I’m thinking it would be fun to know more about my DNA. I think I know my ancestry but there might be a surprise. 23andMe tests for more than just ancestry but is more expensive.
Have any of you tried any of these DNA testing companies. Were you satisfied with your results?
I tried the Ancestry DNA one, and had my dad take the test too. For the most part, the results seemed rather accurate and when I paired the results with my online tree I was able to confirm a few distant cousins. However, my father was adopted so I can’t be 100% sure the results I’ve gotten are totally accurate.
Yea, I did the 23andme, as did my half brother and half sister. It confirmed what I knew about my ancestry. Be aware that if you are Ashkenazi Jewish, it will just identify you as such without geographic specificity. I had already done extensive genealogy so I knew my Jewish side was Polish and Latvian. On my other side, it just confirmed that I was German and Irish.
It was interesting to see the match between my half siblings and me as we share 25% the same genes. The “relative matcher” feature would have found them even if I hadn’t known they existed. But I didn’t find any other relatives.
I find the maternal and paternal haplogroups intellectually interesting.
It also tells you if you are at higher risk for certain diseases. I did find out I am a carrier for a particular syndrome which I hadn’t known, but is apparent at birth so my kids don’t have it.
Was it worth the money? Eh. It wasn’t full of revelations for me.
We’ve had one sitting on the shelf for the past year-and-a-half. I think we’ll have D do the swab and and send it in when she comes home next week.
My niece did the Ancestry one and discovered that she has Irish ancestry-a pretty large percentage, too. Her father is adopted, so we suspect that’s where it’s from, though he has not had the test done. The rest was Italian (my mother’s side) and Eastern European (my dad’s side) along with some German (my dad’s maternal side). D would like to do it and explore her African ancestry, but we haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Btw - if you are a woman, you need a male relative to take the test if you want to find out your paternal haplogroup (in my case, this worked because my half brother and I share the same father). You won’t get it from your own results if I remember correctly.
I think the price point is a little high for what you get. Mine was $199. I think it’s worth $99. If you can find a groupon or a deal I would use that. My H and kids don’t have any interest and it’s too expensive for me to just test them anyway.
EllieMom, which kit do you have that uses a swab? The 23andme kit used your saliva - you had to spit (a good amount) into a tube, mix it with a stabilizing chemical and send it off. It was super easy though. I have no idea if one is more accurate than the other.
I just read a thing about ancestral DNA testing on Henry Louis Gates’ website. Apparently the different commercially available tests don’t all test for the same things. I can’t seem to find a link, unfortunately.
I’ve been interested in doing it also.
ETA: Found it!
I just realized I don’t have any living male relatives except my sons.
I got one as a gift a few months ago but I haven’t sent it in yet. A couple family members did it so I’ve seen the results that will should be similar to my own. As expected on one side, an unexpected result or two on the other side but no big surprises. The range they give in percentages for certain countries/areas can be pretty broad (something like 10-50% as a range so it’s not like its dialed in).
My husband finds the whole thing creepy, the idea that you are paying to ship off your DNA to some LDS owned company in Utah and that someone now has possession of your DNA, name, connections to others, etc. along with the same info on gobs of other people. It is a little creepy when I think about it.
I’ve done both 23andme and Ancestry. I did the 23andme while they were still giving health results, so that was interesting, but it’s not too helpful for genealogy. With Ancestry, I was able to track down some gaps in my tree (my father’s side was a bit of a mystery, so I also had my brother tested), so it was well worth it.
So unless I have my father tested too, I won’t be able to know about that side of the tree? (I don’t have brothers and AIUI having my son tested would link to his father’s haplogroup, not mine)
VeryHappy - then you are out of luck, as your sons’ paternal haplogroup would be that of your husband. Do you have any male cousins whose father would have been your father’s brother - that is, you share a paternal grandparent?
I sympathize, bc all I have is my half brother and it was his sister who made him get tested :-). (Our mutual father died many, many years ago when we were all little.)
@Pizzagirl You inspired me to open the box. It is a spit-test, not a swab.
(It’s something I’ve been putting off. Bought it as a holiday present for S who was interested in genealogy, so it has some emotional baggage for me. And, like @VeryHappy, S was my only living male relative. But it’s silly to waste the money.)
I did it and got one for my mom, dad, half-sister, and partner for Christmas. No surprises in any of ours, but Mr R got a surprise. He had always been told that he was almost 100% German. Oops, he’s very significantly Irish. I’ve done his family tree and one of his close ancestors is likely not his ancestor…
I would like to do one of these, but which one? 23andMe or Ancestry? Ancestry costs $100 less but doesn’t provide any trait information.
If I already pretty much know my ancestry (unless someone was conceived on the wrong side of the sheets, ha, another colloquiallism).
But is the 23andMe traits information at all useful?
For those of you who have used 23andMe recently, do the reports include health info? As far as I know, there are no worrisome genetic diseases/conditions on either of my parents’ sides - ancestors typically living into 90s. I don’t want to be blindsided by something popping in my DNA! (and I know I could never not open health DNA reports if they were sent)
My mother did Ancestry. It confirmed all we know about the family tree which was documented going back into the 1600s. Since I know my Dad’s ancestry from about that far back, I’m not sure it’s worth paying for a test. I also don’t care about about knowing any “wrong side of the sheets” lineage!
There is also a DNA testing kit through National Geographic. It is interesting because its purpose is to track your ancestors’ migration from Africa to wherever they ended up. It’s called the Genographic Project and when you get your results you get a dvd of this wonderful documentary they produced on human migration. What was really cool was that I had my son and daughter do it, and since one used mitochondrial DNA and one didn’t, we got to see two different paths. https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/
Yes, the reports include health now.
I’m actually in a 23andMe study right now because I have Lupus. If anyone who has Lupus wants to do 23andMe, they will give you a kit for free. There might be other rare diseases that they do this for, too. https://www.23andme.com/lupus/
Thanks @romanigypsyeyes