Has anyone done a Ancestry DNA test??

[loopylass13]

Has anyone done a Ancestry DNA test?? How did it go? Did you get any answers in terms of relatives? Whether close and distant etc. Please tell me your experiences.

I am debating whether to do a test myself. One question - wondering if females can only trace the mother line and if males can only trace the father line, or whether the test links to all family no matter the gender?

Thank you x

Yes, took the 23&me test. Needed to buy one for my brother too to trace my father’s side as I do not carry his Y chromosome. It was interesting.

Following as I really want to do this too

I've had mine done. I already have an extensive family tree though. It linked me to cousin's I knew about so know that it was somewhat Accurate. My heritage is pretty much what I thought. Mainly English with a drop of Irish. Nothing out the ordinary. Tbh it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know.

I've wondered about this too. Presume it involves genes from mother and father too?

I did the 23&Me one and had the health information done too. It was okay. Didn't discover anything useful. My ancestry was pretty much as I predicted. It's only value is curiosity tbh.

I have! Ancestry is good as they have the largest pool of UK users (I’m very into genealogy and have tested with all the main companies to get as many matches as possible, I’ve found the most by far on Ancestry).

Anyone can do a DNA test, you will get matches from both sides as you have half the DNA of each of your parents. There are other DNA tests less commonly used - YDNA can just be taken by a man and looks at the paternal line and mitochondrial DNA can be taken by anyone and just looks at the maternal line.

So if you weren’t sure of your ethnic origin would this help ?

I did Ancestry DNA kit and then uploaded my results to MyHeritage DNA. A year later I gave my parents MyHeritage kits, and as soon as the results were analysed it connected us and directly identified them as my parents.

Yes, my sister and I did one. We had a strong background on our paternal side as had two cousins very interested in genealogy. We also had an excellent background on our maternal grandfathers side as one of his brothers had spent his retirement tracing our family tree. The only blank was our maternal grandmother, who had become separated from her father in a refugee camp post WW2. The DNA test hasn’t helped us find her family, although the research we’ve done using Ancestry has helped.
What the DNA test did do was deliver us a surprise cousin; my Dads sister has adopted out her fourth child, and my Aunt has since died. She had actually contacted my Dad a few months earlier but my Dad thought she was a scammer if the ‘African prince with 100M’ variety. She’s now slowly getting to know everyone.
I’m still holding out hope that my maternal great grandfather survived and eventually I’ll find out he found peace and a form of happiness. I hope that my DNA test helps that process.

Do you need to do a male relative as well then? To trace the Y-chromosome - I didn’t realise that?

Would it be helpful to try and give a clue about a completely unknown Grandparent? My Grandma was an unmarried Mum (WW2) and never told anyone who the father was, so we have absolutely no idea at all (she died 20 years ago now) and so that branch of the family tree is completely empty. Have always been curious that he may have been an American GI or something like that - would this give me a clue to that do you think?

Do you want this business to have your DNA?

I have used the My Heritage test at a cousin's request. There was a shadowy tale about a grandparent and the DNA proved what my mother had always suspected. That grandpa, her father, who abandoned his wife and children after WW1 to live with the 20 years younger floozy he'd met, had been conned by said floozy and the twins she was expecting were fathered by someone else. So, not cousins after all! I say this because you need to be prepared to find some things you may not expect. But do it, its jnteresting, yes it will give ethnic identifiers too.

Do think about potential ramifications for your wider family before uploading DNA test results to public sites.

My dad was a sperm donor when they were under an obstetrician who did a lot of early fertility research (pre-IVF days); my parents were always assured no records were kept and their agreement was under those terms.

I was tracked down by a half-sibling who had found us via the DNA results of an aunt - my dad was long estranged from his immediate family when he died a few years ago. Links made in this manner are potentially very problematic.

My point is, that decisions you make about your personal data, when that data is DNA, are being made on behalf of people you are related to as well. So consider carefully what your goals are, why you want to do the test, to what use you will put the information, before actually going ahead.

Finding the responses quite interesting, I will be wary of opening up some can of worms before going a head - there could be a secret love child or two, rumours of infidelity etc. Are there any age restrictions on the test? I did do a DNA ten years ago for a project but it was the mother line and it wasn't about connecting relatives at all. It was finding original roots, where ancestors once came from etc. So technically my DNA is already out there.

Personally I can't believe people are so casual about voluntarily giving their DNA samples to these companies. And paying for the privilege! They could do anything with this kind of data. What does the small print say?

I had mine done out of curiosity and the results were really unexpected.

One parent is from another country, I was brought up with 2 languages so I was expecting results to show around 50% from that country but its come back as 20%.
I feel odd about it, I thought I was half something and this says I'm only a fifth, but 48% Irish/Scottish when no one ever mentioned such a link.
Have I stumbled across a huge secret. Bollocks, I just don't know and wish I hadn't taken it.

Linked me to the some distant cousins though so that's nice.

I didn't mean that another language has any bearing on results, just meant it as a reiteration that they are definitely from there, it's not them saying "oh apparently my ancestors are from X".

I did My Heritage. I’m more Scandinavian than I am English. Would that be for Viking reasons?

I looked at doing this but was put off by the fact that you agree to allow the company to keep and store details of your DNA.

I don't feel comfortable about this at all so didn't go ahead.

I don't think these tests are that accurate for ethnicity at all. We shall see. Just got DD done. I'm looking for relatives (I don't care about ethnicity). Any scandals uncovered would be interesting not upsetting.

I’m adopted and did the Ancestry one. I was able to identify both of my birth parents via cousin matches and extensive tree building - it’s an amazing tool for us adoptees.

Most of my family have done one now and they have been completely accurate, matching siblings and differentiating between half siblings etc.
Part of the family even had some scandal as well as a lovely surprise, so it can certainly stir up some stuff!

www.medicaldaily.com/dna-ancestry-tests-are-meaningless-your-historical-genealogy-search-244586

Got my results back from Ancestry.com on Christmas Day. They weren’t surprising but I got a list with over 1000 matches 4th cousins through to a few 2nd cousins . I got a message from a man in Australia this morning saying he was interested in trying to find out how we are related. I haven’t made a family tree and have no idea what to do from here though and think you have to take out an Ancestry membership to use the site more usefully. I reckon though if there are a 1000+ possible cousins then far more of my family managed to get out of Eastern Europe before the Jewish population were ethnically cleansed than I believed which is a comforting thought.

I don't understand. You have more than 1000 potential cousins? Doesn't sound particularly accurate! Have your aunts and uncles done it as well? Otherwise I don't understand how they'd know this.