DNA testing

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

If anyone is interested in doing a genealogical DNA test, Ancestry has their DNA test on sale for $89 at http://dna.ancestry.com/

You can get free shipping by entering FREESHIPDNA in the coupon area.

[LynnDel]

I've read some discussions on DNA testing and remember that some are more reliable than others. One of my friends had two different DNA tests done by two different companies; they were contradictory, and one, she felt, was ridiculous. I can't remember where Ancestry's DNA testing fell on the scale of reliability. Do you know?

[Gregory Matthews]

I have used 23 & Me

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Ancestry has recently updated their matching codes, and supposedly has more accurate results.  When they did that, however, I lost some of the matches with people who were confirmed relatives... 

If you're interested in your genealogy and paternal haplotype (for men only), FTDNA is the place to test.  23andMe can also test for the haplotype.  Paternal haplotype traces the Y-DNA...you can get the test for 12, 37, 67, or 111 markers, or the Big-Y test.  For example, it would trace Gregory's "Matthews" line.  The more markers you test, the more accurate the results.  You then get a list of people who match your haplotype. 

Likewise, the mtDNA test, which follows your mother's maternal haplotype is available at FTDNA and 23andMe... both males and females can do the mtDNA test.  Again, if you're not interested in using the test for genealogical purposes, 23andMe is fine.

23andMe is okay if you're mostly interested in health-related matters.  I found it next-to-useless for genealogy purposes, as very few people provide information on their lineages, e.g., family surnames, and most people find the website cumbersome to navigate.  In addition, 23andMe doesn't test as many SNP locations as does FTDNA and Ancestry's tests.

FTDNA's Family Finder test will test the autosomal DNA from both of your parents.  You'll receive your ethnicity percentages (which are given with Ancestry and 23andMe, as well), as well as a list of DNA matches.  The nice thing about FTDNA is that you're able to do ICW (in common with ) comparisons — for example, I can see if one of my DNA matches is also matching my mom.  If not, then I know that person's common ancestry with me is on my dad's side of the house.  The drawback on FTDNA is that most people do not attach a family tree or list of surnames — but the ICW capability makes it easier to determine which line it might be from.  FTDNA and the N has the best reputation and has the largest pool of results for comparison.

Ancestry is okay if you're not interested in either the Y-DNA or mtDNA haplotypes.  The advantage with Ancestry is that many of your matches will have already attached their family tree to their test.  That makes it especially nice for genealogical research, though one needs to understand that many trees are inaccurate.  But finding common surnames will definitely put you on the right track.

I've done my DNA test at 23andMe, Ancestry, and FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA).  I got similar (but not exactly the same) results on all three.  My mom did hers at FTDNA and Ancestry.  My brother did his with National Geographic's Geno.2 test, and at FTDNA and Ancestry.  For my relatives where I wanted to find the Y-DNA or mtDNA haplotypes, I had them do the appropriate test at FTDNA.  For those relatives whose Y-DNA and mtDNA were not related to any of my lines, I've had them do the Ancestry test (usually at the $89 sale price), then uploaded their data to the Family Finder test at FTDNA for $39 to get the benefits of the ICW feature.  (Ancestry does have limited ICW feature, but it only works with closely related matches)

clear as mud?

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

DNA ethnicity results can vary from sibling to sibling.  It all depends on which DNA segments get passed from parents to child.  Here's a look at my DNA ethnicity, compared to my brother (yes, he's my full brother, not a step-brother).

My ethnicity is on the left, brother's is on the left, and mom's on the bottom.  Brother's is definitely most interesting!  What it means, though, is that I inherited more of the Swiss, French, and German DNA, and he inherited more of the British, Czech, and Jewish DNA.  So, while we get some DNA matches in common, many of the matches are different.  By comparing to my mom's, we can see that the British and Czech come from my father's side, while most of the Swiss and German comes from my Mom's side.  We have Jewish ancestry on both my mom's and dad's sides. 

    

[Guest Jessica]

I also tried ancestry testing and found out that I'm 37% Iberian and 42% Eastern European. Now I've got such an interesting countries to travel. I've tried this service https://dnasu.com/ They are very quickly. We had lived in NY, some time ago we moved to California. I was wondering about traveling across Europe. I'm sure I'll do it soon)

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

unless you need the DNA testing done for a legal reason, there's really no point in paying $139-$199 that DNA Services Unlimited charges.  In addition, if the testing is done primarily for genealogical purposes, their test is not going to match you up with others who have done the test to find common ancestry.

[whbae]

Elizabeth Warren claims that she is part Indian.  Some says she is lying to take advantage of minority privilege in her work.

Some suggested she should have DNA tested.  The geneticist came up saying DNA testing is not accurate in tracing one's ancestry .

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

DNA testing isn't necessarily going to give all of the ethnicities that are in someone's ancestry because with every generation some ethnicities can get less and less (or some can theoretically stay the same).  My 7th great grandmother was from the Lenni Lenape tribe of the Delaware Indians.  If exactly half of her ethnicity was handed down through the generations to me, my DNA would show only 1/512 or 0.19%.  But because of the random way DNA works, it might be more or it might be less, or it might not even be present in a 7th great grandchild's ethnicity.  

DNA testing *is* accurate.  It's just that all of the ethnicities of a person's ancestors may not be present in a particular descendant's DNA.

[Russell Linda]

You can do it by yourself at home if you don't want go outside the home. For that you must have accurate DAN testing kit that can give perfect result. This type of DNA kits are available on amazon. Get best deal for dna testing for ethnicity. 
 

[Gregory Matthews]

Pam is correct in pointing out that different companies have different objectives for their testing.  E.G.  23 & Me focuses more, as she says, on health related issues than on ancestry.

Further, again as Pam suggests,  due to the way that sperm and eggs divide and unite to produce a child, different related persons may result in different ancestry results.

[Tom Wetmore]

I have now done the Ancestry DNA test and my ethnicity estimate is 46% Great Britain, 38% Europe West, 10% Ireland. Trace regions are  3% Scandinavia, < 1% Iberian Peninsula, < 1% Italy/Greece, and <1% Africa North.  

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

Interesting!

My ethnicity varies depending on which test I look at.  Ancestry's test showed:

Great Britain  59% 

Europe West  19% 

Italy/Greece  9% 

Scandinavia  3%

Iberian Peninsula  3%

Europe East  2%

Middle East  2%

European Jewish 1%

Ireland 1%

Native American 1%

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

11 hours ago, Tom Wetmore said:

I have now done the Ancestry DNA test and my ethnicity estimate is 46% Great Britain, 38% Europe West, 10% Ireland. Trace regions are  3% Scandinavia, < 1% Iberian Peninsula, < 1% Italy/Greece, and <1% Africa North.  

Tom, can you figure out which of your ancestors might correlate to the different ethnicities?

[Tom Wetmore]

 Getting to the other side of the Atlantic in my family requires a long reach since lines on both sides go back in New England to the 1600s. The mostly Great Britain traces through both my paternal and maternal lines. (A lot of English names in the tree.) My maternal lines trace back to 10 people on the Mayflower all of which have English surnames. The Wetmore name comes from the English "Whitmore" line, one family of which came to New England area in 1635. The Whitmore lines go back to the southeastern part of Great Britain to an area that was settled after the Norman invasion.  The Whitmore Manor that dates to at least that period, perhaps even earlier, is still occupied by descendants  of the Normans that apparently were given (or took) land there, the earliest of which was Sir John de Botrell from Normandy. It appears that for perhaps at least 4 generations they had property on both side of the English Channel. I am not sure about the Irish roots yet.  My paternal great-grandmother's maiden name was Keeler which is also English. The Keeler line also goes back to the 1600s in New England.

My paternal grandmother's maiden name was Jack (Scottish/English) And her mother's maiden name was Mosher which has French origins, Burgundy area I believe.  My paternal 3rd great-grandmother's maiden name was Duranda, one of the few surnames that doesn't appear to be English. I haven't as yet precisely identified its origin or been able to trace her line back very far yet. 

I need to acquire all my brother's much more extensive genealogy of both sides.  My efforts in this are really just getting started.

 

[irenerheflin]

Thanks for sharing. It may be helpful to someone.

[Kevin H]

Here is mine from a while back on Ancestry.com:

Scandinavian 56%

Great Brittan (English) 12%

Western European (the countries of Germany, Holland, Belgium, Luxemburg, or France) 10%

Italy or Greece 9%

Ireland 8%

Eastern Europe 2%

Finland/northwestern Russia 2%

Spanish/Portugal 1%

My mom also had less than 1% Polynesian which did not make mine. 

[phkrause]

Here's an interesting interview on NPR with Adam Rutherford, a Geneticist, I thought I'd share!

Where Do We Come From?

https://the1a.org/shows/2017-10-18/where-do-we-come-from