Would an Ancestry subscription be a waste of money & time?

[DidNotArrive]

Hoping for some advice here, if anyone could help at all?

Backstory....a family member has previously looked at unravelling our family tree, but drew a blank on my late mother's side as her father was an immigrant from S.Africa and she never knew him nor anything about him (until after his death in the 1980s). He wasn't on one census, but suddenly appeared on the next one, aged 27. There doesn't seem to be any records relating to when or how he entered the UK.

My DH is mixed race. He was born and raised in the UK, by parents who fled two different countries in Asia as a young couple in the 1950s (their relationship would have been disapproved of, certainly on his mother's side; we are not sure about his father's family). He knows nothing about his late mother's side of the family, and there isn't any family related to her in the UK that we know of. MIL herself would never discuss any aspect of her childhood or family circumstances. We suspect that she wasn't brought up by her own parents. Old friends of his parents have also always been very cagey about the story of MIL's upbringing when asked by us.

DH and I have decided we would like to do DNA tests as we clearly should have some interesting mixes in our genes. My question is, if we buy kits from Ancestry, would taking out a membership subscription alongside be a complete waste of money and time, given the lack of knowledge on both our mothers' sides, or is there a chance we may be able to unearth something more?

This is all new to me, so I'd be grateful for any hints or advice!

I did an Ancestry test and am yet to take out a subscription, they do offer a free trial subscription which I will try when I have more time to make good use of it, and then take it from there. I too had/have gaps in my knowledge but even the free site is throwing up some interesting information which is fun to start with, links me to relatives (no one very close yet other than two cousins I already know). I think do the test, do the free trial when you have enough time to devote to using it to max advantage. You probably only need the one paid subscription if you do decide to go for it.

I know of one couple who made quite a hobby of tracing their respective families but I can't tell you anything about Ancestry.

The organisation they used was called GENUKI. I don't know if that helps.

To search records outside of the UK is more than the basic subscription but they occasionally do some discounted deals.

To answer your questions in somewhat of a reverse order:

"...if we buy kits from Ancestry, would taking out a membership subscription alongside be a complete waste of money and time"

Given what you have said about your family background, I would recommend doing a DNA test with Ancestry but, perhaps, just hold off on paying for a subscription until you get the results back.

Ancestry DNA tests usually include a three month membership for £1.

They currently have a half price offer (up until 11th August) for £49 (£39 + £10 postage)

You can also include a three month worldwide membership for £1.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/c/offers/bundle

I would suggest that you wait until you get the DNA results back before extending the three month membership.

It may turn out that you have a lot of DNA matches on Ancestry, in which case it would likely be worthwhile taking out a membership, or it may be that there aren't many and it might not be so worthwhile.

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"He knows nothing about his late mother's side of the family"

If his father, and/or your parents, are still alive then can I strongly urge you to see if your parents will do a DNA test.

The reason for saying this is that they are a generation earlier than you and so they have more DNA from earlier generations. This will help a lot in finding relatives.

Just as an example, myself and both my parents have done DNA tests on Ancestry.

My parents are in their late 80s and I am 60.

I have 24,132 DNA matches on Ancestry, these are split roughly equally between each of my parents. In contrast, my dad has 23,193 matches and my mum has 27,325 matches.

So, by going back one generation I have gone from 24,132 DNA matches to 50,518 (23,193 + 27,325) matches.

Even if I only had one parent still alive I would still have gained a lot of extra DNA matches

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"...as her father was an immigrant from S.Africa"

There are sites other than Ancestry. One in particular is MyHeritage.

MyHeritage allows you to upload a DNA test that you have done on Ancestry for free so that you don't have to do another DNA test.

The reason that I mention MyHeritage is that I found quite a few DNA matches there that are not on Ancestry. In particular, I came across a number of DNA matches from South Africa.

What I would suggest is that once you get the DNA tests back that you also upload the results to MyHeritage as that may well prove useful.

I find ancestry so addictive! So no if you have an interest it’s not a waste of money. Maybe ask for it as a birthday present/xmas present.

I haven't subscribed to anything as according to a Nun at Primary School I, (and the rest of the class) have been begatted from Adam and Eve. So I've saved my money and bought a Pope Snow Globe - and joy of joy it lights up!

Thank you for the replies - really helpful, especially the point raised by a couple of you about waiting for the results of the DNA before committing to a subscription.

As soon as pay-day arrives next week, the kits will be on order!

Thank you again, everyone.

Later on you can pause or cancel your subscription and reactivate it. Your family tree will stay on, but you won’t get the hints or see the records. We usually pay in winter when we’re not doing as many activities and do as much research as possible then.

Just as an fyi, MyHeritage have stopped allowing uploads of DNA from Ancestry as they want you to buy their kit (on offer at the moment for £29).

Oh, thanks for that. It was a few years ago that I did that so I wasn't aware of that.

@DidNotArrive also have a look on familysearch.org
It's a free site run by the Mormons (you have to register but there's no religion pushed). Ignore the shared family tree as any one can alter that and it can be a mess, but search the records there. I've found some South African ones in the past.

Only happened last year I think. It's a shame as it did widen the pool without having to take another test.

Not every country allows people to take DNA tests for 'frivolous' reasons like family history research. I don't know which Asian countries you are talking about, but they may have very low take-up of Ancestry tests because of strict laws.

Or you might be lucky, and get close helpful matches. Anything that suggests second cousin or greater allows you to identify shared great-grandparents. But many matches simply don't reply to messages. It can be a frustrating 'near but yet so far' business.