Devin’s search

*All names have been changed.

Search goal: Identify Devin’s biological parents

Devin’s wife and daughter reached out for help earlier this year with Devin’s search on his behalf. He had been adopted as an infant and had some of his non-identifying paperwork, and done an AncestryDNA test, in hopes of finding his biological families. Devin had some decent matches, but they weren’t sure how to understand the results. I was added as a collaborator to his results and got started.

Maternal side

Devin’s matches split into five groups: three on Parent 1 side, and two on Parent 2’s side. Devin’s wife and daughter did not know which side was which yet.

His top match, Dave, was in the range to be a first cousin type match, on the Parent 2 side at 800cm. Dave was matching both of the Parent 2 groups. He had a tree, but it was not filled out past his parents, who were both still alive.

Luckily Dave’s real name was fairly unique and I was able to build a tree out for him using obituaries. I found that Dave’s maternal grandparents connected both of the match groups on the Parent 2 side, meaning that Dave was indeed going to be a first cousin to Devin.

Dave’s mother only had one sibling, a sister, which made it fairly easy to determine who Devin’s biological mother was. She had gone on to get married and have several more children, who Devin has since reached out to. He also eventually applied for his identifying information, which further confirmed his biological mother’s identity.

Paternal Side

With Devin’s Parent 2 side being maternal, I now knew I was looking for a male on the Parent 1 side. One of the Parent 1 match groups was much better than the other two groups, and I started building this group out.

I found the common ancestor couple fairly easily- it was a couple both born in Ontario, who had five daughters. The family last name was Clifford. One of the Clifford daughters was going to be Devin’s paternal grandmother.

Only one Clifford daughter had a descendant that had tested. I was also having trouble tying the other paternal matches with any of the Clifford daughters’ spouses. Devin’s non identifying information also was not lining up with any of the Clifford daughters’ families, and it was likely describing another family entirely, as non identifying information often does with putative fathers.

Eventually, Devin’s wife reached out to Thomas, who was a son of Lillian Clifford, one of the 4 potential paternal grandmothers of Devin. Thomas had done a great detailed tree on Ancestry but had not done a DNA test yet. However he was eager to help, and did an AncestryDNA test. In assessing all his brothers and cousins for who could be the biological father of Devin, Thomas thought it was likely going to be one of his brothers, Keith, who had passed away some years ago. He was the only one in the right age, living in the right place at the right time, and had a bit of a wild youth. Keith did not have any kids of his own, so Thomas was the closest possibly match to Keith.

Thomas’ results came back about 6 weeks after he sent it off, and he showed up as a half uncle match to Devin, which was surprising for everyone. It meant his brother Keith was very likely to be Devin’s biological father, but it also meant Thomas and Keith had different fathers and were only maternal half siblings to each other. Thomas’ results showed that his biological father was indeed his father that raised him, meaning Keith had a different, unknown father. It now made sense why I couldn’t get those other paternal matches to fit. Upon further investigation of the timelines, it became clear that Thomas’ father was away at war when Keith was conceived, meaning there was no way Keith could be a full sibling to Thomas.

Devin’s closest paternal grandfather line match is 74cm, and the other matches are fairly low, and all from Ireland. While Devin’s paternal grandfather is currently an unknown, I continue to check his matches every so often in hopes of solving that mystery one day. However, Devin is glad to know his biological parents’ identities and is glad the main mysteries have been solved.