Has anyone used My Heritage to do DNA test.

I took a My Heritage DNA and it was pretty much as I expected apart from 3% Eastern European which, at a stretch, I can imagine might relate to my father's side of the family.

However, my husband who knows his family history back to the 17th century took their test and got a rubbish result. He was so cross that he took the time to argue with them. In particular, he is French Huguenot on his mother's side and eventually, My Heritage admitted to him that they didn't have access to any French data because, as posted above, the French won't allow DNA testing. So the answer to the original question is, I suppose, be very suspicious. I'm very doubtful of suggestions of linkage that quote 0.5% and so on.

I originally did my family history 25 years ago when it wasn't possible to use the internet. I've noticed that the proliferation of researchers and databases now means that mistakes creep in very easily. I recently came across an American family tree where they'd seized upon an uncle of mine and inserted him in their tree which was a complete fallacy, they had just grabbed a suitable looking date and name and added him!!

I have only taken an Ancestry test. Reassuringly it showed that my son, who also took a test with them, was either my child or my parent! It also showed some first and second cousins that I knew. I would recommend taking a test with Ancestry silver as so many people use them you are more likely to find closer relatives who have done so.

Living in France it is against the law to do DNA testing. Government suggests it could upset family life. However, on my last trip to the UK I did an Ancestry DNA.
I was fostered and later adopted but I knew my parents.
I found the results to be absolutely true on my mother’s side. Half sister and family in the USA. One distant cousin from Australia got in contact and I contacted another, in the UK, both tallied with the information I already knew. That being said my Father’s side is impossible at the moment because it an old USSR state and does not have that information.

We were given tests this Christmas and did ours and sent them early this week.

Can't wait- our families on both sides, but particularly on OH's- are VERY mixed.

go with Ancestry it is the most comprehensive and you can put it in Myheritage after you get the rresults.

luckyrose62 and others who are relying on My Heritage - don't! As I've said, I don't recognise their results as being accurate. I don't believe they have enough data to work from because not enough people have been tested.

Distant cousins - if your grandparents came from large families then you should be finding some 3rd-4th cousins on Ancestry. But if the family was small then there may be very few living people around, and they may not have been tested.

Ancestry - if lots of people tested have ancestral roots in a country or county (very true of the UK) it becomes easier to analyse the data down to specific areas. So they can tell which part of England your ancestors originated for instance. In other countries very few people may have been tested, so they cannot be as precise for the area.

Silver lining I have 1st cousins showing as 2.4% then loads of 5th ones at .01%. However I doubt my heritage is accurate it’s very unbelievable so I’m intending doing another one from Ancestry based in the UK.

We bought ourselves my heritage for a present for each other one Christmas. I used to joke with my husband about his heritage. He is tall dark tans easily brown eyes. So I expected roots going back to Africa. He is 100% English. Where I have green eyes burn easily with mousey hair. My results started in the Middle East northern Spain france England and Celtic. It did solve a family rumour that we were hugeonots which was confirmed by a cousin twice removed who I didn’t know. A bit of fun. We did our grown up children the year after English but one had 1.8% Italian ?

That is interesting Chestnut but why is that?
I guess that Ancestry.com has far more take up and thus a vast database.
I took mine with Ancestry and found it to be patchy in that my Scots and Irish roots include the actual village whereas my Indonesian GtGM appears to be a vague mixture of SE Asia/Vietnam/Philippines adding to 8%. I love the maps.
I suppose it's mainly people in USA who have done the tests..
The friend I talk to about Genealogy has done My Heritage and apart from being contacted by a couple of cousins I don't think she has been impressed.

I have made contact with "new" cousins too and solved a few family mysteries and the reassurance that my DD and DSister are truly that! .

Is it usual to be given such distant potential relatives. All of my results are all 5th cousins with no more than 0.4% liklihood which to me is too remote.
Am I missing something? Why are they all 0.4? Does anyone get a range of percentages/higher and not always the same? Is cousins as a general term used in all cases? Admit to being confused.

Chestnut thank you, this is exactly what I’ve been thinking, my results are fairly unbelievable. Another test with another company seems the way to go. Thank you.

I have had tests done with 23 and me and Ancestry. I have vastly more “cousins” listed on 23 and me than Ancestry so I suspect their database is much larger.

My results came through English Irish Scottish Welsh and a small percent of Central Asia. My older sisters results were exactly the same as mine so I assume it to be correct. My DH results were correct given his background and what he had expected.

I have had a DNA test with My Heritage and also with Ancestry.
The DNA test from My Heritage is absolute nonsense.
I have found Ancestry to be spot on according to my research (back to 1700) and my family knowledge. I suggest you have another DNA test with Ancestry and ignore the first one. I can only advise on my own experience as a researcher for 25 years.

Silver, click on the link to Lost Cousins that I put further back and it will take you to info about how to use your DNA tests effectively.

Thanks sue. I find it strange that all the Potential cousins (whose names I don’t recognise) are 5th cousins, no one closer or more distant and none have contacted me either. There seems little point in going any further with it.

silverlining48

My Heritage have never sent info on anyone closer than 5 th cousins which i have not followed up because there seems little point.
My mum was foreign, yet there was no mention of that country in my results.

It’s through your cousins that you can trace your ancestors further back. At some point you’ll have had the same GG+grandparents and then you can trace forwards from there.

Your mum’s ancestry may not have shown up because no one else in that area has done DNA testing with My Heritage. That’s why the Ancestry test is the best to use, because it has many more contributors.

PS, I have no links to Ancestry except that I used their testing!

I did a My Heritage dna test in January and was delighted at the result. There had been rumours of a Spanish relative somewhere and I know now that I had a Spanish great grandmother. Also, I sort of knew I was Scottish and now know that my maternal grandfather was Scottish, and lots of relaives in Scotland. I'm so pleased as I love Scotland.
But the big surprise was that I'm 20 percent Scandinavian, the Vikings I presume. I love that!
I'm not too sure about the two and a half percent Eastern European.!
But the best thing of all was that it put me in touch with a first cousin, once removed, in Vancouver and we are now in regular touch and she has become a real friend. And she has been doing ancestry research for many years and has told me so many things about myself which I didn't know.
She and I appear to have many cousins all over the world,
which most of us do I suppose.

I used an Ancestry test a few years ago. I also have an extensive family tree on Ancestry which I have worked on with my cousins from around the globe.

The largest part of my DNA is from NE Scotland, which I had expected, then some English, Welsh, Irish, a tiny bit of NE France, also pretty much as expected. The part that did surprise me was a dash of Norwegian and Danish, though I guess given my known Norman forebear and NE Scottish heritage it’s quite possible ?. My close cousins came up as strong matches, which again I expected. I found it interesting, and happy that it confirmed I’m British. Long live the United Kingdom ?

My Heritage have never sent info on anyone closer than 5 th cousins which i have not followed up because there seems little point.
My mum was foreign, yet there was no mention of that country in my results.

I believe that taking the Ancestry DNA test is the gold standard, because it’s the most popular. That means they can compare your DNA with many more people than other tests.

For a good explanation of how to use your results, go to the lostcousins.com website, where you can register to find family members via Census data etc. It has a master classes on DNA, too. It’s in this newsletter.

www.lostcousins.com/newsletters2/mar21news.htm#DNAMasterclass

I haven't used it as I don't like their products in general. My family tree is built via Family Tree and I also don't enjoy their photo restoration program, it's too complicated and Photoglory is way better in my opinion. Their DNA test service is said to be decent, though, so probably it's a good option to try.

Thank you for your stories. I don’t know how to process the results especially after learning from various people that My Heritage have tendency to be inaccurate, and searching my family tree with be arduous. So for now I’ll push it to the back of my mind as it’s caused me hurt and upset over the weekend.

As above. Tracing your family tree is solely based on the word of the mother usually.

Add that to fathers not mentioning their string of illegitimate children.

These tests have uncovered mountains of skeletons in countless closets.

I had an Ancestry test as a present from the offspring. It showed I'm pretty much a Dane/Norman and much as I expected. It did say that it was only an approximate test and not an in depth one. The first result showed 1% Jewish and a smattering of Mediterranean but then a second update appeared which dropped these. A pity really as it then made me rather boring.