DNA testing

[JB White]

Has anyone ever done three separate tests from three different services at three different times?

Everyone does one test and accepts the results as Gospel. I have my doubts in regard to absolute accuracy.
A friend of mine was raised Polish. His parents both came here from Poland. His DNA test shows mostly northern, north eastern European and Scandinavian. That figures. However, a small percentile made him laugh. 2% Polynesian and 1% American Indian. WTF??? Having a wild young sailor in the family can't even explain that away.
He plans to do another test with another outfit in about six months. Maybe he'll be part African or perhaps Yeti.

[Allen]

Do you suppose if the test are correct that the Polynesian and American Indian match could have come from older generations than his parents? And American Indians came from some other areas at one time it is believed. Might have been some strange "hanky panky" going on a few hundred years ago---don't know how long the genes carry on.

[gwp]

From 23andme

Your Ancestry Composition report shows the percentage of your DNA that comes from each of 31 different ancestry populations worldwide. We calculate your Ancestry Composition by comparing your genome to the genomes of over 10,000 people with known ancestry. When a segment of your DNA matches the DNA from one of the 31 populations with high probability, we assign that ancestry to that segment of your DNA. We calculate the ancestry for individual segments of your genome separately, and then we add them together to get your overall Ancestry Composition.

My Composition:

99.6% European
.03% Sub-Saharan Africa
<.01% East Asian & Native American
<.01% Middle Eastern & North African
<.01% Unassigned

The location timeline for my most recent ancestor from each population:

British & Irish 1920-1860
French & German 1890-1830
Scandinavian 1830-1740
Finnish, North African, Native American, West African 1770 or before

SO your friends 2% may have come from a long time ago.

[JB White]

Just one test and that vendors claims?

[Dick Hosmer]

To answer the question - yes - data from WAY back WILL flavor the results - it is NOT just your parents, etc.

I have done a fair amount of genealogical research (I feel sorry for those whose knowledge stops at grandparents and great-grandparents) and my Ancestry results (Irish, British, Scottish, plus a bit of Prussian) had NO surprises at all. Have not yet done 23andme, but plan to. My wife, was expecting (per family tradition) some Native American, but it did not show up.

[clintonhater]

I feel sorry for those whose knowledge stops at grandparents and great-grandparents...

WHY? What the hell difference would such knowledge make to my life here & now? A forgotten ancestor's fortune that I was the only heir to? Yes, that would be valuable info, but what else???

[Sunray]

American Indians came from Asia around 25,000 years ago. I suspect a lot of the Amerindian stuff is there because so many Stateside want to have it, whether it's true or not.
'British' is a mix itself. Angles, Saxons, Celts, Danes, etc, etc.

[clintonhater]

I suspect a lot of the Amerindian stuff is there because so many Stateside want to have it, whether it's true or not.

Absolutely! It's become a perverse status symbol.

[noslack327]

My breakdown was, 42 % Scandinavia, Family names Johnson, Viland, Erixson. All match census records. 35% Scotland Ireland Scotland and Wales, Family name Armstrong. Again matches records. 5% Great Britian. Family name Liggins. 8% Iberian peninsula. Between your parents there are 4 DNA markers each, you get 2 from each, your brothers and sisters will also receive 2 each from both parents but in any combination from their 8 total, so results will be close but not the same for other family members, Checking records validates the test. Also one ancestor Name Carl traces back by records to the 1500's in Quebec.

[gwp]

Just one test and that vendors claims?

Yes that was from one test and it is similar to the ancestry a cousin researched. 23andme originally offered DNA medical probability modeling before the FDA stopped the practice. I was concerned about my health and received the information before FDA limited the reporting. Before I retired from the Army Reserve my DNA was collected. I allowed it to be collected again for the VA Million Veteran Program (MVP) and the third time at Indiana University Medical Center from from a thyroid cancer tumor, to see if a specific treatment was available.

As more DNA is collected and analyzed the more accurate the reporting will be. My ancestry composition was revised slightly after their database grew.

* Million Veteran Program (MVP), an important partnership between VA and Veterans. The goal of MVP is to better understand how genes affect health and illness in order to improve health care for Veterans.

[Dick Hosmer]

WHY? What the hell difference would such knowledge make to my life here & now? A forgotten ancestor's fortune that I was the only heir to? Yes, that would be valuable info, but what else???

I have never seen such a lack of intellectual curiosity, coupled with naked greed, in my life. Does everything have to be of monetary benefit to you? With all of history, you have no interest, beyond money, in where your ancestors may have lived, or what they may have seen or done? I suspect they'd be disappointed.

[clintonhater]

I have never seen such a lack of intellectual curiosity...

What I lack is IDLE curiosity; and if submitting DNA samples is your definition of intellectual curiosity, then you've set the bar so low a half-wit can step over it--like, for ex. that obviously brainless woman in the Ancestry commercial who's thrilled about finding she has a tiny bit of Redskin blood in her. Anyone possessing genuine intellectual curiosity is far too busy studying history, philosophy, literature, etc., to waste time on anything so irrelevant to their lives as this kind of pap.

[Dolt]

WHY? What the hell difference would such knowledge make to my life here & now? A forgotten ancestor's fortune that I was the only heir to? Yes, that would be valuable info, but what else???

I agree 100%. I care about who I am now, not about who my ancestors were. It makes absolutely no difference to me. My family is way into genealogy and I myself could not care less.

[Dick Hosmer]

I fully agree as to the Ancestry commercials, which are largely performed by twits (though the German/Scot guy seems decent) and aimed at the people who do not know their grandparents, but I still cannot understand the lack of curiosity as to where you came from. In other words, are you saying you would not care on which side your family was in the Civil War, the Revolution?

Now, claiming that your excrement has no odor just because you can recite a long list of names of dead people doesn't cut it with me either, but simple interest in how and where my ancestors may have lived, or what they may have experienced, does.

A warning to those who have no interest NOW, that is fine, but do save family data and take notes of conversations with older relatives, in case you change your mind later in life.

[clintonhater]

I fully agree as to the Ancestry commercials, which are largely performed by twits (though the German/Scot guy seems decent) and aimed at the people who do not know their grandparents, but I still cannot understand the lack of curiosity as to where you came from. In other words, are you saying you would not care on which side your family was in the Civil War, the Revolution?

The German/Scot guy is a blithering idiot, like everyone else appearing in Ancestry's brain-dead ads. (But I do like that hot slut Nicole in the "28" ads.)

Anybody directly descended (not an umpteenth cousin--who with shat for brains could possibly care?) from anyone of note in the Civil or Rev War or any other historical period would almost surely know it! (And even the "family stories" claiming such heritage usually turn out to be the bunk when seriously investigated.)

The kind of genealogy research promoted by Ancestry would like to show that everyone is "mixed-blood," which makes it part of the "one-world," "no-borders," agenda.