Wrong dad?

Question:I am working on a family tree and some of my rel. have told me that my grandfather was not really biologicaly my grandfather. Supposibly, she had an afair with anouther man. Some say I should not put my grampa on my family tree, and tracing his roots would be piontless. What is your opinion?

I figure, since my grampy's name is on my dad's birth certificate, then go with it. It is impossible to tell, once you go back too, if a child is "really" someones child...you assume so because they were married at the time and such.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I am working on a family tree and some of my rel. have told me that my grandfather was not really biologicaly my grandfather. Supposibly, she had an afair with anouther man. Some say I should not put my grampa on my family tree, and tracing his roots would be piontless. What is your opinion?

I figure, since my grampy's name is on my dad's birth certificate, then go with it. It is impossible to tell, once you go back too, if a child is "really" someones child...you assume so because they were married at the time and such.

Rumor, gossip and inuendo have no place in genealogy. While others may feel strongly about this, it's none of their business. From a practical standpoint, genealogy is not about genetics, it's about families and family relationships. If a child is adopted, legally or otherwise, that child is part of the family and the adoptive parents are recognized as the parents, regardless.

Your grandpa was a wonderful man from what you've said. He raised a child who many thought was not his own. Did your dad ever feel his dad was anything other than a good dad? If you're telling me he was an abusive alcoholic who left your grandmother after your dad was born, then leave him off. But if your grandpa was there when your dad was born, taught him to play sports, took him on family vacations, and did nothing other than be a "Dad" in the truest sense of the word, then he belongs on that family tree.

I would include him if I were you, especially if your grampy's name is on your dad's birth certificate. I am very close to someone who is in exactly the same position as you. Her mum told her three days before she died that it was quite possible the man that they had known as uncle could well have been her dad. He had died a four months before her mum and her mum was heartbroken at his passing.
She had been upset that her husband Sal's "dad" had died, but she was distraught when Sal's "uncle" died.
My poor friend is in such a mess because of the revelation, but she has said that her dad is the one who's name she had until she married, the one who walked her up the aisle,and the one she helped to care for in his dying days.
It's her "dads" family history I am researching for her. I have also researched the "uncles" family history and when she's ready to find out about her dad / uncle, it's ready and waiting for her.

The "purist" says that technically, the "only" right dad is the biological dad. Working w/ my daughter in law.. there is conflict on the "real" dad, almost every generation.
As far as your documentation goes.. the name on the birth certificate is what you have, and this is who raised the child. thus.. you have NO PROOF that there was an affair at all, even if there was. The only way to disprove him as the father would be DNA testing.. and unless you are looking for a organ transplant.. it serves little purpose.
When I have BOTH lines.. I use both, and the person involved down the line has the choice. My adoptive son would be devastated, if I did not consider him as "our" child, and I agree. If he later wants his bio line.. I have access to his mom for that info. His choice. For my dau in law.. I am working both her known bio line and her accepted dad.
There is a compromise between the "purist" and the accepted. The option is yours.. you are doing the tracing.
Personally... I would accept the grandpa you knew and (sounds like) loved.

In the case of adoptions...... is the grandpa still the grandpa? Of course he should be included.......... Do you know the name of the biological one? DNA can prove or disprove.

Male DNA can trace the family back to him........

I think you should put grampy's name. Just because you have suddenly found that he is not biological doesn't mean that outta your family. If he treated you the same and your dad as his own child, then he IS your true grandpa.

If this man's name was on your Dad's birth certificate, and your family accepted him as the father, then by all means trace his roots, too. Nobody's life is "pointless"--regardless of affairs or not. They had parents who loved them as well as grandparents, etc. If nothing else, list him as stepfather or "adopted father", but--if you loved him enough to call him grampy--include him in your family tree.
Your Dad's case is similar to mine, in a way. The man I called Dad was not my birth father, but he loved me all his life, let me use his last name without legal adoption, and his family accepted me as a "legal" member of the family. As for my birth father--I knew his name but never saw him until the day he died, and can't even remember what he looked like. But, I CAN remember my "Dad." Any man can be a father (or grandfather, as far as that goes), but it's a "special" man who is Dad or Grandpa.

its your family tree hun if grampa is your grampa to you then thats all that matters youre the one compiling it.

Sometimes, family is chosen. Put your Grampy in your tree. I'm in the same situation, so mostly I work on my grandfather's lines. I have done a little on my mom's biological father, but that's just a technicality.

Good question. If you have $900 or so for a trio of DNA tests, and can get some of your cousins to take it, you could prove or disprove the rumor. If you had another $900, knew who the mysterious man with curly hair and blue eyes was, and could convince some of his known descendants to take the same DNA test, you could prove or disprove your grandfather's paternity.

My mother lives in a retirement community that, due to the demographics, is 2/3rds women. Many widows have told her, after the second or third glass of sherry, that one of their children wasn't their husband's, but they patched up the spat and the child looked enough like him they just let it ride. So many have done so that she thinks we genealogists are fooling ourselves.

The company that tested my DNA to see if George Pack, d. 1754, was really the father of Samuel Pack, d. 1833, said that 2% - 5% of the people they test prove to be no relation at all to their father, due to "Secret adoption or infidelity".

Most of us assume the man the woman was married to at the time of conception was the father, unless he was on a clipper ship making the China run in 1842. We may be wrong 2% to 5% of the time, but that's what we do.

Ask those relatives for details. See if you can find pictures of the other man. You might want to trace his tree instead of your legal great grandfather.

As long as your dad regonize your grandfather as his dad and grandpa's name is on the birth certificate there is nothing anyone else can do. It was a situation between your grandparents that obviously was resolved years ago