Have you had your DNA tested for curiosity?

[Eggshausted]

I am watching that programme on DNA on TV where people use DNA to find relatives. I looked online and you can buy a test for £39. Have anyone else done it? Did you find stuff, like Brothers and Sisters you never knew you had? Can anybody recommend a good company to use as there seem to be loads!

Yes, I did Ancestry. My biological family is a dysfunctional nightmare and I’m NC. I half did it in the hopes of finding I can some long lost illegitimate sibling or cousin who might need normal. 😂 Sadly, no skeletons in the closet discovered. As I was already working on my genealogy, it’s confirmed I was on the right track, but also it’s been super interesting to find distant cousins in places I didn’t know they existed. I moved from my home country in my 20s and I’ve found distant family here in my new country, which is actually really interesting.

yeh, it was a boring result too. Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh and............ 13% Norwegian. That was a shock but then it's common apparently. No shocks in there.

To see if I am human?

The issue is that are handing over your DNA and your privacy. I'd love to but not at any cost.

Yes, similar to EmotionBot9to5; mostly Irish, then Welsh, English and 19% Scandinavian. I matched with a couple of other people already registered - one nephew and one cousin - no surprises there.

Yes this is what stops me too.

I'd love to have mine done.

If you decide to have it done, I suggest ancestry even though it's a bit more expensive. It has the biggest user base, so most possibility to find matches and you can export your results to upload elsewhere if you want to. DGF recently told me he had a cheaper option and they sent a questionnaire asking about wher his parents were born then coincidentally found him 50% Spanish knowing his mother was from Barcelona? I never got any facts and am 18% Spanish according to ancestry

I did and I've discovered all sorts! My dad had no named father on his birth certificate and I've narrowed that down to one of two brothers using genetic genealogy. I've also found some weird and wonderful ancestors which include a chap who lived in a cave in Cornwall because he didn't believe in rent or taxes - he was quite the celebrity - a woman whose 7 sons fought in the war and Queen Victoria was so impressed that she sent her £10 and a portrait of herself. I know most people do it for their origins but that's the least accurate part of the dna test. It's a game changer when you're doing your family tree though.

I'd be interested to do this, but I never will - you're literally paying someone so that you can give them your genomic data.

Absolutely not. It astounds me that so many people readily hand over their DNA to strangers, not only that, but they pay money to do it.

I can’t help wondering whether the people who are prepared to hand their DNA to ancestry and the like would be content to have their DNA on a government database. Because handing your DNA to a stranger is a slippery slope towards exactly that. There is no knowing what will happen to that DNA in the future.

Watch Our Father on Netflix before you do any DNA testing 😳

My son did. And he discovered my secret half-brother! That was a surprise. Son also uploaded the data from ancestry to health based DNA databases and discovered that he is a carrier of a genetic disorder that could be an issue when he has children if his partner also carries it. All in all £39 well spent!

I've done 23 and me and Ancestry. I find it so interesting and also really useful for family history research.

I did 23 and me and was not wholly unsurprised at my ancestry - 50/50 Uk and Germany but the weirdest thing was the find out that the area I live in which has years and years of our family wasn't mentioned as part of where I come from! All sorts of other places were mentioned. Definitely my DNA as I recognise some cousins but cant work out that particular result! So, for example, say I know I had gt gt grandparents in area A, areas B C and D were mentioned with no mention of A!
Can't work that out at all

DH got his back today and was surprised to have a high % of Norwegian. I'm guessing it was the Vikings coming over here.

Oooohhh so interesting id love to do it but I'm a bit of a chicken too. What sort of stuff can it tell you (I'm clueless)

DH did his. It came back as overwhelmingly English and narrowed down to a small area of the country where all his family are from.

Be careful! My cousin was contacted by a family member who did this. Some relatives had popped up who didn't seem to make sense. They are from when he was a sperm donor years ago!! He's finding children (grown up ones) all over the place.

Yes and I discovered that my estranged father was infact not my father and 50% of my DNA was from everywhere but the UK.

You will only find long lost siblings if they have also done a test as well.

I did one on Ancestry and the results were not what I expected.

I am mixed race, and both my parents were born and raised abroad. As children we were told we were half this, quarter that, on both my parents sides. Turns out both my parents ancestry claims were complete fairy tales. When I queried it with my mum she claimed the DNA results were nonsense. But from looking at the DNA of my first cousin it is clear that my mum is definitely not mixed race.

I also did the free month trial on Ancestry and the most interesting thing I found was about my maternal GGP. We were always told that they both died very young within months of each other, leaving my 18-year-old Nan to raise her much younger siblings. It turns out GGF, who was English, which was probably the origin of the mixed race claims, was not my Nan’s biological father, but possibly her SF. I found his death certificate which confirmed he died in America in the 1960s which was about 50 years after his wife died. I’m always going to wonder why my Nan created such an elaborate story, maybe it was the shame of abandonment.