Thinking of trying DNA testing, it's on sale

[tokareva]

Ancestry DNA has a sale right now for $59. Is it worth it, what can I expect?

[Baeau]

Hopefully, Macseobang, will see this. I pm'd him a similar question, & received some good info.

[RodF]

Having done this and also used Ancestry.com for nearly a decade, I can say it is worth the effort. This is the type of report you will get. Then if there are matches, you can make contact with those individuals to see what is the basis for the match.

If you have genealogical data, it can be of great value to upload that as it helps make the connections with other researchers.

Yea, for $60 it's a worthwhile.

[tokareva]

This is the type of report you will get.

Wow,that does look interesting! Thanks.

[Old Building Prof]

Hi there. I'm a long-time DNA tester. My experience with Ancestry has been good for finding cousins, but for the breakdown of ancestral origins, I found the totals a bit odd. 23andme is better I think for the ancestral percentages (at least they seem to match what I know of the fairly elaborate paper trail family tree I have). I have recently sent in a test to LivingDNA, which I have hopes for because they break Britain down into multiple regions,and I'm very curious to see where this leads me. FamilyTreeDNA is way off in their autosomal testing, but for the Y-chromosome I think they still have the most exacting test. Anyway, hope this helps.

[Kiltedjohn]

I don't have enough knowledge to make comparisons. I have used Ancestry DNA, and have had some really useful results, making contact with relatives I never knew existed. I did find the ethnicity findings a bit wide and vague - it lumped Scotland and Ireland together, and my Cypriot connection wasn't specifically identified. (Not sure whether this last problem was because Ancestry need to do more work, or whether Cyprus has absorbed so many different ethnic groups that it is difficult to be more specific!!) The price that you quote sounds pretty good.

[RodF]

Hi there. I'm a long-time DNA tester. My experience with Ancestry has been good for finding cousins, but for the breakdown of ancestral origins, I found the totals a bit odd. 23andme is better I think for the ancestral percentages (at least they seem to match what I know of the fairly elaborate paper trail family tree I have). I have recently sent in a test to LivingDNA, which I have hopes for because they break Britain down into multiple regions,and I'm very curious to see where this leads me. FamilyTreeDNA is way off in their autosomal testing, but for the Y-chromosome I think they still have the most exacting test. Anyway, hope this helps.

We have a my daughter, my grams, and my results with Ancestry and then my son wanted to do a test and we did that with 23andMe. Agree that there was a bit more defined results with his test. Part of the challenge is the pool of tests used for any of these tests. If there are not enough folks with tests from a region, there may not be enough matches.

It's an interesting tool and I think Old Building Prof here has a lot of great summaries. Like any tool, there are limits and challenges, but it is an interesting tool for genealogists to have at their disposal.

[LKM]

First, I have nothing against DNA testing. I see it as a tool that can help if you know how to read the information. I recommend reading and watching reviews of the DNA companies before you decide. They do their best with the information they have, and some companies will let you upload the DNA information for a second opinion on ancestry if you used Ancestry or 23 and me. It looks like these second opinions are normally close to each other and are not far from the original.

From what I have seen Ancestry, and many others, tries to tell you where the family is from by showing the most common place or places where certain traits have been found, not all places where the traits are known to be found. As this is the case there could be traits that are found, just identified with the incorrect place. Scottish, Irish, and Welsh DNA might show as British Isles, Northern Europe, or simply Europe. Tracing ancient migrations is more complicated then we normally think as they have found people moved around more then expected before the middle ages. If the family has been in the US for a while there could be some unexpected results as people from all over the world have mixed together in the Americas.

I have also seen that most don't explain DNA or much about heredity. As there is a good chance that you have 20% through 30% from each grandparent, you can have from 0% through 50% from a grandparent with the exception of the Y chromosome. This means that even though it is on the family tree it might not show on the test. As most DNA tests take a while to give the results, I would recommend learning what you can about the subject while you wait on the results so you can best understand what they give you.

As a side note worth pointing out, Native American DNA can show as East Asia on these tests or with some Eastern Woodland tribes the DNA can show as Northern Europe. The reason for this is that there were at least three ancient migrations to the Americas with Y-DNA haplogroups Q, C, and R; listed more ancient to more recent. The routs and time frames are still being discovered for these migrations though all are now known to predate Classical Greece.

[California Highlander]

Ancestry DNA has a sale right now for $59. Is it worth it, what can I expect?

Remember, DNA results are a tool for a genealogist, you still need to find the context and details. There is no "magic DNA trail" back to the glen where your 5th great grandfather was born.

While not perfect, this story Wirecutter: DNA Test Review covers the basics of what you get, what you can expect to learn, and of high importance, privacy. Some of the DNA test companies allow your DNA to be used or sell your data which may or may not be traceable back to you. And it may include biomedical information, not just ancestry information. Once out on a database, how much control do you have and how much does the company have?

I'm considering doing a DNA test myself, but waiting to see how privacy is addressed by these companies, and the industry as a whole in light of both data breaches and companies continuing to monetize and sell customer data that may not be all that anonymous.

[A Hay]

I would agree with others that DNA testing is worth the money if you want a better foundation on where you might have come from. I have used Family Tree, Ancestry, and Living Tree.
I would rank them in that order for the info I got back.

On the FTDNA Y test, which only tracks the male line, I had a big break through. I knew one of my female had a child out of wedlock when she was very young. No one in my generation really talked about it. After I had submitted my sample to FTDNA I got a reply of an exact match with a currently living individual. I made contact with him and even met him. He told me one of his male ancestors was know to have fathered children out of wedlock. This relative and mine were in the same area and time periods and so we agreed that the test was probably correct.

I now have a new cousin and have traced this previously dark line back several generations.

So for me it was worth it.

Tom
A Hay!