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D.N.A. TESTING

villafanman said:
has anyone done d.n.a. testing?? where do you start many thanks
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I did ancestry’s DNA and have found relatives 2nd cousins. I also found my dad before taking the test and the dna result confirmed parentage. I found I had a high percentage of Irish dna which I didn’t expect and 32% English a lot lower than I thought.
 
Vixen said:
I did ancestry’s DNA and have found relatives 2nd cousins. I also found my dad before taking the test and the dna result confirmed parentage. I found I had a high percentage of Irish dna which I didn’t expect and 32% English a lot lower than I thought.
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And have you found that your DNA results correspond to your family tree research?
 
Oh my dads
MWS said:
And have you found that your DNA results correspond to your family tree research?
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On my dads side yes matches came up via an Edith May Norbury. I couldn’t figure out how we were matched at first as I had believed alberts mum was Martha redfearn. then I discovered my dads dad wasn’t born norbury but Abraham’s. His dad changed names and when he split with Edith, Albert, my dads dad, reverted back to his mums name of norbury. There are several dna matches via the Abraham’s and norburys.

On my mums side her mum was a Swinden from Birmingham, her dad William Swinden, his dad William Swinden. Senior William had a son Harold, brother of my nans dad, who had a daughter Agnes and she had a son John. John was the linked match. William also had Florence or florry and she too was a link to a dna match.

Also a link to Matilda Mayes son Albert Johns there was a dna match. And also via Violet Johns, Matilda’s daughter. I made contact with the one via Albert johns but she knew nothing more than I did on Matilda. Matilda was mother of May Elizabeth johns who married my grandads dad. May registered Matilda’s death. I also have a Hadley dna match via Charles Frederick Hadley and Emily portlock. Emily married john William Hadley who was my grandads grandad.

I have links with my grans mum who was always known as Gertrude Cummings. She married William Swinden. On the 1939 census her date of birth was 1888. Her dad was john Cummings on the marriage record. Gertrude also had a brother John Cummings with her on the 1939 census. However there were a ton of trees listing her mums mmn as page and she married James. They did not have a son called john. I was getting dna matches to john Cummings who actually married or got together with a Frances/fanny Brayne/brain. They had a daughter Gertrude Brayne and a son John Cummings. Gertrude I think took on the Cummings name. There was also Alice Amelia cummins and Emily Brayne. I had dna links with people linked to Emily Brayne. Gertrude was born 1890 tho so unsure why the census is 1888.
 
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MWS said:
And have you found that your DNA results correspond to your family tree research?
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Also Devon and Cornwall and West Midlands, Warwickshire and Worcestershire were my main areas under my English percentage. Mums parents Birmingham, and grandads parents Birmingham, he was a Hadley. Hadley ancestors all around Birmingham, Worcestershire and Sheffield. had 9% Jewish which I assume is via Abraham’s and potentially via another ancestor on nans side. There is Irish ancestry on both sides of the family. Dads side mainly Devon based.
 
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The BBC radio programme Sliced Bread have done an episode about DNA testing. Quite interesting though nothing I didn't already know.

It was mentioned that after a number (not that many) of generations your dna may not include any dna from certain ancestors. So for example one of your 7 x great grandfathers may have been the Emperor of Japan (though quite unlikely) but your dna wouldn't show it.

www.bbc.co.uk

Sliced Bread - DNA Ancestry Tests - BBC Sounds

Can DNA ancestry tests really tell where we come from?
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
It's all very complicated. I assumed that two brothers for instance, would have exactly the same DNA but of course they don't, it's just a random mixture that's passed down through the genes.
 
If there were 3 brothers (or sisters) and 2 looked more alike than the other, I wonder if those 2 would share more DNA than they did with the third.
 
lesley goodwin said:
I’ve done ancestry ..it’s very easy to do
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Yes, a little spit in a tube. It also helps to build a wide and deep family tree (ideally a public tree, so people who may be related to you can find relatives and you can find them.) Bear in mind that for some people there are skeletons. The man they were told was their father isn't. In my case my grandfather had two families. My Dad and his sisters were illegitimate (nothing unusual now, but in 1910 this was shameful). I did know there was a history, so I was relaxed and fascinated to find out something of the lives of my ancestors. Fitting the DNA information with your family tree is fascinating and you may find people you are related to. Good luck @villafanman!
 
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DNA results are great AND not.......great if they tell you about 1st cousins but not when you get the 1000's of 5-8 cousins..........
 
The people who don't link their DNA to a tree are irritating. Also those who ask you for information, yet they don't want to reveal anything themselves! I appreciate there can be people who simply want to establish who their parents or grandparents were. They are not interested in family history in a wider sense. Having said that, fortunately there are cousins who have carefully built trees and shared a lot of useful material. In exchange I've been able to post family photographs.
 
I've taken DNA tests on Ancestry & MyHeritage and have been researching since 2004 and recently discovered I had a birth father who was born in Ireland who came to Birmingham in the 40s. So I had spent all those use researching the wrong family, although since my Irish paternal family 'discovered' me I am very happy as they welcomed me as part of their family. So, the DNA test shows I'm half Irish with small amount of English er, and me with my strong Brummie accent, bit of a surprise.
 
'In September, the firm settled a lawsuit alleging that it failed to protect the privacy of nearly seven million customers whose personal information was exposed in a 2023 data breach.

In some cases, hackers gained access to family trees, birth years and geographic locations, by using customers' old passwords. The data stolen did not include DNA records, according to the company.' BBC above.

From what I read the bankruptcy is linked to the lack of confidence in 23andMe as a result of the hack.
 
I heard that the companies are not really providing verifiable DNA results, people say going to several different providers get different results from each. Who is checking?
 
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Stokkie said:
'In September, the firm settled a lawsuit alleging that it failed to protect the privacy of nearly seven million customers whose personal information was exposed in a 2023 data breach.

In some cases, hackers gained access to family trees, birth years and geographic locations, by using customers' old passwords. The data stolen did not include DNA records, according to the company.' BBC above.

From what I read the bankruptcy is linked to the lack of confidence in 23andMe as a result of the hack.
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I would say Stokkie you are probably correct about the lack of confidence. I think too many firms are a little too casual with the data. Regarding the hackers, there needs to be more sever penalties to the hackers. Two large hospitals in Nashville were hacked last year and have severely tightened their systems. All of this costs money to the user and organizations. Even if it’s the government paying, after all they have no money of their own, it’s our money that is used. The punishment for hackers causing untold frustration and expense be it £ or $ needs to be stepped up severely!
 
There is a risk in submitting DNA to a company, but nothing is risk free and the benefits of doing so are that you can be more sure your family tree is more accurate. It is a wager and it enabled me to build a clearer picture of my grandparents generation. Let's hope Ancestry is secure!
 
Eric Gibson said:
I heard that the companies are not really providing verifiable DNA results, people say going to several different providers get different results from each. Who is checking?
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The results from each company will be skewed somewhat by their database of DNA tests that they have.

A little simplistic but if a company has no DNA for anyone from Iceland say, then the results for someone who knows for certain that they have Icelandic ancestors will probably not show it - possibly it would just say Scandinavian without being more specific.
 
The ethnic origins are said to be the most open to interpretation in these tests and vary historically. The last upgrade said I'm 2% Icelandic, perhaps this means that a very distant ancestor was a Viking?? The Vikings came to Britain 800 to 1150 AD. I did have a red beard...
 
There's a programme on BBC Sounds called The Gift which tells of the effects on some people and their family of the results of DNA testing. Some have found out that their father isn't their biological father and some discover that their babies have been swapped at birth. Worth a listen especially the episode 'Taboo'.
 
Stokkie, I bought my husband a test for his birthday last year and he had a high percentage of Norwegian. Bit of a surprise except for the fact that he has severe Dupytren's Contracture (in his hands) also known as Viking's Disease.
 
Lady Penelope said:
Stokkie, I bought my husband a test for his birthday last year and he had a high percentage of Norwegian. Bit of a surprise except for the fact that he has severe Dupytren's Contracture (in his hands) also known as Viking's Disease.
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Thanks, Lady Penelope. My wife who is a radiographer had an operation for this on one of her hands. I didn't know the Viking connection. She isn't inclined to test her DNA. At present Ancestry don't have health traits, but they have started to offer a survey which might develop in this direction. It is certainly a Pandora's box to link DNA to particular dispositions. The Normans had a Viking origin too.
 
It seems that there were conflicts within the management, and the entire board resigned last September. The CEO, Anne Wojcicki, who is one of the company founders, has resigned, and is apparently looking to buy the company in a private capacity. The worry is that there are a lot of deep pockets that would like to own the database of approx 15 million customers.
Andrew.
 
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