General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHave you had your DNA tested to determine your ancestry?
And if so, were the results any different from what you thought you knew about yourself?
Warpy
(110,909 posts)and I wouldn't have it any other way.
ChazII
(6,198 posts)like you would not change a thing.
SCantiGOP
(13,856 posts)We were kicked out of some of the best countries in the world.
Seriously, Africans of course had no choice, but anyone coming from Europe was probably a criminal, religious fanatic or desperately poor.
Bucky
(53,795 posts)Lots of African Americans are descendants of immigrants. As a school teacher I see quite a number of my black students with discernibly African surnames (rough estimate maybe 3-5%). And of course that hides many children of African immigrants whose family names don't reflect their family lineage and many others who descend from both immigrants and the descendants of slaves.
America is a complicated place.
SCantiGOP
(13,856 posts)It was a joke and it is referring to hundreds of years ago. Your comments are quite accurate.
BigmanPigman
(51,430 posts)She recently found out that some ancestors came to the US in the 1600s and another one was buried in a cemetery in the 1700s in the same tiny town which I grew up in outside of Philly (Huntingdon Valley).
L. Coyote
(51,129 posts)Go back 1,000 years and there are a trillion positions to fill. That number explains a lot more about ancestry than DNA testing. Go back 2000 years and it is 1.2 x 10 to the 24th power ancestry slots in the tree. Might be we all have the same ancestors occupying those slots, don't you suppose.
malaise
(267,813 posts)No surprises
JenniferJuniper
(4,496 posts)no surprises as I'd started doing the family tree in advance. Ancestry.com has a very cool tree maker if you're willing to put in some effort to weed through things and I had a fair amount of information about most great grandparents.
Unexpected side benefits? I put two elderly cousins - 82 and 84 - back in touch with each other after 50 years. They've been emailing back and forth with each other and copying me on some amazing family stories and photos that I've been able to incorporate into my tree for future generations.
On the other side of the family, I found a great grandmother in an orphanage when she was 7 in 1900. The place still exists under a new name and I sent a donation in her memory. Quite unexpectedly I got a lovely letter back from them thanking me and providing some information about her slightly older brother. Which I was able to share with her sole surviving child, my 95 year old great aunt.
So while my DNA didn't tell me anything I didn't know, it's been a fascinating and rewarding journey so far.
spooky3
(34,302 posts)rogerashton
(3,918 posts)can be pretty misleading. My wife (a retired prof of information science) kind of knows how to do this stuff and has found that ancestry leaves often contradict other, more reliable evidence (such as census info, land title info, death certificates and wills). On the other hand, she has also met some distant cousins.
JenniferJuniper
(4,496 posts)some people do have wrong info in their trees and you need to be careful to double or triple check anything before you accept it as being accurate. If you have a subscription you get access to documents - everything from census data to passports to military records to birth and death records. I expanded mine to the international version and am currently wading through the baptismal records of 1795 in the Parish of Clondrohid, County Cork, Ireland (4 miles north of Macroom). My great great great grandfather was kind enough to include the specifics on his mother's Massachusetts grave stone.
csziggy
(34,120 posts)I seldom use into from other peoples' trees, but will look at the records they used as sources to see if they might help on a line I am stumped on.
The hints are just that - possible records that might be relevant. They cannot be blindly accepted as relevant to a particular ancestor. Often when father and son share the same name I get the same record as hints for both. The records suggested as either a hint or in searches have yo be evaluated carefully. I keep two windows open - one with the record and one with the known facts about that ancestor. That way discrepancies can be examined to determine what is more likely correct.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)I expected to have more German blood, but had less. Didn't expect any Italian/Greek blood, but dis -covered that I had 21%!
Ancestry.com combines areas of land to determine where one's ancestry comes from, so it combines Italy and Greece together.
Mariana
(14,849 posts)I wasn't surprised, but he was. His DNA jibes with the documentation - he's as close to 100% European as anyone can be. It's true our grandfather didn't look entirely caucasian, but I guess he was. Physical appearance can be deceiving, for certain.
left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)I may try a different company.
Rorey
(8,445 posts)Thank you. Needed a chuckle today.
Ninsianna
(1,349 posts)hamsterjill
(15,214 posts)Sorry...I couldn't resist. Bad pun. I'm sorry.
indigovalley
(112 posts)I did the Ancestry.com test and it was exactly what I expected from my family history.
spooky3
(34,302 posts)JenniferJuniper
(4,496 posts)Greybnk48
(10,148 posts)All of my life I had been told that my great-grandmother on my mother's side was Native American. Choctaw or Chickasaw. The family is from Holly Springs, Mississippi; most of them or their kids are still there, my mother being one of the only one's to leave. My great grandmother had very dark hair, dark brown eyes and high cheekbones, as did her son, my great-uncle.
I took the test and...not a speck of Native American blood. Nothing. Myth-busted!
I'm 100% Western European with 49% Irish. Half of my family came here from Belfast in 1910 to Philadelphia so I already knew all of that. I also knew I had some Dutch blood. I was surprised to see connections to France, Spain and Italy.
Cirque du So-What
(25,812 posts)and the myth was busted that his mother and I both had native American ancestry. Not so much as a drop. I expect that lots of people who have been told this tale are finding out differently from these tests. It may be worthwhile to look into the reasons why the myth of native American ancestry is so prevalent.
milestogo
(16,829 posts)and my results said 100% European.
Maybe the native American ancestry is a way of beating "my ancestors came over on the Mayflower".
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)from a single ancestor generators ago.
Also, siblings can have different percentages of DNA, because DNA isn't transmitted evenly in a family. So one sibling could be reported to have some Native American ancestry and another, none. They both had the same ancestor but the genetic roll of the dice sent the N.A. DNA to only one of the siblings.
IphengeniaBlumgarten
(328 posts)linuxman
(2,337 posts)I was glad to finally put it to bed. It's asinine how so many people are convinced they're 1/64th something or other. The frontier days weren't some giant free-love, Euro-Indian orgy, which it'd pretty much have to be to support the sheer number of people claiming native ancestry. No jennifer, your great-grandma wasn't a Cherokee princess .
JenniferJuniper
(4,496 posts)it's all in which genes you get.
For instance, I have an Alsatian great grandfather. I've confirmed the family had been in France/Prussia/Switzerland for many decades. So you'd think I'd have around 12.5% Western European? Nope. Not a drop. All Irish with a bit of Spanish (Spanish Armada invasion most likely) and some British and Scandinavian. (Vikings!).
So it doesn't mean I didn't have an Alsatian great grandfather. I just didn't get his genes. And after accumulating a lot of photos of him, I'm glad I didn't get his nose!
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)uniformly. So one sister could have a different set of percentages than another.
temporary311
(954 posts)that one's father might not be one's daddy.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)full siblings don't inherit exactly the same combinations of their parents' chromosomes (due to a process called gene swapping).
nolabear
(41,915 posts)Same story. All my life my father told me about his Choctaw great grandmother who apparently really was a root doctor and cured many a family member, including him. The test showed no NA though the family lineage rather mysteriously ends with her father.
And they were out of Kosciusko MS. I'm lots of British Isles (Scotland and Ireland) some Dutch and a smidge of other European. And proud 3.1% Neanderthal. 😄
Croney
(4,646 posts)My mother's family was from Ellisville, MS, and I was always told we had Choctaw somewhere way back. My mother at 94 is the last remaining of 14 siblings. I'll never bother with any genealogy research because about 20 years ago she finally came clean about my biological father -- it was a one-night stand in the French Quarter the night before she shipped out as a WAC in 1944. I rather like that.
nolabear
(41,915 posts)I actually grew up on the coast and spent my young adulthood in NO and it's likely clear it's my home of the heart. But the paternal line is all Thomastown and Kosy and such.
Who's the third one?
Croney
(4,646 posts)Family from MS with tales of NA history.
nolabear
(41,915 posts)Greybnk48
(10,148 posts)I like your story too, Croney!
Greybnk48
(10,148 posts)trying to trace this family back before my grandma on my mom's side. I have a bunch about my grandfather's side (he had 11 brothers and sisters), but my grandmother's lineage is a mystery for the most part!
nolabear
(41,915 posts)On everyone but this one guy. Maybe I just want to support a beloved family legend but he came out of Georgia where he was during the Cherokee uprising but there's nothing prior to that.
My favorite ancestral trait is an ability to fight on the losing side. One original from Scotland was literally called George the Jacobite, one was a Tory and I'm sure some were Confederates. Apparently being hopeless rebels runs in the family. LOL!
peggysue2
(10,811 posts)I'm reading all these family myths busted regarding Native American heritage with the knowledge that the same thing happened to my husband. The family story is that his great-grandmother on his father's side was full-blooded NA. Yet his DNA results indicated 100% European. The other surprising (and funny) result was his Neanderthal score was very high--in the 99% range. I've been teasing him ever since though the Neanderthal scores only account for 2-4% of our overall DNA. My score was 70%.
Neanderthals, perfect together!
I took the test primarily for the Alzheimer's marker. I don't have the indicative variables but my family history (father, sister) still makes me vulnerable. On the other hand, both had early on-set which 23&Me does not test for. For better or worse, I've crossed that threshold. Both family members exhibited symptoms in their mid-50s.
Heritage-wise, there were few surprises for me--89.3% British and Irish, some French and German, and then a 2% Finnish thread back in the day.
We bought the 23&Me packages as an anniversary gift. The Alzheimer's results let me sleep a bit better.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)23andMe made short work of that. No surprises other than that - I'm a European mutt.
Bucky
(53,795 posts)Quite a contrast from my grandfather's generation (he was born in 1899) where it was something his family hid.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)at the next get together..
Louis1895
(768 posts)Turns out they are only my half-sibs!
Unfortunately, my mom took her secret with her when she died. Complicated story. I thought I was mostly Irish and English with a dash of Dutch. Wrong! I am half English and half French-Canadian with a bit of Native American (~0.7%) - my Metís heritage.
Changes one's perspective a bit to learn your dad was not your biological father!
Cool to learn Canadian history, though!
Louis1895
(768 posts)You may find some very surprising things when doing DNA testing.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)We used to tease her as kids that she was adopted..someone got some explaining to do..
TexasBushwhacker
(20,043 posts)One brother looks a lot like my dad. I look a lot like my mother. My other brother is a freckled redhead. He got the recessive redhead genes from our 2 redheaded grandmothers.
HipChick
(25,485 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,272 posts)A friend of mine found out her sister is her half sister.
This story is crazy:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/she-thought-she-was-irish-until-a-dna-test-opened-a-100-year-old-mystery/?utm_term=.04ed9c5b9270
WHO WAS SHE? A DNA TEST ONLY OPENED NEW MYSTERIES
Five years ago, Alice Collins Plebuch made a decision that would alter her future or really, her past.
She sent away for a just-for-fun DNA test. When the tube arrived, she spit and spit until she filled it up to the line, and then sent it off in the mail. She wanted to know what she was made of.
Plebuch, now 69, already had a rough idea of what she would find. Her parents, both deceased, were Irish American Catholics who raised her and her six siblings with church Sundays and ethnic pride. But Plebuch, who had a long-standing interest in science and DNA, wanted to know more about her dads side of the family. The son of Irish immigrants, Jim Collins had been raised in an orphanage from a young age, and his extended family tree was murky.
After a few weeks during which her saliva was analyzed, she got an email in the summer of 2012 with a link to her results. The report was confounding.
Hekate
(90,189 posts)I have to say I really don't understand the level of angst she felt at her discovery, or the obsessive need to track down every detail for years.. It had a happy ending and all that, but I did a whole lot of eye-rolling to get that far. Whatever, Alice. I'm an Irish-American mutt myself, but at least I know I'm a mutt and would just think any added info was kind of interesting.
My dad and his siblings also spent time in an orphanage in the early part of the last century, but the family resemblance is so striking there could be no mistaking his relationship to everybody else.
My daughter looks like me and my side of the family (i.e. like my father). My son doesn't look like me or his bio-dad. He looks most like his dad's mother's brother, who I only met a few times. Since his dad never took the kids to meet that side of the family, unbeknownst to me my son actually felt sensitive about his different looks. When the kids were about 13 and 15 I finally decided to take a long trip just so they could meet their by then pretty old great aunt and great uncle, whom I remembered fondly. Voila -- my son met the man he looks like. It made a difference to him after all.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)Thanks for that!
Delmette2.0
(4,143 posts)Mom was "adopted", but we eventually found her birth family. In the 1920's people didn't always file adoption papers. They just took in the baby and gave it their family name. We found out that she has an older brother who was also given up for "adoption". I would love to find any of his descendants.
Hieronymus
(6,039 posts)safeinOhio
(32,531 posts)Neanderthal traits than others they have tested. Also, muscles of elite athlete.
a kennedy
(29,462 posts)kidded her about a pinch of Pennsylvania Dutch, and she'd get so upset, saying, no, no. Ha ha, loved to tease her. Would really like to find out. Miss my mom terribly, she died in 2005.
Orangepeel
(13,933 posts)I was hoping I'd find out something surprising, or at least interesting, but no.
phylny
(8,353 posts)I'm mostly (76%) Italian (Lazio/Campania and Sicily - my great-grandparents were from Italy and these results were exactly what I was told they might be) and Greek a few hundred years ago, and thousands of years ago 22% from the Middle East and Causcaus regions. Also, I might have some northern African roots (2%). Not surprising, either, seeing the area my family is from and knowing people were nomadic. In fact, growing up, our pediatrician surmised we had some African ancestry when my youngest brother was born.
IADEMO2004
(5,538 posts)Alex Jones type crazy shit.
GreenPartyVoter
(72,377 posts)object to the idea that a corporation could lay claim to your genome, and the other is that insurance agencies could use these tests as a way to hit you with pre-existing condition labels.
IADEMO2004
(5,538 posts)Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Different Drummer
(7,532 posts)Turns out most of my DNA comes from England and Scotland. Only two percent Irish.
Squinch
(50,773 posts)the language comes pretty easily to me. It's genetic!!
That was a nice surprise.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I am mostly English, Dutch and Italian, but there was an Irish great, great grandmother on the English side and a Swedish great grandmother on the Dutch side. My Italian grandfather was from a town in Italy that was founded by Greek and Albanian immigrants when they came to fight for the King of Naples back in 15th century, so it's possible that I could have some Greek or Albanian blood in me as well.
My Italian grandmother's family was from southern Italy but I looked up their last name and it's French (La Porte). You never really know what you are, there are so many variables. I have to admit that I am curious.
Does anyone know how much it costs?
JenniferJuniper
(4,496 posts)They do different things. Ancestry just has a $69 sale, which includes a free month to do research.
smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Do they do a blood test?
JenniferJuniper
(4,496 posts)the rest are as well. Mine was very accurate.
Ancestry doesn't provide health info, but in doing my family tree with the help of some DNA hits with distant cousins I was able to collect the death certificates of all of my ancestors who died between 1880 and 1915. Before and after they are harder to come by.
rogerashton
(3,918 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)I appreciate the info!
phylny
(8,353 posts)and get very interesting health information here:
https://calendar.google.com/calendar/b/1/render?pli=1#main_7
Squinch
(50,773 posts)because a pair of brothers married a pair of sisters.) She did Ancestry and I did 23 and Me, which is much more expensive. We got the same results.
Irish_Dem
(45,635 posts)Some ask you to spit into a tube they send to you.
Others ask you to scrape the inside of your cheek.
rogerashton
(3,918 posts)smirkymonkey
(63,221 posts)Have you done it? If so, what do you think?
Irish_Dem
(45,635 posts)But they will go away quickly after the holidays.
And if you test at Ancestry, you can upload the results to FTDNA for only $19.
So for a very low price you have purchased two DNA sites.
Duppers
(28,094 posts)Link would be great too.
Thanks!
rogerashton
(3,918 posts)and sorry, no link -- the info was from an email confirming my submission.
Irish_Dem
(45,635 posts)And I think it is most user friendly.
If you are looking for more sophisticated tools to help you analyze Data you might want to go with
FTDNA. But as I said in another post you can upload to FTDNA for only $19 once you have
the results from Ancestry.
If you want a genetic medical report then go with 23and me.
ImpeachTheGOP
(89 posts)Call me paranoid.
Fuck that.
TheBlackAdder
(28,073 posts)Duppers
(28,094 posts)SonofDonald
(2,050 posts)Turns out she was my fathers cousin who never knew who her father was as she was adopted, she had a clue that maybe my grandfathers brother was her father.
So I did the cheek swab test, turns out we added another long lost member to the family, she's an absolute sweetie and has traveled here to see the rest of us and is in constant contact with us now.
It's the only reason I did the test, I've always known I'm Heinz 57 European but mostly Bavarian/Hungarian/Swedish/Norwegian and others.
Add Alaska Native/Russian to that for my kids and it's a melting pot for sure, but our family has enough love to go around, it will be interesting to see what transpires in the future.
All are welcome, the way it should be.
MLAA
(17,165 posts)SonofDonald
(2,050 posts)I don't know if the test revealed my ancestry in any way as I didn't ask, it was just for answering this Woman's quest to know where she came from.
And I'm so happy I was able to help her.
snowybirdie
(5,191 posts)found me because my second cousin was in the registry. Amazing!
Binkie The Clown
(7,911 posts)Back in the 70s I already had copies of the family tree going back to the 1600s on some lines, so I have a pretty good picture of my ancestry.
Snarkoleptic
(5,995 posts)I'm certain we have the same results, unless the FedEx man knows something we don't.
I later found out that his reason was to see if he could list himself as a minority (there had been tales of Native American ancestry), in order to get ahead at work.
This is possibly the worst reason imaginable for why one would get such a test.
No surprise that I'm a euro poi-dog.
GBR
Ireland
Scandanavia
Italy/Greece
Europe West
Iberian Peninsula
Europe East
Caucasus
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)Sep 1, 2015
Why siblings don't always have the same ancestry results
Culturally they may each say they are 1/8th Cherokee but at the DNA level, one may have no Cherokee DNA at all. So yes, it is definitely possible for two siblings to get pretty different ancestry results from a DNA test. Even when they share the same parents.
genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/same-parents-different-ancestry
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)help him get ahead at work?
Even if he has NA DNA in him, he can only be considered NA, for federal government purposes, if one of his parents was a member of a federally recognized tribe.
Snarkoleptic
(5,995 posts)so things may not have been too well thought out.
rusty fender
(3,428 posts)obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)My sister's percentages are almost literally flipped from mine, which makes sense. We don't look much alike, except for a couple features.
7wo7rees
(5,128 posts)Turns out mostly Western European/Scandinavian....?
Duppers
(28,094 posts)My maiden name is Germanic and mom's family is mostly Irish with some English. (I've a pasty white complexion with some freckles.)
rogerashton
(3,918 posts)Don't have the results yet. Expecting a lot of German and French although my surname is Celtic.
Behind the Aegis
(53,831 posts)Mostly European (Irish/Scottish) and Scandinavian/German, Italian/Spanish, but also Middle Eastern and West African. I am waiting on my mom's results. I never knew my bio dad, so it will provide a bit of information by comparing mine to hers as well as two of my three brothers.
yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)Turbineguy
(37,208 posts)but they are just not pure enough. Mongrel Untermenschen.
yortsed snacilbuper
(7,939 posts)monkeys.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)We share a common ancestor with apes (not descended FROM apes, as is sometimes assumed), while monkeys descend from a differing branch of the primate family.
raven mad
(4,940 posts)I don't care - we ALL look alike at 50 below!
FreeState
(10,553 posts)Im 3% Asian - not a single person from Asia in my genealogy thats been done (and it goes back before Jesus on my fathers side and just short on my mothers).
Bettie
(15,998 posts)and the "23 and Me" commercials indicate that everyone is Nordic with a "sprinter muscle type" and begins to act really strange once they have done that test.
Not spending money on that right now...maybe someday.
panader0
(25,816 posts)greatauntoftriplets
(175,697 posts)What I thought, based on where grandparents and great-great grandparents came from:
1/2 Luxembourgisch
1/4 Irish
1/8 French
1/16 Swiss
1/16 German
The results:
Western European -- 52 percent
Irish -- 24 percent
Italian -- 11 percent
Portuguese -- 8 percent
British -- 5 percent
Scandinavian -- < 1 percent
I'm still laughing about the 5 percent British, because that means that my father was 10 percent British. He always hated England and...whoops! The alleged Native American ancestress seems to not have been real.
Ms. Toad
(33,915 posts)conceived by donor insemination - got matched to her biological father.
(No ancestry surprises - just the surprise of finding him after we had given up (given the teeny tiny chance that they both had the test done, and used the same service) . . . )
Doreen
(11,686 posts)I however can not because it is to expensive.
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)Thankfully the prices have come down a lot since I first wanted to have it done years ago. I'd set aside a bit towards it for a few months until recently I ran into a half price sale on 23&Me & 1/3 off AncestryDNA for less than than I had stashed.
Hubby and I are on a low fixed income so I understand how difficult it can be but you can find a way to stash a bit, and don't mind waiting for a sale, even just to have one of the main ones done, as an adoptee I can tell you its been worth its weight in gold for me.
One thing I learned about these tests is that all you need to open the door to a treasure trove of info is the basic DNA (raw data) from one place like Family Tree DNA, AncestryDNA or 23andMe... I think My Heritage DNA offers your raw data for DL too. Once you get the results you can DL your raw data and upload it to some other free or very inexperienced other services to glean even more info incl medical predispositions.
Oh and if you're open to finding bio family that info will be available too. Although it's often only 2nd cousins and back you might get lucky. If you're looking to possibly connect with bio family I'd suggest getting your raw data on as many of the main ones as possible though.
I'm just starting on this journey to discovery, and there's a lot of new terminology and info to learn (and relearn for me) but there's an increasing sense of identity that I feel now where there was always a huge hole before. I must admit, it feels rather nice after all these years of wondering.
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)The Irish we always thought we had, ie the Celtic DNA, is actually Viking blood! DNA from what is now Norway, so our Irish side isn't Celtic, it is Viking, so a very cool surprise! This is apparently not too unusual for the "fringes" of Ireland.
Everything else was about what we suspected.
pnwmom
(108,925 posts)SharonClark
(10,005 posts)I can trace my family in Scotland for 300 years and still have relatives there. My DNA results indicated high numbers of Irish and Scandinavian, 3% British, and 8% western European. So not what I expected at all.
muriel_volestrangler
(101,154 posts)After all, there was a significant migration from Ireland to the west coast of Scotland in the early Middle Ages ('Scot' actually refers to these people, rather than the Picts who had lived in Caledonia from before the Romans arrived in Britannia), and also from Scandinavia to Scotland (again, mainly the west coast, where their sailing skills allowed them to control the islands). Did they have a 'Scottish' group that could be a result, but which didn't turn up for you?
milestogo
(16,829 posts)7 years ago I had my dogs DNA done, so I could find out what breeds he is. This may sound frivolous, but when you have a 'rescue' with behavior issues, its really helpful to know what breeds are in the mix.
The result had 50% malamute, 12.5% greater swiss mountain dog, and 37.5% unknown. I'm pretty sure the unknown is Australian Shepherd, because that fits how he looks and behaves.
The results imply that one of his parents was a purebred. It seems unlikely that most rescues would have only 2-3 breeds identified, and it was a surprise that he evidently had no markers for the breed he resembles most closely. But finding out that he was half malamute, and therefore a relentless hunter with a mind of his own, was worth the price of the test. I thought I was doing something wrong, but it turns out he's hard-wired for his behavior.
I think that the identification of a breed must be based on a set of distinct genetic markers. But it seems like the more data they have - i.e. the longer they have been doing the testing, the more markers they have to distinguish one breed from another.
I think that human DNA testing may still need more distinct genetic markers to "define" someone's ancestry. I mean, how do you define a pure French person or a pure Italian, or a pure Chinese person? I would think you'd have to pick markers that occur in 99% of that population but not in other populations. And it takes a lot of data to establish that.
SharonClark
(10,005 posts)shanti
(21,670 posts)everything was what i expected, except for 1% NA. I do have an idea about that, but can't verify, as it is so far back.
SweetieD
(1,660 posts)brooklynite
(93,853 posts)Blaukraut
(5,689 posts)I knew a lot about my ancestry to begin with, so not much was a surprise. Mostly the bits I would attribute to my biological father, whom I never met. It also depends on where you go to have your DNA tested. We went to Ancestry, but I plugged in my raw DNA results into GEDCOM for more detailed results - even ancient DNA. Now THAT was interesting!
Bad Thoughts
(2,514 posts)I took the test for my sister's sake. She wanted a full genetic profile for her daughter, and I am the only direct male descendant for my father's line. I believed I was:
50% Ashkenazi Jew (Ukraine)
25% Hispanic (New Mexican)
25% Alsatian
The results came back that I was 45% Ashkenazi Jew and 30% Spanish/Mediterranean, which is consistent with coming from Hispanic/Latino populations in North America.
The surprise: approximately 20% Scandinavian! I expected the Alsatian to come back as being Western European or German, but I don't know how that reads as Scandinavian.
The pleasant surprise: 5% Native American. My grandfather had said that his grandmother was Navajo or Pueblo. Over the years we forgot about this claim: growing up in New Mexico, with an advocate who worked on tribal affairs for a father, we assumed that he was expressing some sympathies. Lo and behold, he was right! And I was quite relieved: I never believed that Nuevomexicanos were purely European, despite what some claim.
So there it is: someone's story about being part Native American turned out to be true!
CanonRay
(14,037 posts)lovemydogs
(575 posts)Her dad was adopted and he did his and found he was half italian and half Jewish.
CanonRay
(14,037 posts)under King Ferdinand in the late 1400's. About 9000 stayed and converted...guess my family was one of those.
JDC
(10,081 posts)But they had their health.
I don't want my DNA in a database that is mined by insurance companies.
Hell Hath No Fury
(16,327 posts)We had my Mom's done around 4 years ago to find out if there was any truth to the family mythology we were part native American on her Mom's side. As far as we knew, the family was English, Scottish, Irish, and possibly NA. Got the results and we were stunned. Almost all of her matches on Ancestry were Puerto Rican. 4000+ 3rd or better cousins, easily 95% percent of them Puerto Rican. Surprise! Many years, MUCH research, and a whole lotta luck later we found out her father was NOT the Irishman her Mom was married to at the time of my Mom's birth but the younger brother of her Mom's Puerto Rican best friend. Everyone involved is long gone, so we will never know the full story behind what happened (love affair? one night stand? sexual assault?) just that it happened.
After the initial surprise, we have embraced it fully and have been enjoying meeting all the new family we have, including many first and second cousins. We're also planing a trip to both Saltillo, PR -- where our family was from -- and Hawaii --where our family worked on the sugar plantations -- to explore our roots.
flamingdem
(39,304 posts)to grow your family.
haveahart
(905 posts)Hieronymus
(6,039 posts)I found out that the man I thought was my father is not my father. I know have no idea who my biological father is. My parents are both deceased. I went from being German and French to being British and Irish.
OnDoutside
(19,907 posts)Through a great great grandmother, I'm connected into nobility and royalty ! 2 castles, many estates, 500 cottages and 50 duck ponds !
My iirc 11 times great grandmother was Mary Boleyn, Anne's sister, and from before that Edward I etc.
tavernier
(12,322 posts)99 Latvian, 1 rogue Finlander, which might explain why I fancy pickled herring.
alarimer
(16,245 posts)Consider the results with many, many grains of salt. This article was about Elizabeth Warren and native American ancestry, but the same holds true for other ethnicities and maybe more so, because there is no set of "Italian" genes or "Irish" genes or what have. European nationalities (ALL of them) are mixtures of various groups of people. And, of course, even indigenous people are way less uniform genetically than is usually supposed.
Now this says nothing about the ethics of DNA testing by these corporation who are under no obligation to keep your information private.
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2016/06/dna_testing_cannot_determine_ancestry_including_elizabeth_warren_s.html
The problem is that DNA snippets, or markers, are inconsistent. Sometimes they are passed on and sometimes they are not, and whether they are or arent is random. Sure, a large percentage of Native Americans may share certain genetic markers. But many Native Americans may lack the same marker, and many nonNative Americans may carry it by coincidence.
So when a DNA test comes back saying you are 28 percent Finnish, all its really saying is that of the DNA analyzed (most companies dont analyze all of your DNA), 28 percent of it was most similar to that of a completely Finnish person. In the end, these comparisons are a fun but ultimately unreliable way to think about the possibilities of whom your ancestors might have been, rather than definitive proof of your ethnic background.
snip
Another issue is limited and inconsistent data. Ancestry.com, for example, divides the world up into 26 genetic regions and uses just 115 samples to create the representative of each regiona very small sample size. And different companies place different weight on these samples, which come from burial grounds, modern isolated communities, and academically published data, like the Human Genome Diversity Project. For the consumer, this means if you dont like your heritage results, try a different company. Youll get a completely different breakdown.
obamanut2012
(25,911 posts)Or the new Columbia University database. It breaks it down more. The tests are a good way to get some raw data you can have some fun with.
flyingfysh
(1,990 posts)There was a family story that we had some Cherokee ancestry. The DNA test said no. In addition, ftdna on my dad's side showed come of his ancestry coming through far northern Europe. In fact, ftdna showed that I have 5th cousins in Finland (!!!).
My brother-in-law's tests were surprising. They always thought he had some Native American Ancestry, or possibly some African. The test showed neither of these, but he does have Indian ancestry - East Indian (in Asia)!
appleannie1943
(1,303 posts)I am descended from King James Stuart of Scotland and England.
I also found out my grandchildren can join Sons and Daughters of the Revolution and become eligible for college scholarships and I have met 4 cousins I never knew existed. To me, it was well worth it.
Iggo
(47,487 posts)Not Ruth
(3,613 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)Like, no specific markers of ethnicity.
nini
(16,670 posts)But overall I wasn't surprised. One side of my family is from the island of Madeira which is part of Portugal but off the coast of west Africa. That influence was more than just the European Portugal than I realized.
kcr
(15,300 posts)I don't care much about the genetic history but it has resulted in some family members reconnecting and the last time I visited my mom she had some great family history to share.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)Mitochondrial Eve.
And she is yours as well. All the rest is details on where the people in between wandered.
We are all cousins
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve
ecstatic
(32,566 posts)so I'm not sure what to expect. It seems like I'd get more useful information by buying tests for them.
Also, I had more interest in testing before the heavy handed, patronizing Ancestry.com ads started popping up on TV. It seems like they're really trying to target (exploit?) African Americans. Frankly, anyone whose ancestors were brutally kidnapped and brought to this country to be a slave should be granted an ancestry DNA kit free of charge, paid for by the U.S. government.
Sneederbunk
(14,207 posts)WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)algorithms to process the raw data and have different population sampling so it can vary a bit.
FWIW, if you're thinking of having it done you might be able to save some money by starting with just one, downloading your raw data from there and then uploading to other DNA services.
crazycatlady
(4,492 posts)However, both my parents have. If I want to know about ancestry, I will look at their reports.
neeksgeek
(1,214 posts)Anyway three-fourths of my grandparents kept good records and we know a lot about their families going back into the 19th century (or earlier in some cases). The other quarter is partly a mystery, because my paternal grandfather's father never told anybody where he came from. We have reason to believe he lived under an assumed name, or it was changed at some point. I decided a long time ago that I kinda like it that way.
El Mimbreno
(777 posts)Since my dad and his 2 full brothers were dark Caucasians with thick black hair, I expected some Mediterranean or Asian. Nope, Eastern European and my mother's Scandinavian. Maybe Eastern European could include some mongol invaders farther back?
My wife's dad claimed Cherokee in the family tree. No again. Central European (German) some Irish, and a touch of African.
So much for family legends.
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)There are things I suspected because of my physical appearance but some of the info I learned was new and pretty interesting. Although knowing a bit about our evolutionary and historical journey I wouldn't say I was all that surprised, I find the info exciting and its helping me fill in one of my 'holes' that I always wondered about.
WilmywoodNCparalegal
(2,654 posts)Now, I was born and raised in northern Italy, where there once was a Gallic population, so it was not a surprise that my test revealed I'm 60% Italian, 30% Irish and 10% undetermined northern European.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)PunkinPi
(4,870 posts)Ancestry.com and 23andme.com (and there are others) will send you a "spit kit", you mail it back to them and wait for the results to be emailed.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)Can't take any credit; don't deserve any blame; won't change my ways.
Just not interested.
OriginalGeek
(12,132 posts)I sent my test kit off last week.
I expect to find much Scottish and Irish ancestry and, in particular, which line and how far back we can go in my clan.
But I only got the cheap test so I expect I'll need to upgrade to get any real info.
Sen. Walter Sobchak
(8,692 posts)My mothers side of the family has some Scandinavian in it, otherwise no surprises.
spiderpig
(10,419 posts)The results correlated with what our grandparents had told us with one interesting variation.
We're 99% Eastern/Southern European, with the exception of .1 percent each Scandinavian and Far East Asian. No Native American, African, Middle Eastern, Oceanic or anything else that might be geographically feasible.
We refer to our .1% forebears as Ragnar and Chang - and absolutely no ethnic slurs intended. We find it fascinating. And we wonder why both of us were so lousy at math. (ducks..)
kskiska
(27,041 posts)It was pretty much as expected, but distribution percentages were quite different than I'd thought. There were also some small surprises.
librechik
(30,663 posts)we had always been told my dad was part Sioux. Ha ha, not! 0% Native American.
linuxman
(2,337 posts)100% European. Not particularly surprised.
PatSeg
(46,804 posts)And my ancestry is pretty much what I was expecting. I've worked on my family tree for years and the DNA results matched up with what I've learned. I have found some 2nd and 3rd cousins though, which adds more details and data to the tree.
It would have been fun to have a few surprises, something I know others have found. My daughter-in-law has a Native American ancestor that was quite a surprise and I've been trying to find the link now.
lovemydogs
(575 posts)No real surprises. We pretty much come from Western European and Scandinavian background.
Now my ex-husband did because he was adopted and had no idea what his background was.
He found out he is half Jewish. Which makes my daughter Jewish.
When she told me I had a good time doing Mike Myers Jewish Linda. I'm ver-klempt.
marybourg
(12,540 posts)Unless you are Jewish, your daughter is not. Judaism is only passed through the female line.
Henry Krinkle
(208 posts)1) I really really don't care.
2) I'm not thrilled with the idea of these 'ancestry' sites retaining my DNA profile.
However, I would be interested in knowing my family tree to see what monarch, conqueror, despot or
TV personality I share common blood with.
Duppers
(28,094 posts)A company having your DNA profile make?
LeftInTX
(24,554 posts)Just joking!!!!!
I haven't had it done.
My mom is Scott-Irish-British from the South. My dad is Armenian. It would be nice to find out I'm something more interesting on my mom's side. (But the amount of DNA would be small)
On my dad's side, I would not want to know. The tests can't tell Armenian DNA from other ethnic groups in the region. My dad liked to joke we might be part Russian cuz we got blue eyes. (Maybe it's true. Maybe I'm related to Vlad. No I don't wanna know)
McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)was part Black and not part Native American (as my southern family always claimed). 3% of my DNA comes from the slave coast of Africa. That means that my great grandmother was probably one quarter Black. I have no Native American DNA. That makes me all immigrant and by Trump's reasoning, suspect.
misanthrope
(7,405 posts)I just wanted to see how much of that I held. I've never really been fascinated with family background too terribly much. The only surprise was seeing I had a touch of Iberian ancestry and my Neanderthal traces were the tiniest touch above average. In the time since, it has provided comfort I'm not prone to other ailments beyond that which has already manifested.
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)My test said 9% Finland/NW Russia, which surprised as I had already traced all my immigrant to the US ancestors as from Norway or Sweden. That prompted my dad to do a test and he got 18% Finland/NW Russia. Some more research showed that his dad's mother from Sweden had substantial Finnish ancestry. Turns out that there was a wave of migration from Finland to Sweden.
Nothing really related to DNA testing other than talking about it at work lead me into helping the guy that sits next to me at work with his tree. Turns out that his 5th great grandmother married my 1st cousin 8 times removed in 1758. There's a chance that we are related by blood as that was in a small rural area of Norway. He hasn't done a DNA test, which would prove it one way or the other. As it stands our respective families have owned several of the same farms, at different points in time.
benld74
(9,888 posts)Richard D
(8,693 posts)I did.
Pretty much what I expected other than a couple percentage points of Asian, probably from Mongolian rape.
Meowmee
(5,164 posts)about it but I'm worried it may end up in some accessible data base?
Duppers
(28,094 posts)Puzzled as to why that'd make any difference. Enlighten me. Thanks.
Meowmee
(5,164 posts)that people other than me or possible relatives could gain access to my results and cause harm in some way.
Bucky
(53,795 posts)And my great-grandparents. And my great-great-granparents too. That's 30 for 30 among my antecedents, or approximately 100%.
Of course even if you moved here and got naturalized, you're still 100% American. So maybe I'm not that special after all. :^(