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In reply to the discussion: Have you had your DNA tested to determine your ancestry? [View all]Hassin Bin Sober
(27,427 posts)83. Here's fascinating story from Washington Post.
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.
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No, but my mom has been doing it for years and years as a fact finding hobby.
BigmanPigman
Aug 2017
#2
That would be researching genealogy, determining who fills out your ancestry tree.
L. Coyote
Aug 2017
#19
It also might be that the tests aren't super accurate, especially at picking up DNA
pnwmom
Aug 2017
#73
Good explanation. Some people don't understand that DNA doesn't get passed down the generations
pnwmom
Aug 2017
#74
That's true. That can happen. But more often the results are different simply because
pnwmom
Aug 2017
#153
Good lord, my husband and I knew this woman decades ago thru all of us having worked at UC...
Hekate
Aug 2017
#93
There must be a conspiracy about this DNA testing. Black helicopters, shadow corporations, satan.
IADEMO2004
Aug 2017
#21
I have no interest. I know that I am racially mixed through my maternal grandmom. nt
Blue_true
Aug 2017
#23
Yep, and the myth that I'd been told all my life about being mostly Irish was busted.
Different Drummer
Aug 2017
#24
I'm still mostly Irish, Eng, Scottish but I'm also Spanish. I have always loved Spanish culture and
Squinch
Aug 2017
#34
Is it paranoid to be concerned that these firms are not bound by any HIPAA constraints?
TheBlackAdder
Aug 2017
#98
I am planning to do the test soon...sure hope I pop up somewhere in your family tree! 😄
MLAA
Aug 2017
#50
Several family members are deeply involved in genealogy, and have been for decades.
Binkie The Clown
Aug 2017
#43
Siblings often have somewhat different results because DNA doesn't get transmitted uniformly.
pnwmom
Aug 2017
#88
They ought to explain what they mean by their groups of "Irish", "Scandinavian" and so on
muriel_volestrangler
Aug 2017
#94
I don't know that they had a Scottish grouping. I"ll spend more time on genealogy after I retire.
SharonClark
Aug 2017
#151
Yes but mainly because I have a genetic disease found among those of northern European ancestry
misanthrope
Aug 2017
#147