"Somehow we got on the subject of our lineage while I was testing his hearing and of course he rattled on about his ancestors and the Mayflower. He asked me about my heritage and I told him I was of the Heinz 57 variety. He said "You know what that makes you - a mongrel"."

I fail to understand why some think any element of their ancestry is of any interest to anyone, has any relevance to them personally, or whose ancestry is something to brag about or is of any importance or impact on the person they are standing on their own two feet.

Everyone had ancestors alive in the year 1610. Also 1710, 1810 and 1910. Who cares where yours were at any particular date? Oh, they were from Slovenia? You're a third generation born in the US. How in the world could that matter or possibly affect you a stich? Right, it doesn't. Not at all.

"I did my new dog's DNA too and that was a real eye opener!"

What kind of info is typically learned from doing this? Is it what breeds are in the dogs background?

Does anyone else worry about the privacy issues inherent in sharing your most unique and private information with a corporation that can profit from it? I kind of do.

5 biggest risks.

I fail to understand why some think any element of their ancestry is of any interest to anyone, has any relevance to them personally

The experiences of my ancestors, including my parents (I'm first-generation American on both sides) are actually very interesting, and people outside of my family to whom I've told the stories have been quite fascinated. Their experiences have definitely helped to inform my worldview. I'm sorry if your background is boring to you. ;-)

But in all seriousness, if one is at all interested in history, the experiences of one's ancestors, their migrations, occupations, etc., can have a broader appeal than the simply personal, illuminating the details of lives that often don't make it into the history books.

“What kind of info is typically learned from doing this? Is it what breeds are in the dogs background?”

Yep. 50% Schnauzer, 25% Yorkie and a bit of Bichon and some other things. But that was from a dna test done many years ago. They’ve added many more breeds to their database since. He was a rescue so we weren’t paying for genes, just curious on his makeup.

"if one is at all interested in history, the experiences of one's ancestors, their migrations, occupations, etc., can have a broader appeal"

Honestly, I think someone who's appropriate moniker is "bookwoman" understands that her likely curiosity fed by books isn't something shared to the same extent by many.

Here's what I'm thinking - most people have broad notions of the regional or national origins of at least some or for others maybe most of their ancestors. In my experience, few, close to none, know much at all about the ancestral homeland at the time their ancestors left or at any other time. Nor have most spent any time trying to learn more. Because they don't really care.

And much as people would like to allege otherwise, the tales of any particular ancestors taken in isolation (as most do, not extending the inquiry any wider) hardly constitute an insight or exploration of history.

From strangers it used to be called "small talk". Something to do rather than staring at the wall when people had to be in the same place at the same time. Can start in many ways and can actually enrich knowledge of both/all participants. It can also just be noise. With phones and earbuds people can now use those rather than actually interact with others.

Early on in my career, in a development course about how to have successful conversations and meetings with other people, the instructor used a silly symbol to suggest there was a reason that humans had two ears but only one mouth. That the two to one ratio was a minimum anyone should use as the ratio of time spent listening versus talking, more listening than that is better still. And when having a conversation, unless it's a presentation, speaking about oneself should be limited to friendly trivialities at the beginning to begin the encounter but afterwards only to answer questions posed. Asking questions in a meeting expresses concern and interest and that's what oftentimes the subliminal message the other parties receive from the person asking questions.

I find just as a general matter that people who talk about themselves concerning things no one asked them about to be extremely boring.

Social history is my very favorite subject these days. My present lunch book is an annotated diary of a Sea Island cotton planter that I am rereading. Fascinating stuff. Lots of people are interested in such stuff because there are lots of books on it, scholarly and otherwise.

there is a huge interest in genealogy these days. People are very much interested in what they came from. How else do you account for multiple places to get your genetics done and sus out your ancestors? I think most people become interested as they get older and have time. Thats when they realize they never thought to ask questions of their family members. Getting your DNA done has its place in steering you in the right direction and as Data bases grow the information becomes more accurate.

It is not necessarily true that small percentages cant have real meaning. It would depend on the pieces that are interpreted. Has anyone here watched the shows done by Cece Moore who has been using genetics to trace killers. She also works for Finding your roots. She is very good at recognizing significant sequences-tiny scraps- that lead to familial connections. She is amazing. Most of us will never get that specialized help of course.

Not everyone is interested in hearing of a really great way to bind off in knitting or the best way to clear your cache but there are people who do. Looking for keys as to how interested some stranger is (and I have shared knitting hints with interested strangers and learned stuff too) how we interact in the world.

What is boring to one person is fascinating to someone else and vice versa.

I've always been particularly interested in history and especially ancient history. As a child, I had many fantasies about living in ancient times.

I also like hearing people's stories about past life regressions.

Top 10 Reasons to DNA Test Your Dog

What would you say her breed is?

I've said here before that I must never have outgrown Age Four -- because I'm constantly interested in knowing "Why" about so many things. Geneaology has answered some of those questions, along with some I hadn't known enough to ask!

My maternal grandmother sailed to NYC from Glasgow AFAIK she was Scottish. A little digging showed her boarding that sailing ship in Ireland...with her totally Irish-surnamed mother. She didn't want to be reviled, as the Irish were when she emigrated, and she just never changed her story! I began to understand why my grandmother had been such a close-mouthed, suspicious woman by reading about her era and her losses.

She is my only *recent* immigrant, all others having come between the 18th and 19th centuries. "Getting to know" these people and their times has acquainted me with history. They are the 'Prologue' to my Present.

My cousin's kids had there's done and found out there father had four children out of wedlock .. They all met. I don't anything more about it but sure was surprised when I heard this. The father is very educated and was a snob. haha

I did 23andMe some years ago. I just looked at my profile on their website to see how long ago it was. I didn't find that information, but I see the breakdown of my geographical genetic makeup has changed. I've read that all the DNA testing facilities update their results frequently because more information becomes available as more people take the test.

So . . . I'm still 100% European, with 76.4% from the northwest part of Europe, and 23.6% Ashkenazi Jewish. But now they list 10 specific regions of the UK and 10 of Ireland. That was interesting. I can see I'll have to start paying more attention to St. Patrick's Day! There was more on the site; I'll get back to it.

The medical information I got from running my DNA results through another company turned out to be more important to me. I learned a couple of very useful things--things I never would have known without the DNA test.

Caflower,

Because of its coloring, I'd guess part Rottweiler? ( I know little about dogs, but it's a cutie!)

Genealogy is not about connecting with people you never knew, it's about researching your ancestry. Having a DNA test helps further your research.

I have no desire to connect with anyone, either, but I do want to know who my ancestors were, where they lived, how they lived, etc.. I've always been interested in history, and had an insatiable desire to read and learn.

My husband has a very small family and he knows very little about his father's side. So when he did it to perhaps find some relatives, I naturally did it too.

Thus far he has found some cousins (not sure how close). Meanwhile, I found out that my dad was a sperm donor while in med school. Surprise! I have two half sisters!

Sara, that's exciting! I hope they were receptive to connecting with you (assuming you wanted to connect).

HU-753479426, I had a similar situation with a man who was very into mentioning his Mayflower ancestors, I think to impress me into dating him. I was not at all interested and couldn't resist responding, "Mayflower? Wow -- were your ancestors debtors, criminals avoiding jail or just religious refugees?"

I got a confirmation 23 and Me received my kit. Then they had a ten-minute health questionnaire I had to fill out.

Satine, genetics is complicated--at least I find it so, but I'm certainly no expert. When a person is born in a certain country, that doesn't necessarily reflect where his or her ancestors were from. I don't know what the DNA testing sites are saying now, but when I had my DNA tested 23andMe said the results would show where my ancestors were living 500 years ago.

Also, our grandchildren don't inherit a set number of our genes. Girl babies are likely to resemble their paternal grandmothers in one or more ways because the father has only one female chromosome, which he got from his mother. But that resemblance is not a sure thing. Even siblings aren't guaranteed to have the same genetic makeup.

Anyone who delves into genealogy soon realizes that we come from an enormous pyramid of ancestors. We have 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, 16 GGgrandparents, 32GGGgrandparents, 64 GGGGgrandparents, and on and on. No wonder we're all different!

Those who used Ancestry, do you check your results from time to time? I assume they will change, just as those on 23andMe have, as their database grows.

I hadn't looked at my 23andMe results in a while--probably a couple of years--and was startled to find my "French & German" (in my case all German) component rose from 14.4% to 56.8%. That's quite a leap! It makes more sense to me, though, as my mother's family was all German and Austrian, and I assume the Ashkenazi ancestors could come up as German as well, although 23andMe has them in a separate category.

Just a suggestion to prevent major heartbreak if you discover you are genetically Ashkenazi Jewish please have additional testing done for Tay-Sachs disease. It is not limited to that group but it is more prevalent. Genetic splicing is being worked on but currently there is no cure and the only prevention is to not have children.

And to add to what maifleur has said, one in 40 Ashkenazi Jewish women has a BRCA gene mutation, so get your mammograms!

Good point, Maifleur. Tay-Sachs is a terrible disease. I just want to add that both prospective parents should be tested. If one partner does not have the defective gene, the baby will not be born with Tay-Sachs. If the baby inherits the gene from the other partner it will be a carrier, just as its parent is, and will have to be cautious, just as its parent was.

"if you discover you are genetically Ashkenazi Jewish please have additional testing done for Tay-Sachs disease."

That's probably good advice for people of child-bearing years with that potential. Some prospective parents these days do go through genetic analyses.

It's probably not a necessary suggestion for this crowd of middle aged and senior citizens.

Stop to think if a middle aged or senior citizen is tested and found to have the genetic markers they can suggest to the younger generation be tested. Would you rather two young adults find out that every child they have will die if they happen to marry someone who also carries the gene if it could be prevented by a little knowledge.

Very much like my getting the BRCA 1&2 test and I was able to pass on the information to my sisters.

23andme suggest you might want to consult with a health care person about your test results. They do a lot of medical testing. That is their real focus while the rest is candy. You dont have to get the medical information if you dont want it and if I am recalling correctly you can opt out of being tested at all and just get the genealogy.

Perhaps to make it easier to understand. Older women often are tested for the various BRCA genes. While they are not obligated to tell others in their families they often and should tell the younger members in their families so they can be tested. Is a disease that kills young children in horrible ways less important than breasts.

Since men also have breast cancer they also should be told and checked.

Yes, a family's medical history is important. Valuable to know as much as possible. Everything I've learned has been passed down to my children and their generation of cousins.

It isn't what you said.

As I said, I think prospective parents are well informed today about possible genetic interaction problems and know to get genetic screening if their backgrounds suggest the possiblity of a problem. A doctor should always be consulted. Back in the day when we were staring our own family, the one the very rudimentary conflict check that was done was of the Rh factor. Almost everyone knew to double check that.

When screening is done, it's done of the prospective parents, not of family members, and there are many more items that are looked for and considered. So yes, anyone who reads your suggestion in this thread who's considering having children may consider having screening done if their background suggests the possibility of genetically passed health issues. Those not in that situation needn't bother.

I don't know if you have children and if so maybe your experience was different, but the very MOST UNWELCOME and OBNOXIOUS thing for us was to receive unsolicited advice or suggestions from family members about starting a family and then parenting. In each instance, we tried to shut it down immediately and let our caring relative(s) know that we appreciated their concern but we were very comfortable figuring things out our own way, on our own, and didn't want or need their suggestions.

They knew to test for the RH factor and Jewish families do test and have for some time. My parents attorney's nephew married a Gentile because he knew he probably carried the trait. It was only after the second child was born that the first child developed problems at about 18 months. When the mother was tested she had the trait. So did the second child. All they could do is watch their children die. With the number of people who through genetic testing which are just now finding out they have Jewish ancestry testing is important.

That's a very sad story, I feel sorry for all concerned, especially the little kids. Did this happen recently, when the prospective parents could have utilized genetic screening services pre-pregnancy?

Absent a chromosomal analysis, how did this individual "know" he carried a trait?

As far as I know, REAL medical pre-pregnancy testing is blood based and is not done by the retail, pop culture ancestry-focused companies.

jupidupi and Seagrass, my family has the exact opposite reaction to those who feel strongly connected with a Mayflower ancestor. We think of ours as amusing, but it's hard for us to feel strongly about it, because it has no connection to anything we ever knew. Through ancestry and 23 and Me, we randomly discovered my father's heritage, which we had never known.

His father had given him his surname, but nothing else. He'd never been a part of my father's life. So we never knew our heritage through my father's paternal lineage, other than that his surname was English.

My father had no brothers, like his father, so we had no cousins with our surname, which was only carried on through my own brothers. One of them did the DNA tests, and discovered that we were genetically connected to many people with our last name in the U.S., in Massachusetts in particular.

Long story short, my father's surname and ancestry descends directly from a fellow named Robert Cushman, who was the chief agent in England, to organize and arrange provisions for the Mayflower's voyage to America. Robert Cushman was the first to preach a sermon at Plymouth Rock. He only stayed for 2 weeks, then sailed back to England with documentation and surveys, of the land they had settled on, and descriptions of how the settlement was running.

Robert left his 14 yr old son Thomas behind, in the care of his friend William Bradford, the first governor of the new settlement at Plymouth. Unfortunately, Robert died while in England, and never made it back to America. His son Thomas was then adopted and raised by the governor, who let him keep his own surname, Cushman. Thomas grew up and became the church elder, until his death. His wife Mary, was the last survivor from the Mayflower's trip to America.

I mentioned that all this news to us was 'amusing' because we discovered that my great great grandfather moved west from America's east coast, and crossed over into Ontario Canada. We'd always assumed our ancestors had come directly to Canada from England, and never knew that our roots, once on this side of the pond, are actually American.

While my father's ancestors were very religious, the few relatives we knew of on his side, were definitely not. So Robert Cushman, a religious founding father of America, might roll over in his grave, to know some of his descendants eventually became atheist Canadians, lol.

None of my family have ever gone to any reunions in Massachusetts, for the descendants of Robert Cushman, nor visited the huge monument honouring him, as a founding father of America. I guess growing up as Canadians, and knowing my father's surname had no significance to him, this new information doesn't mean much to us either. Perhaps where one is raised, and the relatives they know, mean more than where one's family once lived, and who they once were, IYKWIM.

https://familypedia.wikia.org/wiki/Cushman_Memorial

Elmer he knew because it had happened within his family and yes even back in the dark ages there were tests that could be done. His wife took one to confirm that she was also a carrier. The doctors thought that was what the older son had but both parents had to be a carrier for the children to become ill. If hers had turned up negative other reasons would have been looked for.

amicus I found your religious changes interesting because I have wondered after using the Quaker/Friends records to research various families why so many converted to other religions after about the fourth generation. One of my husband's ancestors was either in the second or third group of ships and no one in his family thinks anything at all about it.

maifleur, I do find ancestry interesting, as one can learn information they had no clue about, as we did. I just don't feel a need to connect with distant relatives, because we share a common ancestor. But I do wish our DNA had made some matches with anyone from my maternal grandfather's side, as that is a mystery to us. We've now traced my father's paternal side back to the 1500's in England, and my mother's maternal side back to the 1500's in France.

But we always thought my mother's paternal lineage was mostly Irish, as her father and all the family he knew had been born there. However we found out his ancestors actually go back earlier to Scotland, which is funny to us, as my grandfather avidly celebrated his Irish heritage, come to learn his family line was actually Scottish, lol.

amicus many English/Scottish/Irish families had lands by marriage, purchased, granted after various conflicts in each of the countries. Younger sons were sent to manage and daughters often had part of the land as their dower's. So while their genetics show one thing they actually lived for generations in a different country. Because of the class structure at the time people tended to marry within their class which would mean that the people had a similar genetic background. People also tended to bring their dependents and servants with them and they too would marry in their own class. I have at least one ancestor who to obtain a wife and her property changed his name to hers although most only hyphenated their names.

I do find it interesting that you mention lack of DNA matches both on 23 and Ancestry I find very few matches from my father's side. One 3rd cousin then it skips to 5ths. It may just be no one has taken the tests or the direct branches have died out. Try looking at your 5th and 6ths cousins to see if you find a common ancestor. The name used may not have been the legal name of your maternal grandfather's father. Second and third families were known to have happened in the past.

Real DNA testing is not done with blood although it could be. Blood cells have no nucleus so carries no DNA. But blood has enough cellular contaminants to get a good test. "Real" companies like the one that invented the BRCA test use skin cells. They take a chunk out of you. Now the internet companies use spit, not because there is any more DNA in saliva than blood but your mouth has some of your fastest growing and shedding skin cells in your body and spit is full of mouth skin cells. That is where they get the DNA. There is nothing amateur in what they do. They are definitely going to sell the data.

Ireland, especially Northern Ireland and Scotland have been trading people for centuries. And then there was the seeding of Protestant Scots into Catholic Ireland during the reign of James l (early 1600's) that created a lot of the angst they are still fighting over. It is no surprise they are genetically connected. As to whether they identified as Irish or Scots is going to depend.

I got an email from 23 and Me saying they extracted 600,000 letters and my results will be made on April 16.

patriciae, that sounded weird that blood cells have no nucleus. I googled and found: "Unlike most other eukaryotic cells, mature red blood cells don't have nuclei. When they enter the bloodstream for the first time, they eject their nuclei and organelles, so they can carry more hemoglobin, and thus, more oxygen." -- how cool is that!!

and this article: how red blood cells nuke their nuclei

I wonder if surnames can be a clue in sorting out Irish/Scottish ancestry. My grandmother was a Campbell, and her parents emigrated from Scotland. Other names from her Scottish line include McIntosh, Robb, and Orr. The McIntosh was from her maternal line, and I think this is the way it was spelled, though I'm not 100% certain.

One of my sisters took a 23 & me test. It says she is mostly Alsace - French/German. I understand different companies often give different results.

She's very interested in ancestry and filed to become a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution after completing the necessary genealogy and submitting the proper records. I could also become a member if I wanted. DH's grandmother compiled all of the necessary paperwork to become a DAR member. Her application was rejected. They said while her ancestors did indeed fight in the Revolutionary War, they fought on the side of the British!

One of the interesting facts I found was the rash of sons born to patriots who were named for our founding fathers. One of my Eliots (various spellings) served with Washigton in both Indian wars and the Revolution. His three sons had given names honoring his heroes, i.e., George Washington Eliot. This was common in NY and PA. There are also a lot of pamphlets compiling interviews with various elderly veterans of the war -- grains of truth among the boasts. (Did Washington actually award my Private Eliot a ceremonial sword?)

Alisande, you wondered if surnames can be a clue in sorting out Irish/Scottish ancestry. Normally they help, as the family names you listed, seem clearly of Scottish origin. My mother's father grew up in Ireland, as did all the relatives he ever knew.

But when we visited Ireland, we did a name search and were told that my mother's maiden name was actually from Scotland. So apparently many years ago, my maternal grandfather's family left Scotland and moved to Ireland, and then all future generations just assumed they were of Irish heritage. Their surname is 'Reddam.'

However the word 'reddam' is Latin. It is used on the Clan Crawford's crest, saying TUTUM TE ROBORE REDDAM which translates from Latin as "I will give you safety through strength." But 'reddam' it is still a Latin word, lol, so we have no idea how his family, assuming their origins were Scottish, came to have a Latin word as their surname.

When I type 'reddam' in google translate from Latin to English, nothing comes up. When I use any of the English word translation from Clan Crawford's crest, none of the words translate into the latin word 'reddam.' So I am stumped as to exactly what the singular word 'reddam' in latin really means, and how my grandfather's family came to have it as their surname.

When I type 'reddam' in google translate from Latin to English, nothing comes up.

It's a verb which means 'restore/return/surrender': https://www.wordsense.eu/reddam/

Google doesn't do well with ancient languages.

Going back to when my two sets of ancestors came over to Philly in the early 1700s, their names alone should tell what country they immigrated from. Maternal, very German ending in dt and later they dropped the d. Paternal spelling was modified too but in 1700 it too ended in dt.

@alisande - one of the two half sisters is basically not interested in any contact. The other very much has been. She has come here to CA to meet us and my parents have gone to see her in TX. I text with her regularly.

Crazy world!

Bookwoman, I found other sites that translate 'reddam' as meaning 'give back, or repay' which makes sense with the translation you found for 'reddam' as restore/return/surrender.

So now I have to figure out why my Scottish ancestors were given the surname of a Latin word, that means 'restore, return or give back' lol. I'm not holding my breath.

I am a member of many of the genealogical sites. I did DNA testing with Ancestry and 23 and me. I uploaded my DNA to Promethease, My Heritage, and GEDMatch.

Ancestry has you sign a disclaimer before you submit the DNA test. It states you may find out information you were not expecting. Being the family historian, I was confident there would be no surprises. Boy was I wrong!!!

My DNA results did not match up to my family tree. I am working through it and am now glad I know the truth.

On an interesting note, I discovered I am 30% Irish. I never knew that.

Also, I discovered Joan Crawford ( the actress) and I share 8th great grandparents.