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I've found lots of DNA relatives and communicated with many. Discovered, among other things:
* lots of cousins in the Carolinas and Virginia. I knew of one ancestor from Virginia. Apparently she had some good DNA The most cousins and with the largest percentages are from states I thought we had very little or no connections to!
* my maternal line, via the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) which was the only part of the family we didn't know on paper
* confirmation and new information on many New England connections.
Currently awaiting my Dad's results, so can compare his genome with mine. Should be interesting to see what came from Dad or Mom. Also want to learn his mom's mtDNA haplogroup which will likely be different from my brothers, mom and me.
What did you learn or what do you enjoy about your DNA results?
My early relatives were in VA and the Carolinas, too. My genetic information from 23andMe was confirmed by someone who just happened to have a copy of one of my ancestor's obituary. This person isn't tested at 23andMe but is an avid user at Ancestry.com. From her information and my DNA I was able to confirm that a branch of my mother's ancestors and a branch of my father's ancestors toiled on the same land. My ancestors have been here for a long time.
My thinking concerning my maternal great grandmother was confirmed via testing. One hundred percent Choctaw my butt, LOL!
Watching Roots has a new meaning for me. I have connected my family to the location of the story and I show DNA relations to the story.
The health reports are so specific for me. I have learned that I have a genetic disposition to GI issues. Having it confirmed is one thing but I could have told you that in 3rd grade. I greatly appreciate the health info. I have an ability to remember things. I guess some can say that I never forget. 23andMe confirmed this for me. I have 2 copies of the gene for memory.
What did you learn or what do you enjoy about your DNA results?
I fairly well knew that i was going to belong to haplogroup '''R1b''' paternally since over 80% of the british isles native peoples belong to R1b (going back to the bronze age) as my surname is 100% English and also our ''american patriarch'' William (known by our family tree) who had immigrated from Plymouth, England to Charleston, South Carolina during the 1700's as well as looking at my dad and granddad as they both are/were light skinned that burned easy when in the sun and so no surprise there.
However maternally i am surprised that 23andMe shows that i have just trace amounts of southern european DNA as for example looking at old photos of my maternal grandmom back when she was young (1940's) she had jet black hair, tanned easy and looked facially as either italian or greek in her appearance and secondly back when i was a kid (70's) people were always telling my mom that she closely resembled 70's movie actress Ali MacGraw who is half hungarian and so again i really am surprised that 23andMe has me listed as almost 90% non scandinavian northern european since i ''seem'' to have southern european features e.g. black curly hair, brown eyes and can tan very easy.
Genealogically, I find both FTDNA and 23andMe excellent for finding relatives, each has its pros and cons, which is why many genealogists sign up for both. I have used FTDNA's chromosome browser (no need to invite matches) to pin down an ancestor-in-common with a 23andMe subscriber. OTOH, I have had more invitations to share from 23andMe subscribers than FTDNA. My closest match on 23andMe has not responded to my request to share genome. Had he subscribed to FTDNA, I could have compared his chromosomes without his prior consent.
The report of health risks is great, but the provision of the raw data that supports the underlying report is simply incredible. It is a fantastic tool (when combined with Firefox's add-on) that allows subscribers to easily consider their own SNPS in relation to the newest biogenetic discoveries.
If 23andMe is able to add some of the genes that were previously protected under intellectual property laws, their product would be an absolute blow out!
I got my brother to do submit his dna because we were having trouble tracing my father's side of the family. Obviously I can't get results for the Y line. Our results were interesting enough but nothing earth-shattering.
Now here's the crazy thing that I don't understand: once we got our family connection part of the info where they tell you that you're closely related to this person in Australia or this one in Scotland or someone else a few miles down the road, I started shaking my head no. There's no way that 90% of them were closer than 5 generations removed, especially those still in Europe. No one on any line of our family arrived in the US later than 1841, because I have solid records for everyone back to that point. Technically, we have no 3rd cousins in Europe but that's what 23andMe was inferring. Yes, the men may share Y-DNA but that doesn't make us closely related, does it? And then there was a woman who was supposedly related to us somewhere in the UK but to my understanding, it can't be because of traditional genealogical ties - she must have had a large set of common DNA markers, because otherwise we're not related at all.
I think there's a lot more filler in those results than true answers. Maybe, once there's a larger sample we may see some semblance of accuracy, but I'm not impressed thus far.
I fairly well knew that i was going to belong to haplogroup '''R1b''' paternally since over 80% of the british isles native peoples belong to R1b (going back to the bronze age) as my surname is 100% English and also our ''american patriarch'' William (known by our family tree) who had immigrated from Plymouth, England to Charleston, South Carolina during the 1700's as well as looking at my dad and granddad as they both are/were light skinned that burned easy when in the sun and so no surprise there.
However maternally i am surprised that 23andMe shows that i have just trace amounts of southern european DNA as for example looking at old photos of my maternal grandmom back when she was young (1940's) she had jet black hair, tanned easy and looked facially as either italian or greek in her appearance and secondly back when i was a kid (70's) people were always telling my mom that she closely resembled 70's movie actress Ali MacGraw who is half hungarian and so again i really am surprised that 23andMe has me listed as almost 90% non scandinavian northern european since i ''seem'' to have southern european features e.g. black curly hair, brown eyes and can tan very easy.
Most of my 3rd and 4th cousins are in the mid-Atlantic, as I expected. I have a few 4th-5th cousins in Central Europe too, which likely comes from a set of great grandparents that came here in the early 20th century. My Ancestry Composition shows I have about 0.1% Ashkenzazi (speculative and standard). Even though it's such a minute percent, and possibly noise, I started wondering if it could be legit since my great grandparents came from that part of Europe. I ended up with a lot of nonspecific European though, like 85% in standard mode. Hopefully 23andMe improves this in the future.
The raw data file is a huge plus. I've been messing around on GEDMatch, Interpretome and SNPedia ever since I got it.
I fairly well knew that i was going to belong to haplogroup '''R1b''' paternally since over 80% of the british isles native peoples belong to R1b (going back to the bronze age) as my surname is 100% English and also our ''american patriarch'' William (known by our family tree) who had immigrated from Plymouth, England to Charleston, South Carolina during the 1700's as well as looking at my dad and granddad as they both are/were light skinned that burned easy when in the sun and so no surprise there.
However maternally i am surprised that 23andMe shows that i have just trace amounts of southern european DNA as for example looking at old photos of my maternal grandmom back when she was young (1940's) she had jet black hair, tanned easy and looked facially as either italian or greek in her appearance and secondly back when i was a kid (70's) people were always telling my mom that she closely resembled 70's movie actress Ali MacGraw who is half hungarian and so again i really am surprised that 23andMe has me listed as almost 90% non scandinavian northern european since i ''seem'' to have southern european features e.g. black curly hair, brown eyes and can tan very easy.
Lots of people in my 98.6 percent Northern European family have black hair and eyes and don't burn easily - we have lots of "color" to our skin though it's pale-ish. It seems like in every generation, at least one family member gets this combo of looks. My dad got it, and I got it (my brother has light brown hair and hazel eyes while I have very dark brunette hair and nearly black eyes like my dad - and his dad before him).
My results came back 100 percent European, 64 percent British/Irish and 98.6 percent Northern European, with the other 1.4 percent being unspecified European. So you just can't tell with those dark looks! They do pop up in northern Europe.
My haplogroup is H1.
Meanwhile, my thoroughly "Scandinavian looking" husband (tall, blonde hair, blue eyes, chiseled features - quintessential Nordic looks) is actually about 4 percent subSaharan African and Native American! With a big dose of southern European thrown in for good measure.
Go figure.
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The most cousins and with the largest percentages are from states I thought we had very little or no connections to! 
I greatly appreciate the health info. I have an ability to remember things. I guess some can say that I never forget. 23andMe confirmed this for me. I have 2 copies of the gene for memory.
