Random DNA inheritance, DNA not detected or wrong family story ?

[Unlockin]

There is no trace of any south asian/romani marker in my grandmother whatever tool I use. I checked my paper trail but my great-great grandmother was abandoned so there's no trace of her father. The only way to know is through my great-grandaunt's results, they should arrive soon

[Unlockin]

No trace of south asian DNA in the results. I think this proves that you should never trust a family story.

[suzy_q2010]

Originally Posted by Unlockin

No trace of south asian DNA in the results. I think this proves that you should never trust a family story.

DNA can prove a connection but it cannot reliably exclude one. We do not have DNA from all of our ancestors. If the person is several generations back, there may be none at all from that individual. Also, there must be comparison DNA in the testing company's data base. If they have nothing to compare you with they will not find the connection.

[Unlockin]

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

DNA can prove a connection but it cannot reliably exclude one. We do not have DNA from all of our ancestors. If the person is several generations back, there may be none at all from that individual. Also, there must be comparison DNA in the testing company's data base. If they have nothing to compare you with they will not find the connection.

Given that this is my great-grandaunt's results and that I'm looking for his grandfather who was said to be roma, I would expect something to show up. But since there is no trace of south asian or even middle eastern/eastern european DNA, I think it's pretty fair to assume his grandfather wasn't roma

[Alandros]

Originally Posted by suzy_q2010

DNA can prove a connection but it cannot reliably exclude one. We do not have DNA from all of our ancestors. If the person is several generations back, there may be none at all from that individual. Also, there must be comparison DNA in the testing company's data base. If they have nothing to compare you with they will not find the connection.

Very true.

I'll caveat that it can exclude very specific connections... such as a full blooded Native American grandmother if you come up with no sizable Native American blood. Of course that could mean the person's grandmother might be only 1/4th or 1/8th Native American and it's entirely possible you might not inherit any of their NA segments... but there are some cases DNA can disprove.

[Unlockin]

Originally Posted by Alandros

Very true.

I'll caveat that it can exclude very specific connections... such as a full blooded Native American grandmother if you come up with no sizable Native American blood. Of course that could mean the person's grandmother might be only 1/4th or 1/8th Native American and it's entirely possible you might not inherit any of their NA segments... but there are some cases DNA can disprove.

Well that's exactly my case except I'm not looking for a native american grandmother but for a romani grandfather

[turkey-head]

My wife and I just did the ancestry.com test. We were both surprised that no native American DNA showed up- especially since I have a picture and family stories of my great great grandmother who was Cherokee.

Did a little reading and in the fine print Ancestry.com explains that after six or seven generations, the genetic markers they look for may or may not show up. So I my case this doesn't mean that I DON'T have Cherokee blood; it simply means that the markers they look for aren't there. IOW inconclusive.

But via the results I did learn that I'm 2% African... which isn't a huge surprise having grown up in the South.

Also they picked up a trace (less than 1%) of Polynesian/Pacific Islander. I have no idea where that came from