My Ancestry DNA kit arrives tomorrow...

[Arlanymor]

... I was inspired to buy one because my late uncle was really interested in genealogy and did a lot to track back his family line - this was before DNA tests were commercially available. I have often thought how interesting it would be to pick up where he left off and a random conversation with a BT engineer (!) a couple of weeks ago convinced me to do it. Obviously - and egotistically! - the starting point is me and working out what my initial results tell me. I think something like 80% Welsh, 20% English - but with some Irish chucked in for good measure - just based on knowing where great and great-great grandparents came from. If you've done it, do you have any advice on next steps? I know our family are on Ancestry and I will now have my own log in. But I am very much a novice. If it turns out I am 99% Viking I may have to talk to my parents (!) but truly I am just interested in tracking a trail back through history. I used to work in archaeology, so I've always been very interested in this area.

My advice - tell your family first. Second, listen to ‘The Gift’ podcast. There is potential to destroy lives… you’d be a fool to not acknowledge that.

And don't put too much store in the ethnicity estimates. They are a 'current best guess' and change regularly.

It doesn’t go as far back as Viking times! Maybe 8-10 generations, to the year 1700 but once you get your results you can download the raw dna file and upload it to other sites (such as mytrueancestry) that claim to provide information about your more ancient roots. 23andme tells your maternal (and paternal if you’re male) haplogroup which tells you which branch of the whole human family tree you belong to. Enjoy!

Why tell my family? I'm not doing it because I think there's a deep dark secret. How would finding out my own DNA destroy other people's lives? You can call me a fool - I think you're way over the top! If I was doing it because I thought there was a paternity/maternity issue that would be one thing. But I'm not. This is very normal, boring family stuff. If something crops up - which it won't - I am 47 and am sure I have the maturity to deal with it myself. I think it's far more foolish to suggest to everyone who ever has a DNA test to listen to a bloody podcast! I'm an adult. I don't need a podcast to tell me what to do!

Yeah I was thinking about that when I purchased it - I went for this one as the most current accurate version - but as with archaeology, we all think we know what we know until something else crops up and it turns out we don't!

That was a tongue in cheek comment of course! 23andme was the other one I considered, but I went for this one based off of the reviews. Might be interesting to get that one at a later date and cross reference. Ah thanks! I think it's just so fascinating. In lieu of becoming fabulously famous and having the BBC do it for me (Who Do You Think You Are?) I am hoping to just set some family myths to rest. My nana on my dad's side said we were related to Dic Penderyn (Richard Lewis) and on my mam's side it's all about Owain Glyndŵr... so we're rebels either way?! I imagine I am probably related to lots of miners and milkmen!

It is so fascinating and as the science improves, and testing of populations increases, the results are always being refined. I don’t understand your references but I hope you make some fun discoveries!

I was really confused trying to work out how my matches interlinked until someone mentioned the Dana Leeds method to sort and organise them. There are some good descriptions of how it works (plus videos but I prefer to read). I am also a member of a facebook group which is helpful in suggesting ways to untangled odd matches and connections. I'd recommend organising your matches first, then looking at a group.

Good luck - it is great fun and quite adictive...

To be honest, my references are pretty much domestic to Wales! I know my surname is French and came over with the conquest and was recorded in the first Doomsday Book. I am seeing my mam and dad in a few weeks (surprise dad's day visit!) and we have a massive 'olde worlde' family bible on my mam's side - including hair clippings! But nothing on my dad's and it was his brother that tracked that side back to the 1800s. Also my folks are in the Last Chance Saloon (their words!) so I think it would be really cool to give them a bit of insight into who went before. Just feels the right time to do it if that makes sense? As I say, miners and milkmen I am sure! But really quite nice just to go back beyond both of their grandparents which is as far as anyone remembers. I am sure we were very, very boring, but hey, we existed and here we are now.

That sounds fabulous, thank you! I'll look up that method once I get the results back - I too am a reader learner - stuff on a screen goes in and out the other side! Brilliant advice, I appreciate it a lot. And the more I talk about it on here the more I realise I might just be doing it for my mam and dad more than me!

seriously, listen to The Gift on BBC Sounds. The whole point about how destructive this info can be is that people think they have a “normal, boring family” and then it comes out that they don’t. And it might not come out immediately - it can trickle out later as more and more people do these tests. And just to satisfy a vague curiosity as to how Welsh you are, when really that doesn’t mean much anyway.

Because deep dark secrets come out when people do this.

Half siblings you didnt know about...
You brother isnt your brother....
Your aunt isnt your aunt...
Your mother has 2 sister she didnt know about...

Separately....
After mincing about Ancestry now acknowledge they currently anonymise the data on you that they sell to insurers but that isnt even their end game.

put it this way my friend is fairly senior there and at no time did she ever take the test or has any of her family. Our mutual friend wanted to take a test and asked her for a free one and she basically said no and advised strongly against it.

Personally you couldnt pay me to take one well you could but it would legit be £2m or so

I guess you are not Welsh, because there is nothing vague about how we relate to our culture, not one jot. Nothing I learn will make me less Welsh in my heart, DNA or otherwise. Maybe you are so fragile that a DNA result will crumble your world. Not me. If it came back that I am 0% Welsh, I am still 100% Welsh in who I am, where I live, how I conduct myself.

'Vague curiosity' - go patronise someone else Maleficent.

You DONT know there isn’t a deep dark secret - that’s kind of how secrets work.

Your choice obviously, but all the people who discover that they’re not their father’s child, or that they have a half-sibling they didn’t know about, all said what you’re saying.

I know my family better than you.

Jeeze I wouldn’t ever do this. I hope it works out okay and doesn’t go badly wrong.

It doesn’t JUST tell you what part of the world you’re from FFS - it matches your DNA to other people who have also sent their DNA off.

Yep. Everyone on ‘The Gift’ says that.

Don't swear at me - of course I know that - it's why I am doing it!

Are YOU on The Gift?

What about all of the people who aren't?!

Lol

The “vague” was about the accuracy of a dna test being able to distinguish between the geographical background of historically ethnic Brits (low).

You really have missed the point of my post.

Mincing? That's a despicable word used to describe how gay men walk. In the middle of your self-righteouness do you want to apologise or change that?

I don't give a flying doughnut about what your pretend friend said about any of this - why would I? They don't exist anyway. Two million? Lies, lies, lies....

OP, people are just being kind and warning you that DNA tests carried out for the sheer joy of it can sometimes have unforseen outcomes.

I did my DNA on Ancestry and it confirmed mostly what I knew already with a few interesting bits of new information and some connections to people I'd never met.

My cousin did hers and found out that an assumption she'd made about parentage was completely incorrect and not only that, it was the final piece in a difficult jigsaw for a complete stranger.

No need to be defensive; people are taking time to mention something which for some people has been life altering.

Yes I am the unbelievably stupid arsehole.

Let's see how that translates back through history!!!

I recently did one. Was very excited to find out about my roots and perhaps discover some distant cousins. Discovered an unknown half sibling along the way!! Not some family secret - my Father had fathered a child before he met my mother and he was unaware of the child’s existence. The mother had given them up for adoption.

Whilst most results can be mundane, it’s possible to throw up some surprises so always try and prepare for that if you can. Enjoy your ancestry journey. It can be absolutely fascinating!