Hi again, now understand, this post is very theoretical. I’m waiting on yet another DNA test to get processed, this time through Ancestry – originally it was simply to solve some other mysteries, such as Ms Rebecca, and to see where my cousins that I see on 23&me -fit- on my tree. But one of the strangest little bits of information or lack there of, has me re-evaluating again, a few facts on my dad’s side of the family.
See, supposedly my father was born a Metz. he ended up adopted, after his father died when he was 11, by an aunt and her husband [that’s another weird kettle of fish, for a different day]. Anyway, his mother was not married to his father, already had another child, and ended up marrying another man, who may or may not have been her first son’s father biologically.
Okay, so if you saw my very first post, my ethnicity is roughly 1/3rd Eastern European, mostly Polish [which makes sense, my mom would be roughly half Polish, a quarter Slovakian and a quarter Roma [from the former Yugoslavia], 1/4th German and French [with no sign of French], then everything else in smaller numbers. And when my mom’s test results come in, I’ll know which is from which side of the family.
So anyway, here we go. My dad’s believed [on his father’s side] family should be primarily German, at least going straight up. Yes, there is a branch that -might- be of English descent, but that would involve my dad having been wrong [he was apparently a trained genealogist, near the end of his life, not just an amateur], and doesn’t match what was on a tombstone, or what is -not- in otherwise well kept records. My dad’s mother’s side of the family is similarly very much German, with a bit of Scottish-English on one branch. Logically, I should show up with about 35-40% Germanic ancestry, depending on how Genes traveled, so, Occam’s Razor, something weird is going on.
Part two, I know Metz is a name that ought to show up, as should a few others. On 23&me, I’ve not found a single Metz. Arbogast, which was my dad’s, dad’s mother’s maiden name, does show up, BUT, connected with family names on my dad’s mom’s side of the family. This isn’t weird – we’re talking -big- 1800s families in one town. This has been the only occurrences of that surname on 23&me – on my paternal Grandmother’s side of the family. Granted, it could just be that not a single one of my Metz relatives have done 23&me DNA tests, but then we come to part three of why I’m beginning to think that dad’s not descended from the Metz family.
There are a whole chunk of people related to me on 23&me that I DO NOT recognize their locations, names, anything. I mean, a big family, sure people spread about. According to the tree, a fair number were RR folks, so they went where that took them. But the surnames are weird ones. So, we’ll see what my ancestry test shows up.
In the end, the Metz family did think my dad was one of them, and he was adopted and raised by assorted aunts and uncles. even if they aren’t blood related, it doesn’t make them not family. Still, this is a mystery and so of course, I’m going to worry at it.