Complaints about DNA testing services

[tassity22]

Originally Posted by PA2UK

It's true for tribes in the US. Most NA samples come from Latin America:

https://dna-explained.com/2015/08/19...g-and-results/

"Ethnicity tests are unreliable in consistently detecting minority admixture. Minority in this context means a small amount, generally less than 5%. It does not refer to any specific ethnicity. Having said that, there are very few reference data base entries for Native American populations. Most are from from Canada and South America."

This blog is written by Roberta Esta, a genetics expert.

That is why I still believe that many Americans do have a small amount of native American even if their DNA doesn't show it. I have old photographs of family members and a couple of them do look Native American, very much so. (Not that I care, though, it doesn't really matter that much to me).

When I had my DNA tested, it only showed 3 ethnicities. I find it hard to believe that I have only 3 ethnicities. It seems like most people have far more.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by AppalachianGumbo

IMO, it ads more exoticism to their ancestry. Many don't long for anything but the claim to the ancestry as a credit to "their uniqueness." On 23andMe, there was a woman who was a self-styled and undocumented "Cherokee" who tested 100% European (I was sharing genomes at the time) and still claiming she was Cherokee (Indigenous American) and that the test was not picking up her Native American. She believed Cherokees were different DNA. She proceeded to go on the forum with people also claiming Native ancestry and testing 100% European, to not pay attention to the results that they are probably still "Indian."
She told me in a private message, "I don't claim Indian anymore, I am claiming multicultural." I wrote back, "You are not multicultural (more than two races), you are European in lineage according to your DNA)."

Even with the DNA evidence in their possession of their ancestry which supports lack of American Indian documents still hang onto this ancestry at whatever cost. However, Pandora's Box was opened....
People get such an emotional attachment to their ancestry and form an identity they are left sorting things out, what am I? If you believed you were Cherokee for 40+yrs and at 50 found out you are "other than Indian" could be earth shattering.

I know a woman who always claimed Cherokee ancestry and just had her DNA tested. She says "it's just not showing her Cherokee" but she is urging her brother to get tested to see if it shows up in him.

Meanwhile, she is cane up 1% Jewish (and as I'm hearing this, I'm picturing Mel Brooks playing the Indian Chief in Blazing Saddles) so now she's telling any Jewish people she knows, "I am Jewish, too!".

[PA2UK]

Originally Posted by tassity22

That is why I still believe that many Americans do have a small amount of native American even if their DNA doesn't show it. I have old photographs of family members and a couple of them do look Native American, very much so. (Not that I care, though, it doesn't really matter that much to me).

I suppose it depends on your definition of "many." Even if you do have NA ancestry, it doesn't mean most Americans do too. 23andMe has the best samples for NA in the US - it often shows up there when it doesn't show on other companies, but I have none at 23andMe. And according to this study done with 23andMe data, the vast majority of European Americans don't have NA results: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4289685/

"We estimate that European Americans who carry at least 2% Native American ancestry are found most frequently in Louisiana, North Dakota, and other states in the West. Using a less stringent threshold of 1%, our estimates suggest that as many as 8% of individuals from Louisiana and upward of 3% of individuals from some states in the West and Southwest carry Native American ancestry."

3-8% of European-Americans who have NA ancestry (and that's primarily only in the west) is not a large portion at all, if you ask me. I would not call this "many" but the study itself apparently does: "We find that many self-reported European Americans, predominantly those living west of the Mississippi River, carry Native American ancestry." But then, the study also claims a "substantial" 1.4% of European Americans have at least 2% African ancestry. Obviously, the people who wrote this and I have very different ideas of what "many" and "substantial" mean, lol. (Never mind the fact that some of those people might have African results because of more ancient ties with Southern Italian ancestry, not because of any recent mixing during slavery as most people will probably assume).

NA may still be under-identified but the fact is, we can't know that for sure. You're making some pretty big speculations about it based on what... your personal old family photos?

When I had my DNA tested, it only showed 3 ethnicities. I find it hard to believe that I have only 3 ethnicities. It seems like most people have far more.

I'm still unclear why you feel this way. At AncestryDNA, I only have 3 main categories too. I do have some more trace amounts in other categories, but as I've mentioned before, trace amounts are often just "noise" anyway, and may not be legitimate. So not having trace amounts doesn't really mean anything, it just means perhaps your DNA is more distinctive and easier to place, or less diverse. That would actually make your report more accurate. Recently, I saw someone (American) who came back as 100% Irish. Not even a tiny trace amount in one other category. It happens and it doesn't mean anything is off. I'm sorry if your results aren't as diverse as you'd hoped but that doesn't mean you should just make presumptions about your ancestry. If you think you might have NA ancestry based on some photos, do the research and find documentation of it.

[tassity22]

I did not test with 23 and Me, but I am thinking about testing with them anyway. I've heard they are more accurate and give better data.