Ancestry DNA - Testing

[Energy22]

Hello Dear Comunity!

I recently purchased a heritage DNA test.
If you had one done please share.
Please share the pro or cons of getting one done.

Thank you

[Lucky 1]

I had genetic testing done a couple of years ago with 23 and me.........was very interesting!

[Energy22]

I had genetic testing done a couple of years ago with 23 and me.........was very interesting!

Hello Lucky 1,

I’m waiting for my results, if you don’t mind me asking? What did you find interesting? How many regions did yours show and did it show your place of birth?

[Opal_Moon]

I am so interested in getting this done. What could possibly be a con?

[Lucky 1]

Hello Lucky 1,

I’m waiting for my results, if you don’t mind me asking? What did you find interesting? How many regions did yours show and did it show your place of birth?


One of the big things they look at is haplogroups which determines where groups of people who share similar DNA originated from. ..

My sur name Is German but when you look at the haplogroups making up my total genetic heritage. ...there's a big chunk of central European that I expected but also a fair amount of ancestry that goes to Ireland. ...something I didn't expect....

23 And Me also looks at the deep ancestry..as much as 30, 000 years back of both your parents.....my moms deep ancestry was Scandinavian and central European as expected. ..

What wasn't expected was my dad having deep ancestry tied to Morocco as well as the central European genetics we did expect.

Another thing they'll tell you is physical and health stuff....diseases you might have a tendency to having. .
...
They even told me that my genetics shows that I have a muscle type lending itself to strength and bursts of speed like sprinting rather than a muscle type inclined to long slow endurance running. .....and this is absolutely true.

Frankly. .....there's so much information its not possible to post it all here

[Energy22]

One of the big things they look at is haplogroups which determines where groups of people who share similar DNA originated from. ..

My sur name Is German but when you look at the haplogroups making up my total genetic heritage. ...there's a big chunk of central European that I expected but also a fair amount of ancestry that goes to Ireland. ...something I didn't expect....

23 And Me also looks at the deep ancestry..as much as 30, 000 years back of both your parents.....my moms deep ancestry was Scandinavian and central European as expected. ..

What wasn't expected was my dad having deep ancestry tied to Morocco as well as the central European genetics we did expect.

Another thing they'll tell you is physical and health stuff....diseases you might have a tendency to having. .
...
They even told me that my genetics shows that I have a muscle type lending itself to strength and bursts of speed like sprinting rather than a muscle type inclined to long slow endurance running. .....and this is absolutely true.

Frankly. .....there's so much information its not possible to post it all here

Very interesting, the one I got doesn’t show any health related issues? I guess I should have tried 23 and me it sounds a bit more detailed. My DNA was a bit Everywhere? If I understood it correctly? It came back yesterday. They mapped large parts of Central America very high percentage including my heritage Mexico around 65% over all. It also pointed out Mayan that was very interesting for me since my greatgrandmother was native from Mexico and my great grandfather may have come from Spain or France? I got around 21% Iberian and 4% Greek 6% North Africa and around 1% Asian. Aside from the obvious Mexico, I expected to find Native American but no that was not the case, Mayan is indeed an old civilization its very possible since they were near Mexico. I expected to have some Spanish or some French, but not to sure what the meaning Iberian really is? the rest were a bit surprising for me. Hopefully in the near future as this gets more popular and more detailed we find that we are all connected somehow. For now I guess we must wait and see what happens in the future. Most of my DNA matches a large percentage is in USA were I’m was born. The rest smaller percentages come back from various parts of the world. This just confirms that ancestors may be in the 4 corners, we never know? Thank you for your reply. It’s very interesting for me and hopefully for others.

[sentient]

You can always upload your raw DNA file to:
https://www.gedmatch.com/login1.php
- for more specific admix readings.

[Untersberg56]

My sister had always felt that we had Huguenot ancestors on our mother's side who fled to England in the 19th century from France.

I had always had the strongest feelings and emotions of German blood. My family always dismissed any such possibility.

My sister sent off a sample for Ancestral DNA testing of the maternal side. Then she continued her researches into documents including the public census in Britain as far back as 1811.

She came back with the results of this search. Our great-great-grandmother was Irish, born in 1800. She had borne five children. Our great-great-grandfather was an Englishman. He had been the declared father of three of these children. He had been very ill, and died in 1844.

The same month as his death, g-g-grandmother Mary married a German. What interested me very much about this German was whether he might have been having an illicit affair with g-g-grandmother, or perhaps had taken over as "father of the family" some time earlier with the permission of the ailing husband.

The ancestral DNA results came back.

English blood 8%. A shock. Not enough for any English descent. We could not be descendants of the alleged "g-g-grandfather".
Irish blood 30%. That would be our g-g-grandmother. Correct.

Scandinavian blood 25%. I asked my sister if she had any better information about the German.
"Yes, his surname was Förn."
That is a Swedish surname. Scandinavian.
"Any more information about Förn?"
"Yes, his father was a farmer in Mecklenburg from the 18th century."

And so the ancestral DNA had got it right again. In the 18th century there had been considerable immigration of Swedes into Mecklenburg, the big province of lakes and marsh on the Baltic which at that time was a Duchy but was then incorporated into the German First Reich by Bismarck.

And so there had definitely been some "funny business" between g-g-grandmother and the German Förn, and he IS our g-g-grandfather although the English family name was retained.

As for the Huguenots, it appears to be impossible to separate French, Belgian and West German blood along the Rhine and so we also have 25% West European blood but no real way of tracing to whom it belonged.

The ancestral DNA results combined with the documentary research done by my sister were absolutely fantastic and self-confirming.

[7luminaries]

I have to say...ye need to take all this with a grain of salt :wink:....

Mum paid for us to send in a kit because she's really got into all this genealogy on her off hours.

First go-round, it seemed fairly reasonable and more or less what was expected. Though my British Isles v North Western Europe was divvied up a bit differently to my mum and brother. Good enough. The interesting tidbits were all there and some random bits as well, just for variety :D

Then they revised it all a few months later, as they may do whenever they feel it's appropriate. Now we are all basically the same, as they've combined that British Isles & NW Europe. But all our interesting smaller bits (<20%) are gone, aside from the bit of Irish they count separate to the British Isles overlap.

It's all bland, boring, and suspiciously generic-looking now :rolleyes:
Perhaps next go round they'll add some of the previous detail back in, LOL. What I'm saying is, I wouldn't count on these tests to tell you anything concrete that you don't already know about your history.
As it seems the results are pretty widely open to redistribution and other tampering.

I think the historic aspect of the genealogy is probably a far sounder and richer way of ascertaining one's roots, unless there is no way to do that. So to the extent these tools can aid that, that could be a good thing.

My point is, if you know you are part whatever by ancestry and/or culture and upbringing, who cares if the test says this or that or the other thing?

:wink: And beyond that, you are from these things, but none of it defines who you are at core. These things are simply a part of your story and your journey, and they can be a very meaningful part, but in the end you decide who you are. Amen.


Peace & blessings :hug3:
7L

[leadville]

It was 23 and Me and my wife was desperately disappointed and let down by the non-specific information she received.

Adopted as a child and from a Mediterranean country she hoped to gain some insight into her origin, at least the general area. But there was nothing and for weeks following the follow-on links increased the level of her frustration.

She hates the whole business now and is extremely unlikely ever to try again to research where she came from, everything seeming to her to be a money-making con.

[blackraven]

My point is, if you know you are part whatever by ancestry and/or culture and upbringing, who cares if the test says this or that or the other thing?

:wink: And beyond that, you are from these things, but none of it defines who you are at core. These things are simply a part of your story and your journey, and they can be a very meaningful part, but in the end you decide who you are. Amen.

7L - I have to say I agree with what you say here. I've seen people being very proud of their heritage their whole lives, until they took a DNA test that revealed they might not be as ________(fill in the blank) as they previously believed. The DNA results sometimes mess with ones head and can even trickle down to children when parents start questioning their heritage after raising their kids with a certain set of heritage beliefs.

I won't be having a DNA test done for that purpose ever. I'm completely satisfied with just being a human being. I do understand people's motives for ordering these tests; they're just not for me. I feel like if I start identifying with a particular set of people in a specific region of the world, I'm placing labels on myself.

[LadyMay]

I had one done from 23andme for my health profile but it didn't turn out as useful as I thought it'd be. It's a little expensive for what you get if you ask me.

[sentient]

Beyond personal dna results, there is so much history to learn.

My grandfathers: One is Scandinavian - Swedish Y-line, the other one is North Eurasian.

Both grandmother’s mtDNA haplogroups were allegedly present in Doggerland, but now the other one is mainly found among Vepsians (Lake Onega), the other among Skolt Saami - areas where the last European hunter-gatherers retreated.

I identify myself very much with my Eastern (Siberian admix) cultural heritage, the 'Westie' side leaving me ‘blank’ i.e. my awareness cannot 'echo' it - except when I lived in Gotland.
There I got a 'taste' of it - which I could relate to i.e. there I understood (within myself) something about the 'echoes' of our particular Viking - meet - hunter/gatherer past, if that makes sense.

http://thedockyards.com/genetic-maps-of-europe/

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[Shinsoo]

Well, I did Ancestry.com and my biological sister did 23 and Me.

I was disappointed and pleasantly surprised at once.

Ancestry correctly pointed out the ancestors on my grandfather's side to the French immigrants to Canada, who most likely mixed with the natives. Honestly it was the only logical way I can explain the markers in my eyes that are generally found in Native people--as the rest of my ancestry was European.

My sister found out through 23 and Me that our mother has lineage stemming from the Vikings. Pretty cool tbh. :)

Thing I was disappointed about however, is that I saw no african dna in the mix whatsoever. I know I have had past lifetimes in Africa as I have seen one in my dreams.

Then I realized the dna only goes back so far--most likely the African lifetimes were some of my first on Earth. Whatever little physical African dna I have is pretty much nonexistant now lol.

[linen53]

Well I had the 23 and Me dna test done about a year ago. I oped to know of risk factors to diseases. And I have not been disappointed. 23 and Me sends me questionnaires all the time that I have mostly completed. In turn they send me new tidbits of information as they discover it. It's all interesting.

Now I am doing the Ancestry dna test because I am having the professionals at Ancestry do my family tree. I found out after I purchased the Ancestry dna test that they can just access the 23 and Me dna results, but I'm glad I went ahead and did the Ancestry dna test because I will be able to connect with all of the Ancestry relatives as well (the two companies don't share customer data). And the tests are relatively cheap anymore if you wait until they have them on sale.

What I have discovered it both companies are doing ongoing research with the results they receive by sending questionnaires as to our habits, emotional traits, eating patterns, etc. I even took a hearing test from 23 and Me the other day (I found out I had a hearing problem which I already knew due to tinnitus).

I think we need to give them time. This is a brand new science. As they collect more and more information more information will be available.

Send in those questionnaires they send you or go to their website and opt in to do the questionnaires. They will bend over backwards to give you information as they develop it as a thank you.

[WildHairedWoman]

I got my dna test from 23 & Me and I recommend them, though they may be more expensive you get better information and they offer the data to universities so you fill out questionnaires that help phd students and researchers determine what genes indicate what illnesses.

I did not get my mom to take the test before she died, but my dad did and my daughter. We knew there was mostly british ilses in our ancestry and that showed up but my dad thought one grandfather and one grandmother were german but that did not show up, instead it was scandanavian with some west african.

[Jainarayan]

I used 23andMe about 4 years ago. Results are still updating and refining. I found out some things I didn't know, and other things I knew or suspected were confirmed. I even got a couple of surprises. One is a grandson of my father with a woman he had an affair with before he met my mother. They had a daughter who had children. I found that in addition to my family he has 4 more grandchildren and 8 or 9 more great-grandchildren. My mother knew about the daughter, my half-sister, but it's a good thing my mother never knew about the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She would have hated my father all the more. :D Yes, we laugh about it in my family.

There is another man who comes up in my DNA Relatives list as a first cousin or half-nephew, sharing 12% DNA with me. I've communicated with him, but neither of us has any idea how we are related. I suspect it's through one of my father's brothers. Those 3 boys couldn't keep it zipped worth squat. :D Yes we laugh about that too. We're a jolly bunch. :D

[edithaint]

Genetics and heritage are a tad too complicated for any test we develop to reveal all those juicy details we're digging for, so any disappointing results from those DNA testing companies should be regarded with due skepticism. And I would rather not trust those companies with such personal information as my genetic code. If I want a DNA test, I'll try to perform my own, but I trust the oral history of my family. More or less. I have good evidence that I'm of mostly Siberian, Turkic, Nordic, and Celtic descent, with a smattering of Osage. My husband and I both have quite a few weird atavisms.

[Altair]

I've heard mostly disappointing stories about this. It's expensive and you tend to get generic results that trace you back to a few centuries, and most of the times you could already have guessed where that is, more or less.. so what do you learn..? Not an awful lot and not much about your family..

I think the cultural aspect is more interesting. Knowing who your family were centuries ago.. what jobs they had, what they did in life, what their beliefs were. Sadly, many family names also started only a few hundred years ago..

[MAYA EL]

One of the big things they look at is haplogroups which determines where groups of people who share similar DNA originated from. ..

My sur name Is German but when you look at the haplogroups making up my total genetic heritage. ...there's a big chunk of central European that I expected but also a fair amount of ancestry that goes to Ireland. ...something I didn't expect....

23 And Me also looks at the deep ancestry..as much as 30, 000 years back of both your parents.....my moms deep ancestry was Scandinavian and central European as expected. ..

What wasn't expected was my dad having deep ancestry tied to Morocco as well as the central European genetics we did expect.

Another thing they'll tell you is physical and health stuff....diseases you might have a tendency to having. .
...
They even told me that my genetics shows that I have a muscle type lending itself to strength and bursts of speed like sprinting rather than a muscle type inclined to long slow endurance running. .....and this is absolutely true.

Frankly. .....there's so much information its not possible to post it all here


People have a mixture of different types of skeletal muscle fibers
Type-A
Type-B
Type-AB (like a mixture of the 2)

You have different amounts depending on the location of the body but overall some bodies in general have a higher number of one or the other.
A person that's naturally thin usually narrow framed is very good at long-distance activities like running or cycling it has a very hard time being strong or putting on muscle mass this is because the majority of muscle fibers in their body are type A which is the smallest of the fibers but has the most blood capillaries around it so it's the most efficient at re oxygenating and creating ATP whereas they generally heavy set style person having wide shoulders wide hips or as they say the "farm boy look" generally has very poor cardiovascular endurance but despite the fact that some of these people have never worked out a day in their life these individuals are still strong as an ox this is because they mainly have type B muscle fibers which are the largest fiber but unfortunately have the least amount of blood capillaries take longer to recharge but are very powerful.

Now depending on your exercise techniques you can actually change your physiology to have more of one type or the other now this takes a long time to do of course but it is possible however I think what 23andMe does from what I can remember is they go off of a study that was done a few years ago why are thousands of people were tested to see what types of muscle 5 today had naturally as well as athletes of the same ethnicity to see if muscle type was consistent across the board from non-active to active individuals and this was down on several different continents if I remember correctly and concluded very consistent pattern between ethnic races and muscle fiber type so even though they're not actually testing your muscle fibers and I technically guessing based off of study it's still very accurate in my opinion.

[esoxuk]

Its something I have considered doing a few times over the past few years. After reading the previous posts, some positive and others negative I would still consider it 'just in case' as the conclusion would be of no harm even if not totally correct and a good talking point at family gatherings etc.

[sky]

I personally found it to be one of the most interesting things I have done, as well as showing you where your Ancestors came from it links you up to others all over the World who have similar DNA. I now have contact with 299 Cousins I didn't know existed and have traced many Ancestral Lines back to the 15th Century, with Documentation to prove they are my Family...

[sentient]

I personally found it to be one of the most interesting things I have done, as well as showing you where your Ancestors came from it links you up to others all over the World who have similar DNA. I now have contact with 299 Cousins I didn't know existed and have traced many Ancestral Lines back to the 15th Century, with Documentation to prove they are my Family...

Any surprises?

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[sky]

Any surprises?

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Oh gosh yes, some extremely sad and others just normal life experiences. One particular find involved Slave Trade and disgusted me, so much wealth and large properties accumulated through the misery of others. I can walk around my City and still see some of these buildings now, not a nice experience....

I can see a nice Sculpture dedicated to some Coal Miners killed in an explosion, one was my Grt, Grt Grandfather, that is nice to see. Also in a Maritime Museum I found lots of info: and a Photo of my Grandfather who was on the Lusitania when it sank... It's was definitely an interesting journey and much more to discover from Ancestry... I would recommend it to anyone.

[sentient]

Oh gosh yes, some extremely sad and others just normal life experiences. One particular find involved Slave Trade and disgusted me, so much wealth and large properties accumulated through the misery of others. I can walk around my City and still see some of these buildings now, not a nice experience....

I can see a nice Sculpture dedicated to some Coal Miners killed in an explosion, one was my Grt, Grt Grandfather, that is nice to see. Also in a Maritime Museum I found lots of info: and a Photo of my Grandfather who was on the Lusitania when it sank... It's was definitely an interesting journey and much more to discover from Ancestry... I would recommend it to anyone.
You paint a vivid picture of a rich history.

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[Lynn]

Hello

For me it was interesting. I grew up raised Scottish on my Dad's side of the family but my Grandmother on my Mom's side (while she so got on with my Dad) she always said there was a "Nig...." in the woodpile on his side of the family. I grew up thinking OK my DNA is going to show Black in the family line. That is not what that saying meant in the times she used it. It was to say that there was a lie or secret in the family ancestry line.

When I got me DNA results back there was NO Scottish ties there, but there was a strong England connection made. It made a lot of sense as when my Aunt went to run the Family Tree she hit a wall with my Dad's side. She was only able to take it back to an event in the family where things stopped to line up.

This event was where a branch of the family line was literally hung from the tree on the property they owned for "craft work". From there the Scotland seemed to come in. Like there was a move there but no acestry blood lines there.

I have had past lives in England that I have been able to validate so that connection to the blood line so makes sense to me. I do feel my Grandmother as she was very psychic but never talked on it knew that lie.

It was interesting getting my Daughter's done as there was a Scandinavian line there that so fit her "body shape". That is on her Dad's side.

When Heart had his done his the first time never came back, so we re sent it in again and I think it was because they could not figure out his result the first time. He comes in 97 percent British, this is very rare, with the other 3 percent being Icelandic so that land bridge crossing. Very rare. This means that there was not a lot of offpring in his family line and not much intermingling from the area he was born in.

Lynn

[sentient]

Have you uploaded your raw data to GEDmatch?

https://www.gedmatch.com/login1.php

http://genealogical-musings.blogspot.com/2017/04/finally-gedmatch-admixture-guide.html

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