I'm trying to be helpful on a Facebook group for people using DNA tests to try to find their birth parents or other unknown relatives (usually either adoptees looking for birth parents, or people who know who their mother is but they're looking for their biological father.) I'm kind of amazed at how many times I'm hearing the story, "I took a DNA test just for fun, and it showed me that I'm 50% (or 25%) Jewish, and no one in my family is Jewish. Finally the family gossip told me that my mom (or grandma) had an affair with a Jewish doctor." It's always a doctor. I think I've talked to five different people in the past couple days who are descended from unknown Jewish doctors, and not one unknown Jewish father who had any other profession.
I'm also discovering just how difficult it is to write coherent sentences describing the different possibilities for how two people could be related.
My MIL was adopted and her birth father was Russian Jewish, not a doctor though! We are pretty sure we found him, but he didn't respond to the note she sent him. Oh well, pretty sure he is dead by now. I should have her do the DNA in case she has any siblings out there.
I have an unknown father and I used to think he was Jewish because people looked at me and thought I was Jewish,and because I had reoccurring holocaust dreams. I did the DNA test and my dad was clearly of Italian extraction,like my mom said
Hil, that's what happened to my dad, whose DNA turned up 25% Jewish. He's from a very Catholic family. No stories of Jewish doctors; we suspect it may come from his Dutch ancestry and someone hiding their faith due to 19th century anti-semetism.
With the way that the DNA tests will compare your DNA to other people's, they can be used for finding biological parents as long as someone reasonably close to them has tested and has their real name on their account (or if a few people a bit further away have tested, but that takes a lot more work to figure out.) But the math of it is weird. I was just answering questions for someone where I was able to narrow it down to, "This person is either your half first cousin or your first cousin once removed," but then had to also explain what those terms meant, and I'm not sure that I explained it well enough that the person actually understood it.
I keep meaning to do a DNA test.
What's a half first cousin, Hil?
My son Bobby had his done. I should see if they showed any potential family matches with MIL's birth dad's surname.
So more boring medical stuff. I have to get a calcium score test done because of my cholesterol sucking for so many years. Oh well, non-invasive so I don't mind. Today I go see gastro guy and talk to him about my concerns on colonoscopy, and to schedule the dang thing. DH really needs to take his RA seriously! And I need to do more research. His Rheumatoid Factor is 33 where it should be
It's always a doctor. I think I've talked to five different people in the past couple days who are descended from unknown Jewish doctors, and not one unknown Jewish father who had any other profession.
Is "Jewish doctor" the equivalent of "Cherokee princess"? Will nobody admit to having an affair with a Jewish bus driver?
(My family history includes an affair with a Jewish nurse four generations back and one over - my great-grandfather's cousin - but since the entire family was already Jewish that wasn't the scandalous part. Anyway, that's why we own summer vacation property in Ontario now.)
What's a half first cousin, Hil?
The child of your parent's half-sibling.
Is "Jewish doctor" the equivalent of "Cherokee princess"? Will nobody admit to having an affair with a Jewish bus driver?
Heh. My guess had been that it was doctors doing residencies somewhere far from home.
