Ancestry DNA
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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.
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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.
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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chunky_pinup wrote: »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!
Sorry for your loss! But I'm glad this turned out to be a positive experience for you!0 -
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.)
I was just on the Prometheus site and they are offering it free through Jan. 15th, and I was incorrect, it lists the regular price as $5. Either way it's a real bargain.
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I did 23andMe. I love it. No long-lost relatives unearthed but I love the ancestral history. Even tells me what % neanderthal I am! it's a lot of fun and very interesting. I hope one day to log in and find an aunt or uncle or something who had no idea they were missing family.
Careful, though. I saw an Ancestry test where 3 triplets all tested wildly differently. So, ya know, grain o' salt and all that.0 -
I also got an AncestryDNA kit for Christmas. Sent in my DNA and am excited to see what it says when it's processed. I never knew my Father or anything about that side of my background. Even without the DNA results yet, using the site to try to build a family tree has been mind blowing. I've lost track of time so many times while researching the next link in the chain... I've gotten back to the 1600's on my Maternal Grandmother's side! Very cool stuff.0
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You all realize that the government is going to collect all this info & use it for nefarious purposes, right??? 0
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dwrightlaw wrote: »You all realize that the government is going to collect all this info & use it for nefarious purposes, right???
You are so naive
You think the government doesn’t already have this information?0 -
dwrightlaw wrote: »You all realize that the government is going to collect all this info & use it for nefarious purposes, right???
You are so naive
You think the government doesn’t already have this information?
Actually, NO...but do thanks for asking0 -
dwrightlaw wrote: »dwrightlaw wrote: »You all realize that the government is going to collect all this info & use it for nefarious purposes, right???
You are so naive
You think the government doesn’t already have this information?
Actually, NO...but do thanks for asking
Have you watch orphan black? It’s totally a documentary
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What kind of DNA do they need?0
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eccomi_qui wrote: »What kind of DNA do they need?
Whatever you’ve got to spare0
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