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How do you know if you've never had it done? The ethnicity report isn't necessarily accurate, but there's more to a DNA test than that - I've broken down several brick walls in my tree with my DNA matches, that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. That's not subjective, it's a fact. DNA tests absolutely can and frequently do tell you interesting and conclusive things, but you do have to put the work into it and understand how DNA works, and not everyone does that.
Both my MIL and my mom died with dementia. Two different types. It was helpful to know that while neither my husband nor I were risk FREE regarding dementia, neither of us carried a set of genes predisposing us to or increasing our risk of dementia.
In fact, I'm not a carrier of any genes that are problematic, other than having one (of two different ones, the least serious) that may give me a slightly higher risk of having macular degeneration - but not much of a chance. Oddly though, my mother did have macular degeneration.
Also, my mom's side of the family has a long history of serious mental health issues - not drugs or alcohol related either. In fact, out of 12 first cousins, 3 have mental health issues, including my brother who is seriously mentally ill with schizophrenia.
My DNA test showed that instead of the usual 2 percent chance of having a serious mental health issue, I have an 11 percent chance. Now - since I'm 59, pretty sure I'm out of those woods but I did think that was interesting as well.
My brother and I were isolated growing up. We knew our maternal relatives but not that well. The paternal side was totally unknown. It wasn't until I was in my 50s that I joined Ancestry and learned who they were. Imagine never knowing your paternal grandparents. No names, photos, letters, cards or contact of any kind. Never.
When I learned who I was related to, I was so excited I could hardly stand it. I was so relieved to find out that my ancestors were good, decent people. I had it easy, their lives were well documented because they were well known. No robbers, crooks or thieves. Hooray!
When times are tough I think about them and all that they went through. They never gave up so I can't either.
How do you know if you've never had it done? The ethnicity report isn't necessarily accurate, but there's more to a DNA test than that - I've broken down several brick walls in my tree with my DNA matches, that I wouldn't have been able to do otherwise. That's not subjective, it's a fact. DNA tests absolutely can and frequently do tell you interesting and conclusive things, but you do have to put the work into it and understand how DNA works, and not everyone does that.
Excuse me? Did you just assume something you shouldn't have? I think you did.
This isn't the politics forum, so I'll just leave it at that.
If you came from a close knit family then you may have grown up hearing all kinds of great stories. For those of us who didn't, genealogy fills in those gaps. One of my grandfathers wrote his autobiography specifically for his decendants so that we would know him. He came here from Ireland when he was a young man and his plan was to pave the way for his mother and siblings to come over later. The book was published and thanks to Ancestry, I found it and read of his struggles 175 years later. He eventually became a very successful businessman.
Another set of grandparents had 20 children and when I saw a photo of their cabin I understood why grandma looked so tired.
A cousin had 11 children, then her husband died. She waited 10 years then married a widower who had 9 kids of his own. She was also a midwife. What energy she had!
There's just one ancestor I'm not sure I want to claim. Caterina Sforza. Brilliant, beautiful and totally ruthless.
Have you ever read or heard about cell memories? When someone dies and their organs are donated, there are reports of the recipient expressing surprise that though they had never liked (fill in the blank), since the transplant they had a new liking for beer or coffee or whatever that they had 0 interest or desire for before the surgery. That's a cell memory at work.
Before I had my DNA done I was drawn to all things UK but not knowing why.
It turns out I have deep roots in the UK. Scotland and England specifically. I had no idea!
One benefit from DNA tests is the lists of close DNA cousins that you don't know about. Many have public family trees (on Ancestry) and those provide significant clues and directions for research. Your results provide an opportunity for networking. I recently connected to a woman in Majorca who had access to records in Germany/Poland of where my ancestor lived in Pomerania (unavailable to me) that I had searched for since the 1990s.
my wife has never indicated much interest in her family history beyond family members she has known. she did do the genetic test so that interested her. she is from puerto rico but she has always believed her genetics were spanish and french background so i think she wanted to confirm that.
i think it is interesting how people find this stuff interesting. i am happy that it does, i am happy for anything people enjoy. but for me, i cant bring myself to care about that.
my wife doesnt teach them spanish. my older daughter started using some app on her phone to learn italian and that bothered my wife so my daughter switched to spanish. i do not care if they speak spanish, i wanted my daughter to learn mandarin. we sent our kids to hebrew school and she really liked learning hebrew but that bothered me because its interest in learning a language completely wasted on a useless language.
ill ask my daughter if its something that would interest her. thats one way to get me to do something i dont really care to, have it be something that my daughter is interested in.
Sorry, I don't know why I thought she came from Mexico, you have said Puerto Rico. I'm not one to travel but Puerto Rico looks like a cool place to visit with all of the older American cars they have there.
Too bad your wife didn't teach them Spanish, it's good to have a 2nd language. They could always get a job doing translations. I really regret not asking my parents to teach us when we were younger. My uncle in Hungary has told me to learn Hungarian but there's no way I'll be able to learn it. I had 3 years of Spanish in high school, I think I know maybe 10 words plus how to count to 10.
I assume your wife did Ancestry DNA because most people do it when it goes on sale for $59. She can download her Ancestry DNA RAW file to upload to My Heritage where she would get matches in other countries. They have the largest world wide database, so if you're wife does have French ethnicity, it's possible she will find DNA cousins still living in France and other parts of Europe.
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Originally Posted by swagger
A little late to the party, but the OP seems primarily focused on DNA type of research. I haven't and won't submit my DNA to those places. I've traced my ancestry back pretty far and discovered things that a DNA test can't tell you. I'm a Mayflower descendant; John Adams is a cousin, along with Marylin Monroe. Found out a lot of other interesting details, such as the specific ships that family members took to emigrate, etc.
DNA tests don't tell you anything interesting, and their conclusions aren't necessarily accurate, anyway.
As for the "why," just because it's interesting. I'd never have guessed the things I discovered. I remember being a little kid and thinking how crazy it would be to be descended from a Mayflower passenger. It was mind blowing when I found out that I was.
On paper you're related to the Mayflower descendant and Marilyn Monroe but the reality is that you may not share DNA with either of them due to family lies. It's getting pretty common to find out a father or grandparent had an unknown father so unless you actually do your DNA you can't say that 100% you are related to those people because you may not be.
What about DNA tests do you think aren't accurate? The cousin matching sure is. If you're talking about the ethnicity, it's probably pretty close because the companies use people who's families have lived in an area for hundreds of years.
Back when My Heritage 1st started doing DNA, they saw my parents immigrated to the US from Hungary. They needed people to be in their "founders project" which is their DNA database. I've traced my mother's fathers line back to the early 1700's in Hungary, so they've been there a few hundred years in an area that was not occupied by another country.
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Originally Posted by SunGrins
One benefit from DNA tests is the lists of close DNA cousins that you don't know about. Many have public family trees (on Ancestry) and those provide significant clues and directions for research. Your results provide an opportunity for networking. I recently connected to a woman in Majorca who had access to records in Germany/Poland of where my ancestor lived in Pomerania (unavailable to me) that I had searched for since the 1990s.
That can be one of the biggest pluses, being able to get records we can't get here in the US.
They may also be able to get you birth certificates that would be harder to order from here. My cousin was some how able to get my mothers Hungarian birth certificate for her. In the US, a 1st cousin wouldn't be able to get a birth certificate for an aunt that was still alive.
The DNA testing is very accurate when it comes to pinpointing your ancestors' villages. I know where in Ireland my grandparents came from and the tests nailed it.
In my case, the tracing can only go back to mid-1800s or so, because the Irish records were destroyed by the British. But even that was quite interesting to me. Some of my grandparents' generation came to the U.S. and some stayed in Ireland.
On the other hand, of course, the DNA testing has up-ended people's lives, including mine. What started out as a fun experiment revealed a scandalous family secret. I'd advise anyone considering it to think twice.
In my case, the tracing can only go back to mid-1800s or so, because the Irish records were destroyed by the British. But even that was quite interesting to me. Some of my grandparents' generation came to the U.S. and some stayed in Ireland.
Within a year you might have the opportunity to take your tree back in time a little further.
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