Another Skeleton

Well, I did it again.  I discovered another skeleton in the closet.  Once again, I was not looking for skeletons.  I just happened upon it, did a little detective work and there it was.

This skeleton is eerily similar to the last one I found.  Here's the story.

I don't check my 23 and me account very often anymore.  I manage 17 DNA profiles in my account.  So I'm always getting e-mails from 23 and me asking me to do surveys or telling me I have so many new DNA relatives.  They're usually for one of the other profiles in my account.    So I usually ignore them.  But a couple of weeks ago I got an e-mail addressed to me requesting I complete a health survey to help them with their research.  So I decided to do it.

Since I was already logged in, after completing the survey, I decided to check my DNA relatives list to see if I had any new close DNA relatives. As I was scrolling down the list one name caught my eye.  There were several new names on there but I didn't click on any of them.  I kept scrolling down the list through several pages.  For some reason that one name stuck in my mind, so I decided to go back and click on it to see if I could figure out how we were related.

I started reading the information she posted about herself.  She was adopted and was looking for her biological parents and relatives. Then it became more interesting.  I wondered if perhaps I could solve another DNA mystery.

So I scrolled down the page and looked at her ancestry composition.   I noticed a lot of French and German and Italian.  So I immediately knew that one of her birth parents was part Italian because we have very little if any Italian in our ancestry.  The French and German stood out because my paternal grandfather's line is heavy in French and German ancestry.

Next I scrollled down to haplogroups. Since this mystery relative is female with no linked father or brother there was only a maternal haplogroup.  But it was H1.  This jumped out at me because years ago when we first did our DNA my dad had a paternal line female first cousin who remained anonymous.  In trying to discover who she was the only thing I had to go on was percentage of DNA shared and maternal haplogroup.  It was H1.  With a little elbow grease I was able to determine that H1 is the maternal haplogroup along my paternal grandfather's maternal line. So I immediately thought that my unknown adopted relative is probably related to me on my paternal grandfather's maternal line.

So the next step was to look at the DNA relatives in common and see if there is a link to the suspected ancestral line.  Sure enough, the relatives in common I would suspect were all there.  I looked at the percentages of DNA shared between the unknown adopted relative and our relatives in common.  The percentages lined up exactly with one of her parents being my dad's first cousin.

At this point I had a strong suspicion as to the identity of her birth mother.  Armed with the information that the unknown adopted relative posted about her birth mother, I asked my dad a few questions about one of his cousins.  Everything lined up perfectly.  I knew the identity of her birth mother.

So I messaged her on 23 of me and asked her if she knew anything more about her birth mother and told her that I figured out who her birth mother is.  As soon as she got my message she wanted me to call her.  So we talked on the phone and she read the information she had about her birth mother.  Dad confirmed  that all the information about the birth mother was consistent with his first cousin, Alberta.

I wasn't going to release her identity but  just like the last skeleton I dug out of the closet, Alberta denied being her biological mother.  When the adopted relative told her over the telephone that she was the daughter she gave up for adoption, Alberta said "it wasn't me" and hung up the phone.  Thinking she might have just been disconnected, the adopted relative called right back.  It rang and rang with no answer.  It was not inadvertently disconnected, it was intentional.

So that upset me.  This woman has been looking for 30 years for her biological parents.  She at least deserved some courtesy.  Obviously it must've been a huge shock to Alberta.  She thinks that she can still keep the skeleton in the closet like it has been for the past nearly 50 years.  But the skeleton is out in the open for all to see now.  There is no more secret to hide.

It's so eerily similar to the last skeleton I dug out.  When I helped Howie find his birth father, Bart (Nicky).  So just like in that case where Bart (Nicky) completely denied being Howie's birth father, I decided to write a letter explaining the DNA evidence and circumstantial evidence. After I sent that letter to Bart (Nicky) it took several weeks but he eventually came around and did the DNA test which confirmed his paternity.

I sent a detailed letter to Alberta yesterday explaining the DNA and circumstantial evidence.  After the shock wears off and she has time to digest all the information, hopefully she will come around like Bart (Nicky) eventually did.  Once they realize the skeleton's out of the closet, there's no reason to continue denying the truth to protect themselves.

I'm still debating on whether to post the letter to Alberta onto my blog.  But now you know the story of another DNA mystery solved.  Another skeleton dug out of the closet.  And just in time for Halloween!  :-)

So if you share DNA with me and you have skeletons in your closet -- beware -- I'm digging up bones.  :-)

That's my two cents.