DNA testing, positive experience ?

[oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends]

I'm thinking of having my DNA tested, mainly because I'm doing my family tree.
Well, more of a bonsai on my DM's side.

I've read a lot of negative stories about the outcomes, families thrown into disarray, unknown relatives appearing, etc
Anyone had results that are not bad ? Just interesting, or even good?

My SIL found out her 'father' was not her father and has found a whole new lovely family. My DH's father was a complete arsehole and treated the family very badly (he tried to pash my mother at our wedding, creep).

It's been a good outcome for her and her half-siblings. DH is still making up his mind as to whether he wants to test or not. He'd be delighted if it turned out someone else was his bio father but less thrilled to have it confirmed otherwise.

My results were mostly boringly predictable. It was interesting to know I had 4% German on my mum's side and I remember my mum telling me her father suspected his mother was Jewish but didn't tell anyone. Otherwise I didn't find any secret relatives or DNA anomalies. It was worth doing when the box was half price at Christmas just out of curiosity.

I think it depends what you want and what your prepared to deal with.
My parent and siblings did it to help build their family tree (they inadvertently found a half sibling). They seem to deal with that differently.
Have a listen to the gift on bbc sounds thay gives lots of outcomes (ive not finished listening yet but have already heard some varying outcomes).

I did because I’m mixed heritage and also because I wanted to see if I inherited anything medical (23andMe test for higher likelihood of any illnesses). I haven’t had any surprises; no secret relatives. I found my results really interesting.
As above, I think it depends what you want out of it.

Mine were just interesting although I have found one secret relative, but we haven’t worked out how he is related. It looks as though my grans sister may have had a baby and given him up for adoption and the secret relative is his son

a lot more Irish than I expected and my mums gg grandad was black which I didn’t know so it worked out I’m 6% west African (having looked at photos of mum, grandad etc it’s now very obvious)

You hear about shocking stories because that's what people generally talk about. You don't hear from the vast majority who find that their family are exactly who they thought they were.

My DNA had no suprise revelations but it did put me in touch with some distant relatives.

I did the DNA test and it was really helpful in sorting out some of the dead ends ( due to illegitimacy) in my family tree. My ggGM was illegitimate and brought up as her DMs sister but with DNA I was able to link with descendants from her stepfathers family confirming that her DM eventually married her DF but not before they had 4 children illegitimately. I think the link was via her DF’s brother so couldn’t be through maternal DNA.

With DNA you work in reverse to find common ancestors. There is a film about a geneticist who used it to to solve a cold case, set in Sweden it’s called “The Breakthrough” and explains how DNA is used to track families forward from a common ancestor. Netflix may still be screening it. It helped me understand the process.

The only revelation I found was a second cousin I didn’t know I had. I knew that my DMs cousin had had a teenage pregnancy and had had the baby adopted. I had a very vague memory of visiting the cousin with my DM and my DM explaining about the baby. But DNA threw up another second cousin ( same mother as the first) born the same year as me. Neither of my uncles knew about the first baby but were aware of the second. The two half brothers discovered each other some years ago and made the papers. I would never have made the connection with the family though.

The adoptions were forced by the family, it was the 1960s, I have a suspicion that she had a third baby because I would have been under 2 when the second was born but my memory of it is quite clear. It explains why the cousin was often quite cold around us. Her two sons would have been the same age as my DSis and I. It must have been hard watching us growing up.

I think you have to be prepared for some surprises and that it may not resolve any mysteries. But as more people add their DNA to the databank you find more distant relatives.

I had no idea that one branch of my DFs family had moved from the midlands to the north west. I now have a few matches popping up fairly local to where I now live in the midlands. And on a visit to Liverpool I was able to visit the church where my gggGPs were married.

My DH, on the other hand, can stand on our doorstep and be within 5 miles of 6 generations of his family. He is from a farming family that can be traced back to the 16th century and has an unusual surname so easy to research. He is related to lots of people locally though.

As per PPs, no surprises for me (our skeletons were already out of the closet) and it's been helpful for putting more branches on my tree.

In terms of research, do make sure you can document the relationship. A DNA match is only one half of the story. f you're using Ancestry be careful of Thrulines, it's often wrong (because it's reflecting back who
other people think g-g-g-grandad is and they are wrong). Don't copy people's trees without checking the evidence trail, there are too many errors.

Surprise relative for me. V high percentage of dna in common. Big shock

@oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends There is a Genealogy board on MN, so if you have any questions about fighting your way through brick walls in your regular family tree searches, you could ask on there. Loads of people compile their family trees without resorting to DNA testing and it could be that the answers you need are in records somewhere already.

I was incredibly pissed off to find out my father wasnt my father. Its destroyed the whole family and the trust has gone. .
my new half siblings are also pissed off and want nothing to do with me.
All I was doing was researching the family tree.

We were surprised to find DH had a half sister, sadly deceased, but it was not something we were aware of at all. I, on the other hand, thought I might have some half siblings but nothing came up so either I don't (my dad never let facts get in the way of a good story 🤣🤣🤣) or they just haven't tested.

I did my genealogy on one of the main sites. A year later a girl contacted me asking if I was related to a distance family relative. I asked about. Turns out she was the birth daughter of distant relative who did not know a thing about her. Put them in touch. She now has a brilliant relationship with dad, stepmum and two brothers.
u can’t fight DNA. It will either make or break u but it is a dead cert.

I've had mine done , and dna,matches on both sides of my parents so no skeletons there.
I was an only child and my parents did not come from big families but it has been nice to see I have lots of matches as 2nd cousins .
it is also very interesting so find out the history of your past .side
I found out things that are very interesting about my mum's side that she would have never known about and would be shocked had she still been alive .

Thanks everyone, I'm still mulling it over.