Re: Trying to figuring out my Polish-Jewish ancestry

Trish — Fri Mar 14, 2025 1:33 pm

Author: Trish

Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2025 1:33 pm

Metz89-a wrote:

Hi all,

Recently my new DNA results came in and, to my surprise, it resulted in a positive match on some percentages of Jewish ancestry. It left me stunned, not because I would hate the idea, but it was the last thing I would expect. It's definitely inherited from my mother's side, who's Polish. The DNA result was accompanied by slots of supposed far-away relatives who are clearly Jewish and are living all over the world. The common binding factor seems to be Ukraine, which further narrows it down to my grandmother's side. Her side is largely dominated by 'Szlachta' with some 'commoners' alongside the road. I have checked all available records on my Polish ancestors and all were Catholic. It's hard to connect these folks with my other far-far-away Jewish relatives. I also checked the surnames. My mother pointed out that one is 'not-so Polish': Kaim. Anna Kaim married a guy named Jan Stanisz (I know little of these folks, apart from the fact that they are named as parents of their son Jan Władysław Stanisz from Dobczyce who married a girl Eleonora Julia Żarska in Dobczyce in 1877. It seems that Eleonora is the daughter of a nobleman, or at least her grandfather was: Mikołaj Żarski, the treasurer of Trzęsówka. The problem is that there doesn't seem to be an Ukrainian-element in this story. Also, there are quite a few Poles named Kaim when I check the available baptism records dating back to the 1600s. Other surnames in my Polish family tree from my grandmother's side: Fiałkowski, Szklarczyk, Struzik, Konieczna, Zajac, Żmijowski, Szlachetko, Dubaniewicz, Jurczak, Broszczak, Wawryk..

I was wondering if someone could explain or rather point out the 'Jewish part' of my ancestry. I am new to this, so any information is more than welcome.

Hi!

Sorry for the delay in responding to you.

Can I ask what DNA test that you did? Example" ancestry.com, MyHeritage, etc.

I know on ancestry.com you can do the following:

Click on DNA
Click on Matches
Pick a person in your matches. Click on them.
You will see the cM's and how you connect.
Click on the word "Origin". This will show what "origins"/"nationalities" you have in common.
You would have to do this till you find someone that matches your Jewish ancestry.

Once you find people with Jewish ancestry, you can click on "shared matches", and see the others who also have Jewish ancestry.

Once you find people, check their trees for common surnames.

You can do the Leed's Method. This is where you color coordinate surnames to see where you might have a common ancestor.
https://www.yourdnaguide.com/leeds-method

You can also use these tools.
DNApainter is a great tool also. There are several tools on this website you can use.
https://dnapainter.com/

Use this tool to see possible relationships at a specific percent or number of cM's.
https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv4

You might also want to upload you DNA to other places to see if you find any connections.

Also, you can download your DNA test as a zip file to your computer and then upload it for free to the following websites. You might get some hints.

https://www.familytreedna.com/autosomal-transfer

https://www.myheritage.com/dna/upload

https://www.gedmatch.com/login1.php

https://livingdna.com/free-dna-upload

I see on MyHeritage.com that you can view shared matches. I do not see if you can see their "origin/nationality/ethnic" background.

Hope some of this helps.
Trish

Trying to figuring out my Polish-Jewish ancestry

Metz89-a — Wed Mar 05, 2025 11:19 am

Author: Metz89-a

Posted: Wed Mar 05, 2025 11:19 am

Hi all,

Recently my new DNA results came in and, to my surprise, it resulted in a positive match on some percentages of Jewish ancestry. It left me stunned, not because I would hate the idea, but it was the last thing I would expect. It's definitely inherited from my mother's side, who's Polish. The DNA result was accompanied by slots of supposed far-away relatives who are clearly Jewish and are living all over the world. The common binding factor seems to be Ukraine, which further narrows it down to my grandmother's side. Her side is largely dominated by 'Szlachta' with some 'commoners' alongside the road. I have checked all available records on my Polish ancestors and all were Catholic. It's hard to connect these folks with my other far-far-away Jewish relatives. I also checked the surnames. My mother pointed out that one is 'not-so Polish': Kaim. Anna Kaim married a guy named Jan Stanisz (I know little of these folks, apart from the fact that they are named as parents of their son Jan Władysław Stanisz from Dobczyce who married a girl Eleonora Julia Żarska in Dobczyce in 1877. It seems that Eleonora is the daughter of a nobleman, or at least her grandfather was: Mikołaj Żarski, the treasurer of Trzęsówka. The problem is that there doesn't seem to be an Ukrainian-element in this story. Also, there are quite a few Poles named Kaim when I check the available baptism records dating back to the 1600s. Other surnames in my Polish family tree from my grandmother's side: Fiałkowski, Szklarczyk, Struzik, Konieczna, Zajac, Żmijowski, Szlachetko, Dubaniewicz, Jurczak, Broszczak, Wawryk..

I was wondering if someone could explain or rather point out the 'Jewish part' of my ancestry. I am new to this, so any information is more than welcome.

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