DNA test from ancestry.com? (1 Viewer)

[Druss]

Anyone here ever done it? I'm thinking about doing it just to see where my blood line / lines comes from. I'm adopted, I know my real mom but have no idea about my real dad or his family history. I know on my moms side my grandfathers family came from Ireland but thats all I know. I'm not looking to connect with anyone I just want a ethnicity / genealogy test done to see what part of the world my blood came from.

 

[Det. Brees]

about years ago there was a thread about this. I have some friends and family that did this for a study that was being done. Some found it interesting some said it was not accurate. I vote for the interested aspect of it.

 

[Druss]

How would they know if it was accurate I wonder.
I'm huge pre-gunpowder history nerd. I was given a box of Conan comics when I was younger and I've been interested in medieval times ever since. I went from those comics to books and still read fictional and non fictional books from the Renaissance era back to Stonehenge. There, the truth is out I'm a nerd and I want to know what kind of sword my hands were designed for

 

[Brock Meaux]

I had it done a few years ago. It was sort of interesting. Found out that we came from a group known as the Stonemasons from the northern Balkans, so-called because they crafted tools and ornaments from stone. It then went on to tell me a little bit about them. Like I said, it was interesting, but I don't know if it was worth the price (I can't remember the number, but for some reason $100 sticks in my mind).

 

[Druss]

Yeah, it's like 90 something. Did it have time period? This is very interesting to me, my wife, not so much but I'm going to do it unless I find out it's B.S or something before I order the kit.

 

[Homebrew11]

Call me crazy and paranoid but i believe that these ancestry DNA tests are just another way for the government to get out DNA.

 

[livefromDC]

How would they know if it was accurate I wonder.

Because it's science which to some people, means that it's really just an opinion. So if the results say that you're just Irish and Eastern European and NOT "part Indian" like grandma claimed, clearly it's inaccurate. Or if you find out that 17% of your DNA matches that of people descendant from Western Africa, clearly it's wrong. There's a feel to it. You just shrug and say, "well, that's not right." This genetic science stuff is just a guess.

 

[Brock Meaux]

I sent you a PM, Druss.

 

[St.Fury]

My biggest concern is who has access to that information when my text is completed.

 

[Severum]

I've done Ancestry, 23andMe, and exported autosomal analysis with FamilyTreeDNA. All have varied ethnicity estimates that are roughly in line with what I know from supposed ancestry records (all but one line dated prior to 1800 or to origin country).

AncestryDNA:
36% Ireland
30% Europe West (France, Germany, surrounding countries)
27% Great Britain
2% Scandinavia
2% Italy/Greece
1% Iberian Peninsula
<1% European Jewish
<1% Africa North

These certainly aren't exact since my mother's AncestryDNA test had 2% Native American (unknown ancestry) and father's test had 15% Italian (in line with supposed ancestry).

23andMe:
47.7% British and Irish
23.8% Broadly Northwestern European
20.2% French and German
2.6% Scandinavian
1.9% Broadly Southern European
1.8% Broadly Eropean
0.7% Eastern Eropean
0.6% Iberian
0.2% Native American
0.2% Broadly East Asian and Native American
0.1% Broadly East Asian
<0.1% Yakut

4% Neanderthal, 303 variants, greater than 86% of users

Maternal haplogroup >38,000 years old originated in Near East/Europe

Paternal haplogroup 17,000 years old originated in Europe/Northern Ireland

FamilyTreeDNA:
36% British Isles
34% Scandinavia
23% Western and Central Europe
7% Ashkenazi Diaspora

Sites like Promethease are useful for analyzing health data from your exported DNA test data.

You will very likely find cousins (or possibly closer) from your father's family on Ancestry and FamilyTreeDNA. I have multiple 2nd and 3rd cousin matches including some that I already know/knew of (plus parent matches at Ancestry).

 

[mt15]

I did the ancestry one. It was good at finding cousins (removed) that I didn't know about. The other surprise was finding a fair amount of DNA from Scandinavia. I was pretty sure it would come back almost all from Germany as both parents are from there ( my dad was born there and my mom's grandparents came from there on both sides). I had over 30% DNA from Scandinavia, IIRC.

 

[Deacon Blues]

If you saw me you'd agree that I am descended from white people, somewhere

 

[crosswatt]

There is a backstory that Ancestry was founded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for the purpose of collecting data on as many people as possible to perform posthumous baptisms on them. I have no idea if it&#8217;s accurate or not, but it is out there.

If you are bothered by the thought of being added to a church whose teachings you don&#8217;t wholly agree with, then I&#8217;d look into that story it more. If you like the idea of an eternal safety net in case your chosen faith proves to have been incorrect, then you have that going for you&#8230;. You know&#8230;. Which is nice.

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Call me crazy and paranoid but i believe that these ancestry DNA tests are just another way for the government to get out DNA.

Not sure if it's the government, or just the companies themselves looking to make money off our info by selling to marketers.. Or if the info they collect can eventually be used against you in re to medical insurance, etc-- But I do think there's some validity to this fear, which is why I canceled my 23andme order a couple weeks ago after receiving the vial to spit in and everything.. The research I did just made me nervous, which is why I returned it.. It's a shame, since I was really looking forward to the results.. If I can get more information down the road that makes me a little more confident in the privacy (if such a thing even exists anymore-- God I sound so old) then maybe I'll reorder.

 

[Rickboy]

Because it's science which to some people, means that it's really just an opinion. So if the results say that you're just Irish and Eastern European and NOT "part Indian" like grandma claimed, clearly it's inaccurate. Or if you find out that 17% of your DNA matches that of people descendant from Western Africa, clearly it's wrong. There's a feel to it. You just shrug and say, "well, that's not right." This genetic science stuff is just a guess.

I don't think his comment was about the science but whether they are reputable and not just making stuff up.

There is a backstory that Ancestry was founded by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints for the purpose of collecting data on as many people as possible to perform posthumous baptisms on them. I have no idea if it’s accurate or not, but it is out there.

If you are bothered by the thought of being added to a church whose teachings you don’t wholly agree with, then I’d look into that story it more. If you like the idea of an eternal safety net in case your chosen faith proves to have been incorrect, then you have that going for you…. You know…. Which is nice.

It was founded by people that are members of the LDS but not the LDS itself. These guys had these large ancestory databases and they simply decided to make a buck on it. LDS members work pretty hard to trace back their heritage for the reasons given in your second paragraph but I don't think that is the purpose of the business. Frankly it doesn't matter to me anyways.