# What makes you so sure your parents are your biological forebearers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 10, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630 "2018-07-10T01:26:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/21 "2018-07-10T13:20:50Z")
DNA matches to cousins on both sides. Anybody who wonders certainly has this fairly easy option as a quiet way to test the question. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/22 "2018-07-10T13:32:16Z")
I remember a road trip I took with my three siblings. My oldest sister was the only one of driving age so that would have made me about thirteen or fourteen. We stopped at a roadside restaurant and were sitting in a booth a little excited to be on our own doing this and informed the waitress, “you know, we’re all sisters!” She gave us a eloquent “and this is news?” look. I have a photo of nothing but all our bare feet together, too. We all have my Dad’s feet – dumpy flippers with wide nails. Sometimes I look in the mirror and see my mom’s face. It’s not enjoyable. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/23 "2018-07-10T13:32:57Z")
I just took their word for it. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/24 "2018-07-10T14:16:57Z")
Well, I’m definitely my mom’s kid. Got pictures that basically prove it. If she didn’t have me, I would have found out about that by now. I bear enough of a resemblance to my dad that I’ve never questioned that. That, and my mom’s a saint and I seriously doubt she would have had me by another man. Now, MY kids? Only one of four them looks anything like me. I have brown eyes, my wife has green. 3 out of 4 of my kids has green eyes. I don’t know the odds of that happening, but I think it’s pretty small. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/25 "2018-07-10T14:24:09Z")
She told me. You callin’ my mom a liar? :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Tzigone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/839c29/32.png) [@Tzigone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tzigone)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/26 "2018-07-10T14:30:03Z")
Well, I look a bit like my dad’s mom. My sister even more so. But besides that, both my parents have done the [ancestry.com](http://ancestry.com) DNA thing, and have encouraged me to do so as well. I’m not interested, but since they suggested it, I assume they have to think I wouldn’t find out one or both of them isn’t my biological parent. ---
**Author:** ![Dobbs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Dobbs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dobbs)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/27 "2018-07-10T15:44:17Z")
Mail order DNA test. They verified my sister is my sister, and that several cousins on both sides are, in fact, related. It even found an aunt who was adopted out years before I was born. We knew she existed, but that was about it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/28 "2018-07-10T16:37:34Z")
The Frankestein novel may have been inspired by someone like me. I look enough like my mother (and even more like her sister\*) that people have ‘recognized’ me as her daughter without us ever having been introduced and it wasn’t from interactions with Mom; she wasn’t there. The brain is all from Dad’s side. Since my mother’s side of my family is more cuckoo than a Black Forest clock factory, the first time someone recognized my thought processes with a “you must be [Dad’s] daughter!”, I almost broke the ceiling jumping with joy. - In order to believe I’m my aunt’s daughter you’d have to do something very strange with either my birthdate or that of my cousin, or declare a baby girl who weighed 4 1/2kg at birth was a 7-monther. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/29 "2018-07-10T17:37:48Z")
I just know. I guess I don’t look that much like my father, except for hair (texture and color) and eyes (blue). But I know my mother and it is just not possible to be otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/30 "2018-07-10T18:31:15Z")
The resemblance between my father and I is _ridiculously_ obvious. Personality wise, I’m more like my Mom. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/31 "2018-07-10T18:57:23Z")
Mom’s side is beyond question: I have the weird little toenail that’s almost ubiquitous among the extended family (it grows straight up instead of forward), and I, two of my uncles, and my grandfather all have the same mole on the left side of our nose. There’s also at least one relative with the same recessive genetic disease as I, and at least one carrier, but it’s a common enough one that that’s not definitive. On Dad’s side, there’s no single trait I can point to specifically, but pictures of him from when he was young (before he grew a beard) look an awful lot like me (that’s the main reason I don’t grow a beard, because I don’t want to look like him). And, well, I trust Mom to be honest with me. Meanwhile, my sister and I both have the same unusual bony growths in our gums. I can’t remember exactly how rare those are supposed to be, and I don’t know the genetics of them (if they’re recessive, they’re good evidence that we’re full siblings, but if dominant, it’s still consistent with us just being half-siblings). ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/32 "2018-07-10T18:58:00Z")
> [@TimeWinder](#): > > Not exactly in line with the OP, but what makes you think I should care? They’re the ones that raised me. This is a good answer. I’ve never had reason to doubt my parents. The family stories were always consistent and there are lots of pictures and such. And my parents were always open about my two adopted brothers. So, I assume if I’d been adopted, they’d probably be upfront about it as well. Also I look a lot like my dad ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/33 "2018-07-10T19:03:28Z")
I’ve seen the Birth Certificate. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/34 "2018-07-10T20:05:24Z")
If you could add my parents together, add a little extra height, then divide by 2, you’d get me and my brother. I always looked really like my brother, except for the hair. I once had a girl at Guide camp I’d never seen before come and ask me if had a brother, 'cos she met this guy that looked just like me at her friend’s [sister of brother’s friend] house… Both sides of the family have told me that I _really_ look like the other side of the family. Never quite sure what to make of that. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/35 "2018-07-10T20:09:37Z")
My older sister looks just like my father, my younger sister looked just like my mother, and I am such a combination of the two that people tell me I resemble them both, even though nobody thought they looked like sisters. ---
**Author:** ![Teacake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Teacake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Teacake)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/36 "2018-07-10T20:09:37Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Mom’s side is beyond question: I have the weird little toenail that’s almost ubiquitous among the extended family (it grows straight up instead of forward), and I, two of my uncles, and my grandfather all have the same mole on the left side of our nose. There’s also at least one relative with the same recessive genetic disease as I, and at least one carrier, but it’s a common enough one that that’s not definitive. > > On Dad’s side, there’s no single trait I can point to specifically, but pictures of him from when he was young (before he grew a beard) look an awful lot like me (that’s the main reason I don’t grow a beard, because I don’t want to look like him). And, well, I trust Mom to be honest with me. > > Meanwhile, my sister and I both have the same unusual bony growths in our gums. I can’t remember exactly how rare those are supposed to be, and I don’t know the genetics of them (if they’re recessive, they’re good evidence that we’re full siblings, but if dominant, it’s still consistent with us just being half-siblings). Straight-up toenails and bony-bumpy gums? Hello brother! ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/37 "2018-07-10T20:28:06Z")
I have a copy of the newspaper birth announcements for that week from the local small town paper. The only other kid born in the hospital around then was opposite gender and literally less than half my weight. There were no mixups at the hospital, I can assure you. Given this and other data from that time I am definitely my mother’s child. As to fatherhood: looks, etc., assured me for a long time. Then came the 23andme DNA tests. Relatives on my father’s side showed up and in the positions one would expect. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/38 "2018-07-10T20:29:32Z")
I’m the fourth of four sons. If my parents had gone the adoption route, they would have adopted a girl. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/39 "2018-07-10T20:42:15Z")
Good lord, man, do you think that they would have taken me home if the hospital didn’t medically prove the relation and force them to? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![PapaJoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9adbd/32.png) [@PapaJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapaJoe)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630/40 "2018-07-10T20:46:15Z")
I was convinced on the day my father showed me an old picture he had found and I asked, “Where’d you get _that_ picture of me?” He replied, “That’s me.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-makes-you-so-sure-your-parents-are-your-biological-forebearers/817630.md?page=3)