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Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing / Re: The Times wants your views: DNA ethnicity results
« on: Wednesday 03 February 16 17:09 GMT (UK) »
Many thanks to everybody who has replied so far - fascinating comments and some great pointers for my article. I will respond individually to those who have sent private messages.
To give those who haven't taken the tests an idea of what ethnicity results look like I'm posting my results from Ancestry and Family Tree DNA, with a summary of my known family history.
Paper-trail family history:
50% Anglo-Irish - mix of families of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish origin
31.25% English
12.5% German - from Thuringia, Eastern Germany
6.25% Jewish - mix of Sephardi and Ashkenazi lines
AncestryDNA:
38% Great Britain
20% Ireland
18% Scandinavia
11% Iberian Peninsula
(trace regions)
5% Italy/Greece
4% European Jewish
2% Europe East
1% Finland/Northwest Russia
<1% Europe West
Family Tree DNA:
39% British Isles
25% Western and Central Europe
18% Southern Europe
13% Eastern Europe
5% Scandinavia
Timeframe:
Ancestry says: "AncestryDNA can reach back hundreds, maybe even a thousand years"
Family Tree DNA says: "myOrigins results are your personal genetic ancestry that reflects the last 100 to 2,000 years"
Cousin matching:
Both sites list lots of people who are probably my distant cousins. In a few cases, I've been able to spot the relationship, so the DNA confirms the paper-trail.
Answering a couple of points:
Re Trystan's question, the companies compare customers' DNA results to samples from modern reference populations, rather than samples of ancient DNA.
On Steve's point, we would pay for people who have already had the AncestryDNA test to transfer their results to Family Tree DNA for comparison. It's for people who are willing to share their ethnicity results with us on an anonymous basis as described in my first post. We wouldn't want to see, handle or claim ownership of their raw data.
To give those who haven't taken the tests an idea of what ethnicity results look like I'm posting my results from Ancestry and Family Tree DNA, with a summary of my known family history.
Paper-trail family history:
50% Anglo-Irish - mix of families of English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish origin
31.25% English
12.5% German - from Thuringia, Eastern Germany
6.25% Jewish - mix of Sephardi and Ashkenazi lines
AncestryDNA:
38% Great Britain
20% Ireland
18% Scandinavia
11% Iberian Peninsula
(trace regions)
5% Italy/Greece
4% European Jewish
2% Europe East
1% Finland/Northwest Russia
<1% Europe West
Family Tree DNA:
39% British Isles
25% Western and Central Europe
18% Southern Europe
13% Eastern Europe
5% Scandinavia
Timeframe:
Ancestry says: "AncestryDNA can reach back hundreds, maybe even a thousand years"
Family Tree DNA says: "myOrigins results are your personal genetic ancestry that reflects the last 100 to 2,000 years"
Cousin matching:
Both sites list lots of people who are probably my distant cousins. In a few cases, I've been able to spot the relationship, so the DNA confirms the paper-trail.
Answering a couple of points:
Re Trystan's question, the companies compare customers' DNA results to samples from modern reference populations, rather than samples of ancient DNA.
On Steve's point, we would pay for people who have already had the AncestryDNA test to transfer their results to Family Tree DNA for comparison. It's for people who are willing to share their ethnicity results with us on an anonymous basis as described in my first post. We wouldn't want to see, handle or claim ownership of their raw data.