For "mutts" (and I don't say that in a disparaging way), I suppose it can be helpful.

But for others, I think Captain Obvious can do a better job. My niece was relating how she got tested and the results said she's 80% of a particular race and that her genes came from a certain geography.

I looked at her and said I could have told her what her particular race was, anybody with a brain could have. It's on the same level as an Inuit taking a dna test to figure out what race he is. As far as the geography where her genes came from? Well, her dad and mom were born there. Doh!

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:
There was a set of triplets that took a couple of the at home DNA tests. There were differences between them and between the tests.

I'd like to see the results of someone sending two or more of their own samples to one of these companies.

quote:

Originally posted by Ryanp225:
Mine was so accurate it narrowed me down to the town in Sweden my ancestors were from. And according to our family's stories it's spot on.

What company did you use?

The tests are accurate but people do, and always have Migrated. Simple answer is that your grandparents may have grown up in an Irish, or Welsh community within Germany composed of migrants.

Another thing that comes into play is that two siblings who are not identical twins will have different genomes expressed in their DNA. Me, I show Scottish, English, German, and Scandinavian. My sister has a similar makeup but had 3% Iberian peninsula added to the mix. One sort of odd aspect is that in a family line going back to the later 1600's here in America none of showed any aboriginal DNA (American Indian). Guess the Pennsylvania Dutch just didn't mingle.

Mine is pretty dead on accurate. It's interestingly enough, more accurate than the oral history.

My father's father's parents came from Hungary and emigrated to the US around 1910. The DNA test said nope, you're German with almost no Hungarian ancestry.

A little bit of research and... in the 1600s/1700s when the Turks were kicked out of Hungary, there was huge land rushes from other countries, notably Germany. The town/county the family was from was a major area that Germans migrated to, and they tended to not intermarry with other groups.

After WWII probably most of the German ancestry locals were kicked out of the country however, so most relatives are probably gone. Though there is still a small hotel in the town with my family name.

The rest of the family lineage is English/Irish, and matches the majority of my ancestors being in the Americas since the 1600s and 1700s.

I often wondered if you did one of these tests how do you know it's accurate? Would never waste money on one personally.

quote:

Originally posted by Keystoner:

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:
There was a set of triplets that took a couple of the at home DNA tests. There were differences between them and between the tests.

I'd like to see the results of someone sending two or more of their own samples to one of these companies.

Dont know about triplets, but siblings can have differing percentages of ethnicity.

There are differing levels of sophistication and accuracy when it comes to DNA testing. It is similar to drug testing in a sense. There are some drug testing protocols that rely on a dipstick sort of protocol to others that can detect alcohol usage from several days past. Regulation is not quite what one would expect. These tests are heavily marketed to the public, and are not quite the same tests as those used in forensic work.

quote:

Originally posted by Oz_Shadow:
Close, but Ancestry has changed their results to be more and more generalized. I can trace most of my ancestors to northern UK, Scotland and some ulster ScotchIrish, with a healthy chunk of German. Pretty much 80/20 for those regions. Ancestry basically puts a big blob over that entire area now. Surprisingly there was some Scandinavian that I can’t account for. Maybe 4% but I suspect that’s common for the region.

There is often a touch of Scandanavian DNA in people from Scotland and Ireland -- because the coastal areas of those nations were favorite destinations for early cruises, i.e., Viking raiding parties.

As noted above, too, there were Germanic people all over the place -- not all were inside the borders of unified Germany even at its largest (leading to a lot of mischief when Hitler took over). Germanic people came to the U.S. in a series of waves, starting before the Revolution. Some were re-migrated after having moved eastward in Europe - so what Ancestry calls "German" must have a lot of variation in it. And Germans are still the largest single ethnic group in the U.S.

I was asked to do DNA to confirm paternity. I didn't hesitate and I think overall it was pretty accurate, based on what I know of my history.

One of the funny outcomes involved my late mother, the first Elizabeth Warren. She always said she had America Indian, a small part but some. Oops, none in the chart, my brother and I got a good laugh.

It did prove paternity, caused some anxiety in some folk. When they got the original kit result that brought it up, they called 23andMe to question the veracity. They were told there was no mistake, there couldn't be a mistake.

quote:

Originally posted by Keystoner:

quote:

Originally posted by Icabod:
There was a set of triplets that took a couple of the at home DNA tests. There were differences between them and between the tests.

I'd like to see the results of someone sending two or more of their own samples to one of these companies.

It’s been done
“ What to Know

Paul Genest ordered DNA kits from Ancestry and 23andMe.
Both test results found that Genest is more than 60 percent Irish and British, but the rest of the results varied.
NBC10 Boston Responds found that genetics companies use different algorithms and reference population data.

Notice the “reference population.”

“ At the time his family did the test on Ancestry.com in 2015, the company had just 18 Polynesian people in its genetic reference panel. Compare that with France, which today has 1,407.

The size of that reference database matters. The more samples available, the better the tests can pinpoint where your ancestors came from. Most of the companies initially used European-centric samples because those were the easiest to get and because that’s where many of their customers’ ancestors came from.”

There’s an Ancestory.com commercial for “Lyn.” She is discovers she’s “26% Nigerian” and starts dressing in styles of that culture.
Then there’s “Kyle” that thought he was German but discovers 52% is from Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Then a quarter comes from Scandinavia. So he buys a kilt and likely has no proof of a right to wear a tartan. These DNA tests identify geographic regions but not cultures

https://www.ispot.tv/ad/wK8r/a...thnicity-discoveries

https://www.google.com/search?...mgrc=iTRU25sXsAX3_M:

https://www.nbcboston.com/news...cs-companies/125109/

https://www.usatoday.com/story...ll-story/2132681002/

Someone on a forum pointed out the 'flaw' in DNA testing....

Simply ... you do not get an even 50% DNA from each of your parents... it could be as low as 25% from one of them I think.. if you then do the math there is the likely hood that gong back 4 or 5 generations and that great great grand parents DNA has pretty much been washed out.

I did the Ancestry test. Trying to track my family is interesting.

I am PA Dutch (German) and can track that back to 1648. I am Hungarian and can track that back to 1900.

Imagine my surprise when a large part of my DNA came back as English.

Then I thought about it, my forefathers were eastern and central European, probably peasants. America may be a melting pot but we have nothing on the centuries of European conquests which resulted in a smorgasbord of DNA.

Ancestry has refined the DNA results over time. My current mix is:
68% Germanic Europe
23% Eastern Europe
7% European Jewish
2% Swede

No surprises.

quote:

Originally posted by sigfreund:

quote:

Originally posted by jhe888:
And family stories can also be in error.

Yes. There was a story not too long ago about some siblings (sisters?) who discovered through DNA testing that the family history of who was their biological father wasn't true.

Big drama in my wife's family over the last year due to this and prior health concerns (aggressive form of breast cancer). Turns out my wife's sister didn't have the same dad as she did - her mom likely knew it, but let her undergo risky surgery (she was pregnant at the time) due to the younger sister having a very aggressive form of breast cancer and my wife found some strange lumps.

It's a freaking mess.