DNA Family Secrets: What happened to my father?
Podcast: Bill's story • DNA Family Secrets: Wh...
turiking.co.uk/
Around a million of us in the UK grow up without any contact with our fathers. 75-year-old Bill has never met his dad.
During World War II 240,000 African American GIs were stationed in the UK, many had relationships with local women, which resulted in the birth of two thousand mixed-race babies. Bill is one of them.
I do remember that my mum had a photo of my dad. So, I had this photo and I used to carry around with me all the time, even when I was little, you know. I had it and I lost it. That's all I had of him, and I keep having these flashes like that, yeah that's what he looked like, but I can't remember him in the flesh, you know, I can't. I sometimes wish that I'd started earlier, to find out things, when I was a bit more healthier.
Hi Stacy.
Since they last met Turi and our team have been analysing Bill's genetic code, trying to track down any DNA matches and find his family in America.
I'm really looking forward to see what Turi can tell me.
Yeah, we'll stay here and are you happy to go through and…
Yeah.
Hello.
As a Geneticist I can actually tell you it was a joy looking at the DNA that must come from your father's side and that's because it actually gave really quite clear and detailed information. Now because it was from your father's side, I thought well I'll have a look at his Y chromosome type. So, the Y chromosome, putting it really simply, it has on it the gene for maleness. So, the Y chromosome that you get is from your father, which came from his father, which came from his father, so on back through time.
So, the largest number of people who are carrying this type of Y chromosome in Africa are coming from, sort of, Congo, Cameroon, so West Bantu speaking individuals and for me that's quite interesting because we know that actually that's where the slave trade really started, was in this area.
So, you are actually getting matches with people who arrived in the US in the early 1700s, in North Carolina and Virginia, but it's likely what was happening was they were working on the tobacco and the cotton farms, probably until slavery was abolished in 1865.
You're then getting matches with people who we know moved into Texas in the middle of the 19th century. So, finding those matches actually helped us to find even more information about your father and his family.
So, we know that your father was actually with somebody before he met your mum, and they had a child. This would be your half-brother; his name is Don.
Yeah, that’s news to me, I thought it might be somebody when he went back, yeah, that’s quite a revelation that, really.
So, Don was born in 1933 and really sadly he passed away about 11 years ago, at the age of 76.
I know your big question about your father was why didn't he come back for your mum and for you.
Now even if he had wanted to, come back, and marry your mum and bring you over to the US with him, it would have been impossible for him to do that. Back in the 1940s, in Texas, it was actually illegal. Interracial marriage was a crime in Texas in the 1940s, you know, people went to jail.
I suppose the other thing to remember is that even if your dad wanted to marry your mum in this country, he would not have been allowed to get married, his commanding officer would have refused it.
Oh right, so it wasn't really a choice that he could make.
Turi, I really do appreciate what you've done.
Take care.
Bye.
Big hug.
Representation: www.josarsby.com/turi-king
Пікірлер: 82
Ive just watched the whole episode and this is just a very short clip. He spoke to two first cousins via zoom and has kept in touch with them.
@janemorrow6672
2 жыл бұрын
That’s great to hear. Thanks for letting us know.
@overcomer4060
2 жыл бұрын
Where can the entire episode be found?
@unseelie63
2 жыл бұрын
Oh,I'm so glad! Thank you for sharing that with us.It's not the same as a half brother,but they ARE family.
@amyw6808
2 жыл бұрын
@@overcomer4060 bbc iplayer
@user-cy4vw1qj9m
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks for update.
I remember how my heart raced when my 23andMe DNA results came through and I saw a half-brother match. I knew of his existence - he was born when I was 8 years old at the time my parents were going through a divorce. He didn't know of my existence; in fact, he didn't know for certain that he was adopted. We've not met (he lives in California, where I grew up - I live in England) but have communicated via email. I was able to tell him his father's name as well as our mother's and that he also has a half-sister through his father.
@nillyk5671
2 жыл бұрын
That's wonderful! I hope you get to meet each other some day.
Could he get another photo of his dad? Be connected with relatives in the U.S.? He could still probably learn about his dad via 2nd hand accounts. 😢
These stories are so heartbreaking. I wish they showed more of how the person processed the information they received.
@ProfessorTuriKing
2 жыл бұрын
Do watch the programmes. These are just little excerpts. 😊
@oldermusiclover
2 жыл бұрын
i wish too
@SuAva
2 жыл бұрын
@@ProfessorTuriKing Are they viewable outside of the UK? I'm from the Netherlands and BBC's iPlayer doesn't work here (or anywhere else really haha).
I just love people getting closure about there ancestry through DNA. I have always pray and wonder that i knew who and where my great grand father is from my father side... I just been told that he is an american soldier with hispanic side who have a relationship with my great grandmother here in the philippines which i have no idea because my grandma has been adopted by what i knew my great grand mother. I just envy people who would found their relatives across the globe... Hopefully someday i will have closure and reconnect with them.... Thanks to your program its been a heart warming experience for me every time i watched an episode... More of this please...🥰 Thanks Prof. Turi and team for making this world a better place to live in.🙏😊❤️
@FigaroHey
5 ай бұрын
Their.
I’m really discouraged about how mean so many of these comments are. These are snippets from a BBC series on a fascinating new area of genetics. We are lucky to be able to see it applied to real life situations. Let’s just enjoy it.
In the USA, bans on interracial marriage were legal until 12 June 1967, when the Supreme Court of the United States decided otherwise in the case of Loving v. Virginia.
Did his half brother have sons &/or daughters? It would have been nice if she had taken it one step further to find out if his half brother's family would have wanted to meet him. Then, he could have heard stories about what his dad was like if they agreed to meet him.
@katherenewedic8076
2 жыл бұрын
The south where his dad was from, still isn't very open to outsiders. White locals might still string people up. It's bad.
He is a very handsome man. I hope that he finds his father or relatives.
Omg I like her so far EVER STORY WAS DO SAD!!! CANT WATCH HER ANY MORE
Wow, that was so sad. I wanted him to hear better news.
So he had a half brother who passed away 11yrs ago, didn't he have children? Maybe you guys can help him do a ancestral dna test.
@Jake-nk4wg
2 жыл бұрын
My sentiments exactly; why leave him in that predicament????
@anyaw340
2 жыл бұрын
@@Jake-nk4wg They didn't. This is just a snippet of a longer episode. He met his first cousins.
@Jake-nk4wg
2 жыл бұрын
@@anyaw340 Thanks for the update!! :)
Turi's room has the most uncomfortable chairs. They have to perch on the edge.
I've only just found the show and am finding it very interesting but I can't find full episodes of series 1 anywhere?
@ProfessorTuriKing
2 жыл бұрын
I think they’ve been taken down because Series 2 is currently airing.
Hopefully, Don had children that could help this man with his search??
Is there any follow-up in terms of whether his brother had any descendants? What about other biological relatives on either side that are living?
@ProfessorTuriKing
2 жыл бұрын
I recorded a podcast with Bill, which covers the whole story and what happened next. kzread.info/dash/bejne/rHup1ZemprPXe9o.html
@momtrips6783
2 жыл бұрын
@@ProfessorTuriKing Thanks for directing me to that. What a great interview!
His dad was a one night stand, he was already married. Just say so.
👍👍👍👍❤️❤️❤️
Very unfinished business here. If you were able to connect him to his missing dad then you must have found some one with a close/semi-close genetic connection to him. Why not fill him in on who it was and how they are related. Perhaps obtain a photo of missing dad for him. Seems strange to drop this at this point.
@ProfessorTuriKing
2 жыл бұрын
If you watch the program, we do just that. 😀 www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000sth9
@debrap947
2 жыл бұрын
It's 5:41 of a whole hour-long program, so yes, it is "unfinished". And sadly...if you don't live in the UK...this is all we get.
@amyw6808
2 жыл бұрын
@@debrap947 get a VPO and you can watch it
@katherenewedic8076
2 жыл бұрын
@@ProfessorTuriKing the edit is an emotional and mental mind f*** stop doing that s***
@katharina...
2 жыл бұрын
@@amyw6808 Did you mean VPN? Unfortunately, the BBC iplayer detects and blocks anyone using VPN.
Where can we get a link to the whole story? This is a short clip that leaves us disappointed hanging!
Gee she looks like my mum.
The editors reeeeaaaaallllyyyy draw it out. She's *excellent*, but they could get to the critical details a little faster.
Did his brother have any children? He could have connected with them if he knew.
@ProfessorTuriKing
2 жыл бұрын
Do watch the program to see what happens next. 😉
@pollyannaprinciple5860
2 жыл бұрын
@@ProfessorTuriKing If it is posted on KZread, I will watch it.
She gives absolutely no information in these videos that anyone submitting their DNA ancestry site can't find out.
240,000 US 🇺🇸
Why do you stop these episodes without a proper ending?
@roberthudson1959
2 жыл бұрын
This is a teaser clip.
Ooooooo
In the USA royal titles are not legal to use.
.
I'm sure his half brother had children; why didn't she put him in contact with them? There are extended family members a well; why not put them in contact??????????
@anyaw340
2 жыл бұрын
They put him in contact with his cousins.
@Jake-nk4wg
2 жыл бұрын
@@anyaw340 Thanks for the update. :)
It’s about to be a crime once again.
or! he could have been a totally free person! which there were thousands of!
🇨🇩🇨🇬🇨🇩🇨🇬🇨🇩 CAMERON, CONGO 🇨🇩, TOBACCO AND COTTON, 1865, MOVED INTO TEXAS, 1900 CENTURY, WITH SOME BODY, A CHILD, HALF BROTHER, DON_ . HE LOOKED SO SHOCK. 76. BIG QUESTION FOR YOUR DAD, IMPOSSIBLE, 1940 ILLEGAL INTERRACIAL MARRIAGE.
Looks aboriginal Australian
This seems so unfinished
@ProfessorTuriKing
2 жыл бұрын
That’s because it’s a segment of a much larger programme. 😉
Sorry but his father could have come back to the UK after leaving the army and stayed in the UK or moved to another state where mixed marrages were legal 2000 mixed raced children (not counting white babies) were born - unfortunately most of these women were used!!
@anyaw340
2 жыл бұрын
"Used" implies that the women weren't willing participants. They were not "used" unless they were made to believe that the relationship was more than what it was, and you would have no knowledge of that. Just because the women ended up pregnant doesn't mean they were "used". Pregnancy is a foreseeable consequence of the sexual activity that these women willingly engaged in along with these soldiers. Secondly, you make it sound so easy. Black people in those days - especially in the South - had very low levels of social mobility. Most lacked the resources to make big moves like what you are suggesting. The UK is also yet another white supremacist, imperialistic white country (even whiter than the US) - one which he knew very little about beyond his limited experience there on a military base. For black people, the mentality is that the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. The only reason he was even in the UK was because he was in the military - not because he was there on leisure.
@anyaw340
2 жыл бұрын
Also, you also underestimate the stigma of having a white child/being in a relationship with a white woman if you are a black man - no matter where you are. Even in Northern states, that would make your life extremely difficult and would make you a target for harassment and potential violence. American society in general - not just Southern states - was racist. The South was simply more barbaric about it. Black families all over America were the victims of racism in one form or another. In fact, Northern cities is where some of the most horrific racist attacks occurred in the mid-late 20th century.
Another fatherless household brought over from the Congo. They've always imported the best from the black community
So why in the heck get a woman pregnant if his only choice was to abandonment. Him knowing this was selfish on his part.
@debrap947
2 жыл бұрын
It was WW2...times were very different then, you didn't make plans for the future...you made every day count.
@oliviachapman6572
2 жыл бұрын
This is an issue with a lot of Soldiers past and present. I have this talk about responsibility and actions with mine all the time.
@lindabrown0
2 жыл бұрын
@@oliviachapman6572 What young women need to realize is that soldiers and sailors; guys on holiday, very often have left a woman behind at home; girl friends, wives etc. If you find him attractive, then maybe somebody else did too....
@libbysevicke-jones3160
2 жыл бұрын
The answer was in the video. Watch it again.
@roberthudson1959
2 жыл бұрын
Remember that British military personnel complained that their American counterparts were "overpaid, oversexed, and over here." He probably was more worried about the activity than the after effects.
This is a horrible edit
The lucky ones made it to jail...more like the noose in the tree.