Ancestry DNA test

[littlebillie]

Has anyone tried this, I hear it's quite interesting

I’m with Ancestry, as is my dad. They stated conclusively that he is my father. Good-oh. The relief on his face ... And his heritage is, as we always thought, Irish, but they’ve been able to pinpoint that by DNA to Roscommon. Through Ancestry searches, we’ve found xgreats from all over Ireland and in the U.K. from Devon and Somerset up to Cumbria. Despite my being a proud Lancashire lass, the majority of my non-Irish ancestors are from Yorkshire. It’s fun. I like to know.

I found that my dads estranged older brother fathered another child, now a teenager. She contacted me on Ancestry after DNA testing. I’m 45 and she’s 18 and we look very alike.

Both my parents have done it and so has DS - weird choice of Christmas present, a DNA test

I haven't done it because I don't see the point, I will be a mix of my parents, and DS had found DNA matches on all sides of the family. We regret not getting DH to do it before he died though.

I did my mum's last year and so glad I did. It was part of a quest to find an uncle that emigrated to Australia before she was born. We didn't find any of his descendants unfortunately but we found lots of distant cousins all over the globe, fascinating stuff. She is 100% Irish which I thought was odd, but we can trace her family back a long way in Ireland so perhaps that's accurate. I just wish I had had the opportunity to do my dad's too, but he has been dead a long time.

I did mine with ancestry and it is really interesting, especially when it is updated, as mine has been a couple of times. I was intrigued to find it said a small percentage was European, when as far as I could find, all my ancestors were Scottish, which is what I expected. Then it kicked up my cousin, who I haven't seen since since I was a child and she told me that our great-great grandparents were Romanies from Germany and Belgium who came to the UK and adopted British names. Then it all made sense. I am meeting with her this week to delve into this even further.

I was prepared for skeletons to come out of the closet, but they haven't. I have learned a lot about my relatives and am in contact with 3rd cousins that I never knew existed, because I knew nothing about my dad's side of the family. If you are really prepared to learn about dark family secrets, then it is great. If you are unsure, then don't do it. I opted not to do the 23andme on because I know I have dreadful family health issues on both sides, so don't need to become even more depressed about that.

@barryfromclareisfit we could be related haha. Mine pinpointed me to Connaught, in particular Castlerea. When I have a look on the Irish Surnames website the place is absolutely teaming with people with my very unusual maiden name.

My next step is to take a trip to Galway I think. I won't learn anything from it historically but it would be lovely to see where I apparently originated from.

Is there any value in doing it but not tying it in online? I'd love to get my elderly Dad a test but he is not online.

sluj, could you set up an account in his name?

I have an Ancestry account but he has no computer and doesn't live near to me. Ideally I'd like some kind of print out or written result for him. Is that possible or is most of the value to be found in online connections?
Thank you

Sluj my mum is in her 90s, I manage her account. I did a print out of her DNA results and gave it to her. When I visit her I access the account on my phone so I can read out any interesting connections or messages to her. I have done a family tree on ancestry and she has been able to give me names or places here and there to fill it out. I am so glad I did it, she won't be around forever and I don't want all her family knowledge and memories to go with her when she passes.

Thank you Nosun, which company did you use? Did they not provide anything in written format at all?

I used Ancestry. No nothing in writing, but I suppose you can print off whatever you want. I did a free trial with them too, it's helpful if you want to link in with people who share your DNA, add them to your tree etc.

Someone wrote above (near the beginning of the thread) that siblings' tests may be different.
How can that be? If you have the same parents?

I have it. I’m looking for my mother’s father so actually it would be wonderful if more people did it! It is very accurate I think as it matched me with a half first cousin on my Dad’s side as well as more distant relatives.

Need ones DNA can be spectacular ly different in siblings as they can get % from different family strings. My DCs hardly look alike but interestingly have the same jaw line but not the same teeth. My DH and his DB nearly have a foot difference in height between them so I think the make up can sometimes mostly erase some DNA or render it latent. I imagine that's why sometime genetic illness doesn't always appear in siblings.

You get 50% of each parent but not the same 50% so each child will be a different mix genetically but have the same family history. This is why my DM had Norway turn up in her result and I had absolutely none according to ancestry. However GEDmatch did show it a little so that was nice to see because I wanted that result. My brother will definitely have more of it than me, he is very Scandi looking where as I look completely Irish. Very dark with very white freckly skin.

My own son is very light blonde with blue eyes and my DH is Turkish so the blonde genes are definitely in there!