DNA

Yes, a bit of a con, if you ask me. I ordered a DNA test for my son´s last birthday. Not because, as he jokingly suggested, "are you trying to tell me I´m adopted, mum?", but because I wanted to clear up some family mystery that my late mother had always hinted about. In any case, it just told him that he was of European heritage. So no great revellations there.

We had a kit for Christmas too and we quite impressed by the results. No idea of cost as it was a present.

Something that mine said confused me but upon investigation it was probably correct so I was quite impressed.

I'll look for the name of the company!

depends on who/which teat
some are very basic(like paternity ones)
others are very detailed and so saying cost more.
then theres this
reason.com/blog/2015/05/06/ancestrycom-hands-over-client-dna-test-r
new uk laws may change this but what about past testing.?

I did the Ancestry one. I was pleased I did it because it did give a breakdown of my heritage and answered the question I was interested in. It also located my most recent ancestry in the Yorkshire/ North of England which is where the bulk of my immediate forebears come from. I bought it on sale price but then was surprised I had to pay for postage, around £20, I think.

They re hugely expensive aren’t they? £20 for postage is ridiculous it’s only a test tube isn’t it I would also not trust them to not mix it up or give a true reading
My great aunt did one it was about 50 % English 40% Irish and lots of 1% this and that but she knew her mum was English and her dad Irish so really told her nothing That was ancestry.com Don’t think I ll bother

I did one with 23 and me. Found it fascinating and quite detailed. Told me stuff I suspected and also threw a bit of a curved ball too. Won't go into details but I think I'm going to study my Italian heritage in a bit more detail!

Yes. Excellent result as I was matched with a first cousin and several second cousins on the other side of the world. We’re in touch now and each has added to our family tree and filled in gaps left by adoption, emigration and (in one case) deportation.

I thought it was just a bit of fun, but I’ve been very impressed.

PS it’s not just about saying you’re 50% Irish, 10% Inuit, etc.. it’s the family members you can find.

PS I didn’t pay any extra for postage as I accessed my results on line.

I received a gift of 23andme, health and ancestry. You received the results online. It was very detailed and interesting. I would recommend it.

I did the ancestry one, it was about £90 I think. At first I was not very impressed, but I then heard from my cousin who had also done the test, and was pleased to know it had matched us up. There are a number of second and third cousins mentioned as matches, but I have not followed them up yet.

I've just discovered this thread. My children bought me the Ancestry DNA test for a recent birthday, results arrived today. I thought it was very interesting. Not just the usual Scottish, Irish and Welsh but 46% Western Europe, and a few percentages of Danish (those Vikings I expect), Finland and Western Russia! Who knew?

I too was given one for a recent birthday, but I have yet to actually do it and send it off - keep forgetting! Must get round to it this weekend.

Bathsheba They told me it would take about 6 weeks but it took less than 3. Perhaps the summer is a quiet period.

Mine also told me I had a higher than average proportion of Neanderthal variants. So that explains my short fat hairy legs then.....?

Oldmeg I have found numerous 5/6/7/8 th cousins worldwide just through doing my family tree for twenty odd years ?detailed work but such good fun

Scientists have described these tests as DNA astrology. When samples from the same person have been submitted to several companies the results have never matched. I was keen to do one, but now I have gone into it I am not going to waste my money.

I have traced my ancestry back over 5 generations and I know exactly what their origins were. The further back I went the more solidly they were agricultural workers, not even farmers, in Northamptonshire, Essex and Ireland (north and south). If the results contradicted what I know, I wouldn't believe them.

I knew mostly what I found out about my ancestry because a couple of things were quite obvious visually and specific but was amazed at the accuracy of the percentages.

One thing though - unless I am mistaken, there is no warning that siblings with the same parents can have slightly different DNA. You do not, for instance, inherit 25% of your DNA from each grandparent. You could have 35% from one grandparent and 15% from another one.

Until very recently I had not realised this. I feel that you could get a case where two siblings get different results and start to wonder about parentage when, in fact, they have got the same parents. Big arguments could start.

Perhaps other people will think I am being dramatic.

I’ve even read of a case where identical twins had slightly different results. Strange.

MOnica If this is rubbish, why did the BBC specifically use Ancestry DNA a while ago to discover more about the ancient remains of Cheddar Man? Surely they wouldn't have used it if it was rubbish? This is what persuaded me that it was reliable, and in my case it seems to be.

I have no idea. Maybe it was good television. I am merely the messenger reporting what several scientific studies have shown.

You and Yours on R4 did an investigation and reached the same conclusion. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05z4m57

Thanks MOnica, I've listened to that radio clip. The lady from UCL said that the tests were not rubbish but that they could not give "the level of specificity" that people liked, and that the continental detail was much more accurate than specifying a particular country. For example mine says "Western Europe" but not a country. I don't know why the person on R4 who had two tests done assumed that both were wrong because they gave different results. One might have been spot on! Anyway, it was interesting to listen to that item so thank you for posting the link.

Thank you Sparklefizz, I feel that the broad brush origins one knows. My ancestors were almost entirely agricultural workers in England or Ireland. It is the trailing edge of having a small proportion of Spanish or African genes that makes it interesting - and that is where the uncertainty lies.

I had a DNA kit bought me for Christmas 2017 from the company 23andme.
I am absolutely thrilled at the amount of information I have received with regard to DNA relatives which they provide.
Have just recently found an Irish connection and have been in contact with the family and this ties up with my own research. I have been researching my family history for a number of years and had no results from my Irish family so this is a step forward.