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[Switch Back 9]

So I recently watched a pretty powerful little video where people took a test to show how varied their genetic line was and where all their little bits and pieces come from.

I've always wondered about that, and after watching this I decided to investigate for myself.

Ancestry.ca seems to have garnered some pretty terrible reviews so I might avoid that site, but what others are there? Have you guys tried any, and if so, which would you recommend?

 

[DarthWoo]

If the government or some corporation or a rogue A.S.I. really wanted to get a database of everyone's DNA, I wonder how successful they'd be by just offering up an absolutely "free" DNA family tree service.

 

[Switch Back 9]

If the government or some corporation really wanted to get a database of everyone's DNA, I wonder how successful they'd be by just offering up an absolutely "free" DNA family tree service.

Eh, I don't really care that much. If they wanted it that bad they'd already have it from the multitude of tests and samples I've given over the years during various hospital visits for dumb shit I've done.

I just want to know how many Kings and Queens I'm descended from. A lot, probably.

 

[maquiladora]

It's a commercial for a travel website.

 

[univariate]

There's a lot of scams out there. I'm personally looking for a reliable one myself due to my extremely diverse & ambiguous ethnic background.

I've been looking at 23andme.

 

[Switch Back 9]

There's a lot of scams out there. I'm personally looking for a reliable one myself due to my extremely diverse & ambiguous ethnic background.

I've been looking at 23andme.

Yeah that's what I'm worried about. Don't really care about my information, I just don't want to get ripped off because I'm poor and cheap.

It's a commercial for a travel website.

Whatever, it was a cool video nonetheless.

 

[Zaru]

Pointless here. My family's been in the area for many centuries at the very least, it's all local and connected. (not in the inbred sense)

I understand why Americans would be curious about it though.

 

[EverythingShiny]

My boyfriend did this through National Geographic and thought it was pretty cool. Theirs is called Geno 2.0 I think.

 

[Switch Back 9]

Pointless here. My family's been in the area for many centuries at the very least, it's all local and connected. (not in the inbred sense)

I understand why Americans would be curious about it though.

I'm Canadian, and while I know where most of my Dad's side of the family came from, I know next to nothing about my mother's. Even saying that, my knowledge of my paternal side only goes back about 4-5 generations so it would be neat to find out the rest.

 

[braves01]

If I were an insurance company I would offer free DNA ancestry tests.

 

[Jarrod38]

There's a lot of scams out there. I'm personally looking for a reliable one myself due to my extremely diverse & ambiguous ethnic background.

I've been looking at 23andme.

If you do just wait sometimes they will have their test for $99.

 

[Kallor]

I've been wanting to do one myself, just not sure if its a waste of money/whos the best to do it lol.

 

[sphagnum]

My parents had this done so I don't really need to have it done for myself. Pretty much everything was as expected. More or less boiled down to 1/4 English with some Irish, 1/4 Scandinavian, 1/4 Polish, 1/4 Sicilian.

 

[Kinokou]

It's a commercial for a travel website.

And they are apparently offering 500 of these tests, OP should apply and link the thread.

 

[KeyBladerXIII]

My father is big on tracing family history. On his side, I'm pretty much straight Spanish ancestry before jumping over to Italy. I'm also a descendant of Christopher Colombus, which would make for an awkward animus experience if I was in Assassin's Creed.

My mother's side is unknown, although it is a mixture of Spanish, African, and Taino.

 

[Yonafunu]

that video is painfully fake

 

[Yaphett Kotto]

Most likely just 100% Black given where my family has stayed throughout the last century lol. Though, no one has done a test, yet.

 

[univariate]

If you do just wait sometimes they will have their test for $99.

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.

 

[lightskintwin]

Most likely just 100% Black given where my family has stayed throughout the last century lol. Though, no one has done a test, yet.

Officially "African American" but genetically a mutt, with sub saharan African lineage probably being the strongest.

 

[hiphoptherobot]

My mom used one of these sites a couple years ago. It resulted in us discovering my grandpa and I didn't share any DNA. Long story short, my mom found her real father as well as discovering she had a sister in Sicily. They now talk every day via Skype and we have gone to visit Sicily a few times. My mom was simply interested in genealogy but it turned into a life changing event. There was a story written about it in the St. Louis post dispatch but unfortunately it's behind a pay wall.

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Never understood the need (medical aside), I only ever knew one of my grandparents and don't see any reason to go beyond that.

 

[Third Strike]

So I recently watched a pretty powerful little video where people took a test to show how varied their genetic line was and where all their little bits and pieces come from.

I've always wondered about that, and after watching this I decided to investigate for myself.

Ancestry.ca seems to have garnered some pretty terrible reviews so I might avoid that site, but what others are there? Have you guys tried any, and if so, which would you recommend?

I've taken their test before.

Very reliable, and will give you a breakdown on where your ancestry is from. In America, the test is usually $100, but can go on sale during special occasions, like the Holidays.

It will also match you with other users on the site that are closely related to you. I found a close cousin I never knew I had before through Ancestry. You can also export your data to other Genome tests, like GEDmatch, which could interpret your results differently.

 

[PSqueak]

As a Mexican i'd be surprised to find out there is NOT at least a little bit of at least the following in my DNA:

-Native [central] American
-African
-Spaniard
-Jewish

The thing about Mexico as a country is, basically our independence boiled down to "everyone who is not a pure blooded spaniard born in spain and all the mixes from those groups vs the pure blooded spaniards from spain" (because even pure blooded spaniards born in america were considered inferior to the ones born in the mother land), so it would actually be shocking to find out im less mixed than that.

 

[Melon Husk]

Eh, maybe when I don't have to submit my genome to a third party. Reminds me I sealed some hairs a few years back in a locket. Not Galadriel's, though. DNA changes, you know. 20 years from now you won't find it the same.

 

[Chittagong]

Yep. 85% Finnish, 10% Swedish, 4% UK & Dutch, 0.1% Yakut. 23andme test.

I now introduce myself first and foremost as a Yakut descendant

Also, learned caffeine will kill me because my body fails to dispose of it quickly. So went decaf.

 

[BearFlexington]

As a Mexican i'd be surprised to find out there is NOT at least a little bit of at least the following in my DNA:

-Native [central] American
-African
-Spaniard
-Jewish

The thing about Mexico as a country is, basically our independence boiled down to "everyone who is not a pure blooded spaniard born in spain and all the mixes from those groups vs the pure blooded spaniards from spain" (because even pure blooded spaniards born in america were considered inferior to the ones born in the mother land), so it would actually be shocking to find out im less mixed than that.

Is it possible to have Jewish DNA? Serious question.

 

[GuyKazama]

23andme is legit. I did it a while ago, and they continually update with new findings as they are discovered.

 

[Random Painted HIghway]

My wife is getting me this for fathers day or my birthday, can't wait to see the results. Probably pure euro trash.

 

[jblank83]

Ancestry.ca seems to have garnered some pretty terrible reviews so I might avoid that site, but what others are there? Have you guys tried any, and if so, which would you recommend?

Did mine through Ancestry.com and was perfectly happy with it. Ran the raw data through promethease for further analysis. It was fun and interesting. Given what I know about my family history, it was fairly accurate.

Is it possible to have Jewish DNA? Serious question.

Yes. In fact it's important to know given that certain diseases run in certain Jewish groups (just as they do in certain African groups, as they do in European groups, and so on).

 

[sphagnum]

Is it possible to have Jewish DNA? Serious question.

Jewish people are not just followers of the religion but a particular ethnic group which has had a historical tendency towards insularity, whether externally forced on them or not. So I would be more surprised if there weren't genetic markers indicating someone with Jewish ancestry.

 

[BearFlexington]

Yes. In fact it's important to know given that certain diseases run in certain Jewish groups (just as they do in certain African groups, as they do in European groups, and so on).

Sweet.

 

[stufte]

My parents did.

 

[JoeyJungle]

Is it possible to have Jewish DNA? Serious question.

Jewish people are not just followers of the religion but a particular ethnic group which has had a historical tendency towards insularity, whether externally forced on them or not. So I would be more surprised if there weren't genetic markers indicating someone with Jewish ancestry.

I looked this up a while ago, apparently there's not only genetic markers unique to Jews, but that Ashkenazi and Sephardic jews have the same or similar sets of genetic markers.

 

[highrider]

It's interesting, but much like family or surname history my feeling is that it won't be revelatory, and more than likely will be kind of dull.

 

[boiled goose]

Did it.

Family of Immigrants.

Interesting. Few surprises.

 

[Gabriel_Logan]

Thinking about doing the NatGeo one, but its like 250 bucks!

 

[conman]

These are purely vanity. There's very little to learn from these, since the geography and populations attached to particular DNA patterns only make sense in a relatively narrow slice of time, and of course, it is just statistics.

It's a sort of game. As long as you understand that, then play away.

 

[Herne]

I'm lucky, my family can trace it's lineage back to the 1600's in the case of my mother, and back to the 1100's in the case of my father. We've been here a very long time. No need for an ancestry service.

 

[JaceR]

i did ancestry.com

my parents are both from the Dominican Republic.... so this looks about right

 

[WaffleTaco]

I honestly really want to do this, I just wish I wasn't so broke. On my mothers side like there's a very well labeled book addressing where she came from. Like from her directly I get both sides of ancestors that fought in the civil war and the American Revolution...I've become quite patriotic as a result. On my father's side though, like he was born in Germany, and I just found this out around a year ago (and am only one of five siblings who know this (my mother just found out too) that he was adopted)). Like I could have a whole new world behind closed doors just waiting to be explored! One day I will do this...when i am not poor of course.

 

[Red]

I did 23andme years ago. It's cool. I am nearly 3% Neanderthal.

 

[Cocaloch]

It's mostly bullshit. This data is useful for population metrics and not much else.

Normally I'd say people can do whatever they want, but I do feel that in using these kinds of things it kinda legitimizes them for others. I also dislike heritage industry in general, but that's another story.

I honestly really want to do this, I just wish I wasn't so broke. On my mothers side like there's a very well labeled book addressing where she came from. Like from her directly I get both sides of ancestors that fought in the civil war and the American Revolution...I've become quite patriotic as a result. On my father's side though, like he was born in Germany, and I just found this out around a year ago (and am only one of five siblings who know this (my mother just found out too) that he was adopted)). Like I could have a whole new world behind closed doors just waiting to be explored! One day I will do this...when i am not poor of course.

Yeah, if you're interested in this kind of stuff do it the right way, using documents to actually establish connections. It's pretty fun to find exactly the kind of document that you didn't know you were even looking for in an archive!

These are purely vanity. There's very little to learn from these, since the geography and populations attached to particular DNA patterns only make sense in a relatively narrow slice of time, and of course, it is just statistics.

It's a sort of game. As long as you understand that, then play away.

The thing is the percent breakdown ones are actively misleading people which I don't think is okay.

 

[butzopower]

23andme said I'm 99.9% white European and 0.1% Sub-Sahara African. Was able to tell my dad that our "1/32nd" Native American lineage was total bullshit our family's been passing on the last 3 generations.

 

[Cocaloch]

23andme said I'm 99.9% white European and 0.1% Sub-Sahara African. Was able to tell my dad that our "1/32nd" Native American lineage was total bullshit our family's been passing on the last 3 generations.

My understanding of the tests, at least as they were 5 years ago, is that they can't tell you what you aren't, only what you are. If you have the marker they take to mean you are part of an ethnic group then clearly you are part of that group, but they don't really have a way to actually breakdown what you are.

 

[Saganator]

23andme seems pretty legit. My room mate did it, she was really fascinated with it. They give you raw data as well so she was able to use it with other DNA/ancestry sites to learn even more.

I tried to do it but apparently I have some rare saliva that makes it hard to extract DNA from. My test failed 3 times and they cut me off.

 

[SummitAve]

I have not, but I really enjoy the Finding our Roots show on PBS. Not the antique roadshow one but the full one. They get three well known people and go through their tests/results. Good stuff.

 

[DeployThatPizza]

I'm interested in it, but I haven't found a good site yet.

 

[Lebron]

I got the DNA kit on Ancestry.com and got it for my family. Pretty nice.

My uncle discovered his real father and lost siblings after using the kit and program. My mom has found some new relatives too through the site. It flags you every time it thinks it's found a genetic match and it was also nice getting the ethnicity breakdown since we are African American (I'm damn near 30% European).

 

[xxracerxx]

Is it a myth that most of these ancestry sites are owned by the Mormon church, or is it true?

 

[jblank83]

These are purely vanity. There's very little to learn from these, since the geography and populations attached to particular DNA patterns only make sense in a relatively narrow slice of time, and of course, it is just statistics.

Very dependent on your individual background. My family was surprised by some of our results, given assumptions we had made.

Beyond that, run the raw data through a site like Prometheus and you can see your genetic predisposition to various diseases and metabolic conditions. Again, knowing what I know about my family, it was fairly accurate.