Community Chat

[Preds]

@JillyMarie ... My breakdown from Ancestry was:

Europe West - 40%

Great Britian - 30%

Ireland/Scotland/Wales - 18%

Europe South - 7%

Scandinavia - 3%

Finland/Northwest Russia - 2%

This one and 23 and Me pretty much showed the same thing.  Migrations from everywhere and then finally to the US.  I think our answers would be found thru the conguests of all these areas in history.  I believe that it's possible to narrow down the areas, but I chose the cheapest version of study.  LOL  My DD talked me into it. 

After reading some of these, I may dig a little further. 

[AussieLuvr]

@Vivian

I am a genealogist. Tests can be different with different testing companies (ancestry, 23andMe, Family Tree DNA/FTDNA, etc. etc).

The reason is that each one has a different number of testers and those testers all have different DNA ethnicities to compare against. Your test can only be compared to the other testers that they have in their database.

For example, let's say that the following is true (just an example):

ABC Company has a database with 2 million people. By sheer circumstance, half a million are of Asian descent, half a million are of British Isles descent and 1 million are of Mediterranean descent. Compare that to DEF Company with a database of 1 million people. A quarter of a million of their testers are of West European descent, a quarter of a million are of Eastern Europe descent and half a million are of African descent. While these percentages and companies are not reality, it illustrates how you can only be compared to the other tested individuals in a given company's database.

So you could even test with a specific company in 2010 and get different results with the same company in 2020 as their database grows. Some companies, like ancestry, will update your test results as their database grows but not all do that.

I have also had people question why full siblings have somewhat different DNA. First of all, unless they are identical twins they will NEVER have the same DNA. And DNA - as it is "handed down", is like getting dealt a hand from a deck of cards. Even siblings will get dealt a different hand from each of their parents.

[AussieLuvr]

A DNA test is a tool that allows a researcher to open the door to other resources.

If you do not have a family tree online, and you do not do any research beyond the ethnicity outline that you receive from your testing company, you will never know anything else.

Finding out who the people in your family tree are, locating long-lost relatives, discovering skeletons in the family closet, etc. is not something that is provided through DNA testing. Genealogy takes time, meticulous research and even years of study.

DNA can take that researcher to new information if they are willing or inclined to put in the work required.

But sending $99 (or whatever amount they charge) off to a DNA testing company will not provide even one single ancestor's name. All it will tell you is where your bloodlines are from.

It is also important to remember that most DNA tests go back approximately 5 generations. Geopolitical borders have changed a lot over the past 300 years, so finding out that you have Scandinavian DNA doesn't necessarily mean you have long lost relatives alive and well in Sweden, Norway or Denmark. It may mean that people left that area and migrated to - say - Ireland. They, therefore, contributed their Scandinavian DNA to your Irish relatives' DNA. Or, take Germany for instance. It hasn't always been Germany. It was Prussia for a while and before that it was Saxony. So ethnicities are not an exact science.

Your Irish ancestors did, in fact, live in Ireland. But that doesn't mean that every single one of them was from Ireland. If I have a great, great grandparent from Ukraine and that person moves to Ireland they are going to affect a DNA ethnicity test as having some trace DNA from Ukraine - not Irish.

[AussieLuvr]

@151949

You are correct. You have to be able to PROVE that you have a patriot (DAR term) in your ancestry in order to join.

I am in the process of joining. To do so, I have to provide a birth, death and marriage certificate for each person in my family tree that takes me back to (in my case) my 4X great grandfather, who fought in the Revolutionary War.

It is easily done if you know where to go to get these certificates. It isn't free; different states in the US typically charge between $15 and $25 per certificate. Once in a while you find the actual certificates online but not always; I may find out from ancestry.com that great great grandparents were born, married or died on a specific date in a specific place. But that does not fulfill DAR's requirement of an actual certificate.

[AussieLuvr]

@JillyMarie

At this point in time, you aren't going to get the kind of detailed breakdown you are looking for from a DNA test alone.

You can do your own family tree research or hire a professional, but the research required for specific areas and cities is something that can only be found with a lot of time and dedicated work.

Things are changing in the DNA world so fast that this may be possible even a few years from now. But right now, if you are looking for specifics it is going to take time and research.

[AussieLuvr]

@sunsetbeach

A lot of people do DNA tests but have no family tree and never do any research. So the lack of an answer from your first cousin may simply be due to the fact that they never logged on after having received their DNA test results. It happens to me all the time and I do not have any adopted individuals in my family, immediate or extended. 

Also, when a person looks at someone's profile name on a DNA site it may say that the person hasn't logged on in 9 months, for example. Well, that may be because the person logged on nine months ago and has never logged out. 

These glitches happen all of the time. 

Email addresses are provided on some of the other testing sites and especially on GEDMATCH.com, where you can upload your DNA test results from pretty much any testing company. Emails are more likely to get a response, though not always. Its hard to know why people participate in DNA tests and then never bother to follow through.

[Jackhound Mom]

Hi,

I really enjoyed this thread!  Can anyone let me know how much these tests cost and how long you have to wait for your results?  Our former president used my line about being a mutt.  That is and has been my answer when asked about my heritage.  Actually 7 of my dad's family came over from England and two of the 7 brothers had the same first name.  How confusing must that have been?

[Preds]

---

@Jackhound Mom wrote:

Hi,

I really enjoyed this thread!  Can anyone let me know how much these tests cost and how long you have to wait for your results?  Our former president used my line about being a mutt.  That is and has been my answer when asked about my heritage.  Actually 7 of my dad's family came over from England and two of the 7 brothers had the same first name.  How confusing must that have been?

---

I ended up getting Ancestry and 23 and Me off Amazon, I think.  You can also google them and go straight to their sites.  It takes 6-8 weeks to get results back.  One of mine came back in 4, but the other one took longer.  Prices vary depending on the "kit" or information you are looking for.  Plan on around $60.00 to 200.  It's your call on that part.

Hope this helps @Jackhound Mom.  I've enjoyed finding out nothing new.  LOL  It's been interesting, but it does make me want to know more.

[JillyMarie]

@AussieLuvr@Preds  Thanks for responding.  I think I will wait a few more years, maybe the tests will be more refined by then  I'd like to find out more about my maternal line but I've run into spelling issues, name changes [thanks Ellis Island], lost records due to wars, etc.  It will be a challange.

[Jackhound Mom]

---

@Preds wrote:

---

@Jackhound Mom wrote:

Hi,

I really enjoyed this thread!  Can anyone let me know how much these tests cost and how long you have to wait for your results?  Our former president used my line about being a mutt.  That is and has been my answer when asked about my heritage.  Actually 7 of my dad's family came over from England and two of the 7 brothers had the same first name.  How confusing must that have been?

---

I ended up getting Ancestry and 23 and Me off Amazon, I think.  You can also google them and go straight to their sites.  It takes 6-8 weeks to get results back.  One of mine came back in 4, but the other one took longer.  Prices vary depending on the "kit" or information you are looking for.  Plan on around $60.00 to 200.  It's your call on that part.

Hope this helps @Jackhound Mom.  I've enjoyed finding out nothing new.  LOL  It's been interesting, but it does make me want to know more.

---

@Preds  Thank you so much for your answer!  Glad you know who you are and where you are from!!!

Cathy