Puzzled how this Ancestry logic can be logical!

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

Veering wildly off topic now but another trend I've noticed is many UK matches who were born in the 1940's, if they have trees they are generally just two or three generations deep and often have no paternal side. Few have profile information but I do wonder if many of them are wartime babies trying to find the identity of their father. Coupled with what seems to be an increasing number born in the swinging 60's who are trying to find an unknown grandfather it seems like two generations seeking the answer to the same question. 

[brigidmac]

Glen don't forget the test tube sperm donor babies ! I have a match with one of them .

Re the child having higher match than parent I managed 3 generations of tests and have come across it before I will look for some concrete examples

Where my nephew   has higher amounts than me I assume his mother had stronger amounts from 1 ancestor
If I'm higher than my paternal aunt I assume the distribution of ethnicity varied between her and my father

But if it's myself and my.mother it's harder to explain
 

[brigidmac]

I've just found a paternal match.whom I match by 109cm

Match is 's 49cm to my aunt 47cm to my nephew

[Biggles50]

Veering wildly off topic now but another trend I've noticed is many UK matches who were born in the 1940's, if they have trees they are generally just two or three generations deep and often have no paternal side. Few have profile information but I do wonder if many of them are wartime babies trying to find the identity of their father. Coupled with what seems to be an increasing number born in the swinging 60's who are trying to find an unknown grandfather it seems like two generations seeking the answer to the same question.

That very subject is what the BBC Sounds series The Promise is all about.

I have listened to it and it really shows just how easily the wrong path can be taken in genealogy research.

[Glen in Tinsel Kni]

Veering wildly off topic now but another trend I've noticed is many UK matches who were born in the 1940's, if they have trees they are generally just two or three generations deep and often have no paternal side. Few have profile information but I do wonder if many of them are wartime babies trying to find the identity of their father. Coupled with what seems to be an increasing number born in the swinging 60's who are trying to find an unknown grandfather it seems like two generations seeking the answer to the same question.

That very subject is what the BBC Sounds series The Promise is all about.

I have listened to it and it really shows just how easily the wrong path can be taken in genealogy research.

Melding the original topic in with my off topic bit I have a match that came up the other day who is looking for a missing grandparent and detailed on her profile though it's not a wartime period case. She matches three descendants of my grandmother who are in 3 different generations but doesn't match the 5  others who have tested in the same 3 generations. She  matches a child but not their parent, the biggest match is a middle generation and the middle match is the highest generation.  Everything seems back to front  apart from the link being her maternal side. I'm tempted to say we just fall the wrong side of the 3c line but it's got me scratching my head  every time I look at it.   

[brigidmac]

re reply 9

my mother has several matches to children and grand children of her known  SMITH 2nd cousins

over 5  years I have worked out who most of them are including 3 with no trees + 2 who didnt know their fathers .its very interesting to see how they
match each other +3 generations of JONES 2nd cousins
identification of who's who was helped as the 5 second cousins had from same father had 2 different mothers 

i will do a case study on this forum ...

im lucky that so many elders born between 1930 + 1945 have tested ..including 1 war baby .. a product of a twin so their  top match is either a half sister or cousin

most of the others can be confirmed by matches to their neices/nephews  or half cousins
or full siblings ( very useful when protools indicates that a Smith with just a first name no age or location is the brother of someone that i do know )

that leaves a high match +her  son whose unusual surname has intrigued me after yesterdays success identifying the father of a 90 year old i think i can calculate her parentage too .

[TonyV]

Veering wildly off topic now but another trend I've noticed is many UK matches who were born in the 1940's, if they have trees they are generally just two or three generations deep and often have no paternal side. Few have profile information but I do wonder if many of them are wartime babies trying to find the identity of their father. Coupled with what seems to be an increasing number born in the swinging 60's who are trying to find an unknown grandfather it seems like two generations seeking the answer to the same question.

I plead partly guilty to the above. My online tree is purely my maternal side (although somewhat more than 2-3 generations) because my 2021 DNA test demolished my 75 year long presumption that I knew who my biological father was. I now have a very large research tree based on my biological paternal matches but still cannot place myself in it, so remain unable to add it to my DNA result. After the bombshell I stopped work completely on what I had previously thought was my paternal side (and had spent around 17 years assembling). I also spend little time thinking about expanding my maternal side even though I now have over 14,000 maternal matches on Ancestry alone.   I suspect that people like me are reluctant to go too public in their profiles for fear of putting off prospective close relatives.

[Biggles50]

Veering wildly off topic now but another trend I've noticed is many UK matches who were born in the 1940's, if they have trees they are generally just two or three generations deep and often have no paternal side. Few have profile information but I do wonder if many of them are wartime babies trying to find the identity of their father. Coupled with what seems to be an increasing number born in the swinging 60's who are trying to find an unknown grandfather it seems like two generations seeking the answer to the same question.

I plead partly guilty to the above. My online tree is purely my maternal side (although somewhat more than 2-3 generations) because my 2021 DNA test demolished my 75 year long presumption that I knew who my biological father was. I now have a very large research tree based on my biological paternal matches but still cannot place myself in it, so remain unable to add it to my DNA result. After the bombshell I stopped work completely on what I had previously thought was my paternal side (and had spent around 17 years assembling). I also spend little time thinking about expanding my maternal side even though I now have over 14,000 maternal matches on Ancestry alone.   I suspect that people like me are reluctant to go too public in their profiles for fear of putting off prospective close relatives.

Bite the Bullet.

You are not alone as there are quite a few here in exactly the same situation as you.

Me included.

Last year I held my Half Sister in my arms for the first time.

It required Detective work and speculative contacts with people who had not taken a DNA test but it paid off.

When I walked up the path to her door and we saw each other there was no doubt we were family.  She took a DNA test for me and we have been seeing each other regularly ever since, we were recently at the family gathering for my new Brother in Law’s milestone birthday and we are meeting up again this Friday.  We only live a 45 minute drive away from each other.

I now know who my bio Father was and all about what he was like as a person. 

So when you feel ready, start a new thread and tell your tale.

We can help.

[jon541]

Thanks to all for the interesting, thought-provoking and heart-warming (Biggles) answers to my original query.