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[Misc] DNA ancestry kits - anyone used one?
- Thread starter matt
- Start date
Ex-Staffs Gull
New member
Funnily enough just did one about an hour ago. Won it a while ago and finally got round to gobbing in the tube. Ancestry DNA. No idea if any good yet though.
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
Yes, I am into family history and DNA testing really helps confirm other research.
Whether it's worth it depends on your expectations.
It'll give you a vague ethnicity result, and a LONG list of tested cousins of varying distance. But you'll need to do some work on your own tree, to make sense of it.
BTW, if anyone is thinking of buying a kit, make sure it's from Ancestry and not the other companies. Ancestry have a far bigger database, and you can upload your Ancestry data to other companies, but not vice versa.
Ps. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy the Ancestry DNA kit from Amazon, as it saves on postage.
Whether it's worth it depends on your expectations.
It'll give you a vague ethnicity result, and a LONG list of tested cousins of varying distance. But you'll need to do some work on your own tree, to make sense of it.
BTW, if anyone is thinking of buying a kit, make sure it's from Ancestry and not the other companies. Ancestry have a far bigger database, and you can upload your Ancestry data to other companies, but not vice versa.
Ps. Sometimes it's cheaper to buy the Ancestry DNA kit from Amazon, as it saves on postage.
Worthing exile
New member
- May 12, 2009
- 1,219
Yes, you get the names of thousands of other people that match your DNA, and how close they are. I've been in touch with second cousins that I didn't previously know about. But some people uses aliases, so it's not obvious who they are. Some people make their own trees public, but some keep them private, which is a pain.
To me, it's an enjoyable detective game, which can be quite addictive.
The kits are now £63 plus £10 postage on Ancestry, I believe. I managed to get a couple at £49 each with free delivery from Amazon on Monday. Now's the time to look out for special offers.
That cost allows you to access the DNA data, but if you want to research census records, etc, that will cost you extra annually. Which is probably why some people only get as for as the DNA.
One thing to be wary of is "surprises" - when the DNA shows something you didn't expect, or doesn't show something you did expect... the DNA doesn't lie!
When I traced my family history I was able to go back 500 years in Worthing on my mums side and the mid 1600s along the south coast as far a Winchester on my Dads side.
So I was not surprised when my DNA result came back as 92% southern England. I guess that sort of shows that there is some truth in the results.
So I was not surprised when my DNA result came back as 92% southern England. I guess that sort of shows that there is some truth in the results.
... and postie has just delivered my two kits.
Now I just need to convince selected relatives to dribble into a tube...
The Spanish
Well-known member
Do you know what Ancestry does with your data?
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/16/5-b...-with-consumer-genetic-testing-companies.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/16/5-b...-with-consumer-genetic-testing-companies.html
You ain't ma real daddy!
Fixed.
Good point. You need to consider the risks and benefits of everything you do on the Internet, and in the real world.
I've decided the benefits are worth the risks, and to be fair, some of those in the article are a bit vague. Just assume that nothing is private in the modern world. Internet banking is probably a more immediate risk with more impact.
By the way, the "next big thing" in DNA research seems to be "artefact testing", where your DNA can been retrieved from everyday objects such as the envelope your grandmother licked when she wrote a letter. If we haven't already lost control of our DNA, we soon will - the "gene genie" is out of the bottle.
Phew!
StonehamPark
#Brighton-Nil
I bought and used one about 18+ months ago.
Initial results were interesting; 75% British & Irish, and the rest a mixture of Scandinavian, Western Europe and 1% middle-east.
They updated my results last week and I'm now 100% British and Irish.
Initial results were interesting; 75% British & Irish, and the rest a mixture of Scandinavian, Western Europe and 1% middle-east.
They updated my results last week and I'm now 100% British and Irish.
Si Gull
Way Down South
I bought and used one about 18+ months ago.
Initial results were interesting; 75% British & Irish, and the rest a mixture of Scandinavian, Western Europe and 1% middle-east.
They updated my results last week and I'm now 100% British and Irish.
It'd be pretty surprising if anyone in the UK had 100% British/Irish DNA given the multitude of different DNA sources that have passed through over the millennia. Your first result sounds more likely.
I bought and used one about 18+ months ago.
Initial results were interesting; 75% British & Irish, and the rest a mixture of Scandinavian, Western Europe and 1% middle-east.
They updated my results last week and I'm now 100% British and Irish.
I bought and used one about 18+ months ago.
Initial results were interesting; 75% British & Irish, and the rest a mixture of Scandinavian, Western Europe and 1% middle-east.
They updated my results last week and I'm now 100% British and Irish.
That's pretty uninspiring, eh?
More to the point, they kept your data on file? Is this a good thing?
Thunder Bolt
Silly old bat
I'm being given one as a Christmas present. I expect mine will be very similar as my cousin on my mother's side has traced the family tree of our maternal and paternal grandparent, and not got out of Sussex for quite a few hundred years. I suppose that could make me an inbred.
Although, my mother was all East Sussex and my dad's family were all West Sussex.
Well, it depends what timescale you're talking about - somewhere between leaving Africa and arriving in Brighton? I don't think it goes back more than a few generations, and I've not learnt anything from it.
The ethnicity results are updated as more tests allow more "accurate" estimates (and they are only estimates).
To be honest, if all you're interested in is ethnicity, it really is NOT worth the money - spend it on a meal out, or a replica kit.
If you want to build your family tree, it's invaluable.
I'm in touch with a previously unknown second cousin in New Zealand, and she sent me photos of my mum with her mum as young kids, when our families were evacuated to Scotland at the outbreak of WWII.