Thank you so much for sharing, Dawn. I too am deeply into genealogy, on many lines, but at the end of the day I simply wanted to find my father, whom I had never met. I have found him, and I fortunately he is still alive, and has not one but two accounts on Facebook at the age of 79! We still have not met, but I feel so complete now... Thanks and regards, Stephanie Admin, Cobb DNA project Member #5587, Guild of One Name Studies On Mon, Oct 30, 2017 at 6:26 PM, D. Newman <[email protected]> wrote: > My father was born in 1932 in Center Line, Macomb County, Michigan. He was adopted within a few weeks. > > > > In 1987, I asked my father if I could research this mystery (he had no knowledge of his bio-family). After a considerable amount of research we determined the doctor who handled the adoption registered him to his adoptive family as though he was their natural born child. Thus, there are no legal records indicating he was even adopted let alone a record that indicates who is bio-parents are. After exploring a number of research threads my father and I came to nearly, but not quite, a full stop in research. > > > Unfortunately, my father died in 1993, but I kept the file going since I was now working on my mother's ancestry. Genealogy had turned into a major hobby for me. > > > Circa 2006 DNA tests started to become available to the general public. I took my first DNA test (mtDNA) through the National Geographic DNA Program. Years went by and more types of tests (y-DNA, mtDNA, atDNA, etc. ) became available and more people began to take them. My brother and I, and as many maternal relatives as I could convince to test, now have results across all three major testing companies (FamilyTreeDNA, AncestryDNA, & 23andme). During the process of testing, I discovered a cousin who isn't related to us like he should be (I didn't tell him), had a coworker discover a daughter and grandchildren he never knew existed (he and his family are happy), and helped another cousin identify her deceased bio-father's identity and living half-siblings (who are not so excited). > > > I was finding many matches to my mother's ancestry but none to my father's - until 2015. Then, several high level matches came in and then a few more, and, over time, I was able to put together family trees on all the DNA matches to piece it together. > > > Based on paper research, I believe in about June 1931 Jerome Van Loo (then aged 20) and Marie Miller (then aged 15) conceived a child (my father) born in March 1932; he was almost immediately put up for adoption. Jerome and Marie subsequently married on November 7, 1936 in Macomb County, Michigan and divorced on July 1, 1940 in Macomb County, Michigan. There is no record of them having additional children prior to or during their marriage. > > > Jerome Van Loo did not marry again. Marie Miller Van Loo married John Foguth, Jr. on November 18, 1944 (in Macomb County, Michigan). I have found no records indicating Jerome or Marie had any more children with any other people at any other point in their lives. > > > Based on the above information, it appears my father did not have any full or half siblings. Thus, an opportunity to test living descendants of full or half-siblings to my father does not exist. > > > In the summer of 2017, I went to Michigan to ask three men to do a y-DNA test to confirm if my research (that my father was a Van Loo) was correct. Two men agreed to help and in October 2017 the first result (a 67-marker y-DNA test) came in and showed that a male Van Loo was a perfect, and only, match to my brother. > > > Based on the results of the y-DNA test and several autosomal DNA tests from collateral members of the Van Loo and Miller families I believe I have successfully identified my father's birth parents as Jerome Van Loo and Marie Miller. The inability to prove bio-parents with 100% certainty (backed by science) is due to the absence of full or half-siblings who might have had descendants who could be tested to further confirm these findings. > > > For those continuing their own searches, remember, the name of the game is time and patience (and some money). It took 30 years and uncountable hours to put my father's puzzle together. For those still toiling away - Godspeed my friends - Godspeed. > > > Dawn Newman > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message