The Times wants your views: DNA ethnicity results

[andrewalston]

I had initially considered DNA testing, having an unusual surname which was corrupted into its current spelling in 1891, thinking it might put me in touch with others in the same group.
However I then traced my direct paternal line by conventional methods to my 7 greats grandfather Abraham Kershaw, named as the father of Abraham Halstead, but who did not marry the mother.
So I have "rested" my interest for a few years, but am now considering it again, as the Kershaw line is proving difficult to investigate. The databases concerned have now grown substantially; I may be in with a chance!

My direct maternal line leads me back to the early 18th century not 5 miles from where I now live. I'm not sure that I would learn much from following my mitochondrial DNA that I wouldn't find from the same test done on a random person on the local high street.

My One-Name Study is into a different name altogether, and my own DNA would be almost irrelevant there. I have only 1/16th of the DNA of my nearest ancestor with that name.

In general, genealogical DNA testing seems to be pitched at the American market, where virtually everyone has ancestors who arrived from overseas in the last 200 years. Pointing them at a particular country to start their non-USA research might be useful, but to those of us whose ancestors never saw the need to move halfway round the globe in the last 1000 years, it's not as attractive.

I note that one of Ancestry's "great success stories" from their front page has 30% of their geographical ancestry as "other".

[chinakay]

Well, I have read this entire thread. Trystan, I would like a medal, please 

Not much to add to what quite a few people have mentioned before: privacy. Once my DNA leaves my hands I will have no control over where it ends up. And no way of knowing in whose database it will be stored and shared from. Or sold from. Or used in forensics rather than genealogy.

I'm Canadian, but from paper-trail genealogy I know my ancestors are English, Scottish, Welsh and Ulster. With nothing, absolutely nothing else added in. No German great-grandmother, or Swedish or French, nothing. I like to tell my OH that I'm way more British than he is...and he's English 

Even if a DNA test says I have, say, a Viking or Asian ancestor, I'm never going to find Sweyn Forklift or Attila the Pun. They are so far back in the mists of time I could never find them, relate to them, or care. For me, a much more interesting way to do family history is to find a documented connection and then apply the times they lived in to them. Put meat on the bones, as someone said. Much more fun.

So...unless one of these tests can prove I've got space-alien DNA in me, I'm not interested. Although, I have to admit, a space-alien connection would be cool. Move over, Mulder and Scully 

Cheers,
China

[Flattybasher9]

"Although, I have to admit, a space-alien connection would be cool"

and explain a few things 

Regards

Malky

[chinakay]

WELL!!! 

 

[J.J.]

Great banter all around! This is a most interesting thread, and I am glad I have time right now to read through it all... thoroughly enjoying all the different opinions and thoughts on the subject....or off it.  ( especially the last few (  SNORT  ))   J.J.
 

[pinefamily]

On the other hand, davidft, there's the table giving how many samples for each of the companies, so I am not sure that there's any misleading impressions being made by Mr Jaunay.  He has a fine reputation within Australian family history circles. 

http://www.unlockthepast.com.au/our-team/graham-jaunay

Cheers,  JM

It was indeed the table giving how many samples for each of the companies i was referring to as  he labels his table as the 5 major companies but then only includes partial information for some eg for ftDNA he only includes autosomal DNA but for say 23and me he uses statistics for yDNA, mtDNA and autosomal DNA. Hardly consistent for the basis for comparison.

Mr Jaunay may well have a fine reputation in Australian family history circles and I certainly wasn't trying to besmirch his name. However, his table is misleading and it was that which I was pointing out

The reason I posted the link was for the tables further down, showing how one person got different results from different companies.
A caveat, I suppose.

And yes, I finally got through all of the posts on this thread.

[DevonCruwys]

There seems to be a lot of misunderstanding in this thread about what DNA can and can't tell you. The ethnicity results aren't very helpful but autosomal DNA tests are sold primarily for cousin matching and not for the ethnicity results.

AncestryDNA and the Family Finder test from Family Tree DNA are used by genealogists from all over the world as a tool for genealogical research just in the same way that we use BMD records and census records. I can't understand any genealogist wanting to turn down the opportunity to have an additional record that might help them with their family history research. It will also give you the chance to connect with genetic cousins who might have more information on the family tree than you have. As with any record you get, the results don't always immediately fit in with the records that you already have. I've often paid for paper records that I've not been able to use. Also not everyone gets meaningful matches at the outset. However, the databases are growing all the time. Over three million people worldwide are already in these databases. Americans do tend to dominate the match lists but there are growing numbers of Brits, Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders, etc. taking these tests. Also I've heard of a number of cases where matches with Americans have actually broken down the brick wall. I've now got confirmed matches with a third cousin, a third cousin once removed and a fourth cousin. The more people who test the more success we will all have.

Cousin-finding tests are also being used by adoptees, foundlings and donor-conceived children, and are solving mysteries that were previously insoluble. We are seeing stories virtually every day of people finding matches in the databases and being linked with unknown half-siblings, first cousins and sometimes even finding their biological parents. Contrary to one assertion in this thread an autosomal DNA test can definitively confirm a parent/child relationship. It can also distinguish between full siblings and half-siblings.

The cheapest test, the Family Finder test from FTDNA, costs just $99 (about £68). Once you've paid this money it's a long term investment, and you keep getting notified of matches as and when they come in. It's like signing up to Genes Reunited but without having to pay the annual subscription.

Anyone wanting to learn more about DNA testing might like to have a read of some of the beginners' articles in the ISOGG Wiki:

http://isogg.org/wiki/Beginners'_guides_to_genetic_genealogy

[Malcolm33]

    Having your DNA tested can have a tremendous impact in many different ways.   Many of those factors may not even be thought of when one decides to have the tests.    I strongly feel that everyone should go for it as you might be the last in a traceable line.    However there is much more to a person than the being produced by a long line of genes.    We do live on after a physical death and we may have experienced past lives in a variety of different races and cultures.   DNA can tell nothing about who we really are and yet for some strange reason not fully understood most of us need to know who our physical ancestors were.
    Recently there was a documentary all about migrants in Britain and the focus fell on the influx of Polish people arriving and now living in Bradford.   Apparently Polish is now the second language in England, especially in Bradford.    I didn't even think about DNA when I watched the programme and it was some time before I realized that I have something very much in common with these latest migrants.    My father was born in Queensbury and our forebears were living in Eccleshill near Bradford from at least 1712.    Our ydna is R1a and I see from statistics on the net that only 4.5% of males in England are R1a whilst the highest concentration in Europe is in fact Poland where it is as high as 57%.     So on these figures, apparently I have more in common with the Poles of Bradford than with most other men in England.    But hold on a moment.   I have a cousin who has the same gt.gt.gt.grandfather and he has tested R1b1a2 which is the highest ydna in Britain.    I have little doubt that if all other ancestral ydna were known that I would find someone in every group.
     What I would really like to know is the ydna of Matthew Hutton, the 16th century Archbishop of York.    Is there any chance that his tomb in York Cathedral could be opened and his dna tested?   Perhaps not in this day and age, but it could happen in the future, and that is when my dna could be compared with his.    One of his great grandsons came to Pudsey and Calverley in the late 1600's and it was at Calverley that my gt.gt.gt. grandfather William Hutton married in 1800.    If there is a connection then it would take my line back to the Cumberland Huttons.
      My point here is that if all dna was known and recorded it would be a huge advantage for researchers who are and will be trying to trace the movement of people in the past all over Europe and perhaps throughout the World.

[Ruskie]

This thread has spurred me on to revisit my FTDNA "Family Finder" results and look again at my matches.

I have only ever contacted one of my matches - the one with the highest shared cM. Through googling I discovered that they had lived in the USA but unfortunately had recently died, but I was hoping that someone may be checking their emails - as they were elderly I presumed someone probably organized for them to take the test and may have access to their DNA results. I've had no reply. So for anyone who has taken tests it might be wise to organize for a relative to have access to your details.

I have a renewed enthusiasm and intend to contact others I have matches with. (and hope they can understand English.    )