Looking for my biological father/relatives

[Frederique]

Hello everybody,

I am looking for my biological father. I did dna test at 23andme. The outcome is Italian, Eastern Bari was the best match / outcome. Bari and Sicily too.

My biological mother is Belgian. I was Born in 1974. My biological mother left me at the hospital in The Netherlands, where I grew up. I know nothing about my father. My mother tells me nothing.

I also try to contact dna matches through 23andme and others, but the results are very limited.

Does somebody have tips for me, how to get this started? It feels like mission impossible to me I have more Information about myself and my biological mother.

It could be that my mother had a relationship with him in Italië. But he also could live in Belgium at that time…

Thank in advance

[Frederique]

A year ago I also was active after my results, but due to personal circumstances I was not able to proceed the search

[MarcuccioV]

Without names, locations or relatives it is practically impossible. About all you can do (if your mother will not cooperate) is to go back and research any trees of DNA relatives from your paternal side. Start by researching any Italian surnames in their trees (supposing there are any). You can use the Ancestry or Family Search search engines to see if any of them have further trees that could get you closer. It won't be an easy process, but you'll never know what's there until you check.

Best of luck to you.

[oxfordfrench]

Hi Frédérique

Although older than you, I am facing the same problem - i.e. finding my biological Italian father.

I used Ancestry.com initially (+ 23&me) and uploaded my results on Geneanet and My Heritage which showed new DNA contacts. I have been researching for nearly 3 years. I have also contacted a British genealogy company which is still trying to make sense of this. Very slow process, but it's worth persevering. Good luck! PS Do you live in Belgium? Are the DNA tests allowed there? In France where I was born they are not allowed but there seems to be quite a lot of French people using My Heritage.

[C_Artale]

To do list:
-Begin a *maternal* tree on Ancestry. So you have a tree in which to work, to learn genealogy and tree building skills, and to identify maternal matches regardless of testing site. To identify a father, you'd build floating branches within it based on the families of your closest non-maternal matches. Cannot merge trees on Ancestry, do not build multiple trees based on your matches.
-Download your 23am test as a zip file to your computer, and then upload it for free to
https://www.familytreedna.com/autosomal-transfer
https://www.myheritage.com/dna/upload
https://www.gedmatch.com/login1.php
https://livingdna.com/free-dna-upload
-Test at Ancestry and link your test to yourself in the aforementioned maternal tree.
Unknown lineage generally isn't solved by contacting matches, they best help you by having a public tree so you know who their direct ancestors were. This (public trees) isn't a thing on 23aM. Ignore the tree that 23aM tries to generate for you.
What percent of shared DNA is your top paternal match on 23aM? Sort your relative list by Percent Related and ignore 'cousin' estimates, please provide me the percentage.
Use and bookmark this tool to see possible relationships at a specific percent or number of centimorgans:
https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

[Tricia]

Hi!

I am an adoptee. I found these tools to be a big help when trying to figure out how people are related to you.

First, I just want to say that I did my DNA with ancestry.com, MyHeritage, and 23&me. I like ancestry.com the best. It is the easiest to use. It really narrows down your DNA.

If you have an ancestry.com account, you can buy their "Pro Tool". The "Pro Tool" is a big help it figuring out how people are related to you. If you click on "shared matches" in your DNA while using the "Pro Tool", it will show how a match is related to you such as sibling, half-sibling, 1st cousin, etc.

Here is the link about the Pro Tool. https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/ ... uage=en_US

The other thing to try is the "Leeds Method". You color coordinate the surnames that are matching up to you. I've used this method several times. It does help.
Here is the link for the "Leeds Method". https://www.yourdnaguide.com/leeds-method

I iwsh you luck with finding clues!
Tricia