The Times wants your views: DNA ethnicity results

[a-l]

I would like to test myself because I was born curious ! Although I'm very intrigued I don't understand the science and would want something more specific than Europe for a result. I was adopted and also related to my adoptive family so there is that aspect aswell as ethnic origins that fascinate me. Having read about varying results from companies and the expense , I will wait for positive improvements.

[myluck!]

If national governments world wide established compulsory DNA testing at birth and on all existing folk to compile an international data base, terrorism and crime could gradually be eradicated and the DNA would then be available, if wanted, for Genealogical research.

I enjoyed this comment; there is a conspiracy theory in Ireland that this is what the heel prick test in new born babies is for; when FTR it is actually for six conditions namely Phenylketonuria (PKU), Homocystinuria, Maple Syrup Urine Disease, Classical Galactosaemia, Cystic Fibrosis, and Congenital Hypothyroidism.

I do not trust DNA testing! If I could be assured on accuracy and privacy issues I may be interested but to date I have seen where different companies provide varying results. I can't see where it would add value to my research to date.

My interest in family history stemmed from trying to locate a lady born in 1923; I am still looking and hampered by the fact that she may still be alive. I would encourage my family members to use DNA testing to attempt prove a connection to her if something arose to indicate it would be fruitful but not in general.

If convinced in the future of its merits at least I have a son and a daughter!! 

[loobylooayr]

Hi,
Joining in the chat here.
I would be intrigued to have my DNA tested. However I think the terminology is very confusing and I probably wouldn't understand the results.
I would love to know where my Scots/ Irish ancestors hailed from and if we had some blood from further afield running through our veins. But I don't know if there is enough people participating in these tests to make the results valid or definite.
I recall watching a very interesting programme with Eddie Izzard where he traced his DNA back to a specific area in Africa. I found this fascinating and would love to be able to have the same tests carried out on me. However I can only speculate that this would have been an extremely expensive project and the chances of me ever having the money to spurge on that are very very slim.

So in the meantime, I'll stick with written records and stay firmly in 18th century Ireland and Scotland.

Looby

[groom]

Thanks for the explanation, Westy. However, I still don't understand how one sibling's DNA can show they are descended from people who came from a certain area, yet another full sibling's DNA doesn't show that at all. If you get that discrepancy with close relations of the same generation how can it be accurate several generations back?

[Colin D Gronow]

You could turn this thread on its head, and say its amazing how many people set such store by parish registers, certificates & Census...what DNA does for me is to show if two individuals are related to the same progenitor, often in conflict with the written or oral evidence.

[Beeonthebay]

I would like to test myself because I was born curious ! Although I'm very intrigued I don't understand the science and would want something more specific than Europe for a result. I was adopted and also related to my adoptive family so there is that aspect aswell as ethnic origins that fascinate me. Having read about varying results from companies and the expense , I will wait for positive improvements.

Yes I would like something more specific than Europe too to see if my grandfather's claim to his family name being French is true, so far it's just farmers in Cheshire.

[PaulStaffs]

I know that my parents were raised by their parents and so on back through seven or eight generations but whether any of them were the product of pre- or extra-marital relationships I have no idea (and don't really care). For me, family history is about the lives of people who lived together as families rather than their genetic relationships (but finding out about black sheep and skeletons in the closet is always interesting!). If you believe in the equivalence of nature and nurture DNA testing certainly doesn't tell us who we 'are'.

While it is undoubtedly useful for studies of population movements and for very specific legal or criminal uses (for example, to establish the relationship between two individuals or prove the identity of an individual) I don't think it really adds anything much to the hobby - the ethnicity of my great-grandfather is self-evident from his photographs. That he could easily have had 1% Innuit or 0.25% Visigoth 'in him' is here nor there - it could have found its way into his make-up at any time in the last 2,000 years with no real chance of figuring out exactly how it got there!

That said, I'm sure most people would be intrigued if they discovered that they had links to some distant part of the globe or a distinctive population. It would be especially fascinating if it was possible to recover DNA from more ancient burials and artefacts and tie these to living people.

Ooops that was off-topic - I haven't had a DNA test

[wilcoxon]

I went to an event in Wrexham a few years ago, where  they were asking for people willing to have DNA tests to find which part of the world they came from.
It was quite an interesting talk , but as I am female then it didn`t apply to me. As I have no brothers - that was then end of it.
Even if I was male then I wouldn`t be to concerned  - I am what I am.

[omega 1]

Hello

I have never taken a DNA test as it would be pointless for me.A DNA test wouldn't tell who my Mother`s Father was or who a WELSH G Grandfathers father was or who his Mother`s father was. 

omega