good luck

As the unknown father is reputed to have died in WW1, any child he produced must have been born no later than early 1919.

Unless any siblings had the same unknown father, their DNA would not be the same - would it?

I did realise later that I had made a mistake.

Assuming there are half siblings thier descendants would still show up as a match - having shared matches from them helps splitting off the the known matches from the unknown. All helps sorting out the various possible lines.

added. Ancestry uk has a sale on - 25% off. Possibly everywhere has this offer as it seems to be linked to the Olympics

Poppycat -

If the father is not named on the birth cert (is he?), and you say nobody in the family knew about it,
where did the information come from that the father was Scottish and died in WW1?

The name ‘Duncan’ is of no use to Poppycats research unless a DNA test takes her to a family with a Duncan as a posibility. DNA tests will now show if there is Scottish ancestry.

But we all know that ‘died in the war’ is used to cover up the truth of illegitimate births in the times of war.

Until we get feedback there is no point in pursuing this