DNA tests for family history.

[jake]

My sister did the test and I guess we should have exactly the same profile what with having the same two parents. That being the case I am:

58% Irish
38% Scottish
4% Welsh

A bit more Scottish than I expected, but the Welsh is a complete surprise.
Anyone else done one of these test - and do you trust them - I’ve seen YouTubes where identical twins had different results.
One result of my sister’s test is I discovered that a guy I met at University and studied Slavic languages with, is a second cousin. I suppose in a smallish country like Scotland, that shouldn’t be a major surprise.

[Lopez]

My brother used one of the ancestral DNA services and got (and I'm assuming I'm the same):

76% Italian/Greek
14% Middle Eastern
10% other

When he requested (maybe paid more) to find out what was in the "other," the results were 9% Sicilian (I suppose there were enough invasions there that they get their own category; my mom is 100% Sicilian) and 1% Jewish. When the Geezer was still with us, he welcomed me to the tribe. I've already had the "operation."

[mozo-pg]

66% Irish
32% British
2% Swedish

[Aggie87]

Surprisingly, even full biological siblings don't have the same genetic mix. Unless you're identical twins. Otherwise you only have about half of the same genetic makeup as your biological sibling. So your percentages will be diffferent. And per the article, some siblings may inherit ethnicities from their parents that others don’t.

https://support.ancestry.com/s/artic...s%20can%20vary.

[moecurlythanu]

Surprisingly, even full biological siblings don't have the same genetic mix. Unless you're identical twins. Otherwise you only have about half of the same genetic makeup as your biological sibling. So your percentages will be diffferent. And per the article, some siblings may inherit ethnicities from their parents that others don’t.

https://support.ancestry.com/s/artic...s%20can%20vary.

That sounds like a combination Marketing Angle and CYA.

[Aggie87]

That sounds like a combination Marketing Angle and CYA.

It does, but there are many articles about the issue, not just from the DNA companies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/paren...s-environment/

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/s...netics-science

[markwoll]

Pretty sure I'm 100% human. Good enough for me.

[hippypants]

I haven't had the test done, but have done some genealogy. I subscribe to the FamilySearch site. It's free and run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). At any rate they won't ask you for money or bug you in any way, but I've learned and discovered a lot from using their site. From what I've heard and read they keep pretty good records, and will update and match you with different things once you get your family tree going. I'm generally from a British background with a bit of French too. I discovered one of my family members came over on the Mayflower, and I'm related to Pocahontas somewhere on the tree.

[ronmac]

Pretty sure I'm 100% human. Good enough for me.

But, what do the others say about it?

[progmatist]

Just one slight problem with genetic genealogy: everyone has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great grandparents, and so on. An inverted pyramid if you will. While human population growth is an actual pyramid. There had to be much crossover in the past. Conan O'Brien was found to be 100% Irish. Which can only mean there was considerable inbreeding in his past.

[wideopenears]

I haven't had the test done, but have done some genealogy. I subscribe to the FamilySearch site. It's free and run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). At any rate they won't ask you for money or bug you in any way, but I've learned and discovered a lot from using their site. From what I've heard and read they keep pretty good records, and will update and match you with different things once you get your family tree going. I'm generally from a British background with a bit of French too. I discovered one of my family members came over on the Mayflower, and I'm related to Pocahontas somewhere on the tree.

I've had two companies do my testing....and done some genealogy. I'm 100% British--English and Welsh, and Dad's Y DNA is RU-106 Subclad, while Mom's Mitochondrial DNA is in the J family. So frankly, that means my ancestors go back to the North German Angles/Saxons etc., no surprise....but the interesting thing about these tests is how people go down these rabbit holes of self-identification and "fantasy." As an example, there have been several books written about "Celtic Genealogy," and several disparate theories, but asserting "Ethnicity" on a Linguisto-cultural identity is fraught with problems, and much depends on where in the timeline one looks......

Given my last name, it's pretty clear my Dad's ancestor came from Norfolk, along with likely most Beckhams. Mom was a Lewin, and her mother was a Hancock. You and I apparently have ancestors on the Mayflower, and also putative relation to Pochahantas, at least according to my family's legends on Mom' s side. My Mayflower ancestors were two--Francis Cooke and Richard Warren. Great Great Grandfather Lewin married Kate Read, and you'll find an intersection in HAnover, NH of Read St. and Lewin St.

So....hey, Cuz! What's up?

[proggy_jazzer]

For someone who's interested but has yet to even dip a toe in the shallow end, is Ancestry.com a good place to start?

[mozo-pg]

^^ That's what I did.

[Zeuhlmate]

I used https://www.myheritage.dk/ = https://www.myheritage.com/

They have nice graphic representations of family trees etc., and are pretty good to find the lines back.

Scandinavia (Northern Norway, Trondheim, Southern Sweden, and Denmark ) 52%
Irish , Scottish, Welch 23,1%
Eastern Europe 18,2%
North Europe, Western Europe 6,3
The eastern and western Europeans are mostly jewish.

My wife is geneticly 49% Dutch and the rest is Italy 23%, Spain 16% and Eastern Europe 12%.

[hippypants]

Re: So....hey, Cuz! What's up?

Oh, you know, doing some yard work today. I guess it makes sense that a lot of people would have common ancestors?

[Camelogue]

Mostly Irish and German but surprise:

.2% Finnish
.2% Jewish

[SteveSly]

I finally did 23 & Me. All Welsh, German & Irish. My mother’s side of the family were coal miners who came to the American south to work the coal mines (my mother was born in a coal camp that no longer exists called Bonnie Blue Virginia). I don’t know as much about my father’s side but they ended up in Northern Michigan. I think my great great grandfather was some kind of fur trapper or something similar back in the 1800’s