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.

You sound a nasty piece of work

Has anyone ever sent in a. did saliva sample as a. joke and got an ancestry chart back?

You have to buy the kit and be registered online and have that kits unique number entered on the account. The tube it goes off in is provided by the DNA company and has that identifying number on. They arent going to accept a random pot of spit turning up!

I did it, lots of half cousins who I’d never heard of popped up on my matches. Turns out the man I thought was my grandad isn’t my grandad. Grandma had been a bit naughty! Some very interesting ancestors on my new family tree to say the least. My great great grandfather had something like 16 kids by at least 4 different women inc the 16yo sister of his first wife! One of my uncles kidnapped a Duchess back in the 60s/70s, found The Times story cutting about that.

It's hardly many! It's a small percentage of people that do it that find out things like that! Comments like yours are just scaremongering, because you are making people think that there's a high chance that their dad wasn't or isn't their dad and so your scare tactics will push more people to take DNA tests! It isn't many and you should never say it is.

Name one incident where any DNA has been hacked and sold! It doesn't happen, what are imagining they do with that DNA because it won't be stored with all your details attached to it? DNA samples is valueless to a thief because they don't know how to read it or analyse it and even then it won't tell them who you are or anything about you! Are you against rapists and murderers getting caught being as you are being tin foil about people giving DNA samples! Hpw awful of you to propagate such a daft and dangerous conspiracy! You are also telling rape victims not to to get swabbed!

Because it was a massive stigma back then to be unwed and have a child, they would have had no choice but to give that child up because they were young, not married and there was a war on.

I think people certain eras have to be aware that there were known societal issues back then, similar for Irish people of certain eras, thanks to Catholicism and convents many many babies were removed from their mother's.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-67624182

Not DNA but the records.

But that's not a reason to single out DNA companies like that post did! We live in era where we have to put our personal details into hundreds if different things and thats a risk across the board, it doesn't warrant the extreme scaremongering about giving DNA which is going to be harmful to catching criminals! Banks get hacked, airlines get hacked, all sorts of retailers or service providers get hacked! Calling people a fool to have DNA done was a moronic post and harmful to police investigations!

I did mine. I was a bit disappointed not to find any unexpected relatives, my grandpa was a known philanderer and my late Dad was an only child. I was hoping for a new aunt or uncle late in life!

I have enjoyed the Ancestry family tree functionality, it’s been really easy to link my tree with others and see photos and docs they'd already unearthed. Most of what I have found out has been unrelated to the DNA and more just old fashioned research. The hints system is great.

I learned age 50 that a boy in my class all through primary was my second cousin i.e. we had the same great-grandad. We chatted online about it and agreed we’d have loved to have known that fact when we were kids.

Yes you guessed the correct city! However they left in the early 1870s as it transitioned from Polish rule to the Russian Empire.

They seemed to live in different parts of the UK until finally settling in my home city.

Im surprised the OP hasn't met people in RL who have found stuff out.
So far our elderly neighbour found out he has a son from a one night stand that he never knew about and has since met.
A good friend found out their cousin is in fact their half sister. This has sent shockwaves throughout the family.
Another friend discovered a full brother, that was adopted a year before he was born. That he knew nothing of. They had Christmas together.
Another friend got it for her Mum and Aunt for her mum's birthday. They discovered they are half siblings, and it has really upset them.
I think there are a couple more but these are the ones that I can remember.

I know 5 or 6 people who have tested and found nothing exciting out so I don't think it's that surprising. They've all been about 90% Welsh as expected with no hidden relatives, I must just live in a less dramatic part of the world!

No love, I’m not ‘telling rape victims’ not to get swabbed by the professional authorities. I’m suggesting idiots don’t willingly submit the most personal data there is in existence to a for-profit company with no real safeguarding.

DNA doesn’t change. Yours is now out there in the ether forever. Yet the world changes, sometimes in bad ways. It’s not beyond probability that a racist party could get into power and demand they use that DNA to ‘send home’ those they deem non British. Just imagine if Thousands of people’s DNA had been available to Hitler….

oh and on your other question, here you go.

”Following a major data breach at 23andMe in 2023, hackers offered "specially curated lists" of genetic data for sale on the dark web. These lists specifically targeted users of Ashkenazi Jewish and Chinese heritage, with at least one million data profiles being auctioned on hacking forums”

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23andMe_data_leak

As said data breaches are an issue across the board so the "you'd be fool to" statement is invalid unless everybody is a fool to do any little thing in life including have a job or claim benefits because that again requires your name and details being on systems! There is no extra threat to DNA companies, it's every single company and organisation that you could sit there and name.

Reform will never ever have access to DNA or be able to force everyone to give DNA for purely racist purposes! DNA samples will not tell anyone where and when a person was born or even where or when parents were born, they are not a birth certificate and could never be used to deport anyone!

Adoptee here and the child of an adoptee - I am grateful to Ancestry for what it has enabled me to learn about my family.

I have been both a person seeking family and a person 'sought', if that makes sense. I'm on all the sites.

But OP @Arlanymor - gently, there is a reason why people advise caution on this. If you think people are bonkers on this thread, just wait until you encounter some of the genealogy types who basically treat their trees as sacrosanct legal records rather than a hobby. Nothing matters more than their CORRECT DETAILS, not someone's personal relationships or their privacy. It's THEIR TREE, and their absolute right, yada yada.

People seeking information about themselves or their relatives can be very determined (understandably) in pursuit of 'their truth.'

You may find that how you feel about your own privacy shifts over time.

I think you are being a little naive about the possibilities of an unexpected result. It might not be about you but someone close to you, this is often how people have to get answers esp in the UK where fewer people test.

You might consider hiding your matches until you get a feel for the site and the process and what levels of comfort you have.

Good luck - it is enjoyable and I am hoping to crack a longstanding 'brick wall' for my husband.

Literally everyone who has donated blood, or added themselves to a bone marrow database could be within the group… you could add to this list if you so wished everyone who has had a blood test or smear test!

You could add to that any closely related relative who has done any of the above, and of course anyone convicted of a crime!

If as you suggest we could end up with a horrific authoritarian government, perhaps casting a vote at the ballot to stop it would be better that walking around in full forensic suits reducing the risk of shedding any DNA!

😂

Reform will never ever have access to DNA or be able to force everyone to give DNA for purely racist purposes! DNA samples will not tell anyone where and when a person was born or even where or when parents were born, they are not a birth certificate and could never be used to deport anyone!

what evidence do you have for this? It couldn’t happen right now. But at the same time, a lot that’s happening in the world now ten yrs ago we’d all have said, ‘that could never happen.’

As said data breaches are an issue across the board so the "you'd be fool to" statement is invalid unless everybody is a fool to do any little thing in life including have a job or claim benefits because that again requires your name and details being on systems! There is no extra threat to DNA companies, it's every single company and organisation that you could sit there and name.

last time I checked my company doesn’t hold my DNA. You do know this is what we’re talking about right? DNA not general details 🥴

You think that when they take a smear they’re secretly harvesting and storing your DNA?

Silly me, I thought they were looking for HPV virus

I did an ancestry DNA test as did my parents. I’m fairly sure they wouldn’t have consented if there was anything to hide. There are missing grandparents / great grandparents on both sides with no death certificate in the name we have for them so we were interested to see whether they had gone on to have second families. Not found anything DNA connections for them yet. The part I’ve really enjoyed is finding out my English and Scottish ancestors who left for the USA in the early 1900s - my Dad had some recollection of some very elderly relations coming ‘back home’ to visit in the early 1950s but he had no idea of their lineage so I’ve been able to piece that together for him

It’s about as bonkers as suggesting that your DNA profile on Ancestry etc… is stored with your details - it’s not stored, and you receive a code ( like a gift card) that you can choose to link to on the app to view the results!

This is unlike blood and smear test samples which are coded with your NHS number and directly traceable to you!

If the person I responded in my post has concerns about DNA testing for ancestry, then presumably they would also worry about every blood test / smear test where DNA containing cells are collected!

I understand blood donors have a small sample of their blood stored for about a decade!

Furthermore if we had an authoritarian government in power… they by their nature could force everyone to provide a DNA sample to access services or obtain passports / driving licenses/ pensions or benefits!

I find the scare mongering around this issue as bonkers!

Say someone ‘hacked my DNA’ what would they do with it?

Clone me?
Frame me as an assassin?