Ancestry DNA

I joined ancestry.com as although I easily traced the biological mother who arranged my private adoption before I was born, I had no idea of my biological father except that he’d been in the Canadian or American Army during WW11.
Ancestry showed me he was a married American GI and that I had three half siblings. He had died in the 1980’s and so had my eldest half brother. Both of them had the same given name as my eldest son!
I truthfully can’t understand why some people are uptight regarding their dna. It’s not as if it contains your address, photo and direct phone number.

Esspee

*Floradora9*. Was the birth mother not interested? It would be a kindness to put them in touch with each other surely?

It turned out that this lady was not telling the truth she had already met her birth mother and even had her address and phone number. I am not sure what she hoped to gain from contacting me but it upset a lot of people . I would never have told her anything without the permission of her birth mother.

Neilspurgeon0

Even though Ancestry regularly update the ‘accuracy’ of the estimates of ‘where’ your DNA comes from that is all they are, rough estimates. Because the vast majority of Ancestry DNA tests have, and are likely to continue to be, taken by Americans, it will always be the case that the common emigrant communities: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Scandinavia, England will always dominate those estimates.

Do NOT bank much hope on accurate estimates of Place, that is a bit of a joke at best for the reasons expressed above. On the other hand, relationships: Cousins, Aunts, Uncle’s etc will be much more accurate, but will run into many hundreds of people, very loosely related to you.

I was really pleased that my DNA pinpointed the county in which most of me family have lived so no joke there and it is not a large county.

I have done exhaustive research on DH's ancestry and the DNA test confrmed my findings, so I was very pleased. It is easy to make mistakes in your research which could then set you off in entirely the wrong direction.

I joined Ancestry and did a DNA test as I know next to nothing about my dad’s side of the family. My paternal grandma had a different surname to my father. When I looked under cousins etc matched up with me, one person had his whole name on his profile. Delving further, it turns out my grandma gave my dad the surname of her deceased husband who died two years before my dad was born. It turns out my grandma had had him out of wedlock with a gentleman she finally married (my dad’s real father) when my dad was 8, in 1938. Intriguing.

My Heritage has a smaller data library than Ancestry, so you should get the same information, just less of it. If that isn’t the case, I’d be interested to know.
I've posted this on another thread. I had DNA done with both Ancestry and My Heritage and from all my 25 years of careful research and family knowledge I'd say Ancestry was spot on and My Heritage was absolute nonsense.

Floradora9. Was the birth mother not interested? It would be a kindness to put them in touch with each other surely?

I found it uncanny that they got my county in Scotland correct. Many generations have lived in this same area . I also found that relatives who have done the same test have come up as close matches so I felt this proved how acurate it is . On a word of caution I was contacted by someone looking for her birth mother and from what she told me I knew at once who she was . I made cpontact with the BM to warn her as she had DC who were also on the DNA data base.
Of course I did not tell the person looking for her mother anything though I had some sympathy for her .

Thankyou Stella14. I haven't paid the £30 they ask for to look at their data but already I have been sent cousins (mainly the same ones as on Ancestry) but with the relationship given and where geographically we are connected.

Grammaretto

I have just uploaded my DNA data from Ancestry to My Heritage at no extra charge. The results should be with me in 2 -3 days.
I am curious to know how these results differ.

My Heritage has a smaller data library than Ancestry, so you should get the same information, just less of it. If that isn’t the case, I’d be interested to know.

In Kent the local libraries have Ancestry which you can use for free if you have library membership, I don't know if other counties have this.

I am currently trying to help a woman in her 40s find the identity of her biological father who is probably still alive. She is 2nd-3rd cousin of my husband through Ancestry DNA, and I have managed to work down the family tree to find possible fathers. We are getting close to finding maybe three, but I guess she'll have to go to professionals to actually find these people. I can only identify them, I can't find them! Still, she is thrilled we've come this far as she didn't have a clue before.

Did dna to find half sister but didn’t . Had other surprising results though. Father not my father. Grandfather not my grandfather!!
The research since seems to be accurate as it jigsaws in.
Now going through county council offices and have set
up trace for sister. Nearly went through specialist firm which would have cost a bomb!! Have a good social worker doing tracing.
Originally thought high percentage of French. No. But have in past been asked if French. Shows how you can be fooled.

That's amazing Mallin

I solved a family legend to my satisfaction using my DNA contacts though there is another I cannot.

Being the illegitimate child of an American GI and a British girl who arranged a private adoption for me before I’d actually been born.........Ancestry.com found my GI father even though I had
no idea of his name or where in America he came from. I now know my American family history back to The Mayflower. More information than on my biological mother as American families are easier to trace. I also belong to My Heritage but find that it isn’t as informative or easy to use.

I have just uploaded my DNA data from Ancestry to My Heritage at no extra charge. The results should be with me in 2 -3 days.
I am curious to know how these results differ.

I have found ancestry dna so interesting as it's confirmed by birth father and I have a whole new family in the USA to talk to. It has however thrown up some
Mysteries in that family that I don't feel
Able to share with them as GGP are not who they think they are but they can find this out themselves if they choose to test.

I have sent the raw data to be used for health research.

I subscribe to Ancestry and play with my family tree sometimes, adding names, dates and photos.

The latest DNA update has puzzled me as I lost my 2% Welsh and find I have no English in my DNA which is surely impossible as lots of ancestors were from Norfolk and Gloucestershire.

I have been trying to watch this explanatory video which is rather good.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUF0Stujq6M

I did mine a few years ago, loads of ‘cousins’ sadly many without Family trees.
I don’t know my Grandfathers father, nothing on the birth certificate, sadly no one on that side of the family has popped up.
I was quite happy with my DNA results, mostly English small percentage of Welsh, as I have a Welsh Grt,Grt Grandfather that was fine, when they updated it I was mostly English and the rest was Scottish…….. no Scottish ancestors found, yet….

Bossyrossy

LuckyDuck, I didn’t know that you could do that. Was it easy?

It very frustrating when people do their DNA but don’t do a family tree. Their results show that they are closely related to me but without a tree I can’t find out what the link is,

Write to them Bossyrossy. I would count 1-2 cousins as close, 3-4 as very interesting, beyond that only of minor interest.
Many people are only interested in ethnicity, some are given kits as a gifts and aren’t really into genealogy.

Brought up by my Grandparents and with a mother who refused to disclose the name of my father (despite being married when I was born), I found the DNA test useful.
I now know that I am mostly Celt (Irish/Scottish/Welsh) with a smaller amount of English, and a tiny amount of Bulgarian!
This latter was quite amusing, as some years ago - I had bought a house in Bulgaria to use for holidays (now sold, as I no longer travel abroad).

Many people have their DNA done to discover their ethnicity. As this depends on the information from people in the company database it is not highly accurate but does improve as more people are tested.
The information given about relatives is highly accurate so if it says your father isn’t your father there is no doubt.
Other information can be obtained. I first tested with 23andme for the medical information. I now know I don’t carry the breast cancer gene, nor the Alzheimer’s gene amongst other things. The information they gave me about my ancestors inspired me to start on my family tree and I took another test with Ancestry which has helped me trace my ancestry back in each line to at least the end of the 1700s, some farther. This has been done since the end of last year.
I have been delighted to find relatives I never knew existed and shared details and photographs with them. I am still in touch with all of them. It’s lovely.

LuckyDuck, I didn’t know that you could do that. Was it easy?

It very frustrating when people do their DNA but don’t do a family tree. Their results show that they are closely related to me but without a tree I can’t find out what the link is,

I did a DNA test with Ancestry, uploaded the raw data to MyHeritage (for free) and found a half sister.

You don't have to subscribe or be a member of Ancestry to have your DNA tested. I have found it to be remarkably accurate and I have been able to be in touch with many 'cousins' and have found we share great-great grandparents etc. It is fascinating to find out where you come from and you don't have to have a tree on there if you don't want to. Just make sure you tick the right boxes for what you permit them to do with your DNA.