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Has anyone used My Heritage to do DNA test.

(33 Posts)
Juicylucy Sat 10-Apr-21 13:11:47

I have recently received my DNA results after doing the test from My Heritage based in USA. It has shown up some very surprising results which has left me upset and bewildered. Getting any answers for questions I have also seems impossible. However before I did the test and received my results I had a few friends and family that said I should take the results with a pinch of salt as they’ve been proven to be not very accurate, with some people proving this by tracing there family trees. My question is has anyone used this means of DNA testing and have they found them to be accurate or would you recommend I do another one from a testing company here in England. I’m feeling very uneasy and confused and don’t know where to turn.

Amberone Sat 10-Apr-21 13:28:05

I haven't done any DNA testing but there is a great family history site called Rootschat where there are lots of discussions about DNA testing on different sites, which sites they get the best results from and how to interpret results. Might be worth a look. Very friendly site with lots of expertise to give advice on all sorts of family history related matters.

Juicylucy Sat 10-Apr-21 13:43:28

Amberone thank you for your reply. I will go over and have a look.

jeanie99 Mon 12-Apr-21 02:12:41

My daughter bought me as a Christmas present some years ago a DNA testing kit from 23 and Me.
One of my interests is family history and I have found second cousins via the testing through the sites DNA family.
Totally accurate for me, what I expected mainly. English Irish which I knew about with some German and French which I didn't know about.

BlueBelle Mon 12-Apr-21 06:11:48

I ve done my family tree on both mum and dads side back to late 1600 s and (much to my disappointment ) we were all boringly born in England and mostly around the same county however when my granddaughter did her My Ancestry Christmas present she had no ‘English’ in her results, how could that happen ? I was expecting up to 25%
It doesn’t matter in the least but I m very puzzled by it

silverlining48 Mon 12-Apr-21 06:36:53

I was very Puzzled with dna results from My Heritage. I know them to be inaccurate.

Esspee Mon 12-Apr-21 07:13:35

DNA tests are accurate, no doubt about that. What is not accurate is how it is interpreted. e.g. You may get told a relationship is second cousin once removed. That is on the balance of probability. That the two of you are related is unquestionable.
On the mater of ethnicity the various companies depend on their own databases so their guess is only as good as the range of their customers. As more people join the estimates get more accurate so you can expect to find your ethnicity (as worked out by the company) changes through time.

Esspee Mon 12-Apr-21 07:33:56

Juicy Lucy. Tracing your family tree is highly inaccurate. Even if the mother is known beyond all shadow of a doubt the husband is not necessarily the father. We have to go on the assumption that he is but if this is incorrect then that whole line will be wrong.
I started working on my tree just a few months ago using Ancestry and I have been horrified to see just how many trees have glaring mistakes in them. My great grandmother was married twice. Her second husband had been married before. Of six people who have her on their family tree every single one has errors regarding the parentage of the children. I have certificates and census reports to back up all my findings. If they have demonstrable errors so historically recently just think of the nonsense farther back on their trees.

DNA is unquestionably accurate as I said previously. The interpretation can be wrong but the connection is real.

NfkDumpling Mon 12-Apr-21 08:08:42

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.

Bibbity Mon 12-Apr-21 08:48:28

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.

Juicylucy Mon 12-Apr-21 10:07:24

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.

JennyNotFromTheBlock Mon 12-Apr-21 10:59:39

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.

SueDonim Mon 12-Apr-21 13:59:15

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

silverlining48 Tue 13-Apr-21 11:56:16

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.

Blossoming Tue 13-Apr-21 12:15:33

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 ?

henetha Tue 13-Apr-21 12:30:03

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.

SueDonim Tue 13-Apr-21 13:51:26

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!

silverlining48 Tue 13-Apr-21 16:03:26

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.

SueDonim Tue 13-Apr-21 16:35:40

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. smile

Chestnut Tue 13-Apr-21 17:08:51

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.

Redhead56 Tue 13-Apr-21 19:37:51

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.

Esspee Tue 13-Apr-21 23:37:02

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.

Juicylucy Wed 14-Apr-21 00:47:41

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.

silverlining48 Wed 14-Apr-21 07:17:49

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.

Grammaretto Wed 14-Apr-21 07:36:59

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. grin
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! .