I did it and found out that I am the sole descendent of King Arthur. My brothers and sisters sure we're mad!

My parents are currently participating in this nonsense.

I have a few issues with it.

First, who the fuck cares? I can understand doing DNA analysis for medical purposes, but what difference can it possibly make to me to find out where my ancestors come from? It doesn't make me a different person, doesn't make me do anything differently. What am I going to do, brag about lineage that I had nothing to do with? Even if you don't know who your close relatives are, who cares? If they cared, you'd know who they are.

Second, I agree with others, I'm not at all keen on giving up my DNA to a company, especially one like google, with little to no say in what they do with it. No, I don't really expect too much nefarious from it, but why should I pay them to give them my dna?

I fail to see any benefit at all from this waste of money.

quote:

Originally posted by Anush:
My wife & I did Ancestry.com DNA. & she also did 23 and me because she did not believe the Ancestry.com results.
My wife who thought she was 3/4 Armenian & 1/4 Russian, showed NO eastern European. 23 and me produced similar results, no eastern European, but Italian, Southern European, & Ashkenazi. The Armenian results were as expected.
Ancestry.com linked me to others & I was able to extend my family history to arrival in Roanoke, VA in the 1630's. I have thousands of DNA linked cousins in the US.

Please dont take the following as an insult:

But just WHAT have you gained from this? You found out that you came from a different part of Europe by about 800nm. Im sure I have thousands of DNA linked people here and in the Motherland too. So what?

Our oldest son got interested in his ancestry in high school. He talked to about every living relative on both sides of the family putting it all together. He found the manifest of the ship that brought my grandparents over. Very cool.

This stuff goes beyond that though. Im just very uncomfortable with it.

If I hear that commercial one more time I think I will go beat puppies.

That being said between my wife and we are very curious to see what kind of mutt the boy is.

I participated in a DNA test once, came back 15% Irish and 85% flammable....

quote:

Originally posted by medic451:
I participated in a DNA test once, came back 15% Irish and 85% flammable....

That's 100% Irish.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
My sister did it (or one similar) and tried to talk me into it.

I admit to being intrigued, but not enough so that I want my DNA in some company's hands to do with what they will.

Shouldn't, unless there is a "step" in there, you both share the same DNA?

quote:

But just WHAT have you gained from this?

Some people are curious & some are not. Gain is knowledge which some seek & some do not.

Well shucks. Seems to me that if you go back enough generations, everyone is related to everyone. What's the fuss?

Debate on the pros/cons of the test aside, I found this amusing.

http://en.newsner.com/biased-s...r-looks/about/family

quote:

Originally posted by Kadin:
Even if you don't know who your close relatives are, who cares? If they cared, you'd know who they are.

Not necessarily true; some people were adopted, abandoned, or kidnapped as infants. Some people were lost or separated during disasters or wartimes.

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
My sister did it (or one similar) and tried to talk me into it.

I admit to being intrigued, but not enough so that I want my DNA in some company's hands to do with what they will.

Shouldn't, unless there is a "step" in there, you both share the same DNA?

No.

There are different DNA ancestry tests, depending on what one wants to find out. My daughter is a history buff and has been tracing back her lineage, But I'm a problem because I was adopted, with only a little interest in genealogy. I've ordered the Family Tree "Family Finder" autosomal test and the results will be my daughter's Christmas gift.

This test provides a breakdown of ethnic makeup, and relatives on any ancestral lines within the last five generations (whose DNA is in in "the database").

I'm expecting the ethnicity result to put me somewhere around the eastern Mediterranean or Middle East. While working at Home Depot in Northern Virginia, I've had many people from those regions tell me I am from there.

I enjoyed reading the results !

Found out some things that I didn't know.

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
My sister did it (or one similar) and tried to talk me into it.

I admit to being intrigued, but not enough so that I want my DNA in some company's hands to do with what they will.

Shouldn't, unless there is a "step" in there, you both share the same DNA?

Nope. She does not have a Y chromosome and he does. It is possible to just do a Y-DNA analysis and only follow the trail of male ancestors back.

flashguy

My Dad's oldest brother started tracing our family tree years ago, long before the internet. After his death, my sister & cousin took over uncovered mounds of info that traced us back to Germany. We arrived here in PA in the early 1700's.

A DNA test may show that somebody In the family married an Irishman, a Russian, or a native American somewhere along the way, but like Hillary says, "At this point what difference does it make?"

Sometimes it's just interesting to know about one's ancestry, even if it is (usually) pretty mundane. I do know that my paternal line goes back to a Privateer for Queen Anne who came to this continent from Flanders back in the 1600s. My maternal line only came here from Germany in the late 1800s. Does it matter? No, of course not, but it is interesting.

Now, I knew all of that before DNA testing became so widespread, but I have used DNA results to discover many distant relatives (I'm talking 4th to 6th Cousins) scattered all over the country. I just discovered last week that one of them is buried in a cemetery less than 3 miles from my house, and there is one living in a city just 60 miles north of me. (No, I've yet to talk to any of them, but I have e-mailed a couple.)

For people who enjoy solving puzzles, genealogy can be a fascinating hobby. The Internet and the huge repositories of historical data on the web have revolutionized the endeavor, and DNA testing is bound to improve it even more. As to what good it is--ask a Mormon or the DAR.

flashguy

I did the ancestry dot com dna test. Also have been exploring the family at the same site. The DNA test fits the actual documented history study almost. Both maternal Great grand parents came from Germany about 1870s. Fathers Paternal grand parents came from Denmark about 1860s. So one would think I had mostly German/Scandinavian roots. But I am not. Dad's mothers tree branch are very Colonial from mostly Ireland and England having crossed the pond in 1600s and 1700s. The Irish were strong connected to English Norths. Yes Lord north too. And Ollie North, and Jay North. The common ancestor to Lord north seems to be Dudley about 1500. Family lore says we are related to Lord North. And documents show some North cousins were in the Revolutionary War on our side. Another thing the documented trail of my Dad's youth indicates he had a rough life until he made it through Veterinary school. He never talked about it much. Just like he never talked at all about his US Army life in 46 and 47.
Anyway the DNA says I am 49% Brit, 36% Scandinavian, 10% East Europe, 2% Irish, And <1% each Iberian, Finland/NW Russian, Caucusus, and Melanesia. Mother asked how did the Melanisia get in there. I said "the usual way"

I find this all very interesting and satisfying some curiosities about my family tree.

And maybe I am Tac's cousin HA!

The same people who cannot replace a broken doorknob or dress properly in the winter ...

I have zero designs on committing a crime at any time in my remaining life, and haven't yet unless we count speeding.

However, I like to leave my options open for a clean escape. Hell, already had to give up my fingerprints to the Republic of Texas. Twice.