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

@Pinkginxx Jacob, Rachel and Sarah were fairly typical English 19th century names, not necessarily Jewish. Lots of people had biblical names, especially devout Christians so it wouldn't be uncommon to find names like Moses, Solomon etc, which are now unusual and mainly associated with Jewish heritage.

I would be very worried about who then owns your DNA data, what they do with it and who they could sell it to. Could it then be used to, for example, refuse you medical insurance (or, more realistically, charge you more for it) because your DNA suggests you're likely to develop certain health conditions? Could it then go on to affect your credit rating and ability to get a mortgage? What if there are data leaks and the company is hacked - who else could have access to your DNA - the very fabric of you - because, let's be honest, it's of companies have shown they're not that great with handling our private information. I would really do some homework on this and think about all the potential problems this could cause.

Since I did a DNA test with ftdna & DD's test is with ancestry (although we used a pseudonym for her), who "owns" our shared DNA?

Lots of info about me already in public domain. DNA is pretty small addition to:

My current picture, where I work, what my work expertises are
My birthdate, wedding date, mother's death date
Many places I worked in past
Many places I lived in past
Many of my opinions on twitter
when & in what I got university degrees
Who many of my past & current colleagues are
What town I live in now
What some of my hobbies & interests are (& when I took part in them)
Places I travelled to
Names, ages, residence towns of most of my close relatives (including DC < age 18)

(+ current address using electoral register if that were paid for, I guess)

I strongly suspect a Jewish ancestry but i don't see how a religion can be shown??

It shows up for a number of reasons, mostly because some groups of people remain closely related throughout generations - sharing common ancestry, remaining distinct from other groups in the same region - this is how the autosomal (whole) dna tests are able to give fairly accurate timelines of migrations. The migrations are the part I found most interesting (have done ancestry.com, 23&me, ftdna and uploaded to various other sites for comparison) especially where you can combine this movement of a wider group with your direct genealogical paper trail. 23&me can give you optional health reports relevant to Jewish ancestry, eg I have a chunk of Sephardi dna which makes me a carrier of familial Mediterranean fever - one of a few conditions mostly found in Jewish populations.

This might be useful

www.jewishgenetics.org/cjg/Sephardic-Jewish-Disorders.aspx

I love that the advert I see under this thread is for Ancestry DNA

So interesting and confusing as I’ve done extensive family tree research and would love to find out more but paranoid about what they could potentially do with my DNA in the future

I gave no thought to the privacy risks at all! Mostly wanted answers (specific - who was/is my dad, and general - where in Europe/rest of the world did he and my maternal ancestors originally migrate from to America) and I got them, fairly immediately. It’s satisfied that need to know more about who I’m from rather than where they’re from but the latter has also been an education.

Exactly the same here WhyDidIEatThat. DH was far more concerned about finding his biological father than what any company might do with his information in the future. Getting that answer was more than worth any potential privacy risk, in his opinion, and I certainly agreed. If you're not looking for such significant answers and are just mildly curious about ethnicity, etc, then perhaps it's not worth the trade off?

I’ve just done one to find out who my Grandparents are as my DM is adopted. It says ‘preparing results’ on the website, does anyone know how much longer it should take from now?

Is that ancestry.com? Ours were about 24 hours from there.

Donutcone, surely it will only be able to tell you of your biological grandparents have also had their DNA tested through this company?

You can work out biological parents from quite distant cousin matches if you know how to work the results. It takes time but it’s possible. 4th cousins will share one set of 3rd great grandparents with you, etc. Figure out the right set & look for descendants that might fit.

Yes, my DF is an only child and with DM we are pretty sure her Mother didn’t have anymore children, so if I get a 1st cousin match I should be able to work out who my Granfather is at least.

Good luck Donut, keep us posted!

Still trying to determine exactly who my maternal grandparents were but have enough matches and information (including a photo) to make a very good guess and even getting that far has helped. I was incredibly lucky to match with my dad instantly and he’d already put together an extensive detailed family tree.

Thank you. I’m hopeful that even if I can’t get a match now, eventually I will when more and more people do their own.

So please can everyone do one of their own to help poor ancestor-less people like me

You’ll definitely get some matches, the database is huge, and you can always download the raw file and put it up on GED match where people will help 😊

Are you planning on contacting unknown relatives if you find them? Just thinking that some people might not want to be found .

I’ve done it, I’ve always wanted to as I have Central European ancestry on my mum’s side. In terms of the actual dna percentages it was spot on what I thought it would be, so no surprises there, but it threw up hundreds of potential cousins. Most are fairly remotely related, but there are a few closer matches, and I’ve been in touch with a couple from my dad’s side, which is really interesting as my grandad was one of 14 so lots of potential there!

I did a month’s subscription to Ancestry.com and made a good start on my family tree but don’t have the time or money to continue right now. It’s something to do in the future.

Obviously you can do the dna test and not be bothered about doing a proper family tree, just as many people do a tree without having a dna test. However I think it’s more interesting to see how the two intersect.

some people might not want to be found

users can choose whether and how much to share if they match with others

I did mine, so did my husband and one of my children. My match came back with my daughter confirmed as my daughter (yep!). Then distant matches, none of whom I recognised the names of.

But you can't control what other family members choose to share, which may well ID you by default.

I’ve been doing my family tree for over ten years now and one line I’ve only managed to get back to my great, great grandfather then there is just a block. It’s because he has an ultra common surname and first name.

I’m doing the DNA test to see if I can find distant cousins who have worked it out.

Also I have a relative that has been missing for a long time, it’s unlikely but it would be great if she’s out there.

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