I am a fourth generation Californian and knew that I was a mutt, but was always told I was German, English and Scottish. For what it is worth I look Scottish. I did Ancestry.com and came up first cousins with my cousin on my Mom’s side, so no surprise there. I am 53% Europe West, which for them is Germany, 12% Ireland/Scotland/Wales, only 3% Great Britain and then 21% Iberian Peninsula. My cousin is only 10% Iberian Peninsula so I guess I get it from both sides (or got more than she did). I worry about the paternity test aspect, because I know my Dad was a player and I would not be surprised if I had some half-siblings out there. In fact I am pretty sure at least one of my step-brothers is actually my half-brother.
A surprise wouldn’t have bothered me. It could have answered some questions regarding my dad TBH, but no such luck. I know who my kids are, so no worries there short of being switched at birth I suppose. Even then I’d rather know than not.
D1 did the 23andme ancestry and health tests. She texted me & her sister that “we are the whitest white people ever, kinda disappointing” when she got her results back. I had always wondered a bit because my maiden surname is uncommon and those who have it are about equally divide between whites and African Americans. (And no, the ancestors likely weren’t slaveholders. The family has pretty much always been small [and apparently not terribly successful] homesteaders or tenant famers, according to census records, all the way back to first traceable ancestor in 1784.)
All her results were exactly what family lore had said our ancestry was. Zero surprises there.
She did the health testing because she and her hubby are trying to reproduce and she wanted to make sure she wasn’t a carrier for anything nasty like CF–which she isn’t.
Some of the “surprises” in some people’s DNA may not be from people “playing around.” It may be the result of rape. There was a lot of that going on in the old days.
The paper record and family lore says I’m 100% British. 23&Me said I’m only 99.9% British and “broadly northern European.” The 0.1% was identified as Middle Eastern.
With ancestry.com, something that low (less than 1%), would be “low confidence” , trace regions are usually less than 1%-4 %.
My sister and I had similar results overall but very different percentages with what was more dominant. Same with my sons’. results. And It makes sense with how we look No surprises but still very interesting.
Speaking of which…
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/two-midwestern-women-switched-birth-72-years-ago-are-reunited-n882941
One more example of unexpected DNA test results…
What a story @patsmom ! And one of the mothers is still alive at 99!
Did her “dad” know, or was he surprised as well?
That happened to another friend of mine. His mom’s H is his older brother’s dad but “the milkman” is his. He was always curious because his mom, dad and brother look very Russian Jewish and he looks like a cousin of John Gotti. His mom was still alive when they found out but he and his brother never told her they knew.
Planning to do this soon - any recommendations for which company to use?
23andme could be $99 (half price) on Amazon Prime Day next month.
Ancestry.com often has deals. If you know relatives have done one or the other already, or another one besides these two, that might be worth considering.
Maybe explains why they are so careful these days. Here is another story with an even more amazing twist! https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/lifestyle/she-thought-she-was-irish-until-a-dna-test-opened-a-100-year-old-mystery/
23andme focuses more on health. They will give you a list of matches but there is no support for creating family trees on the website.
If you are interested in ancestry then I’d go with ancestry.com that has great support for family trees and a separate (and separately paid) part of the website where you can research census records, marriage licenses, etc.
Both sites regularly have sales; check now because Father’s Day is around the corner.
No big surprise on our 23andme results. I’m happy to report that they predict D18 is my daughter and not the UPS guy’s… whew!
The weirdest thing is that my paternal haplogroup is E1b1b1a1b (E-V13) yet my ancient ancestors are definitely from England. 23andme has me at 66% British/Irish, the remainder French/German/NW Europe. There aren’t many E-V13 men in northwest Europe. The “homeland” for E-V13 is the southern Balkans: Kosovo, Albania, Serbia, etc.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/HgE1b1b1a2.png
There appears to be plenty of confusion on the internet about E-V13 and how it got to NW Europe. Most researchers think it could be a remnant of Roman forces in Britain from way back (not the “prime” legions but, rather, the follow up auxiliary forces drawn from Balkan provinces). Or maybe it was part of the Macedonians/Greeks that settled in Italy before Rome emerged. Of course, it could have been some random guy who ended up in England 300+ years ago. We’ll never know.
Does anyone know which is better for finding relatives?
I did ancestry because H wanted to find his relatives so he bought a kit. I have no interest in finding any relatives, so I used a throwaway email address for the results. H is happily assembling a family tree and trying to convince me to let him spend extra money to join the outside America site to find family outside the US. I have not yet approved, but maybe for Hanukah.
I may do 23 because I am interested in the health aspects. I just want to figure out if I can use a throwaway email again to not be tracked or contacted. I don’t like the relatives I already know, why would I want to find more?
We chose 23andMe because we wanted the inexpensive health reports (esp since hubby found out his mom had been adopted and has severe Alzheimers, etc). The relatives and ancestry part that comes with it was a fun bonus, but we had no interest in just doing that part.
You can upload your 23andme DNA file into MyHeritage.com (which does have family trees) to find more relatives. I found 2 distant ‘DNA cousins’ through MyHeritage and even arranged to meet one in person last year while on vacation in Ireland.
@techmom99 Relatives outside the US can show up for DNA results with ancestry.com. I’ve been contacted by a 2nd cousin in Scotland and a more distant cousin in England. My H has had fun building a family tree. He has had contact with cousins as well, all in the US.