General Chat

Hi all don't know if this is a question for general chat ? I'm thinking of having a DNA test done. Has anyone done 1 and if so how private are they, do the finding get opened to anyone who may match?? Any information would be appreciated
Regards Christine :-) :-)

I am on 23andMe and you can keep all sections of DNA private. I allow the section of DNA that matches be visible to the person I match with but keep my health section private.

The matching just shows on what chromosome and where on it we match e.g below showing a known distant cousin on my paternal side, all that is missing is her name which I haven't copied for obvious reasons. As you see it just positions the link 36357352 to 48084989 on chromosome 21, showing 24.29 cMs size link. cMs are centi Morgans which is just the measurement they use. I have 2 other chromosome links with the lady and share 63 cMs and we meet at my gt grandparents and her gt gt grandparents.

Ch 21 pos 36357352-48084989 total 24.29cMs

Ancestry will give you your matches and how many cms you share and what they think your relationship is. You don't have to have a tree - many, many of my matches don't have a tree.
I'm also on My Heritage and you get to see where the other persons cms match yours. Like many of my matches I don't have a tree on here, but the matches are mostly obscure, unlike Ancestry which has been very good.

I suppose much of it depends on whether you are looking to see your ethnicity, find relatives or looking at your health. I've never ticked a health box.

If you are thinking of a DNA test for health reasons then the family history web sites are not the way to go. Instead use a specialised clinic even though they cost rather more.

For FH they all have their pros and cons. I use Ancestry and am fairly happy with it. It seems to go back into the late C18 and is very good for links to NZ OZ and North America.

I did my DNA so many people on Ancestery that you can get though wouldn't spend money unless it's health related Did mine through Ancestery as it was on at special price Barbara

I had mine done through 'My Heritage', as did my sister and nephew.
Your DNA isn't 'open' for others to see, they just suggests links, and ancestors you may be related to.
So far, the nearest link has been 3rd cousin.

However, it did help me go further back on my Cornish side.
I got stuck at 1795, and someone (possibly 3rd cousin) had gone back to 1561 on the same line. I checked it all, it was right.
I then went further back to 1208 - but Cornish Parish Records, unlike most, are free.
Have had no links to my Suffolk side.
In reality, it all depends on whether possible links have had their DNA tested, and which site they used.

I had mine done on Ancestry a few years ago and was very pleased with the results. Various links proved that I had been following the right lines, but I was very disappointed by the lack of replies from new found relatives when I got in touch. A friend of mine has recently had hers done by another commercial service ( don't know the name ) with odd results. It showed that she was 60% Irish - big surprise to her and I've looked into a basic tree for her which shows very little Irish connection. Her brother is now awaiting his results from the same firm, but has been told that they only show the maternal side for females, but both sides for males.
I find all this very odd - what does anyone else think?

I had mine done through Ancestry and I have been happy with the results and updates.

I used the name I ought to have been know by and did not do a tree as such, simply put the words Mother and Father with no details.

I have had a lot of hits, some that I knew about, and, indeed a few I have already met with, some I have had to go back to see where we connect and some that, as yet, I have no idea where we connect.

My connections have been across the board, down all lines, so I do find what you wrote about quite odd, Cornish.

Susie, as me, my sister and sister's son had it done, we could compare.

Sister and I were very similar, 40 odd% Celtic (that'll be the Cornish), 40 odd% Scandinavian and a small amount of Iberian'. Mine was something like 9.6% Iberian my sister about 3.9% (explains my very black hair, and being 3 shades darker than my siblings!) and she was 6% ish more Scandinavian than me.
Nephew obviously had his father's DNA too.
Well, his dad was a 'Murphy'. He had Celtic and Scandinavian - and Roman!
All in fairly equal amounts - oh and about 1% Iberian.

Thanks for your replies,it does seem very strange so will have to wait to see if her brother's results match up - from what you say Maggie they should be very similar.

The reason that the DNA lab do not trace the Y chromosome of females is because they don't carry it.

Females have two female sex chromosomes XX

Males have one male and one female sex chromosome Y and X


at conception either an X or a Y comes from the man to attach to the woman's X so that decides which sex the child is.

Thank you for all info I wanted mostly to find the Swedish side on my Dads side, would I be better if 1 of my brothers did a test ?? . Christine

You will still have lots of DNA from your father but your brothers will be a better bet if it's directly down the male line, father to son.

Look up about mitochondrial DNA and patrilineal DNA to see how the female and male lines are passed on, mother to daughter and father to son.

Your brother could do a Y chromosome test with FTDNA as this is the male line only. Ancestry does an Autosomal test which follows both male and female lines. They don’t tell you which line you match comes from.
With an ancestry test it would be useful to have an English cousin test as well then you would have an idea of matches from your fathers side.
My brother also has tested with Ancestry and not all our matches are the same!

Do the test, Christine, because half of your genetic material comes from Dad and there will be markers on the other 22 chromosomes which will enable tracing back through your paternal grandfather's line.

I have had hits from all of my paternal and maternal lines.

Edit: you will have inherited 23 pairs of chromosomes is what I should have mentioned when I wrote 'the other 22' above.

Just bear in mind that you don’t necessarily get 50% of your dna from each parent and, therefore don’t get 25% from your grandparent.
I found it fascinating to record the different amount of cms my brother and I had against close relatives. In some cases the difference was quite large.

I now match with a relative on ancestry and living dna and the two companies give a different amount of matching cms.

Edit. I hope we haven’t put you off. Look for an offer and take the plunge

OH and I have both had our DNA done. While he can't compare his with a sibling, my siblings have not had theirs done. They have not shown a great deal of interest in family history but two of their sons have been curious with one of them asking whether he could have copies of stuff I had.

What has been fascinating is finding out some of the things that run in both sides of my family, like O neg blood for instance - siblings and cousins on both Mum's and Dad's side.

Names is right about looking for an offer. OH bought kits for both of us when they were on special offer.

Hi All Thanks again, No I'm not put off. I'm always a little wary
:-)

OH and I had ours done with My Heritage, on a Black Friday offer.
He isn't that interested so I administer his results.
We've both had matches, some I knew of through normal tree matching, others were new and interesting. I found quite a lot more lines to our trees.

The ethnicity estimate is interesting, not always what you expect.
I have no English DNA at all, despite most of my ancestors coming from the NW of England. My DNA is mainly western European, ie Netherlands, Germany, France.

OH has a lot of English DNA, but no Scottish, despite his Mum's descent from 2 Scottish families.

Whether you have a test or not depends on what you want to find out. However it's not a substitute for family tree matching.

Christine, no doubt there'll be surprises in store for you.

I had mine done through Ancestry and it has been updated twice.

The last update refined the first two tests which were a little ambiguous, eg Scandinavia rather than country/countries.

It was a surprise to find I was 98% British (England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales with Channel Islands and Isle of Man included in that). I knew about all of those connections apart from the Channel Islands.

The other 2% was pinned down to Sweden.

The results also indicated that I had a fair amount from south Lancashire/north Cheshire - borne out by my research, but tendrils crept in from most parts of England, all of which I was already aware.

I am not at all sure whether I will ever get another update because those results seem already fairly refined to me - but I am not a genetic scientist, so it's very much 'wait and see'.

Good luck!