Man. Both my parents recently did ancestry kits. My mum’s dad was adopted so it was nice to work out where she really came from and she’s connected with a long lost uncle (I think I’ve mentioned that in the DT before)
But 90% of the stuff that has come out has been both fascinating and a headache. As the family academic historian, the job of wading through the shit has fallen to me. I love it but god damn once skeletons are out of that closet there’s no way to put them back.
Through ancestry we’ve found out that adopted grandfather is likely the result of family sexual violence, which is why the family wiped all record of him and long lost great-uncle never knew he existed; mum’s mum is not related to her parents at all, not anyone else in her family. She’s actually the child of a young girl that lived down the street who was 16 at the time she had nana. The father is the 46 year old father of her friend; it’s likely that the woman who, according to the new family tree, is nana’s niece, is actually also her sibling, which means old mate had a sexual relationship of some kind with his daughter.
I was just helping dad this morning. Populate his family tree and BAM. Ancestry gives us his grandparent’s marriage certificate, but also 4 OTHER marriage certificates in the name of his grandfather, with other women all over the world. And no divorce certificates. 🤦♀️ old mate had 5 wives and god knows how many children.
Is it too early for wine?