The Lemon Fool

In my greater family there are a few of us interested in Family History and genealogy.

I have heard from a second cousin who has herself heard from a someone who had done DNA testing and shows they are 4th cousins. I may or may not be related to her new 'cousin'. Their own information (includes adoption in the past) is very scant so DNA is an important part of trying to find who they are/ where they are from.

I have thought about getting DNA testing done for a long time and now seems a good time - this way hopefully we can help prove or disprove one of the many possible branches for my cousins cousin! Yes 4th cousins have a lot of options but you need to start somewhere!

However, all my cousins are with Ancestry and use their DNA kits - I am not a subscriber though I do have an online tree and take advantage of free days!!

So if I got an Ancestry test would it be of much use on their web site? Would I know if anyone was related given I am not a subscriber???

I had thought of doing the FT* one and uploading to GEDmatch before now? I could upload Ancestry data there as well ? Would it be better to use the same kit or better to get a different angle from another company?

* I think this is a tenner cheaper too - but is it better, as good as or not as good! I don't expect anything surprising - just the usual mix of a Scottish/English background (so will include at the very least some Irish and Hugenot!)

Anyway folks - any ideas?

My own subscription has several months to run at FMP.

All the DNA test does is identify whether you share any DNA with another subscriber/tester. It will not identify who the common ancestor is unless you both have trees with that ancestor in both. Without family trees it would be impossible to trace. I have done the ancestry DNA and it did not tell me much although I have 113 matches. Of course if you are trying to see if you are related to someone it will tell you that but not how. It is probably better to do the family trees if you suspect a relationship than to do a DNA test.
Krobaa

Hi - Yes the trees would generally be the best way but this cousin of a cousin cannot go back as his mother was adopted and has no details whatsoever - and there is no way he can find anything out this was all - pre formal adoption, a long time ago. So no clues. No names.

Our thoughts are of elimination - if I am not linked genetically then it is through my 2nd cousins mothers side as opposed to our joint great grandfather.(Our grandfathers being brothers). It is highly unlikely that the line comes down through my cousins fathers side - due to ancestry in a different country - though you never know!


I know it is a bit of a needle in haystack but there are no other options open to then. Even if it shows that this is line- with my 2nd cousin - the number of descendants are mind boggling but at least there are names and can start looking at trees! Asking others with matches etc

I too did the Ancestry DNA test (it was a Christmas present from the children) and it was a complete waste of time & money. Results were received after about 7 weeks and showed me to be -
Ireland 44%
Europe West 37%
Scandinavia 9%
Trace Regions 9%

Now I had hoped there would be a lot more detail but leaving that aside the results just look wrong. On my father’s side I’m 100% Scottish going back to at least 18th century, on my mother’s it’s about 50% English, 50% German. Certainly no Irish.

There is a review site here -

https://dnatestingchoice.com/ancestry

I suspect that Ancestry see this tool as a way of getting people to sign up for their subscription service so that you can make contact with others who may - or may not be - relatives.

Regards,

Leither.

Leither wrote:I too did the Ancestry DNA test (it was a Christmas present from the children) and it was a complete waste of time & money. Results were received after about 7 weeks and showed me to be -
Ireland 44%
Europe West 37%
Scandinavia 9%
Trace Regions 9%

Now I had hoped there would be a lot more detail but leaving that aside the results just look wrong. On my father’s side I’m 100% Scottish going back to at least 18th century, on my mother’s it’s about 50% English, 50% German. Certainly no Irish.

There is a review site here -

https://dnatestingchoice.com/ancestry

I suspect that Ancestry see this tool as a way of getting people to sign up for their subscription service so that you can make contact with others who may - or may not be - relatives.

Regards,

Leither.

But the Irish mover to Scotland and the Scots moved to Ireland, according to 1066 and all that

Seriously, there has been a lot of trading back and forth between Ireland and Scotland for centuries, back as far as the Vikings at least I believe, so a greater % of Irish than expected may not be all that surprising.



But, I still don't think that this sort of regional generalisation is at all helpful in accurate genealogy.

Slarti

Leither wrote:I too did the Ancestry DNA test (it was a Christmas present from the children) and it was a complete waste of time & money. Results were received after about 7 weeks and showed me to be -
Ireland 44%
Europe West 37%
Scandinavia 9%
Trace Regions 9%

Now I had hoped there would be a lot more detail but leaving that aside the results just look wrong. On my father’s side I’m 100% Scottish going back to at least 18th century, on my mother’s it’s about 50% English, 50% German. Certainly no Irish.

There is a review site here -

https://dnatestingchoice.com/ancestry

I suspect that Ancestry see this tool as a way of getting people to sign up for their subscription service so that you can make contact with others who may - or may not be - relatives.

Regards,

Leither.

I think the only options are Irish, Scandinavia, or Great Britain. No Scottish option. I would expect a Western Scot in particular to be showing a heavy Irish percentage with regards to Dal Riata etc..(It would be better to call it Celtic perhaps?) The West European must be the wifes family.

I did complain and they said something about hoping to improve the definition so as to differentiate between Scots and Irish.

I am thinking of trying the LivingDNA service which appears to be much more defined.

Regards,

Leither.

Update

I went with Living DNA - results will take sometime!

Further update to follow!

Seventy-nine quid? To be told I'm just another mongrel?

My lot were Northamptonshire metal-bashers since the 18th century - there were four generations of blacksmiths on my mother's side, which will be where I get my barrel chest and wide shoulders. My grandmother could have flattened Klitschko any time she felt like it, except that the yellow-bellied wimp hadn't had the nerve to be born yet.

Yeah, that's gotta be Nordic. Thor and Wotan rolled into one. Now, would you kindly put me down? You don't know where I've been.

BJ

Apparently many of these DNA test kits are scams. Almost everyone has Viking blood nowadays, even me...17th century Russian Serf, before that the family history gets a bit hazy but later in the 19th century we get German Jewish and Swedish something ie Viking of course.

JMN2 wrote:Apparently many of these DNA test kits are scams. Almost everyone has Viking blood nowadays, even me...17th century Russian Serf, before that the family history gets a bit hazy but later in the 19th century we get German Jewish and Swedish something ie Viking of course.

As my Gran used to say "It is a wise child that knows its own father"

I'll stick with what is documented


Slarti

Lindy is taking a crack at this DNA testing:

https://youtu.be/jntb0IyMgcU

JMN2 wrote:Almost everyone has Viking blood nowadays, even me...17th century Russian Serf

The vikings travelled widely on the rivers through Russia, right down to the Black sea. Kiev was a viking settlement. So would expect the vast majority of Russians have viking ancestry. Just as much as Brits.

gryffron wrote:

JMN2 wrote:Almost everyone has Viking blood nowadays, even me...17th century Russian Serf

The vikings travelled widely on the rivers through Russia, right down to the Black sea. Kiev was a viking settlement. So would expect the vast majority of Russians have viking ancestry. Just as much as Brits.

Well, if you'd watched the linked video above you'd know that saying one has Viking dna is similar to saying that one has Accountancy dna.

Or, https://youtu.be/RHHLFFy6CWs

JMN2 wrote:Lindy is taking a crack at this DNA testing:

https://youtu.be/jntb0IyMgcU

The results:

https://youtu.be/9X3QVCOZlvU