Ancestry DNA
AnnieH_4512
Posts: 1,422 Member
I received an Ancestry DNA kit for Christmas, and was wondering if anyone has done that, or something similar?
I have little to no family out there, so I’m excited to not only learn where I’m from, but also if I have relatives around.
Any info would be appreciated!! Thanks!! All I did tonight was take the wrapping off the kit, and I was in tears. Baby steps!
I have little to no family out there, so I’m excited to not only learn where I’m from, but also if I have relatives around.
Any info would be appreciated!! Thanks!! All I did tonight was take the wrapping off the kit, and I was in tears. Baby steps!
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Replies
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I bought one for my brother, mom and step father. They liked it as a gift.
I haven't done one but would be interested to compare it to my brothers.
I actually want to do the 23 and me which is more detailed I gather and goes into genetic predispositions (like for diseases and traits)...for some people tho this info is unwanted tho so I don't think it is a good gift.
The Ancestry DNA is pretty basic info and seems fun!
Next time I see them on sale I might do it...super interested to compare to my brother's results0 -
Imagine if you and your brother got wildly different results point towards being half siblings.
1 in 20 father’s are apparently raising someone else’s kid unaware5 -
I've done Ancestry dna and 23andMe. Differences in percentages because each uses different algorithms and database, but both give useful results. Both my sisters, a nephew, and an aunt have also been tested by one or the other, and it is very interesting comparing the information for each.
Ancestry is more useful if you have a tree there, and if your identified dna relatives also have trees. I like 23andMe better because it gives more/better detail, and allows you to compare with dna relatives chromosome by chromosome.
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My brother and I are doing 23andme. We have different mothers, so we should be able to see what we have from our dad and what our mothers were. Both mothers were adopted and no medical information on biological parents was available for either one.0
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Just sent mine in yesterday! I don't have much of a fam (that I know of) aside from my dad, my siblings, and my daughter. Curious to find out what it will say!0
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TeacupsAndToning wrote: »I've always wanted to do this but I feel weird about a corporation having my DNA on file. I've also seen a dateline where a man was suspected of a murder because his DNA was a very close match to the killers - but I think they may have changed their practices on who they give DNA information to, but still lol
BLACK MIRROR, SEASON 4, EPISODE 1 except it’s Trudy from Ancestry DOT com who has your DNA and she goes into the game to play at her taxidermy store where you work as a fur comber
Spooky1 -
eccomi_qui wrote: »TeacupsAndToning wrote: »I've always wanted to do this but I feel weird about a corporation having my DNA on file. I've also seen a dateline where a man was suspected of a murder because his DNA was a very close match to the killers - but I think they may have changed their practices on who they give DNA information to, but still lol
BLACK MIRROR, SEASON 4, EPISODE 1 except it’s Trudy from Ancestry DOT com who has your DNA and she goes into the game to play at her taxidermy store where you work as a fur comber
Spooky
Wha?0 -
Clearly no one has watched the episode0
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When you have your Ancestry and/or 23andme results, you can export the data and upload to GEDmatch:
https://www.gedmatch.com
It provides a lot of information and tools for analyzing your results. As others have said, 23andme provides information about genes for diseases. My father's father was from Sicily, but I ended up only have a small amount of southern European ancestry - 63% is from eastern and northern Europe and Russia/the Caucasus (which explains my fine hair texture and blue eyes, I suspect). It may be my great grandmother was even more of a tart than I know - she ran away from my great grandfather with her lover, and supposedly my grandfather and his brother were her only "legitimate" offspring. Maybe she had an affair with some eastern European emigrant to Sicily and my grandfather wasn't "legitimate" after all. Sicilians have Norman/Viking, Italian, Moorish, and Arab blood so it might be the genetics are too mixed up to show as Mediterranean.
A first cousin I haven't heard from since the 1970s contacted me because the Ancestry DNA test correctly flagged us as first cousins - so you can indeed have some nice surprises when you take the test. I did have a person message me because Ancestry says we're fourth cousins, but neither of us can find any connection between our family trees.1 -
Should I be worried?0
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I did it a few years ago and found it fascinating, and a little surprising in a few instances (I essentially have identified myself as Irish my entire life because of my last name and found that I was mostly English, oops, lol)
Recently I uploaded my DNA data to promethease.com, which was offering a free medical analysis of my health by (anonymously comparing my DNA results to those of thousands of medical patients). I found it to be scarily accurate in identifying medical things that I have already experienced and it provides probabilities for developing medical problems in the future.1 -
Was quite surprised by my results. 94% Great Britain yet many of my relatives I can trace back to Germany. I've located 19 other Ancestry members with DNA matches. Kind of fun.1
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I had my DNA analysis done through 23andme. While I've been a long-time user of Ancestry for my family tree, after reading about the differences among the various services I felt that 23andme would provide me with more information.
My results confirmed many things I knew about my ancestry but there were some surprises. The % results for one ethnicity was higher than expected (I always laughingly told my family members that I got all the Irish genes based on my various features. It turns out that I was correct.) and the percentage was significantly less for another. I was surprised to learn that I have small amounts of Eastern European, Scandinavian, and Southern European ancestry so I'm a little bit more ethnically diverse that I thought. Some recent digging into records for my family tree has led me to a branch that goes way back, which includes Danish surnames. Thus, supporting my surprising Scandinavian results.
Unfortunately, I have been unable to convince my mother or siblings to join me. However, my oldest daughter sent hers off just before Christmas so I'm looking forward to seeing what her results reveal.
I also obtained medical data by running my 23andme raw data through the Prometheus program https://promethease.com/
The Prometheus report (It was free in December. I think it costs $10 regularly.) is massive, and it accurately predicted my various physical traits. It also provided some very interesting and helpful results related to medical issues. For example, I found out that I am a carrier of the gene for Cystic Fibrosis so I let my daughters know and my siblings so they could tell my nieces that this gene is in our family. I would caution, however, that if you are someone who is a real worrier about your health, some results might freak you out. However, knowledge is power and learning about the genetic mutations I have (both positive and negative) is quite helpful.2 -
taylormom79 wrote: »I received an Ancestry DNA kit for Christmas, and was wondering if anyone has done that, or something similar?
I have little to no family out there, so I’m excited to not only learn where I’m from, but also if I have relatives around.
Any info would be appreciated!! Thanks!! All I did tonight was take the wrapping off the kit, and I was in tears. Baby steps!
Both of my parents, and my wife's parents, have taken Ancestry DNA tests.
I would take one, but because I'm 50% Mom and 50% Dad there's not much of a point.
These are a few interesting things I've discovered:
- My father's DNA kit uncovered a significant Native Americans ethnicity. Family lore we discovered from distant living relatives on his mother's side suggests Cherokee connections, but we have no hard proof.
- My mother's DNA kit, combined with genealogical research, revealed a 4th cousin relationship with Marilyn Monroe. (I'm a history guy, so I'm holding out for a Founding Fathers link; haven't found it yet, though my sisters could join D.A.R. a dozen times over.)
- My mother's DNA kit also turned up a mystery very-close relative. This relative shares enough DNA to be a Half 1st Cousin.
I would second the mention above of GEDMatch.com. GEDMatch will help you find more relatives--and will help them find you.1 -
I got a kit for Christmas too and haven’t yet sent it back either.1
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I found a cousin that was meant to be kept a secret. That stirred up some family feelings that I was not expecting. It can be pandora's box.0
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My aunt did it.
Turns out gramps had it going on back in the day. We found an extra family member who wants to be in touch
Careful what ya wish for!0 -
huntersvonnegut wrote: »I got a kit for Christmas too and haven’t yet sent it back either.
Just sent mine in yesterday! Just make sure you don't eat, drink, chew gum, or smoke for at least 30 minutes before you provide your... um... sample. My sister's friend had to re-do hers because she'd been chewing gum, and they didn't get a good enough sample.
Good luck!0 -
The ethnicity reports from all of these companies are basically educated guesses - they compare your DNA to various sample populations and pick the most likely match, which works well in some cases and poorly in others, depending on how relevant to you the sample population is. It doesn't help that global populations have moved and interbred over millennia - for example, some native Germans test as part Native American, despite having no ancestors who have even been on the American continent, because the Huns have some genes shared with Native Americans thousands of years ago.
One good analogy: imagine you are sorting beans into different buckets. You have buckets for white beans, kidney beans, and green peas. Someone hands you a Lima bean and tells you to put it into one of the buckets. Does it go with the green peas because it's green, or the kidney beans because it's the same shape, or the white beans because it's larger? You have to pick one, and only one bucket. The truth is that whichever bucket you pick will be wrong, because a Lima bean is not any of those things... but there is no bucket for Lima beans.
On the other hand, the cousin matches can be very useful.
I'm one of those people who have a story that could be used on a commercial - I found out while sorting through my mother's matches that she did not match any of her close cousins on her father's side. On a hunch I searched for names associated with her stepfather's family, and found out that the man she had grown up believing was her stepfather, who married her mother when my mother was just a baby, was actually her biological father. Since her mother and both men were dead, this created a mystery: did her parents even know who her father was? After a lot of searching through old papers and letters I found a WWII era letter from her mother to her biological father, written while he was serving as a soldier, which said, "I know that you love our daughter." So, apparently they did know, but never told her.
Because my mother always thought of her stepfather as her "real father" she was delighted to learn the truth, and only regretted that they had never spoken about it while he was alive. But I have seen many cases on the Ancestry forum where families were shaken to their roots by revelations like this - siblings testing and learning they are only half siblings, children discovering that one of their parents is not a biological parent. Even one interesting case in which a woman found out that her fraternal twin was actually an identical twin - because the two women were very different heights, they had always believed they were fraternal twins, but the likely cause is that one was severely ill as a baby. You have to be ready for skeletons to pop out of your closet, because you just never know!3 -
rheddmobile wrote: »The ethnicity reports from all of these companies are basically educated guesses - they compare your DNA to various sample populations and pick the most likely match, which works well in some cases and poorly in others, depending on how relevant to you the sample population is. It doesn't help that global populations have moved and interbred over millennia - for example, some native Germans test as part Native American, despite having no ancestors who have even been on the American continent, because the Huns have some genes shared with Native Americans thousands of years ago.
One good analogy: imagine you are sorting beans into different buckets. You have buckets for white beans, kidney beans, and green peas. Someone hands you a Lima bean and tells you to put it into one of the buckets. Does it go with the green peas because it's green, or the kidney beans because it's the same shape, or the white beans because it's larger? You have to pick one, and only one bucket. The truth is that whichever bucket you pick will be wrong, because a Lima bean is not any of those things... but there is no bucket for Lima beans.
On the other hand, the cousin matches can be very useful.
I'm one of those people who have a story that could be used on a commercial - I found out while sorting through my mother's matches that she did not match any of her close cousins on her father's side. On a hunch I searched for names associated with her stepfather's family, and found out that the man she had grown up believing was her stepfather, who married her mother when my mother was just a baby, was actually her biological father. Since her mother and both men were dead, this created a mystery: did her parents even know who her father was? After a lot of searching through old papers and letters I found a WWII era letter from her mother to her biological father, written while he was serving as a soldier, which said, "I know that you love our daughter." So, apparently they did know, but never told her.
Because my mother always thought of her stepfather as her "real father" she was delighted to learn the truth, and only regretted that they had never spoken about it while he was alive. But I have seen many cases on the Ancestry forum where families were shaken to their roots by revelations like this - siblings testing and learning they are only half siblings, children discovering that one of their parents is not a biological parent. Even one interesting case in which a woman found out that her fraternal twin was actually an identical twin - because the two women were very different heights, they had always believed they were fraternal twins, but the likely cause is that one was severely ill as a baby. You have to be ready for skeletons to pop out of your closet, because you just never know!
It does seem the risks out weigh the benefits.
Pros: find a second cousin you didn’t know and find you are descended from Mongolians
Cons: finding out you mother cheated on you dad and one of you siblings is a half brother and your other sibling was swapped at birth and completely unrelated. And find out your wife is your half sister from when your dad had a one night stand after your Mum cheated on him.
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I am willing to risk it! My mom passed away when I was four, and she only had a sister (no brothers), and she died before I was born. My dad only had a brother (no sisters), and he died when I was 16, and he didn't have any children. All of my grandparents are gone. So, my family is very small. I don't know what I could possibly get out of this, but it's worth a shot!3
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What's lovely about this "ancestry DNA" kit, it stores alllllll of your "secure" personal information out there in the webs for people to just search for you with the click of a button or two, specially stalkers.
Great idea for someone who's elderly, though. You can just view their results as long as you're from the same family tree without compromising your own information.0 -
taylormom79 wrote: »I am willing to risk it! My mom passed away when I was four, and she only had a sister (no brothers), and she died before I was born. My dad only had a brother (no sisters), and he died when I was 16, and he didn't have any children. All of my grandparents are gone. So, my family is very small. I don't know what I could possibly get out of this, but it's worth a shot!
And in your case, yeah, the kit would help -hug-
But be careful if you have little ones, please. Best of luck finding your roots.0 -
taylormom79 wrote: »I am willing to risk it! My mom passed away when I was four, and she only had a sister (no brothers), and she died before I was born. My dad only had a brother (no sisters), and he died when I was 16, and he didn't have any children. All of my grandparents are gone. So, my family is very small. I don't know what I could possibly get out of this, but it's worth a shot!
Most people get at least a couple hundred fourth or closer cousins - some people have several thousand. If you're interested in family history it's definitely worth doing, and even if you're not, it will teach you that no one is an island, we are all connected.
In my case I was able to solve several genealogical mysteries about the identities of distant ancestors using cousin matches, and there are several more that I'm still working on.
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I did it and found out I wasn't completely white.
Me too, but very small percentage of not. Sisters and I accepted our results as just another part of who we are. One elderly aunt, though, got real upset at the Scandinavian bit, insisting that we did NOT have any Scandinavian!
But since Vikings conquered part of France where one ancestral line is from, it makes perfect sense.
I was wondering, just a little, if our trucker Dad had left any half-siblings around the USA, but if so, none have had dna tested. And found out that although my wife and I both had ancesters in the same county in 1850, we are not related in the slightest. 0 -
What's lovely about this "ancestry DNA" kit, it stores alllllll of your "secure" personal information out there in the webs for people to just search for you with the click of a button or two, specially stalkers.
Great idea for someone who's elderly, though. You can just view their results as long as you're from the same family tree without compromising your own information.
I was tempted to call you a 'killjoy'. But, truthfully, though I'm a genealogical DNA advocate, every potential tester does need to know possible negative consequences.
The scenario that freaks me out the most is the likelihood that health and life insurance companies will start researching the human genome (if they aren't already). Potentially, people in the future could be deemed 'uninsurable' based on genetic traits alone.
There are stories on the internet too--possibly tin-foil-hat type stories--where law enforcement gained access to DNA testing databases on top of their typical offender databases. This is at the same time both scary and interesting; today's genealogy could be tomorrow's court evidence.0 -
I have been curious to try one of these dna kits but I'm undecided between the Ancestry one and the 23 and Me one. I like how the Ancestry one will try to match you up with other relatives who have taken the test, but do you need to pay extra in order to view/contact these matches?0
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I have been curious to try one of these dna kits but I'm undecided between the Ancestry one and the 23 and Me one. I like how the Ancestry one will try to match you up with other relatives who have taken the test, but do you need to pay extra in order to view/contact these matches?
In terms of matches, Ancestry is the clear winner - their database is by far the largest. There's no charge to use their basic service to build a tree or contact people. However, there is a charge for access to most historical documents such as census data which is used to research your family. Buying the kit comes with a trial period of their paid service.
23 and me is the winner in terms of medical information. Many people also feel that their ethnicity reports are more meaningful. However, ethnicity reports are not very accurate at the best of times.0 -
My mom was adopted and passed away almost 6 years ago. She had many types of cancer in her life and after I had a baby I wanted to know if she was pre-disposed to any illnesses. I was hoping to find my mom's family and learn more about their health and history since I'd had two coworkers who were adopted find their families through this. Well, I didn't find my mom's family, but found aunts and uncles that are all half-siblings to my dad! We all knew my grandfather was quite the player...but we had no idea to that extent, lol. So I did find a bunch of pretty awesome family that we never knew existed. Pretty neat!2
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