Lynn they're going to love their gifts. I've known several who have had it done, including my sister, and they were pleased.

Lynn, I think it's a great gift! You could just maybe use caution with a fake name. I think I know my heritage. My dads side is mostly German w/blue eye and my moms side mostly Native American but some German and ??? It's rumored there was an American Indian wife a few generations back on my dad's side. I think the DNA test would be fun. I would use a fake name though.

Bossy, the picture thing is interesting. When I was a pre teen there wasn't a lot of doubt on my gene pool. Strangely, the older I get the lighter my skin gets. One would have a hard time guessing looking at me now or comparing photos. It's hard to tell in this blurry photo but I had very pronounced cheek bones with strong native features. I'm thinking of doing the DNA thing to see my percentages. I would use a fake name.

I ordered one a couple of weeks ago but haven’t sent it in yet. I’ve just been too busy, not because I had second thoughts. I will probably still do it, based on what I have read. I am just curious if what bit of research I have done on my family tree and what I know is accurate. Sure, it doesn’t change anything but the scientific aspect of how it is explained and broken down is interesting to me.

Lynn, I apologize, it wasn’t my intent to be hurtful.

I started to use ancestry.com a number of months ago, and boy am I hooked! I originally signed on to enter a lot of the work my mom had done--pre Internet--in the 1980s, all of which was on paper. My tree quickly grew, and we are now well back into the 1600s on one side (German) of the family (the other side, Czech, is much more obscure). Since the DNA testing was on a huge sale a few weeks back ($59.00) I decided to do it. I'm awaiting the results--can't wait!

One bucket list goal is to visit all our ancestral towns in both Germany and the Czech Republic.

“Can someone explain the dangers of doing this? I can see medical info, but why would anyone care if Im half Irish and half eastern European?”

Joanie, a very concerning reason (and this is just one of many) is because if an insurance company collects the data and sees a trend that say a large majority of Irish people have a specific chromosome for a specific type of cancer, that can ultimately reflect on the premiums you pay or even if an insurance company would want to insure you. Same would hold true with Life and other insurances as well, it could even eventually spread out into the employment arena as some companies are starting to become very picky about the health issues of their employees. They already check facebook and social media for behavioral patterns, what if Ancestory.com is next on their list?

Also, just because the information released to you about your DNA is limited to heritage or some health concerns, that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the only information they can extract from your sample and who knows how indepth the information being released to other entities really is. Another concern, what is done with that swab once they’ve ran the test? DNA can be preserved, so since the sciences are always improving, who’s to say that your sample can’t be or won’t be retested at a later date to collect more information?

Do it. and don't use a fake name. You will NOT get medical information from anyone. 23andme had to stop providing it a few years ago but now I think they can provide some again. If you want medical information upload your raw data to https://promethease.com/ but be aware it's hundreds of pages. The ethnic heritage results you get back from any/all of them will be skewed by the number of testers from each ethnic group. Don't take the test looking for ethnicity. It won't be accurate. As for Native American. There is a 99% or something like that chance you will NOT have a Native American grandmother. Think about where your ancestors lived in the time period. Would it even be possible for them to know any Native Americans?

There is no such thing as privacy in this world. I'd be more afraid of facebook and yet you all are on it. Google tracks your computer usage. How many times have you shopped for an item and then had adds for that item dog you site to site?

And most important: learn how to use your DNA results. Join some blogs that discuss it and how to use it to find ancestors. There are blogs that explain how to compare the chromosomes that you share or don't share. It's far more complicated than you think. If all you want to know is where your family came from, save your money and do the paper genealogy. And if you are doing DNA to find ancestors more than 3 generations back you will have to have a tree. How else will you be able to match your common ancestor with your DNA match? Can't.

Doing a DNA test will not tell you who your ancestors were. YOU have to take the information and work it out yourself. Doing a DNA test will NOT tell you where you came from. A National Geographic article will. There is no free lunch so if you want to know about your family you will have to do a lot of work.

I'd be more afraid of facebook and yet you all are on it.

Nope.

You know Lynn, we GW'ers are by nature a group of over-thinkers.

So many people are just delighted with their results and I have heard this as a topic of conversation too many times to count.

I too apologize for taking the fun out of your gift!

Well, if you are ever a mass murderer and leave DNA at the scene they will be able to find and convict you.

I think it's a nice gift, fun to find out where you came from.

I do not share the concerns of others in this thread at all. Many of my family members have tested and have been delighted to receive kits.

I didn't read all the answers..just a funny story to tell-as my DD works in a lab, as part of her studies, there was some exersize with them giving their DNA, forgot the purpose of it..anyway the lab that interpreted the results might have mixed them, or something, 'cause my daughter turned to be Native American, with some Finnish blood too, and some Japanese girl had strictly Scandinavian ancestry..)))

I meant to say to Lynn that I would happily have received one of these kits and would go ahead and gift them to your family members. What fun it will be!

Lol, that's funny April!

I hope Lynn comes back. Lynnnnn come baaaccckkk! If you are upset just put some Nat or Bing Christmas music on and all will be right with the world.

Edited:

OMG!!! How on earth did I get this vid of your husband singing White Christmas to you? I like your hair.

Hey, I didn't know you could sing.

https://youtu.be/RhNgZQxKESw

Lynn was excited about her gift idea....didn't ask for opinions....let's all be careful about giving them when not asked. Lynn is a very thoughtful, affirming person on this site....feelings can be hurt or bubbles burst....

So I'm watching Finding Your Roots and curious once again! Oh, I'm so torn! I'm 100% Scandinavian, but there might be some Viking in there. I have relatives with dark features and brown eyes that my mom referred to as "black swedes", meaning they had Gallic blood in them. I'd love to know that truth. (My mom is fair and blue-eyed, her twin sister is dark and brown-eyed. The other siblings are similarly varied.)

Other dangers though...what if two siblings have different DNA ancestry? Yikes!

oh, I'm so curious!

I'd say if two sibs have different DNA ancestry blame it on the vendor! Don't let that thread go anywhere!

Funny, if there were DNA tests when I was a girl I would have bought one. I was thinking I must have been adopted. I was like no one in the family. I wanted to see the world, visit art museums and take dance lessons. Mom told me I was not adopted but I didn't believe her at the time. Why didn't I like camping? Of course I believe her now.

bpathome; My 2 brothers and I did Ancestry DNA and our results are different. I think only identical twins would have the same DNA. We're mostly Irish with a little Scot and Welsh on my Dad's side. My mother's family was English, Welsh and French. But each of us have a different percentage of those groups. You inherit 50% of your DNA from your Mom and the other 50% from your Dad. Since only half of a parent's genes are passed along - siblings inherit different combinations. The majority of siblings only share about 50% of their DNA with each other - and they also may inherit different ethnicities too. From Ancestry's site: "At 7 generations back, less than 1% of your DNA is likely to come from any given ancestor."

I’m not so sure I think this stuff is dangerous. I’m just not willing to pay someone so I can give them my DNA for commercial gain. Not my cup o’ tea but that’s just me. I also don’t do FB but that’s more a privacy issue. These kinds of things are personal choices. If you enjoy the benefits and don’t mind the drawbacks then go for it.

Lukki....thanks for the explanation. Iirc there was a privacy component with Family Tree...i haven’t gone searching for long lost relatives and havent linked to Ancestry, etc. At the time 23 and Me was not allowed in my state, so as far as I know no medical info was extracted, but who knows? I guess theres no point worrying about it now.

Two of my brothers also tested and we all used different companies. Our results were similar and my married name is very different from my maiden name.

Did anyone watch 48 hours tonight? Public DNA data bases were used to find possible family members of an unidentified DNA profile for a 1996 rape/murder case in Idaho Falls. A family that was never involved were all of a sudden under investigation by authorities and reported about in the news. Also, a picture of the suspect was also built based on that DNA. The governments DNA database, COTIS is protected from searches for family members of an unidentified profile but not public data bases. You are never notified and a subpoena is all the authorities need for access. Another piece of information stated in the article, is that Ancestory.com buys DNA data from other companies as well.

Angie Dodge case

Photo created of suspect based on DNA profile

Well, if you are ever a mass murderer and leave DNA at the scene they will be able to find and convict you.

thx for the tip off. i won't send mine in -lol!

I'm sure i wore gloves tho...

put some Nat or Bing Christmas music on and all will be right with the world.

Bing's is my favorite singer/version of WC! i suspect memories from my childhood... I found CDs of his Christmas music yrs back on Amazon and ordered 3 of them.

I'm also sorry if I offended Lynn. I am not willingly giving up my information to a private company to then further sell it , profit off it, and with it what they want. Their informed consent procedures can be much better developed and more clear. I was on our campus Institutional Review Board (IRB) aka human subjects committee for a three-year term, and I was Chair last year, so I review this type of information all the time. De-identified data are better, but each person must weigh the risk. Data breaches happen all the time. I'm personally not comfortable with the risk vs. benefit, especially how this could be used in the future.

OTOH, I totally see some of my family members doing this, so I will not be surprised at all if they do. We are of Eastern European descent but there was a lot of mixing of cultures and border instability.

I, too, was going to suggest that you watch last night's 48 hours that Lukkirish linked to. Interesting information.

Maybe you are a Mayflower descendant.

http://mayflower.americanancestors.org/passenger

“There is no such thing as privacy in this world. I'd be more afraid of facebook and yet you all are on it.”

And you know why there is no more privacy? Because people are so readily willing to take every little deal from every company that offers “free” in exchange for their personal data, ie grocery cards for that little 10% (ie .25 cent discount). Nothing in life is EVER free and unfortunately, people are easily suckered into a deal. Granted some tracking can no longer be avoided but people really should start to question and care more about how their medical, financial and personal data are being used now as well as in the future.

I am another who is not on Facebook. I’ve never been and never will be on Facebook. I’ve also never been on My Space or even Linkedin! I don’t use discount cards for a .25 discount and I take the time to opt out of as much tracking as possible. I wish more people would do the same or at least think twice before they do participate in something. Companies have proven over and over again that they are liars. Just because they disclose their policies about their use of your personal information doesn’t guarantee that they are disclosing their entire story. The only information they are obligated to disclose is what passes the legal sniff test for that moment in time.

Innocent or not, one of the family members in that 48 Hours article will forever have his name associated with that death. No matter what, in a Google search by an employer or any other interested party, it will always be available. That may not mean anything to you specifically, but it would if that were your son or daughter who were pointed to as possible suspects and then reported about in the news just because Ancestory.com said you have 34 markers that match a murderer and agencies who didn’t know the whole story and unbeknownst to you had gained access to your data.

Maybe you don’t care about how your medical history is tracked because you are currently healthy and have no immediate reason to worry, but we all get sick eventually. I can guarantee that when it’s your turn, you to will care about who has your medical information, DNA included; if not for yourself directly, then for the generations after you. It’s not a doom and gloom perspective either, it’s common sense and trying to keep up with a changing world. It’s no different from advancing your education for employment or trying to protect your financial information from misuse. Fifty years ago, folks weren’t nearly as concerned about their financial histories, fico scores and data breaches, yet look at where we are now?

I have no problem with DNA being used to help solve murders but I do not think it should be admissible in the court of law in regard to home DNA testing kits or companies who supply and test them. I'm okay with it being used for a lead in a certain direction. The sample was maybe not done or handled, supplied or stored in a clean manner so should not be used for convictions. I'm probably going to get a test myself. I have never murdered anyone. I still think it's a great gift. I will use a fake last name.

Seriously. If you were genuinely concerned about Lynn's feelings, you'd have started another thread.. or just stopped.

This is really starting to play out as "sorry, not sorry".

I willingly spit into a tube and mailed it to Ancestry. My tree on Ancestry is there for a lot of people to see. I am not concerned. I found my results to be fascinating. I am 37 percent Scandinavian which came as a complete shock. So why don't I have blue eyes and blond hair (which I do but it comes with some help)? I linked my dna results to my Ancestry tree and found a bunch of relatives I never knew, although I have no intention of reaching out to them.

I think a kit would make a great gift. Anyone who looks into my private life would die of boredom.

Funky, my apology was and still is sincere, but that doesn’t change the conversation, we all know that threads have a way of creating a life of their own; I don’t think any of what’s said by anyone is meant to be hurtful to anyone, it’s just a conversation.

By the way, for those of you who are curious to see if you have native American ancestry -- the test will show that, but it will not be specific as to tribe, or even region -- central American, inuit, eastern coastal, south American, all come back as generic "native American". My DD was disappointed that she couldn't confirm her grandmother's claim of native American descent, because we know for sure that her grandfather's mother was native Mexican, and there is no distinction made.

I did 23andme and I enjoyed it a lot! As far as I’m concerned they can do what they want with my spit. I’m not going to profit off it maybe somebody else can. I have always been told that I look really Jewish and really German so I was interested to see if I had any Ashkenazi heritage. I don’t! I also know of some adoptions in my family so it was kind of a longshot to see if any of those adopted people showed up (they didn’t). I did also upload my database to Promethease because I was curious about coeliac disease – – definitely don’t have that mutation either! I do apparently have just about every gene for male pattern baldness and obesity.

Oh my. Conversation on most posts happens. It's not always in agreement with an original post. People give their own thoughts and views.

I hope Lynn understands that. I think she must.

I've done DNA kits with both 23andMe and Ancestry. I've enjoyed finding DNA relatives and being able to research them and add them to my PUBLIC Ancestry Family Tree.

I also uploaded my husband's and my results to Promethease for more detailed health reports - no surprises but some interesting information.

The Promethease reports from 2 separate data sources revealed almost identical results.

If anyone is interested, Promethease is offering free uploads and reports until the end of December.

From the website:

Promethease is a literature retrieval system that builds a personal DNA report based on connecting a file of DNA genotypes to the scientific findings cited in SNPedia.

Biomedical researchers, healthcare practitioners and customers of DNA testing services (such as 23andMe, Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeDNA, Genos, etc.) use Promethease to retrieve information published about their DNA variations.

Most reports cost $5 and are produced in under 10 minutes. Much larger data files (such as imputed full genomes from dna.land) cost $10 and have increased runtime.

PROMETHEASE

OK, I'm back. I'm not angry about the opposing views on this, just disheartened . . . and somewhat taken aback by some of your strong feelings. Not that your strong feelings are wrong, it's just that I hadn't considered that reasoning for not using a site like this. I needed a few days to stop and consider it all. Well, MyHeritage was quick in getting these test kits out, as they're already on their way. I will mention your thoughts both pro and con to my DH, DS and DIL and let them make their own decisions as to whether they want to use them, and if they do, with their real or a fake name.

Thank you all, though, for your thoughts on this, your reasoning, links to pertinent information, etc. I had no idea that my little Christmas gift suggestion would set off such a thread (LOL)! But, that said, I don't want to talk about it anymore here. Feel free to carry on this thread without me, though.

Just be careful about your family secrets. One of my cousins found out she did not come out of the same gene pool as her 6 other siblings. Seems there was a mailman or milkman in the mix one year....she kept it quiet till her dad died last year cause she didn't know if he knew. Apparently he didn't (according to maternal aunt.)

I saw this about 2 men in Hawaii who were good friends but then found out they are brothers. They had the same mother.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/inspired-life/wp/2017/12/27/the-two-men-were-best-friends-for-60-years-then-they-found-out-they-were-brothers/?tid=sm_tw&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digg&utm_term=.7bbfa760bec3

From the article:

"DNA tests can sometimes lead to uncomfortable surprises; finding out that a parent or close relative is not actually related, for example. 23andMe no longer provides data on these types of results, but in 2014, estimated that 7,000 users of its service had discovered unexpected paternity results or learned about previously unknown siblings."

Well, I didn't see that one coming, but it certainly makes sense.

Yes it does, Eld, but it’s also fascinating. Mine turned out very interesting, but with nothing unexpected or shocking. DH, with both his English cowboy great-grandfather and Chickasaw great-grandmother should prove to be very interesting. We’ll see.

Just read that Hawaii brother story-man was that a piece that left out a LOT!!! I'd give some serious coin to know just what happened back in the day with mom....signed, certifiably nosy runningplace!

I was thinking the same thing, Running! I’ll bet the brothers have already been approached by folks wanting to write a book, or even a movie, about it. With much back research needing to be done (LOL)!

I personally know identical twins, separated at birth by the father in Korea. He thought one baby had physical and mental issues, told his wife the baby died, but he secretly gave him up for adoption. That baby was adopted here by my good friend. Nothing wrong with him, and he went on to be a brilliant student, athlete, and now successful doctor. At 18, though, he and his family learned he had an identical twin, and traveled to Korea to meet him. Later, his twin came to live here for a while and I got to know him as well. Very dramatic full story that would make a great book or movie! Real life stories can be stranger than fiction!

I recall a story in People years ago about a couple who became engaged and in discussing their similar adoption backgrounds, did some research and learned they were, yep, brother and sister. Fortunately they were "waiting" and found out the truth before their wedding night!

DH and I received Ancestry test kits from our daughters for Christmas. We exchanged gifts last night. Decisions, decisions!

My DH and I also received Ancestry kits from our son. I thought it was a great idea and they are already off in the mail. Not expecting any surprises but you never know. I did check the "I don't want to know about other relatives, nor be in contact with them" option. Not because I have any suspicions, but just because I'm more of an introvert.

One thing about the use of the results for research -- this I support; although it is possible that it could be turned to nefarious applications (denial of insurance, for example, but universal coverage would eliminate that risk, wouldn't it?), the ability to have the sort of mega data that can help target therapies, or tailor medications to particular traits, or trace incidences and tendencies toward diseases, even variations of a disease (like all the types of breast cancer that we now know about) seems to me to outweigh the risks.

Here is some good information about the DNA test results.

http://www.legalgenealogist.com/2017/12/31/dna-resolutions-2018/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheLegalGenealogist+%28The+Legal+Genealogist%29

I think it's a swell gift idea and would be pleased to find it in my stocking so I hope your gifts were received with good cheer, Lynn. My friend's son recently had his done and was tickled to find some Australian native DNA in his background. Scandinavian/German/Italian was all that was in the oral tradition of the family, so it was a neat surprise.

Our family's Ancestry.com hobbyist received an email from a "surprise" cousin that we did not know we had, after several family members' DNA was registered. Photos were exchanged and yes, there is no way to deny the blood kinship--he looks just like the rest of us, poor fellow.

The generation of folks who might have been shocked/hurt by this surprise family member are all gone, and I am glad for him that his lifelong question of paternity could be answered. I can see that it might be awkward for younger families who find out they have siblings they never heard of, but I'm a fan of sunlight in dark family corners-- and I also think it's time that some kinds of families stop acting like those situations never happen "among our kind of people", lol.

I also had my dog's DNA done and I'm getting our newer dog's done, too. Very fun to find out what went into these rescue/shelter mutts we love.

One of my colleagues tweeted about this today, that 23andme is going to a genetics study of obesity, although it is not true that there have been no studies on the influence of behavior and genetics, although this will be a much bigger study.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/29/23andme-to-launch-huge-weight-loss-study-focused-on-diet-exercise-and-genes/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27891830