Mildly surprised by Ancestry DNA results...

[tazdev3225]

I took the test last year and largely got results that I expected. I had a small bit of Norwegian later changed to Swedish, about 2% so my grandkids liked that. They have Viking in their blood. My mom and aunt took the test before I did and their results were similar and yet so different. Mom was more English and my aunt more German. My grandfather was German from both his parents and my grandmother was English, Irish and German. They both had a similar percentage of Irish. The twist was my aunt had a small percentage of Swedish and my mom had a small percentage of Jewish. My mom has been tracing the family for years and we knew that the distant family in Germany had their lands confiscated by the Nazis in WWII. There is a possibility that we did have Jewish relatives then.

I have had the test for my husband to take for over a year but with diabetes and other health issues he has a hard time getting enough saliva to fill that tube before eating or drinking. I have been working on his family as he didn't know his father's family at all. His father died when he was very young and my MIL did not get along with them so cut off all communication. She never talked much about her own family with my husband. His sister was quite a bit older than he is and when I once asked her what their grandmothers name was she replied "Grandmom". She never knew, or cared to know what her grandmothers name was.

 

[Heather07438]

I haven't had mine done yet...

Most curious to see how much Neanderthal I'm carrying

 

[Moliphino]

I haven't had mine done yet...

Most curious to see how much Neanderthal I'm carrying

I have more Neanderthal DNA than 78% of 23andMe customers!

 

[Heather07438]

I have more Neanderthal DNA than 78% of 23andMe customers!

That's awesome!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I know this discussion is mostly about the ETHNICITY accuracy, which is not exact.

Right, the "where are you from" part requires interpretation, which is ... up for interpretation.

 

[DisneyDebbie]

I haven't had mine done yet...

Most curious to see how much Neanderthal I'm carrying

I have more Neanderthal DNA than 78% of 23andMe customers!

We must have similar numbers, I also have more Neanderthal DNA than 78% of 23andme customers

 

[MithrilMaiden]

The only real surprising things were that my Irish ancestors were predominantly from County Cork, and that I am completely Northwestern European. I've always known I was of Irish heritage, having grown up being reminded of that every 5 minutes, but I thought my ancestors were largely from County Galway. To the extent that, when I was visiting Dublin for a few days, I took a tour bus to Galway City to see where my family came from. And so I find out that they actually came mostly from Cork, in all probability.

I also just assumed that I'd have some Southern or Eastern European ancestry. Also assumed a bit of African, given the fact that I do descend from slaveowners. Also, my mother doesn't know anything about who her father was, so I was expecting something unexpected. Nope on all counts.

Aside from Irish, I came up as English (London and York), Scottish, German (Saxony), and Swedish (possibly with some Norwiegian). Surprisingly tidy, all things considered. Sweden and Norway are the only countries on this list I haven't either visited or booked travel to (that includes treating England and Scotland as seperate), so that's an exciting prospect.

 

[Kennywood]

I'm a mutt!

 

[BalooFan]

There was no surprise that my ethnicity estimate was 99% European, though not quite as German as I thought I would be according to my years of family research. The biggest surprise was that I am 1% African.

So, I have to ask, none of you were concerned that submitting your DNA could expose a family member as a criminal?

I have no qualms about this. As painful as it might be there is a victim who deserves justice.

Most of the comments are about ethnicity estimates, but I also caution people who take these tests and make them available for comparison with other researchers to be prepared for the possibility of finding out a life altering family secret. For example, I was contacted by a DNA relative who discovered that the (deceased) man he thought was his father wasn’t and his elderly mother wasn’t talking. If you aren’t equipped to deal with this kind of surprise, you might want to steer clear of DNA testing.

 

[bcla]

Right, the "where are you from" part requires interpretation, which is ... up for interpretation.

The fact is that while there are often distinct populations, there has never been such a thing as purity save absolute isolation on some remote island.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

We must have similar numbers, I also have more Neanderthal DNA than 78% of 23andme customers

I have you both beat. I have so much Neanderthal DNA, I was in a series of commercials.

 

[Heather07438]

I have you both beat. I have so much Neanderthal DNA, I was in a series of commercials.

Yeah but how much Denisovan? You're old news without that

 

[DVC-Don]

My wife's family claimed for years they were mostly Italian and my wife can make some amazing Italian dishes. One of her brothers did a DNA test last year and discovered he's mostly Irish with some English and a small dab of Italian. So now I'm looking forward to boiled potato dishes as she discovers her Irish cooking talents.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

Mine gets periodic updates (ancestry.com). It still shows me mostly England/Wales/Northwestern Europe and a little bit Ireland/Scotland. but it did add in 2% Swedish this time.

 

[bushdianee]

I did Ancestry hoping to find new relatives. My dad discovered that his father wasn’t his biological father at age 12 but my grandmother would never tell him who was. There are some genetic things in my immediate family that nobody else on his side or my mom’s side has so we figure that at least some of them come from the unknown side.

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

What is really interesting is that there have been cases where the recipient of an organ transplant or a bone marrow transplant have had their DNA tested and it shows up as the DNA from the donor. That opens a whole can of worms!! So think about this, your DNA is involved in a crime and you weren’t there! But you can hopefully prove that you had donated bone marrow.

 

[Betsy82]

We always thought my husband‘s father wasn’t his father, as did the entire rest of the family.
Turns out he was his father, but grandpa wasn’t really grandpa. Whoops.

No one he matched will speak to us which is a bummer but DH has his question answered so that made it worth it!

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

We always thought my husband‘s father wasn’t his father, as did the entire rest of the family.
Turns out he was his father, but grandpa wasn’t really grandpa. Whoops.

No one he matched will speak to us which is a bummer but DH has his question answered so that made it worth it!

People react strangely don’t they? As I mentioned above, 23&me found a match for an elderly gentleman, who is the adopted illegitimate son of one of my Grandmother’s brothers. All those brothers are long dead and my Grandmother’s children are also dead, which only leaves the next generation, my cousins and I, who would be the gentleman’s second cousins. All the gentleman wanted was to identify his Father and to know something of him and the family, but all my cousins are very suspicious and refuse to meet him or share old family photographs. I find it so unkind. I know that we can’t appease the sins of the father, so to speak, but just to answer some questions, share photographs, give this poor gentleman, who is in his 80’s, some peace wouldn’t harm anyone.

 

[Melissa55]

People react strangely don’t they? As I mentioned above, 23&me found a match for an elderly gentleman, who is the adopted illegitimate son of one of my Grandmother’s brothers. All those brothers are long dead and my Grandmother’s children are also dead, which only leaves the next generation, my cousins and I, who would be the gentleman’s second cousins. All the gentleman wanted was to identify his Father and to know something of him and the family, but all my cousins are very suspicious and refuse to meet him or share old family photographs. I find it so unkind. I know that we can’t appease the sins of the father, so to speak, but just to answer some questions, share photographs, give this poor gentleman, who is in his 80’s, some peace wouldn’t harm anyone.

I will say from my perspective: I have tried to be very nice to everyone who’s contacted me. One woman, however, I ended up blocking because she was so intense. I matched to her husband, who was adopted. It was a match on my paternal grandfather’s side and I don’t know them. They all hate each other and my grandfather died before I was born. This woman was insistent I knew the information she wanted. I tried in the nicest way possible to tell her that “I can’t tell you about a birth that happened 30+ years before my own in a family I have almost no contact with” but she wasn’t having it. It was honestly bordering on stalking as she contacted me over multiple platforms. That made me more hesitant to interact with others, and through someone else I did hear she eventually solved the mystery thanks to someone else I encouraged to take the test who filled in the missing piece between me and the woman’s husband.

 

[Kennywood]

If someone contacts me and I don't know who they are, I don't give them ANY information. If I don't recognize the phone number on the Caller ID, I don't even answer the phone.