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D.N.A. TESTING

I live in Melbourne Australia and had my DNA assessed, I believe it was accurate in terms of my parents birthplaces. The bets situation is the wait for the special offer @ A$89 compared with A$150 etc you get the same information at a lower cost. I believe the results I got were accurate. You will get harassed for years by e mails compelling you to join , resist.

Ernie
 
Ancestry does have the largest DNA database, and if you test with them you can upload your results to other sites for free - Gedcom, My Heritage, Family Tree DNA etc. - which is what I have done.

If you take a DNA test with a different company this cannot be uploaded to Ancestry.

It has never been my experience that they have tried to get me to purchase other services, but I do have worldwide membership so maybe that is why.

Ancestry (after all) are a business and that is what businesses do - they are there to make a profit.

William.
 
I think the age has arrived when most civil humans will need to accept that genealogical surprises are not necessarily a consequence of evil.
I don't understand where 'evil' comes into the equation.

However it might well be upsetting to find that one's family tree isn't that of the family that one has been brought up with. (That is reportedly one of the reasons why DNA testing is banned in France).

On the other hand DNA testing could provide those children, victims of the vanity of two 'fathers' or two 'mothers', a path to their true roots. I don't see the point of genealogy unless it is based on genetics.
 
In the words of the great Brummie Tony Hancock from 'The Blood Donor', my DNA test only confirmed that I was 'Anglo Saxon with perhaps a dash of Viking'. I only took it for fun but I was disappointed there were no other exotic connections.
 
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Your result should be the presumed outcome for any uk person taking a dna test for origin purposes. As said previously as databases grow then results can be narrowed down or tweaked.

I did read somewhere that after a certain number of generations (possibly 5) that your autosomal dna may have 'lost' some representation, thereby possibly having none inherited from 1 or more 3 x great grandparents and going further back that becomes more likely.

So if one of your 7 x great grandfathers was a sailor and on his travels met, married and returned with a woman from Sri Lanka, that may not show up. However if that woman was in your direct matrilineal line then it would show up on a mitochondrial dna test. Similarly, if your direct paternal 7 x great grandfather was a Sioux chief (and the rest British/European) then that may only show up only a Y-dna test.
 
However it might well be upsetting to find that one's family tree isn't that of the family that one has been brought up with. (That is reportedly one of the reasons why DNA testing is banned in France).
Carolina: UK and USA DNA testing is legal but France since 1994 have made it illegal and heavy fines are levied if found out.

France has some rigid succession laws, and a woman's husband is assumed to be the father of her children. The moratorium on DNA testing comes from a bioethics ruling in 1994. Paternity testing is illegal in France unless ordered by a court, and DNA testing is seen to be a form of this.
Personal DNA testing carries high fines in France. If a result was 'favourable' and could be made use of, then one would have to explain how the information came to light. Testing kits found by random customs checking can cause quite a bit of grief for the intended recipient.
I have seen a number of 'arguments' in favour of allowing it, with various qualities of discussion. All the ones I have looked at have been traceable to businesses that want to profit from it.
This doesn't help those who simply want to establish a general lineage, such as "Do I have a bit of country X ?" but there it is, cultural differences.
Andrew.
 
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I tested my DNA with Ancestry because I have a total brick wall with my dad's side of the family. I know my paternal grandmother was Rosina Showell (from the Birmingham brewers the Showells} but all I know of my paternal grandfather James Frederick Edwards is he was born in Westminster and his father's name was Samuel. I have a (probably vain) hope that someone from that side of the family will also test their DNA and find me. Thanks to Ancestry I have found long lost cousins but now one of them is terminally ill and would like to know more about his grandfather's family.
 
Gus, my wife and I took a 4 hour class at our local library on Ancestry. The class was free and they were not selling anything. They did point out the lack of accuracy on Ancestry as you go further out(back). They showed us some excellent examples of that. Your are probably right about the greater likelihood, we just think of them as being less bad!
It is such a shame with all of the available technology there is not a truly reliable service at a reasonable cost.
Now my neighbour left Ancestry as he ended up with 13 birth certificates which were nothing to do with his tree. He said I got nowhere with them when asked to rectify what they had got wrong.
 
Carolina: UK and USA DNA testing is legal but France since 1994 have made it illegal and heavy fines are levied if found out.

France has some rigid succession laws, and a woman's husband is assumed to be the father of her children. The moratorium on DNA testing comes from a bioethics ruling in 1994. Paternity testing is illegal in France unless ordered by a court, and DNA testing is seen to be a form of this.
Personal DNA testing carries high fines in France. If a result was 'favourable' and could be made use of, then one would have to explain how the information came to light. Testing kits found by random customs checking can cause quite a bit of grief for the intended recipient.
I have seen a number of 'arguments' in favour of allowing it, with various qualities of discussion. All the ones I have looked at have been traceable to businesses that want to profit from it.
This doesn't help those who simply want to establish a general lineage, such as "Do I have a bit of country X ?" but there it is, cultural differences.
Andrew.
Be careful what you might find out. On a genealogy course one student ‍ said her mother was always very quiet when asked about family. We met a few years later at a ancestry fair. This student from the past told us then why the mother had been so sheepish. The said students father was not the father but was a next door neighbour then tells us they had a full brother and a half sister. They had by all accounts met up.
 
Carolina: UK and USA DNA testing is legal but France since 1994 have made it illegal and heavy fines are levied if found out.

France has some rigid succession laws, and a woman's husband is assumed to be the father of her children. The moratorium on DNA testing comes from a bioethics ruling in 1994. Paternity testing is illegal in France unless ordered by a court, and DNA testing is seen to be a form of this.
Personal DNA testing carries high fines in France. If a result was 'favourable' and could be made use of, then one would have to explain how the information came to light. Testing kits found by random customs checking can cause quite a bit of grief for the intended recipient.
I have seen a number of 'arguments' in favour of allowing it, with various qualities of discussion. All the ones I have looked at have been traceable to businesses that want to profit from it.
This doesn't help those who simply want to establish a general lineage, such as "Do I have a bit of country X ?" but there it is, cultural differences.
Andrew.
I found Familysearch a Mormon site very useful. Some lines if you were connected would go back generations for you.
 
I'd be frightened to have mine checked , I'd dread to find out who of notoriety I was related to . How would it feel to find out you were a direct descendent of Vlad the Impaler or somesuch . I think I'd rather stay in the dark , as I do when I'm at work till they decide to take me out and throw *** all over me Mushroom don't you know
 
Terrence, I think that site is now a part of Ancestry. I will check it out,always looking for something useful!
"FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints [Mormons], and is closely connected with the church's Family History Department."
 
Familysearch is pretty good, registration but no subscription required. Transcriptions for most UK censuses, a wide range of US records and the are some from other areas as well.

You can also create your own tree and view others but like any site don't believe what you see in them unless you've done your own research. Errors are common.
 
Janice, I live in the US but would be searching UK. Would it still be effective?
Don't forget that it was the LDS that first made available the 1881 Census for England, Wales and Scotland. Although the LDS is primarily based in the USA their doctrine encourages ancestral research and for many Americans that means looking to the UK. Pre-computer that meant going through UK records and putting them on microfiche. In many cases they were allowed access to these records as the holding authority then got a searchable, copy of their precious records in exchange. The world of genealogy owes a massive thanks to the LDS and its volunteers for the pioneer work of creating these accessible sources. Without wishing to detract from the work of the LDS one should always bear in mind that these secondary records have been created by non-professionals, often without the local knowledge, e.g. that can't distinguish between Sunderland or Sutherland, an English county versus a county of Scotland, an error I found in the 1881 Census!
 
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