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Old 07-09-2019, 01:26 PM
 
10,182 posts, read 6,230,691 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hollytree View Post
I posted my comments because many people believe Ancestry's trees are accurate and copy them with abandon. Have you ever seen an Ancestry TV ad with the leaf??? They promote this idea heavily. Just hit the leaf and you'll have your whole lineage.

I would say that if you're advertising that something works accurately, you should not be denying all responsibility for verification. What other company/ies could get away with false advertising?

Most amateur genealogists don't know anything about research methods and what constitutes acceptable proof.
Yes, the majority of those "leaves" are purely for those who have never done any research. I have 99+ leaves. Think I am going to bother with that? Seriously, do I need these for my own parents, or even grandparents, great-grandparents, etc., when I have all these vital records, census, wills, etc., myself, and did my research long before there was an Internet or Ancestry??? I was certified back in the 70's as a Genealogist. Part of that was learning what would hold up in a Court of Law. Forget looking at other people's trees, unless I myself can make a connection from my own research.

Example? My 1st Cousin has a "tree" up. Want to know how times I have told him you got GRANDMA's Maiden Name totally wrong? He hasn't changed it. That infuriates me both as a genealogist, and knowing her.

Last edited by Jo48; 07-09-2019 at 01:43 PM..
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Old 07-09-2019, 03:58 PM
 
Location: Wonderland
67,666 posts, read 60,237,699 times
Reputation: 101006
Quote:
Originally Posted by E Michael Jones View Post
Sounds like OP got a result he isn't happy about. Haha. I was happy about mine, 100% Northern European - predominately British with some German and Scandinavian in there.
We may be related!

I always tell people "I'm the whitest person I've ever met." 100 percent northern European, predominately British/Irish, about 15 percent German, and a smidgen of Scandinavian. In other words, a Viking.
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Old 07-09-2019, 04:07 PM
 
18,777 posts, read 27,211,361 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cjseliga View Post
Being in scientific research, I would assume all the percentages any of these companies give you must have some sort of error bar (or confidence band) associated with them.

Just going back to my Ancestry results, if I click on the 3% Ireland & Scotland and open up that region, it clearly says Range: 0% - 6%, on my 9% Baltic States it states Range: 0% - 26% for that region and for my largest region, my 88% Eastern Europe & Russia it states Range: 83% - 100%. Obviously you can't have all your percentages add up to 110% or 120% or 125%, these companies have to at least give your results out of a 100% total.

For me, while I think the % ethnicities are interesting, I see that more as a conversational thing to bring up at get togethers and what not, I rather look at the DNA results to find distant cousins who can help me (or maybe i can help them) break down certain walls for certain branches of my family tree.



So if you understood vidoe posted, it is said that normal error rate in DNA testing is 15%.
FIFTEEN. So all of those 3, 6, 9, etc low number "origins" are simply within standard error and should be disregarded. The only valid result is 83% one above. Also, there is no such ethnicity as Eastern Europe and Russia. You are either Slav, or not. What is prevalent ethnic DNA background in the vast territory from Pacific Ocean all the way to about the Danube river and north. But it would have been very "politically incorrect" to say that you are, basically Russian by blood. Blasphemy.

Amazing, how you keep throwing $$ at this type of bull.
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Old 07-09-2019, 04:32 PM
 
9,576 posts, read 7,234,957 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ukrkoz View Post
So if you understood vidoe posted, it is said that normal error rate in DNA testing is 15%.
How could I possibly understand a video in Russian, when I never took Russian in my life and have no desire to learn that language?

Quote:
Originally Posted by ukrkoz View Post
Amazing, how you keep throwing $$ at this type of bull.
Like I mentioned numerous times before, I look at the ethnicity % part as a fun thing to bring up at parties and family get togethers. I realize there are some people who take it super serious and are "devastated" by the results, those people have other issues!

I use the DNA part of my Ancestry results to see who my distant relatives are, which in turn can help me build me own personal family tree, if they have collected a good paper trail, that I vet. I feel you are just looking at a very narrow part of the DNA results, which is fine, since I would guess 75%+ of people who get the Ancestry test done (and from other testing companies) are the same way and have no interest in genealogy whatsoever.

DNA is just one of the many tools in the toolbox of genealogy. Honestly, if Ancestry gave me no ethnicity breakdown at all, I would be perfectly fine with that, since I focus on centimorgans and segments, which you might not even know what those are.
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Old 07-09-2019, 05:17 PM
 
10,182 posts, read 6,230,691 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ukrkoz View Post
So if you understood vidoe posted, it is said that normal error rate in DNA testing is 15%.
FIFTEEN. So all of those 3, 6, 9, etc low number "origins" are simply within standard error and should be disregarded. The only valid result is 83% one above. Also, there is no such ethnicity as Eastern Europe and Russia. You are either Slav, or not. What is prevalent ethnic DNA background in the vast territory from Pacific Ocean all the way to about the Danube river and north. But it would have been very "politically incorrect" to say that you are, basically Russian by blood. Blasphemy.

Amazing, how you keep throwing $$ at this type of bull.
So what your are saying is that your are a PURIST. Damn, not even "you know who" was pure anything. So you think that all DNA results under 80% are inaccurate? While I may grant you that maybe single digit percentage might be taken with a grain of salt, but what about double digit percentages still not reaching your 80%? Our ancestors ONLY mated with those of the same ethnicity?????

Sorry, but my Maternal Ancestors did not mate with others from the same country. I have my documentation as a Certified Genealogist which would hold up in a Court of Law, unlike your 80%. I consider myself HALF this and HALF that, not Majority of any one ancestry. You MUST be ONE ethnicity????? I beg to differ.

I could use a term here for your views but that would get me banned.
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Old 07-09-2019, 07:44 PM
 
Location: New Mexico
4,935 posts, read 7,293,936 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 80skeys View Post
My dad's DNA results came back 25% native American blood. Not suprising considering his family's long heritage in northern Mexico, except that he doesn't have native features and doesn't recall any native american people in his family tree. Particularly there are no native Americans in either of his grandparents.
This is completely expected and not a mystery anymore, thanks to thousands of other New Mexicans taking various tests. This story was on the local news not long ago:

https://www.koat.com/article/new-mex...-test/22110874
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Old 07-09-2019, 09:12 PM
 
Location: Verde Valley AZ
8,775 posts, read 11,850,447 times
Reputation: 11485
Quote:
Originally Posted by 80skeys View Post
You don't think companies are capable of cheating? You'd be suprised. The place I work uses scientific algorithms to make very accurate guesses of someone's ethnicity based on their shopping habits and their name. I could potentially see something along these lines happening with DNA testing - take their neighborhood, location, birthplace, name, names of people living at the same address - cross-reference and apply analysis.

My dad's DNA results came back 25% native American blood. Not suprising considering his family's long heritage in northern Mexico, except that he doesn't have native features and doesn't recall any native american people in his family tree. Particularly there are no native Americans in either of his grandparents.

My nephew's DNA results showed he had 20% Native American blood. I was very surprised because not one single person, on either side of our family, has even one drop! Looking at his DNA matches, the first two are Hispanic names and their cM numbers are higher for him than mine are. I found his birth family but they weren't hard to find and still live here in our hometown. They migrated from Northern Mexico around 1825 to AZ and slowly worked their way up north to here. Been in this area for over 100 years.
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Old 07-10-2019, 10:47 AM
 
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
6,288 posts, read 11,722,116 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jo48 View Post
The problem is with the term Native "American". Americans just assume it means Native Tribes of the US. Perhaps these DNA sites should call it Indigenous People instead.
You're right.
But tribes native to Puerto Rico? I had never heard of that before. Was Puerto Rico populated before Europeans arrived?
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Old 07-10-2019, 10:48 AM
 
Location: Sunnyvale, CA
6,288 posts, read 11,722,116 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by aries63 View Post
This is completely expected
Well. Not "completely" expected. My dad was suprised by the results.
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Old 07-10-2019, 12:32 PM
 
10,182 posts, read 6,230,691 times
Reputation: 11259
Quote:
Originally Posted by 80skeys View Post
You're right.
But tribes native to Puerto Rico? I had never heard of that before. Was Puerto Rico populated before Europeans arrived?
https://welcome.topuertorico.org/reference/taino.shtml

This is probably where she got her Native American from. 15% certainly isn't small enough to consider it chatter.
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