Can DNA track my great-grandfather?
Hello all!
My family and I have been on a hunt lately for our family history. My mom's dad, my grandpa, was adopted as a baby. He spent his whole life feeling out of place, in his own words, but never looked for his biological family despite wanting to. A few years after her passed away, just last summer, I applied to receive his adoption records from the Government. Luckily I was granted this and the records were given to me in late fall.
Since then, we have been met with many surprises and managed to track down his maternal line and descendants, but no contact has occurred (we tried but they were not interested). However, the paternal side is a complete mystery.
Using names and addresses supplied in the adoption records, we were able to track down the school both parents attended (they were teen parents) and found the mother (who we had already proven) and using that found the father. So, we have a photo of him but that's basically it. A photo, a name, a rough birth year, and an exact address as of 1959.
Ancestry searching has been no help at all, there's no records that we can prove belong to this guy. We don't have parents names or anything else.
I decided to order a DNA test, and I was wondering if it will be possible to track relatives and genetics that come from my great-grandfather or if it will be difficult to determine?
For context, my dad's side of the family is completely German. My mom's maternal side are comprised of Norwegian immigrants, and surprisingly my grandpa's mother's parents were also Norwegian immigrants. However, my grandpa was visibly not white and so is his great-grandfather. I think this will make it easier to track what information is coming specifically from him as it will stand out? Maybe?
If anyone has any advice or suggestions on how to make the search possible please let me know.