Ancestry.com DNA test (or others)?

10 years ago

One of my family members is interested in getting her DNA tested to learn about ethnicity. I know Ancestry.com offers this, but I didn't see any details on their website. (Maybe I didn't look deeply enough.)

Have you done this? Do you know how far back they look? Also I know AARP members get a discount on Ancestry memberships, but how about the DNA test? Do you know of any other reliable sources for the testing?

Thanks!

The pic is my stepmother in 1912.

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User

10 years ago

ancestry is not useful for that type of thing. You could test at ancestry or FamilyTreeDNA then transfer your raw data to GEDmatch and FamilyTreeDNA and get matches from people who are really looking for relatives and who will answer your emails. It seems like the people on ancestry believe the ancestry commercials and don't expect to have to do anything other than send in the test and be given a complete history of their ancestors. That couldn't be farther from the truth. You still have to do the research and without a tree online there is nothing to compare to. If you are only looking to see where you came from, your best bet is to build a family tree. Then you will know exactly where you came from rather than a general area like east European. 23andme is getting some bad reviews these days over privacy issues. I didn't test there so I have no opinion. FamilyTreeDNA has a pretty good sale at Christmas and maybe other times of the year. Be aware if you are not paid up at ancestry you can't contact your matches. You can pay for the DNA access or the regular subscription but either way it will be an additional cost from the test kit. And if you do go with ancestry, wait for a sale. I've seen it as low as $69 and always look on line for a coupon for free shipping. FamilyTreeDNA costs more and you will have to know which test you really need to get the information you want but as far as total cost ancestry vs. FamilyTreeDNA it equals out. You can build a tree for free at lots of places. Google can find them all for you.

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Comments (15)

grainlady_ks
10 years ago
Have you been watching PBS - Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates? If so, what you see on the television show is nothing like what you'll get.

I purchased the DNA test kit from Ancestry. I spit in the test tube (and it takes a LOT) and sent it back for these results. They will compare it to other DNA tests in their bank. They will send you information if there is a "relative" and you can link up with relatives and their posted family trees. In order to get the most from this test, it would also be helpful to join Ancestry and place your own ancestor chart on-line.

I recently read this was how sisters who had been separated as children found each other. You still need to do the actual search for your ancestors, although I did find a few new links from others who had their charts on-line. The test doesn't give you specific places, but general areas with modern day names of possible countries within that region.

57% Scandinavian

27% Eastern European

18% Central Europe

2% Unknown

Not sure if that helps you much.....
Alisande
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks, Grainlady. No, I haven't seen the PBS show. I had my own DNA tested through 23andMe, which looks back to see where your ancestors were living 500 years ago. Any idea how far back Ancestry.com goes?

No Neanderthal? ;-) I've read that most people whose ancestors emigrated out of Africa have some Neanderthal genes. I do.
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Lov_mkitchen complains, "In other trees I have found my information turned into an ancestry file.....what do they call them.......family data or something like that. And passed off as a shaky leaf when in fact it is not a documented fact at all. A family cemetery I did for findagrave, out in the middle of a farm field turned into Iowa Cemetery Index. My word only that those people were buried there and the facts I supplied were correct. How's that for a source! I had a person who I suspected died in a certain place at a certain time that I put as a fact with the disclaimer of "as much as I know now" that turned into an ancestry hint complete with her personal information. Anyone finding that would assume it was correct. ancestry has turned into a big hat with all sorts of bits and pieces thrown in. Stick your hand in, pull a fact out, add it to your tree. No research needed." From the Ancestry.com web site: "The Shaky Leafs are Ancestry Hints designed to aid you in your family history research. They provide other records in our database that could possibly match the individual in your tree. These hints are automatically generated, and are there for you to determine whether or not the record hint matches the individual in your tree." [emphasis in original] If you, Lov_mkitchen, see a Shaky Leaf and take it as documented fact, that's YOUR problem. If other people see a Shaky Leaf and take it as documented fact, that's THEIR problem. Some of us are not willing to accept everything that's out there as documented fact. I never, ever, accept anything on anyone else's tree as documented fact unless and until I see the documentation for myself. Then, and only then, will I add it to my tree. I have well over 5,000 people on my tree. Not nearly as many as some, but many more than others. And every single name has been researched and verified before being added. You've also said, "I'm helping them to the point that I have made information available that wasn't on the site previously." And you have undoubtedly gotten a lot of information from Ancestry.com that wouldn't have been easily (if at all) available to you otherwise. Genealogy research is a give-and-take proposition. We take a lot more than we give (that's the nature of our research, after all), so we (YOU) really should stop complaining about other people taking our information when we post it to a public web site.
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If you are specifically interested in ethnic information, I wouldn't waste money on a DNA test. This is as detailed as it gets at ancestry and FamilyTreeDNA. If you want to know what town in what country you would be better off spending your money on an ancestry subscription to build a tree. I think anyone just starting would have the best luck with ancestry only because it does a lot of work for you. BUT BE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR FAMILY AND NOT SOMEONE WITH THE SAME NAME! After you get a bit of experience you will find lots of stuff on familysearch, Macavo, and all the other free sites. If I were just starting, I would subscribe to ancestry for the U.S. Discovery for 6 months $89 and build a family tree there. It's free to make a tree and free to keep it there. You can still work on it but you won't have access to any ancestry owned documents unless you are paid up. You can add documents you find other places that you've saved to your computer. One word of warning. When you find a document at ancestry or anywhere, save it to your computer with a good name so you can find it again. Then upload it to your tree if you've a mind to. The document you find today might not be there tomorrow. And beware of "family data" and other trees. Make sure it's right before you use it. Join their mailing list so you know when they run specials. No point in paying full price! Then if you are still interested pay for another 6 months or a year until you have a good handle on it. At this point I would probably use the free sites and the information I gleaned from the green leaf hints. Once you have the U.S. conquered, then if you still need help subscribe to ancestry world for 6 months $134. These are sale prices so watch carefully to be sure you get a good deal. If you let your ancestry subscription elapse they will start offering you a resubscribe deal that's pretty good. Usually 6 months to a year for the really good offer. And notice that the offer is for 6 months, not a year! There are several sites where you can build a tree or upload a GEDcom and work on it for free. But start somewhere until you are familiar with researching this type of thing. Then add some of the other sites. One tree, one site to start. You will be confused enough.
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Alisande
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the tips. I may not have been clear enough in my original post. My relative is in her twenties, and is not thinking about a family tree at this time. I don't think she's interested in meeting distant cousins either, although I could be wrong about that. She's curious about what parts of the world her long-ago ancestors came from.

As I mentioned above, my 23andMe DNA test (which I uploaded to GENmatch, BTW) told me where my ancestors were living 500 years ago. So Ancestry doesn't do this? I'm not in my twenties, so I think genealogy is fascinating. But I don't have the skills (nor the time) to trace even one line back 500 years--much less the huge tangle of lines one must encounter when you go back that far.
maire_cate
10 years ago
I'm not sure if this information will help your relative decide. Last year The Legal Genealogist posted this information about the 3 main DNA tests. There is a link within the article to the ISOGG Wiki comparison chart on Autosomal DNA testing which might offer additional help.

http://legalgenealogist.com/blog/2015/02/02/2015-most-bang-for-the-dna-buck/
Alisande
Original Author
10 years ago
That was interesting, Maire--thanks. It looks like 23andM3 or the National Geographic's Geno 2.0 would be her best bets. Too bad they're more expensive than a couple of the others. I'm glad I did 23andMe when it was still $99.
maire_cate
10 years ago
Imhappy&Iknow it posted this on the Home Decorating site last week. Apparently the 23&Me site is having 'issues' . I didn't test with them so I don't have any first hand information.

http://dna-explained.com/2016/03/16/closing-up-shop-at-23andme-and-the-trap/
ghoghunter
10 years ago
I have tested at Ancestry and it did tell me my ethnic origins. I also have a large family tree connected to my results to try and help matches determine how we connect. I also uploaded my results to Gedmatch. I have received only 1 email from anyone on gedmatch and several from Ancestry. It has been fun for me trying to figure out connections and I have found some 2nd and 3rd cousins to connect with!
Alisande thanked ghoghunter
iread15
10 years ago
I’ve had my DNA done through
Ancestry and use it mostly for cousin matching. Within each person's ethnicity estimate, you can expand
each region to learn more about it.

Ancestry has a series of short
videos on their DNA test that I found very informative: https://www.ancestry.com/academy/course/ancestry-dna-101 There one video of less than 7 minutes that’s
specifically about ethnicity. You might
want to check it out. As I recall, it
said that the ethnicity estimates go back 500 to 1000 years.
Alisande thanked iread15
Alisande
Original Author
10 years ago
Unfortunately, only Ancestry members can watch the "Ancestry Academy" videos. But from what you say, Iread15, I'm thinking the Ancestry DNA test would work well for my relative. Thanks, everyone! Now we'll just wait for it to go on sale. :-)
User
10 years ago
500 years ago you likely came from Africa. I would suggest doing some more reading about genetic origins. If her only question is which continent she came from, what is her objective? And be aware, her DNA test will be matched to other people who have tested, not the population as a whole.
Alisande
Original Author
10 years ago
500 years ago you likely came from Africa. I don't think so.

It's true that Homo sapiens have a common origin in Africa, but they began to spread out from there way earlier than 500 years ago. More like 50,000 years ago. Going back 500 years takes us only to the 1500s, the era of Henry VIII, for example.
User
10 years ago
videos on youtube
cynic
10 years ago
last modified: 10 years ago
The interesting thing to me about this is the number of people ranting and raving that the government wanted to take DNA from criminals and that was "bad" but people line up and pay to put their DNA into a database. No judgments or opinions on it, just another thing I find interesting.
Kathsgrdn
10 years ago
I just received a 23 & Me kit. I've been wanting to do this for years. I have to work the next few days so won't mail it out till Monday.

Ancestry.com DNA test (or others)?

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