How satisfied are you with your DNA test experience?

[davidft]

OK, I do get it. Sorry I have upset you all with ethnicity issues. I will stick to my lovely beginner folks forum in future.

I don't think you have upset anyone. Its just that the DNA ethnicity topic is a lively one with many diverse opinions and not a little misunderstanding.

[anne_p]

I've recently had my DNA tested and uploaded it to 2 sites.

Of my top 10-15 matches, I already know the others or know exactly how we are related.
( some are from the same family ie parent/child/ grandchild)

It's the random DNA matcheswhere there is a tree attached that I find  baffling if not, hilarious.

One match (estimated 4.1 degrees of separation) has a full tree going back to the 1700's
Every single ancestor was born, married and died in one of the southern US states.

All of my ancestry going back to 1700's is effectively Irish.
Working backwards from 1750 just one line of my combined ancestry is Scottish
My estimated ethnicity works out at 86% (combined UK and Ireland)
The remainder is estimated to be European


Some matches do seem to be totally random unless there are hidden secrets in the DNA match trees

[sugarfizzle]

Sorry, 3Chant, I didn't mean to upset you, and you certainly didn't upset me.

Was merely pointing out that most of us realise after we get our results back that ethnicity reports are very rarely accurate.  My heritage as far as I have gone back on paper is nearly all Southern British, one 4G grandfather coming from Ireland.

My ancestry report says that I am 48% Western European, 33% Great British, 12% Irish, 3% Iberian Peninsular and the rest small amounts from other places.

I tested for a different reason, to break down a brick wall or two, connect with other people to confirm relationships, etc.  My ethnicity result I take with a pinch of salt. 

I have contacted 4th cousins, 5th cousins, 6th cousins and 7th cousins, just like Karen did in the article. I am purely interested in confirming where the connection is likely to be.

The person who has written the article was not initially interested in his ethnicity and is not interested in family history. He had his test done, presumably for free, about a year before and had not looked at his results at all.

Sorry again 3chant, please come back again, we are quite a friendly bunch.

Regards Margaret

[Finley 1]

OK, I do get it. Sorry I have upset you all with ethnicity issues. I will stick to my lovely beginner folks forum in future.

Noooo you didnt upset me xxxx its the darn results that did that... ha ha ha ... I am perfect as everyone knows.. so they should have been    

its only
Xin

[jillruss]

I'm puzzled by one of my 22 top matches. (Top, as in 4th-6th cousin, high confidence or better).

I've been communicating with the lady (Lady X) and we've finally homed in on a match with our Patchetts/Pagets (same 3x great grandparents). The variation in the surname didn't help. However, through various means, I had already identified 4 other Patchett connections all of who share a match with me BUT THE MATCH BETWEEN ME AND LADY X IS NOT SHARED BY ANYONE ELSE!

I'm struggling to understand how this could be? Any ideas? Does it mean that there should be another connection that we haven't found yet?

[davidft]

I'm puzzled by one of my 22 top matches. (Top, as in 4th-6th cousin, high confidence or better).

I've been communicating with the lady (Lady X) and we've finally homed in on a match with our Patchetts/Pagets (same 3x great grandparents). The variation in the surname didn't help. However, through various means, I had already identified 4 other Patchett connections all of who share a match with me BUT THE MATCH BETWEEN ME AND LADY X IS NOT SHARED BY ANYONE ELSE!

I'm struggling to understand how this could be? Any ideas? Does it mean that there should be another connection that we haven't found yet?

What you describe is perfectly possible and I read an explanation of why within the last fortnight. I think it was on here (but if not it was on a link on Gedmatch) but not sure what term to use to try and search for it. So it might be worth seeing if you can put a suitable phrase in the search function and see what it comes up with (if it was on here it was not necessarily in the DNA sub forum as people post about DNA on other boards here too)

[sugarfizzle]

Jill, If you and your Patchett matches share the same common ancestors, i.e. are all 4th cousins to each other, then that is probably just one of those things.  The chances of finding DNA from 3G grandparents is pretty good, approximately 70% at ancestry. But some of them may have inherited more or less than another match.

Since Ancestry only picks up shared matches between 4th to 6th cousins or closer, this lady could either not match the other 4 at all, or more likely, does match one or more of them at 5th to 8th cousin level, so does not show as sharing a match with them.

I have shared my DNA results with another person, paper trail suggests that we are 5th cousins, mutual 4G grandparents. Her sister and aunt (4th cousin) have also been tested.  None of them match with me at all.

However, using DNAhelper, we have found that both her aunt and her cousin match 2 of my 3rd cousins from the same line.

It does seem a lottery at times as to how much DNA is passed down from one generation to the next.

Regards Margaret

[sugarfizzle]

I'm struggling to understand how this could be? Any ideas? Does it mean that there should be another connection that we haven't found yet?

Or, as you say, there maybe another link which you haven't found as yet.
Regards Margaret

[brigidmac]

very satisfied with my  mothers results
confirmed name of my grandmothers grandfather who emigrated from usa and traced descendents

also found her half cousin who was the son of and  grandma's half brother
my grandma was illegitimate and in fact lack of any other mutual matches on this branch helped confirm .
the locality button shows ancestors in same town of LaTVIA for some 5th cousins who have replied but we dont know exactly how we connect yet

as for my own dna results my scottish paternal side hasnt thrown up much yet.

and i sent for a test for my scottish aunt ....and am one of the guilty ones who only has a small tree for her but will answer anyone who posts a message when i check the site i created for her .