Community Chat

[Roni18]

@Laura14Careful you may be related to your man Colin!    Sorry couldn't resist!

I have done the Ancestry one.  I am big into Genealogy and it has been very helpful in that area.  I was thinking about using the company you are using for the medical information but haven't done it yet.  

[Laura14]

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@Roni18 wrote:

@Laura14Careful you may be related to your man Colin!    Sorry couldn't resist!

I have done the Ancestry one.  I am big into Genealogy and it has been very helpful in that area.  I was thinking about using the company you are using for the medical information but haven't done it yet.  

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I wasn't going to mention it @Roni18 but my family is big on islands so Australia may not be a stretch.  It was a penal colony after all and I have the pedigree for that too.  Not close enough of a relation to not lust after him though.  That's all I care about.    

[ALRATIBA]

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@Laura14 wrote:

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@ALRATIBA wrote:

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@Laura14 wrote:

@ALRATIBA  How cool!  I am expecting to be all over the place.  I know my great grandparents all emigrated from Southern Italy and Sicily but those parts have been run over by so many countries in the past I am sure I am the definition of world traveler.  

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@Laura14

If you remember from history classes ... just about all of Europe was invaded by folks from just about everywhere else. 

For centuries, various tribes moved across Europe from the East.  A friend whose grandmother was born in Italy (can't recall town, but it's on the Adriatic).  Her DNA shows up with Greek and Eastern European genes.  

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@ALRATIBA  Everyone thinks I'm Greek because of my eyebrows and my grandfather who gave me them came from Sicily so I'm expecting to find a few Greeks hanging in my tree as well.  I'm guessing my ancestors got around on the high seas....

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@Laura14

You should read about Syracuse, Sicily.  It was founded by Greeks and was a Greek City-State.  Then "conquered" by Romans.  Really interesting history.  There's a quick read at Wiki.  

My mother-in-law's parents were born in Sicily.  A couple of her brothers reminded me of "Zorba."   

My brother's wife and I spent a week in Sicily a few years ago. Her father's family is from there and we were able to visit the town they came from.  Sicily is a beautiful place!  

[BirkiLady]

@Isobel Archer @ID2  My sister and I were going through so many old generations of documents following mom's death last summer. Imagine our surprise to find out two brothers served on opposite sides in the Civil War! Thus, we are also eligible to join the DAR. My sister (from FL) is thrilled; I'm less interested. However, documents like that are fabulous finds. Probably a lot more accurate than the information posters will find by sending in money for their DNA! Now I understand my late husbands' love of geneology and am spending my free time searching ancestors in Germany. Great fun!

[Laura14]

Thank you @ALRATIBA!!  I don't know much about my Sicilian side because he died when I was very young and he was also young.  I will check it out.  

[Spurt]

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@esmeraldagooch wrote:

@Laura14   One of these companies was hacked not long ago.  People are left wondering what info was taken.    Then there is this.  https://gizmodo.com/what-dna-testing-companies-terrifying-privacy-policies-1819158337

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@esmeraldagooch

While its nice to know your ethnic ancestry and history all kinds of people seem to come out of the woodwork claiming to be long lost relatives. But with all of the fraudsters, schemers, and hackers these days how can one be sure they are legit????? While it might be nice to exchange a few comments via social media or emails, I would be very cautious about this....And people that willingly meet these folks in person--that would definitely be a NO GO for me--who know what could happen, but then there are people that are naive about all this and what info is disclosed that could be used for no good!!! 

[Spurt]

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@Laura14 wrote:

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@PINKdogWOOD wrote:

After my sis & I each decided or thought we wanted to do this testing with ancestry.com we each chose not to send in our spit in a tube.  Yes we wated $75.00 on each kit we also didn't really care.

We would love to know who we may be dna related to out there in this big bad world. There is so much more though putting our dna out there not that either of us are bad people with unknown crimes under our belts but these testing centers do put your dna out there for government departments to learn of us as well.

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@PINKdogWOOD  As far as I've been told, I am Sicilian so I live with the threat of the federal peniteniary becoming my new home every day.    LOL

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@Laura14

Laura I understand perfectly ....with my paternal grandmother being Russian, my family is scared to death of being called to be grilled before the current FBI investigation team or a Congressional Hearing....My maternal grandmother is Italian, so maybe being part of 'the mafia' was always a concern...  

[Laura14]

@Spurt  I never knew my great grandfather but he was a concrete man for the city of Philadelphia.  As far as I know no one was ever put in the cement but the man had 18 kids, mostly girls.  I'm sure it didn't take much to set him off.    

[Spurt]

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@esmeraldagooch wrote:

As a adopted person I have wondered about talking these tests, but decided against it.  If they show others that you are related, perhaps I am either not wanted to be found or will hurt others that I exist.   Staying in the shadows for the time being.

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@esmeraldagooch

A friend who was adopted and had no clue about her biological parents wanted to do the test not to find out who her parents were, but just to know her ethnic background......She was flooded with "long lost relatives"....she got her ethnic heritage and was happy with just that and she said she would definitely not contact nor pursue any relationships with any of these so called relatives

[BirkiLady]

@Spurt  My paternal family (several generations ago) owned and operated Trunk Factories. Someone published our entire class roster with pictures for the 50th Class Reunion. Of course that included my maiden name. Within six months I had numerous emails about strangers antique trunks! The first few I responded with the history of my great-grandfather, his education, marriage and family, and the status as a founding father of the community. Many wanted to now the values of their trunks. An Aunt had left one for me in her Will, but I put it in the auction for her estate instead. Thus, only my sister has a family trunk! The ________ Trunk Factory has been out of business for generations. The value would be whatever a buyer would pay, I guess. After responding kindly and in full to many people, I stopped being to free with family history. I now just provide the Truck Factory history and explain they need to have their trunk appraised! Why didn't I do that in the first place? LOL  (And why would any Class Reunion post everyone's names? Someone was brain-dead! Oh well.)