"Wife Ordered Us AncestryDNA Kits? You’ve Done It?" Topic

So how accurate is it really? How can they know geographical origins? Ethnicities (genetic groups) don't always live in one area.

Besides, too many people, including our governments, don't always understand the difference between 1) nationality (citizenship), 2) culture (how one is raised) and 3) genetics (blood/lineage).

Dan
PS. Example: nationality is easy. It's where you are a legal citizen.

It was very general in is placement and percentage on mine.

I would say accept it for entertainment purposes and don't really take it too seriously. It isn't as if the lab technicians don't know what they're doing, but the theories behind the origin points of certain DNA is far from being settled. If you're Asian you might show some Native American ancestry or vice versa.

Compare your results with the test results from a separate company and you will see some differences that ought not be there. You can see some interesting videos on Youtube where people have had tests done with some silly results that will raise eyebrows.

I found that with the dna test by ancestry coupled with the free site gedmatch.com it is very informative and should you choose put you in touch with relatives who do indeed share the same dna segments. Like anything else you can follow up on it or not. But it has coonected me with relatives I was never aware of around the world.

The results are pretty generalized in some cases, but can be accurate based on what I know of my family's origins and histories.

The most interesting thing it did for me was confirm the existence and parentage of my sister, whom I did not know I had for 64 years! We satisfied ourselves with all of the relevant documents and bits of family gossip, then had the tests a week apart from different parts of the country and Ancestry confirmed the DNA match. I have also met her and she's the spitting image of my late mother.

Wow, amazing story!

Will the test tell you what DNA came from your Dad and and what DNA from your Mom?

Thanks.

Dan

I did one* & found I was related to Charlemagne, the first Holy-Roman Emperor!!!!:

link

DNA Ancestry is a business. Don't expect too much. Or anything.

link

"So what does this all mean? Ancestry is messy. Genetics is messy, but powerful. People are horny. Life is complex. Anyone who says differently is selling something. A secret history is hidden in the mosaics of our genomes, but caveat emptor. If you want to spend your cash on someone in a white coat telling you that you're descended from Vikings or Saxons or Charlemagne or even Drogo of Metz, help yourself. I, or hundreds of geneticists around the world, will shrug and do it for free, and you don't even need to spit in a tube."

* no I didn't. I wouldn't waste my money. I'm a Scot & most of my hunter-gather ancestors arrived 12 000 years ago. If I have any "johnny-come-latelies" in my genome, & I probably do, I'm not interested in finding out……if you can trust the Ancestry company.

I have had the Ancestry DNA test, and found it to be quite accurate in matching me to known cousins who have also taken the test. It will not directly tell you which parts of your total genetic makeup came from which parent, but a good deal can be inferred provided both parents are alive to also take the test (sadly not possible for me). The certainty of matches declines somewhat with each additional degree of distance from cousins, and usually becomes fairly useless beyond 8th cousins. It did match me to a cousin with a distinctive last name that I recognized from a family tree, but the last known connection to that line occurred just after the Revolutionary War!

The test Ancestry provides is called an autosomal (SP?)DNA test. There are other, and more expensive tests, that are more useful for exploring deep roots. For an unbroken lineage in the male line, Y-DNA can still show relationship over many centuries. Similarly, mitochondrial DNA is passed from mother to daughter. The latter was how it was determined that all living humans descend from a single woman who lived more than 100,000 years ago in Africa.

Ancestry, if you bother to read their explanation, bases their estimate of your ethnic mix on the frequency of various genetic markers found in your test which are typical of certain ethnic groups; this is based on statistical probabilities by comparing with the results for standard reference groups still living in various areas today. They do not claim that the results are always infallible--just the most likely based on the statistics.

We each get half of our total genes from each parent, but which of their specific genes we get is completely random, so one's individual makeup will differ significantly even from your siblings, unless you are an identical twin. For example, my test estimates about 20 per cent of my genes are typical of Irish ancestry, but one of my sisters gave a result of about twice that. However, that is not really too big a surprise, since she does not look like anyone else in the family. Nonetheless, the test does confirm that she is my sister.

An American friend walked into the natural history museum in London and they were doing tests for free . Her result said she had origins dated back to Mongolia . She dismissed them as ludicrous . She said she knew she had native American roots … I said she better go home and look on google about a land bridge .

The commercials on TV crack me up. Heck I'm Polish by family tree but I always say tat there were plenty of armies that marched through Poland from East & West so what is a "real" Pole.

I have a good bit of Neanderthal in my ancestry – so I'm good to go.

ZULUPAUL: "The commercials on TV crack me up"

Lol. Some are fun to watch.

Like the Hispanic lady named Livie who is surprised to find that she has Native American (Indian) in her genes.

link

I don't understand her surprise. Is she that clueless? Does she not understand that most of us Hispanic cultures are a racial mix (European, Native American, African, etc)? And that Spaniards, particularly those in southern Spain, may also have Arabic and Berber ancestors?

And she starts off by saying she never knew her nationality. Does she not understand that nationality is her citizenship? It's hilarious! :)

She definitely cracks me up.

Dan

My thoughts have always been….. WHO CARES?

I'm sure it makes for some interesting conversations, provided you have a receptive audience, and one that understands some basic definitions.

Dan

No interest.

We've been thinks of getting one for our dog, just to find out what he is.

My guess is Chernobyl Corgi.

DNA traces are general, and pretty much meaningless.

I know who my ancestors are and were. All their experiences and stories, I internalize. Some of their values, I internalize, on a deliberate basis.

Also, with Eastern European background on one side, who is a "cousin" has little to do with DNA. Given the specifics of my relatives it has a lot to do with Nazi invasion and Soviet occupation.

I am pretty sure my godparents don't show up in my DNA trace, but are way more important than some distant relative who may.

I think there was a post somewhere, maybe YouTube where identical triplets applied separately and got three different results.

Anyone remember?

Haven't used it yet.

Not gonna try it. Old family bibles, letters, etc.
some from early 16th C. give my family a reasonable
idea of our orgins, at least for the last 500 or so
years.

And given some of the geography (Hungary, in particular)
much like the reference to Poland, up thread.

emerald.tufts.edu/~skrimsky/PDF/Ancestry%20DNA.PDF

excerpt from page 8:

Consumers who pay for such tests lose control over their most intimate personal information, the genetic material that makes each person unique. Consumers also relinquish valuable economic rights. The testing companies, and those to which they license, prohibit consumers who paid for genetic tests from sharing in profits from medical products and services based on their genetic information.

I'm going to have to do it ! I've been meaning to for quite some time ! And most are discounted for the Holidays !

I can see some interesting conversations with all the family members over for Christmas, etc. HO-HO-HO !!!!

Well, I can only relate my experience and it is very accurate in many cases – reconnected me with relatives I haven't seen in over 50 years. If you are passionate about genealogy it is a further aid in your family search.

I would think that some having a hobby in genealogy would think pushing hunks of lead around a big table ridiculous as well. Having an interest in wargaming and genealogy must make me doubly ridiculous :)

I'm with Hey You on this. This sort of thing literally gives you away to a business and, guess what, the gubmint. Besides I might not like what I am.

My grandparents on both sides emigrated from Slovenia.

Based on Slovenia's location in the Balkans with its lively history there are strong odds that any genetic testing would reveal quite a mixture.

Possibly even Charlemagne…

Genetics schmetics. According to some today, you can identify with whatever group you want. So if I was born a Chinese female, I can claim to be a black hermaphrodite and who has the right to tell me differently?
WE HAVE LOST OUR MINDS!!

Leadpusher

Ha! Are you referring to the Dolezal effect? :)

Dan

It's fun and a conversation starter with folks at parties or on a trip. Seems fairly accurate based on my wife's and mine family history. Falls apart on any thing below a 5% reporting level. Ours were pretty much solid though

Cacique

Isn't that the current way of self identifying. After who has the right to tell me who I am or what I am.

I found it fun and pretty interesting. My father and mother did it as well with different companies. My dad was 95% British Isles, I was 63%, I believe, British Isles.

My mom was 50% Eastern European Jewish, I am 23% Eastern European Jewish, something we had no knowledge of before this. My mother doesn't know who her father was, wartime baby.

"Mom, dad, why do my results show 12% Spawn of Satan?"

"ohhh, so that explains why you were born with a tail…"

;-)

My experience for what it's worth:
It is helpful to have someone's results to look at in order to see how that company's DNA results are arrived at. My wife and I did Ancestry; my daughter did the National Geographic. The National Geographic DNA gives the "Big Picture"; group movements over long periods of time. Additionally, you will need to do some research about haploid groups to put the results in context(NatGeo). Ancestry compares your sample with "native" populations, i.e. those with few "admixtures". Then ancestry compares your results to groups that are closest to you (closest related during the last 200 years) and provides a list of their clients that you can try to contact to see if you are related. My wife's family was assumed to be English/German; results were mostly British Isles with 5% E.European Jewish and 15% Scandinavian-confirming her family's genealogical record. So if you are looking to trace your family tree Ancestry is not a bad choice. I would complete what family records you can and then buy a couple months worth of Ancestry subscription (access to databases) to help with your trace.

Wow. Now I can't wait to get it. :)

Dan
PS. Zephyr, you've got a tail? Lol

Only 12% Zephyr ? I'm hoping they'll find some alien DNA in me. Then I can frequently be on the History Channel's "Ancient Aliens" series. And that would explain a lot of things in my life, being part alien …

The most interesting thing it did for me was confirm the existence and parentage of my sister, whom I did not know I had for 64 years!

Ironic – "The Woman Who Never Was!"

I've found it to be very useful in identifying cousins who are also in the Ancestry DNA system, many of which slot right in to the family tree.

One surprising thing is that a LOT of people contacting me through Ancestry are looking for unknown parents, adopted or otherwise.

Here are the triplets.

link

Old, but classic: YouTube link

I was born the rightful ruler of the planet Earth, by the authority of my grandfather, Emperor of the Billion Suns. Take your DNA and stick it where the galaxies don't shine, human scum.

If only Granddad hadn't lost the secret codes that activate my army of battle robots …

LT

Well if for no other reasons we all should check our DNA … Who knows ?

I was diagnosed with Dupytren's contracture so I don't need one. Beside that, I have no intention of giving the shadow government more information that it already has, on my dime.

Just ordered my kit … I look forward to see if I have any alien DNA …

well, two of my teammates at work announced they intended to send off their DNA, so I told them the results it would give them, they decided to do it anyway, spent £70.00 GBP apiece on it, came back to work and proudly announced the results or how many percentages they'd got in various areas, and I said :

"Isnt that exactly what I said ?"

:D

The last thing I want to do is turn my DNA over to some corporation so they sale it to my health insurer which would up my rates or drop me altogether. My employer might send me packing and I couldn't get another job. No thanks.

I don't have health insurance, per se only the VA … So they probably have my DNA or could easily get it if they really wanted it … Every time I give a blood sample, twice a year or so.