Anybody every tried Ancestry.com or something similar?

My brother and newly found niece did. We found out that our deceased younger brother had a daughter he never knew he had. Nice young woman, about 35. She is married and has 3 kids, one of whom looks just like our brother when he was a young kid. We spent many hours helping her to fill in the blanks because she never knew who her biological father was. We sent her photos, a video, mementos, etc. She was so thankful for our help. Sad that both my brother and my deceased parents never knew about her.

I paid $30 for a month's access to Ancestry after a friend recommended that I do. I found virtually nothing. My entire family on my father's side are ghosts after you go back a single generation. My mother's side started to make progress but that too ended fast.

Shame, I'll never figure out which ancestor is responsible for the family curse.

My wife's family did a full ancestry map. Her father's side are direct descendants from the Aldens on the Mayflower.

Ever heard of Jubal Early? He basically walked his way through DC, almost killed Lincoln, and was known for plundering towns but only taking their boots and whiskey.

Jubal Early - Wikipedia

When I heard about his exploits in plundering, I knew we were related.

Also related to Peter Early

Peter Early - Wikipedia

He is/was considered to be Georgia's greatest governor, and a statue in his memory is in Macon somewhere.

Also, somewhere in Macon GA area, there's a family farm (no longer owned by the family), but their's a family gravesite. Dads dad died before telling me/sister where it was.

The vast majority of my family is useless and lazy and on welfare. Not too much more I care to know and there isn't communication with any of them. Dysnfunctional, drama-laden and miserable bunch. Severed ties over a decade ago because they were way too toxic.

My grandfather on my mothers side traced a lot of the family tree back decades before ancestry or 23andme existed. My parents both used ancestry and my mothers report confirmed everything my grandfather had found. She also found a few distant relatives we didn't know about who were using ancestry as well and they were able to get in touch.

My great grandfather on my fathers side came here from Hungary twice, and went through Ellis island twice, so the spelling of his last name changed twice... And that spelling changed again when my grandfather had our legal last name changed again because people kept mispronouncing it.

interesting recently-developing story from my in-laws...

my wife's aunt sent in her DNA to Me and 23... or one of those sites, whichever. Came back with a 50% match from a dude in California. Turns out he is indeed her half brother. Dude's deceased mother had conceived him in Chicago, and moved away shortly after he was born. Ole Papaw Billy lived in Chicago for a couple years back in the day and was admittedly a bit of a "catbird," and evidently conceived the child very shortly before he moved back home to WV. Come to find out, Papaw Billy always suspected the son was out there somewhere but the mother moved before Papaw Billy could make any contact. Keep in mind, this was way before the days of the internet. On top of wondering about the potential son, Papaw Billy had always wondered about the whereabouts of the mother... said he always truly loved her and tried to find her on a couple occasions. He was very distraught to find out that she had passed away years ago.

Keep in mind this is a very recently-developing story, and I may be a bit sketchy on some of my details.

_Snake_ said:

No thanks

Can police legally obtain your DNA from 23andMe, Ancestry?

Click to expand...

YES! Do not think for a minute that the govt. has ignored this resource...You may not be the serial killer- but DNA links all of your relatives into your search...and they are exposed as well.
Of course I am referring to the Feds- their resources and their overwatch is beyond what folks think...