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In reply to the discussion: DNA Heritage Tests - Why Would E. Warren or Anybody Bother? [View all]Hassin Bin Sober
(26,271 posts)35. Have you seen this fascinating story in The Washington Post?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/she-thought-she-was-irish-until-a-dna-test-opened-a-100-year-old-mystery/?utm_term=.11a0eab8781e
WHO WAS SHE? A DNA TEST ONLY OPENED NEW MYSTERIES.
How Alice Collins Plebuch's foray into recreational genomics upended a family tree.
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.
About half of Plebuchs DNA results presented the mixed British Isles bloodline she expected. The other half picked up an unexpected combination of European Jewish, Middle Eastern and Eastern European. Surely someone in the lab had messed up. It was the early days of direct-to-consumer DNA testing, and Ancestry.coms test was new. She wrote the company a nasty letter informing them theyd made a mistake.
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The DNA test I got even cited the same two counties where my father had found his relatives.
pnwmom
Mar 2018
#114
I think most of the people who have an issue with her accounting of her heritage
bigtree
Mar 2018
#62
both grandparents came from Oklahoma...born in the territory..NA stories everywhere in our oral
samnsara
Mar 2018
#55
Government recognized tribal affiliation has to be proven via enrollment records
bigbrother05
Mar 2018
#61
It should be whatever feels right to you -- but it wouldn't be a sign of disloyalty to your parents.
pnwmom
Mar 2018
#96
My good friend recently discovered her sister is really her half sister.
Hassin Bin Sober
Mar 2018
#108
Of course I would never want anyone to be required to get a DNA test.
The Velveteen Ocelot
Mar 2018
#29
This is an area of DNA testing that actually can be helpful. I'm an older adoptee...
WePurrsevere
Mar 2018
#94
FWIW, Ancestry does what's called autosomal testing so gender isn't an issue.
WePurrsevere
Mar 2018
#111
My mother completely lost touch with cousins she loved who moved when she was young.
pnwmom
Mar 2018
#32
I have some cousins on my father's side who I haven't seen for over 50 years.
MineralMan
Mar 2018
#34
Well, you don't. That doesn't mean other people wouldn't be glad to find some long-lost relatives.
pnwmom
Mar 2018
#40
Babies being swapped at birth would probably be a very big deal to anyone.
The Velveteen Ocelot
Mar 2018
#49
I think if you had stated your OP in terms of whether EW was obligated to do it
The Velveteen Ocelot
Mar 2018
#79
If you qualify to be on the Cherokee rolls because of your ancestors, then you're Cherokee.
pnwmom
Mar 2018
#113
They would be breaking their contract if they do that and could be sued. Read the contract
pnwmom
Mar 2018
#116
I did it as an aid to genealogy; I already knew what my ethnic ancestry was.
Spider Jerusalem
Mar 2018
#117