DNA test

Grammaretto, have you joined Lost Cousins? It's a genealogical website, very practical and interesting. It's free to join.

I haven't found any cousins through it but plenty of people have! www.lostcousins.com

Good luck!

I have found lots of 2nd 3rd, back to 7th cousins through Genealogy over the years met one who came over from Canada and another from Netherlands It’s fun, all this was done long before the spit test
I ve never heard of Lost Cousins suedronin I ll have to have a look

I've done it but have yet to contact any of the new cousins . Also found out I am part Indigenous Amazonian also Welsh, Italian, Greek and Scandinavian. Lol

I am quite excited to see what can be discovered or confirmed. There are so many family rumours . Despite doing my extensive family tree 20 years ago there are still surprises.

Sometimes cousins think you are after their money ofcourse - and maybe you are!

My results were surprising! In some ways they confirmed what I knew anyway but in one case there is no obvious link to the man I thought was my Gt Grandfather but plenty to another family in the village!!!
DH has also found anomolies. It is exciting.

I think I'd rather stick with parish records and paper trails, myself. You never know who they're selling your DNA data to and in the future this could possibly affect grandchildren etc (health insurance and I dunno what else).

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/aug/10/dna-ancestry-tests-cheap-data-price-companies-23andme

I recently did a dna test via one of the smaller sites offering a more detailed report than sites such as ancestry. It confirmed most of what I already knew.

It did maternal dna and it looks as if my type of dna came from the Middle East, across Northern Europe and thus to the uk. This was thousands of years ago. As I thought most of my roots are Anglo Saxon with just 2%of my maternal dna from the Iberian peninsula.

A friend recently also did theirs. They found cousins and thus identified with some certainty, their fathers father. Until then this had remained a closed book.

I found it quite fascinating but I suggest you look at the different sites available and decide which one is best for you.

I have read the Guardian article LondonGranny snd my DS is very anti, convinced the CIA is scooping up all our data.
They may well be but I suppose I don't really care if somebody is making money as long as my questions are answered - which they were.
I had to sign something to allow my data to be used for medical research which I did because I want it to be.

If I had relied on the Parish Records, or in my case the birth certificate, I wouldn't have discovered who the real father was.

I had a test with '23 and me' and found the results fascinating. There's lots of detailed information on health tendencies and physical strengths. I've been able to compare them with other family members too.

The reason that you find lots of relatives in America is simply because a lot of Americans have joined the DNA websites. They are expensive so have been less popular in other parts of the world but new people are always joining to update your results. Go for it!

www.top10bestdnatesting.com/

londongranny you really don’t like the modern world do you ? not phones or dna tests ?

I am finding the Ancestry DNA test rather confusing. At first it said there were traces of Scandinavian and Spanish, now they've updated my results based on better analysis and both seem to have disappeared altogether making me 100% British Isles. I'm thinking of having another test elsewhere.

Ancestry throws up a huge number of cousins. I have tried contacting some but at least half of them don't reply.

I can't make sense of the updated DNA from ancestry. I have lost faith as to its accuracy. The old results reflected what I knew, but the new ones just don't.

According to Stephen Fry on QI we are all descended from Charlemagne!

Daisymae - I agree and have also lost faith in the Ancestry test due to their radical changes (as I mentioned). I have just booked one with My Heritage which is supposed to be the best. It is only £49 (plus £9 shipping). They used to be twice that so seem to be getting cheaper all the time. Need to watch out though. They give you a free month access to everything and then start a subscription which I don't want (I have done all my research). I will have to cancel this before the due date.

The databases used by these different companies are variable in size and composition and while they are accurate when they say you are 50 % any particular ethnicity, when they get to the slight ones, like Taniths Amazonian Indian, they are much less reliable and the different sites may offer different interpretations of the data.

I think these are probably fun to do, but just do not trust in their accuracy in the bits round the edges nor the exact %s for the big numbers. I would always say the true results are probably between 5 or 10% of the figures quoted.

I have done ancestry dna test and received many matches to cousins both close and distant. There is no obligation to contact any of these matches if you do not wish. I found my results to be very accurate in all areas.

I did the test with Ancestry, so hoped for links to my Anglesey
family, not one, many with my South Wales family.

The family members who received their DNA results recently have been both reassured and surprised.
It was through Ancestry but I wonder if the MyHeritage tests are more accurate? Has anyone done both?
You can spend a surprising amount of money that's for sure.

I think I’d feel the same, OP.
I’m very interested in finding out geographical origins, particularly since I have a dd with colouring that is certainly different from anyone on either side - more Mediterranean than anything else - so I’m convinced that we have a washed-up Armada sailor or two somewhere down the line! Particularly since 2 sets of GG-parents came from coastal Devon or Suffolk, so it’s likely that their ancestors had always lived in those areas.

So I’m going to have my DNA ‘done’ soon, but I wouldn’t want to be put in touch with hordes of distant cousins - TBH I have not so distant relatives I’m not keen on having much to do with anyway!

If you don't want to do it, don't do it because your distant cousin wishes you to do so.

Friends of mine have done it and got pleasure and information from it. However, I also know someone who found out some painful information.

I used 23 and me mainly for the medical information (which you only access if you want to). I was delighted to find that I don’t carry the breast/prostrate cancer gene so my sons have a better chance of avoiding prostate cancer than I feared and I have ammunition when it is suggested I should give up HRT after 30 years as I am definitely low risk for breast cancer.
Not carrying the Alzheimer’s gene was also great news.

I sent messages to all of my closest relatives and amazingly my paternal grandmother’s line had been researched back to Viking times.

When I clicked on one of my distant cousins her photo looked so like me I was shocked. My brother thought I was playing a joke on him when I sent it to him. Fortunately she lives in this country so hope to meet her this year.

I am so glad I had it done. Enjoy it OP and happy new year everybody.

I’ve followed the record trail for some time and discovered a lot about my forebears. But I will not pursue a DNA Test. People that just happen to share some blood with are strangers - already coming from a large family I’ve never had time to build a relationship with those further flung ~as we’ve nothing else in common~.
I also feel uncovering past secrets over parentage is a dangerous thing. Times were different and decisions were made in response to circumstances perhaps not understandable today.
That said, if medical and your young enough for it to make a difference, then yes.

Really ExperiencedNotOld?
I just don't understand all the secrecy unless I uncovered a mass murderer or child abuser....
I was so happy to meet a cousin whose DM was the illegitimate child of our DGF. It all happened over 100 yrs ago so what harm can it do?

Grammaretto I have done both My Heritage and Ancestry. My Heritage picked up fairly strong Swedish DNA which I knew from family history. There was also some Finnish which is not really surprising. I was shocked at 81% English but looking at the map it included Scottish and Northern Irish which I also know. The big surprise was 1% North African and West African!! I would love to know more.

Ancestry had me 57% England, Wales and NE Europe and 43% Ireland and Scotland. Both probably accurate and dependent very much upon their database I suppose.

I have hundreds of third to fifth cousins but the first and second ones I have known about. Witzend You don't have to contact them, or they you. One second cousin has contacted me from Canada and I know my mother had photos of him and his siblings every year when I was a child. I think we have much to share.

I also did the My Heritage medical one and though I was at average risk for most diseases I was identified as high risk for Macular degeneration which I actually have. They are likely to be quite accurate then but they do stress that lifestyle matters which I obviously already know.

Good luck in your searches everyone. It is exciting.