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D.N.A. TESTING

My daughter sent me a 23&Me test as a gift some long time ago, I get notes from them about new joiners who are related but so far nothing closer than second cousins twice removed.
 
Eric Gibson said:
My daughter sent me a 23&Me test as a gift some long time ago, I get notes from them about new joiners who are related but so far nothing closer than second cousins twice removed.
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thank you Eric,, thought it might help to do 1 but still thinking about it
 
There are many companies that do testing now, which is both good and bad, and different types. How many matches could people be missing because they've taken tests with different companies?

You've got to ask your self what do you want to get out of one. For most people it would seem to be a bit of fun, to see where they're from and most family matches could probably be found through other means. To a few it has the potential to be a very valuable resource, both personal and genealogy, but it is not without limitations.

For me it would be for an ancestry brick wall but I wouldn't be surprised if didn't help.
 
Tried LivingDNA, the process is simple enough. At the moment it is just giving me a hint about where my people came from and has proved that I am related to my aunt!

So far no close unknown relatives showing up, just 4th cousins. (I wish some people had selected better user names, a potential 4th cousin with a proper second name might encourage me to make contact, "Dad's DNA" doesn't! (A bit like those genealogy forums where people request "The Smith's Family Tree").

Unless you are really sure be prepared to find that you are the child of the local milkman! I know of one man who spent lots of money researching his tree then getting it printed as a book. He thought a DNA test would top it off but it turned out that he didn't share the same father as his siblings.
 
I took a DNA test with Ancestry about 2 years ago in the hope I may be able to connect with "family" to help fill in gaps and provide information for my family research (and possibly theirs).

William.
 
MWS said:
There are many companies that do testing now, which is both good and bad, and different types. How many matches could people be missing because they've taken tests with different companies?

You've got to ask your self what do you want to get out of one. For most people it would seem to be a bit of fun, to see where they're from and most family matches could probably be found through other means. To a few it has the potential to be a very valuable resource, both personal and genealogy, but it is not without limitations.

For me it would be for an ancestry brick wall but I wouldn't be surprised if didn't help.
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yeah i,m the same,, i have had a brick wall for 20yrs on my fathers side just can,t get him started,, thanks anyway MWS
 
I have done DNA testing with both FamilyTreeDNA and with Ancestry. In a sense, both are money hungry and will continue to pester you for all the expensive features you'd like to have, but as MWS points out, you're probably best choosing one that suits your basic goals.

ftDNA's basic package is actually for your maternal side, even though it might not make this clear when you lay down your money. If it's your paternal side you're after, you will need to invest in numerous levels of further testing to uncover your fatherly ancestry with this company. Ancestry.com, at least here in N. America, is more the go-to DNA company and it looks at both maternal and paternal genetics in your basic testing. Their profit schemes appear to come from selling you access to all the deeper levels you might be hungry to have.

Both companies (and maybe lots of others) will notify you that they've "found" a new relative for you whenever someone new has tested and his/her DNA becomes a part of their enormous database.

Love 'em or hate 'em, my suggestion would be to go with Ancestry.com since there is a greater likelihood that your previously unknown relatives are more numerously registered with this company.
 
MWS said:
There are many companies that do testing now, which is both good and bad, and different types. How many matches could people be missing because they've taken tests with different companies?

You've got to ask your self what do you want to get out of one. For most people it would seem to be a bit of fun, to see where they're from and most family matches could probably be found through other means. To a few it has the potential to be a very valuable resource, both personal and genealogy, but it is not without limitations.

For me it would be for an ancestry brick wall but I wouldn't be surprised if didn't help.
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MWS, I think your comment regarding “what do you want to get out of it” is all important if your serious. The problem with Ancestry is it’s all about money and not accuracy. We were working with a a service sponsored by the Mormon church, a former colleague is Mormon and he helped us get started. Most of it was free and then Ancestry came along and bought the site and everything changed.
 
Gus Wah said:
I have done DNA testing with both FamilyTreeDNA and with Ancestry. In a sense, both are money hungry and will continue to pester you for all the expensive features you'd like to have, but as MWS points out, you're probably best choosing one that suits your basic goals.

ftDNA's basic package is actually for your maternal side, even though it might not make this clear when you lay down your money. If it's your paternal side you're after, you will need to invest in numerous levels of further testing to uncover your fatherly ancestry with this company. Ancestry.com, at least here in N. America, is more the go-to DNA company and it looks at both maternal and paternal genetics in your basic testing. Their profit schemes appear to come from selling you access to all the deeper levels you might be hungry to have.

Both companies (and maybe lots of others) will notify you that they've "found" a new relative for you whenever someone new has tested and his/her DNA becomes a part of their enormous database.

Love 'em or hate 'em, my suggestion would be to go with Ancestry.com since there is a greater likelihood that your previously unknown relatives are more numerously registered with this company.
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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.
 
Very interesting comments especially regarding Ancestry who probably have the largest DNA database available to the likes of you and me. I have a large family tree on this site but am no longer subscribed to this company as features that were part of my original membership are no longer available unless a further payment is made.
I have also been watching the BBC programme DNA Family Secrets with great interest. A question arises from this. The genetic scientist that appears on the programme refers to the many DNA databases around the world and how they've compared the subject's DNA with these. Are these databases available to Ancestry or any of the other companies offering DNA research or are they just for this particular programme.
On the programme's website they offer this advice. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/ar...ink-about-before-taking-a-commercial-dna-test
 
Only surmising but I would think the BBC have the resources to use many of the commercial dna databases.

It seems there are two criteria for a good database - the number of entries it contains and the depth of the dna analysis. If the database contains only a small number of entries you're unlikely to match with anyone no matter how good the analysis is and if the depth of the analysis is poor you're likely to have many erroneous matches.

As dna testing has become more popular I think both of these have improved. The reason why people may be updated with more accurate origins.

It still appears to be a subject that most people don't really understand and no doubt the testing companies don't go out of their way to correct this.
 
The fundamental premise behind all DNA testing companies is that buying their test will tell you what you would not have otherwise known. And the disappointing reality is that they are essentially out to bleed you with enticements as you search for the truth of your heritage. It is not rewarding to learn that the enormous data you're first offered when you begin with Ancestry.com will be snatched away after a trial period. In fact it's quite a nasty awakening. That company has limitless power and unceremoniously devours millions of sacred databases in its path. Like the graveyard records here in my village. Now they belong to Ancestry.com and we must pay to see them.

The programs you've seen on television are probably factual when journalists report discrepancies and inaccuracies in the data of paid DNA companies. I agree that if someone has tested bloodlines with a DNA company and there are few (or no) others among his/her bloodlines registered in the database, it is ludicrous to think that information will surface about known relatives from close generations. Your DNA will, however, fetch you some centuries-old probabilities about your continental origins and so forth. This might be interesting, but I doubt that it's the focus for many of us.

I personally want to know about people in my immediate past. Let's say the past 100 years. Those are the people who matter. Whether my distant ancestors (might have) travelled the seas of Mesopotamia 3,000 years ago is not what I came for. When my father hung around B'ham, he was among thousands of young Canadians during the war. I need not say more about the probabilities, but I'd be absolutely fascinated to learn that I have British relatives. In fact I don't doubt for a millisecond that by this point in history there are tens of thousands of Brummies who are related unwittingly to N. Americans in the aftermath of WW2. Sorry if I offend, but that is just a reality that cannot be erased.

The analysis of your blood, if a DNA company's employee is cautious and scrupulous, is a wonderful thing. It has already helped millions of people find relatives (me included) who might have been given up for adoption or whose significance to family heritage fell by the wayside in past generations. It's the very thing that should make everyone pay attention to the technology.
 
carolina said:
UK and USA DNA testing is legal but France since 1994 have made it illegal and heavy fines are levied if found out.
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Carolina, I was not aware of this. Ironically, I have the Heredis software for assimilating and compiling all my family data since I believe that Heredis is leagues beyond all of its competitors. And it's made in France. Wow.
 
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.
 
Gus Wah said:
I think the age has arrived when most civil humans will need to accept that genealogical surprises are not necessarily a consequence of evil.
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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.
 
Spargone said:
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).
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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.
 
Richard Dye said:
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.
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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.
 
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