I'm gonna do my ancestry testing.

[CTyankee]

My daughter had it done and I'm going to her house for Thanksgiving. She can help me on Ancestry thing. I have the kit and am a bit afraid of screwing up. It comes with a little plastic bag that you spit into and send it to them.

When she had hers done, nothing surprising was found. British on her dad's side, Scottish/Welsh on my side.

The thing is I was born and raised in Texas. I am almost certain that I have no Native American bloodline but I wonder about African American. Texas was a southern state that seceded from the Union.

I will report back here when I get this done and tell you about my experience. I expect it to be boring, but what the hell...

[Freddie]

1. I did mine

Kinda boring, no surprises. Thought I was 25% English (1 grandpa came over in the boat as a baby) and 75% German. Came out 42% British Isles, 30% German, the rest Other European (French, Eastern Europe). No Native American at all. I want to get 23andme for DH as his family has always claimed some Native American ancestry. AFAIK he’s Irish and WASP.

[CTyankee]

3. My ex husband (my daughter's dad) had his done. No surprises.

All British. Really boring. Who cares?

[violetpastille]

2. I can save you the money!

Great news!

All human life originated in Africa.

We are all related.

[at140]

27. [phone]

You are what you are.
DNA test won't change a damn thing.
Just try to do the best with what you are!

This will save you unnecessary spending for results
which won't mean much if anything.

[cornball 24]

4. Had mine done early this year. Ireland, Scotland and Wales were expected. When I received

my DNA results, my African heritage was affirmed. My paternal Grandfather was the finest person I have ever known. His beautiful Mother was African-American. Grandfather and his sister devoted their entire lives to helping others. I am so blessed and proud to be part of them.

[flyingfysh]

5. my brother-in-law did the test, and got a surprise

Because of his appearance, the family suspected that some of his ancestry was either Native American, or African.

The results: Some of his ancestry is in fact part Indian, but not Native American! The test pointed to the eastern part of India, in Asia. We suspect that an ancestor came over to the UK because India used to be a British colony.

[FSogol]

6. Pro-Tip: Eat a bag of Oreos before spitting in the plastic bag.

[CTyankee]

10. I don't get the joke...

[FSogol]

13. It's a poor joke then. I'm afraid. Haven't you ever seen what an oreo or two does to your

saliva/teeth? Your test would come back 10% German, 30% Irish, 60% C12H22O11

[CTyankee]

14. Clever.

[llmart]

7. I did mine earlier this year.

No big surprises and I didn't learn anything I didn't already know. It was a gift from my daughter who is the family genealogist, so at least I wasn't out the money. According to her, the only time it gets interesting is if someone else with a family tree on Ancestry is identified as a possible match. She has contacted one or two who do, but sometimes they aren't as into genealogy as she is, so she gets no response or just a tepid one.

[csziggy]

9. For those of us who are genealogists it can be very frustrating

I've gotten some DNA matches from my Ancestry DNA test with people who have no tree associated with their DNA results. We may be related and the linkage could provide some interesting clues to new lineages, but with no information provided we will never know.

The same holds true for my cousin's result from FamilyTreeDNA - close matches but no tree and no responses to attempted contacts. Why do they bother?

DNA results by themselves will not give any information about relationships!

[Mosby]

12. They do provide info about relationships

Very much so, look at the centimorgans and compare the number to the chart.

The people who have no tree could be adoptees like me.

[CTyankee]

17. What is a "centimorgan"?

[Mosby]

22. It's a genetic measurement

In genetics, a centimorgan (abbreviated cM) or map unit (m.u.) is a unit for measuring genetic linkage. It is defined as the distance between chromosome positions (also termed loci or markers) for which the expected average number of intervening chromosomal crossovers in a single generation is 0.01. It is often used to infer distance along a chromosome. However, it is not a true physical distance.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centimorgan

Its a little hard to find the number on ancestry.com, but it's there.

[Betty88]

8. Im related to half the earths population

in one way or another.

I knew there was a little something special in my DNA since mom had told me years ago that her first husband was not my real father. Did not really care or bother about it. Years later these tests came out and my partner decided she wanted to do this. Well found my 1/2 sister and a couple of brothers. I am made of all the following and then some. 8% West African, 18 % Iberian 7% East Asian, Native American (Puerto Rico), 32% Irish, and a bunch of other stuff like Neanderthal <4%.

Gets one thinking of how all this crazy mix came together over thousands of years and then POOF here I am.

[Mosby]

11. I took the ancestry test and it changed my life.

But then I'm adopted.

The tests are becoming more and more accurate.

[whistler162]

16. I keep thinking about try one

but I am afraid I would flunk.

[maxsolomon]

18. If your daughter did it, why bother?

That's pretty much all the info you need right there.

Apparently, it is much more useful when males do it. Can't remember why exactly...

[CTyankee]

19. Just to find out about my side of the family going back.

I'm thinking just English, Welsh and Scottish but I want to find something interesting....maybe, a bit of Italian, which would excite me but is probably impossible.

I have the money so why not?

[maxsolomon]

20. No reason not to

I thought it might be redundant. Is matrilineal/patrilineal info broken out on hers?

[CTyankee]

21. I don't know. Will find out.

[LeftInTX]

23. You could be part Italian based on the calculations/stats

It isn't an exact science.

I'm 15% Italian on one DNA test. There are no Italians in my family. My mom's family came from the UK in the 1600s. She was from the south and there's quite a pedigree with slavery and that kinda stuff. (That was one thing I learned from it all. I learned they had slaves....Lots of them....I have no black DNA, but it is possible that they had kids with slaves, but those kids would have been raised black, so there is no way, I would have the DNA)

My dad's came from South Central Turkey in the early 1900s.

[Donkees]

24. 'Roman Britain'

Roman Britain (Latin: Britannia[1] or, later, Britanniae, "the Britains" ) was the area of the island of Great Britain that was governed by the Roman Empire, from 43 to 410 AD.[2]:129–131[3] It comprised almost all of England and Wales and, for a short period, southern Scotland.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Britain

[CTyankee]

25. I guess it's possible but I think my daughter's DNA test would have revealed that it did.

That waswn't the case...

[Freddie]

29. 23andme

Does not differentiate British/Irish/Welsh/Scottish, just says “British Isles”. Was a little disappointed as I know I’m largely English but I’m pretty sure there’s Welsh and Irish too, and the test didn’t tell me. Does anyone know if Ancestry DNA does?

[Mosby]

36. ancestry has dialed it in a bit recently

I'm half ashkenazi Jewish from western Russia and Ukraine, my other half used to be listed as Irish/Scottish, but now they changed it to 1/4 Irish/scottish/welsh and 1/4 british, so there has been some differentiation in that geographic area recently.

[DetlefK]

26. Don't. Read the clauses about data-protection very, very, very carefully.

Such companies have a clause that you sign away any and all rights to any and all information inlcuded in your DNA.

From your DNA, they know about pre-existing medical conditions of your whole family. And this company can do with this medical information about your family anything they want. They can sell it to any insurance or corporation.

[CentralMass]

34. +1

[snowybirdie]

28. Not always a positive result

A friend did it and was contacted by an unknown half sister. Apparently, grandpa was straying and fathered a child. This while grandma was pregnant! Both are in their late 80s and still around. Grandma is NOT happy.

[CTyankee]

31. Oh boy...I think my daaughter would have picked up on this if that happened. She was

contacted by someone who said our families could be related. I gathered up some family photos from way back and I'm going to give them to her. She's interested in my mother's side (Scottish).

[redstatebluegirl]

30. I won't do it. I don't trust their privacy settings.

I am confident insurance companies and law enforcement will have complete access to these results. They could use it to deny insurance benefits or to arrest you if they think it matches some crime in the past. DNA evidence is usually reliable, but not in all cases. There is no way I can afford for an insurance company to find another reason to deny me.

[California_Republic]

32. Can you tell us about

Can you tell us aboutCan you tell us about the contract you have to sign concerning use of your genetic information and that of your families?

[CTyankee]

33. I don't know. She didn't say. I'll ask her next time we talk...

[California_Republic]

35. I'd like to do it

I’d like to do it. But I’ve heard that the data becomes intellectual property of the company

Possibly used by insurance companies