Are the ancestral DNA test kits (like "23 and me") wortwhile, or...

[NurseJackie]

Are the ancestral DNA test kits (like "23 and me'') wortwhile, or is it something to be avoided (ie: privacy risks, etc.)

I think it would be fun and interesting, but I don't want to get ripped-off either. Any experience (good or bad) with any of these companies and services?

[grantcart]

1. I can save you the time and money. Your oldest known ancestor is

Mitochondrial Eve.

Mine too

Everyone.

[NurseJackie]

2. ...

That's so funny!

[violetpastille]

5. + Eight Billion

Race:
There is only one human race. Human.

Nationality:
If you are an American you are an American.

Culture:
Look on your bookshelves.
Look in your pantry.
What's on your playlist?

Now you can spend 70 bucks on the cause of your choice.

[marylandblue]

3. You might find long lost relatives

I have a colleague who was adopted. Through 23andme he found out he has a large extended family who were happy to connect with him.

[CountAllVotes]

11. I found my mother's family via ancestry.com DNA

Mother was adopted in 1922. I found two very close cousins.

One has embraced me and the other one pretends I do not exist. He is my first cousin!

As for the one that embraces me, he seems to be a nice man best I can tell.

Glad to have found them after not knowing WHO I am for most of my life!

[Retrograde]

37. Mine just came up with 3rd-6th cousins

which means our last common ancestors were somewhere in Europe.

[NastyRiffraff]

4. I got it from Ancestry

It was interesting, although I was disappointed that my ancestors were pretty much all white. I wanted something more interesting! I'm 50% Eastern European overall with concentration in Hungary and Romania. The rest is UK, mostly Wales and Scotland, with a little Scandinavian & Germanic--probably because of the Anglo-Saxon migration/invasion in UK.

Not really a surprise; my dad was Welsh & my mother was Hungarian.

[GaYellowDawg]

25. I sure can relate to this!

Mine came back as 32% England, 34% Scotland/Wales, 32%% Ireland, 2% Eastern Europe. I’m so white you could grind me up and paint parking lot lines with me.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

42. Me, too. And the results were as boring as I expected.

Mostly Norwegian, with a smattering of German, Scottish, English and Swedish. I'm so white I disappear in snowstorms and sheep herds.

[NurseJackie]

45. I guess that's a follow-up question: WHICH service to use? At first...

I guess that's a follow-up question: WHICH service to use? At first, I only knew about the ones I'd seen advertise on TV, but when I was looking on Amazon for better prices (or free shipping at least) I see that there are other services for less. But... in this case, it's probably yet another example of "you get what you pay for".

If I was as rich as New England politicians, I'd get test results from ALL of them to contrast and compare.

[LeftInTX]

53. It depends on what you want. I would probably go with Ancestry

Especially if you are looking for matches.

My husband is Mexican-American and he tested through Ancestry. Got his results in January. He had some Central Asian, Caucus and I said, "That's not right". However, they updated their database and my husband is not longer Central Asian. Mexican Americans are hard to test.

Here is his updated DNA and it seems accurate. He has an Irish Great Grandmother. I think they will also pinpoint some of his Native American heritage over time too.

The Sub-Saharan is right on. (Many Mexicans have some slave DNA) Most of bits of Jewish.



****************************************************************************************

23 and me is good if you are looking for health issues.

**************************************************************

I did Family Tree DNA because I'm Armenian. FT DNA is sponsoring the Armenian DNA Project. I'm 1/2 Armenian and wasn't too impressed with the non-Armenian (European) results. I ended up uploading to GedMatch.

[Maeve]

68. Important point there--updated data base

I saw some pretty hefty swings in the three profiles I manage on Ancestry in the recent update and they seem more in line with what I would expect given the family histories involved. If someone has had DNA testing done in the past and haven't looked again recently, do so.

[whistler162]

52. So you are a goulash!

[NastyRiffraff]

66. Magyar!

I spoke Hungarian as a child, but use it or lose it, and I lost it.

I do pronounce George Soros' last name correctly, though!

[allgood33]

64. Hey, we might be related. Mine are mostly Wales and Scotland too and a little German.

[NastyRiffraff]

67. Could be!

[Little Star]

6. My daughter did it and

meh. I guess it depends on what you want to find out. If you're looking into your family tree it won't help you much. She ended up having distant relatives like 3 or 4th removed cousins trying to make contact with her but she wasn't interested in anyone that far removed from her personal line. 1st or second cousins are one thing but any further away are of no use for family tree research imho.

However I do know someone who did it and found out that their sibling had a different father. So there is that. Good way to start a family mystery.

[TomSlick]

7. I think it can be interesting.

My son was contacted by a cousin the family didn't know about. Apparently, one uncle had children he didn't talk about.

[elleng]

10. Ditto, it can be interesting.

My daughter did it, looking for her father's family (He'd been adopted,) and she found them; the family has grown! She met them last year where they live, and I had a party for all of us in June.

[Siwsan]

8. I'd be concerned about privacy - specifically health related genetics being sold

I have no faith that the info on medical genetics won't be sold to insurance companies - especially given the move to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. I think they will keep pushing that for as long as possible.

I know enough about my family history to also know my 'composition'. It's European and I identify, the closest, with my Welsh ancestors. Ok, and a bit with the Dutch.

[WePurrsevere]

9. I'm an adoptee, I've taken both, found my bio families...

and am now in reunion with both sides so I'd say it was very worth it.

It's funny but I didn't start out thinking I'd find out much except my ethnicity but when I found my maternal side on one I decided to test on the other.

My grown up daughter and my husband tested as well but mostly to try and help 'missing' family members... They have.

If you're into genealogy they 'can' be very helpful but you need to learn a bit about how to use your matches to do so. If you're adopted, have given up a child for adoption or know you might have siblings etc that you've never met, it's worth it.

If all you're interested in is ethnicity... understand that the ethnicity aspect is still fairly new but it grows more accurate as time goes by, more people test and research is done. Take it with a grain of salt and keep in mind how genetics actually works (and doesn't).

If you're interested in genetic medical predisposition there are places you can upload your raw data to and print out pages of info. I normally am hesitant to suggest this to people because there's a learning curve and it helps to have a medical background.

As for privacy, like with everywhere else, read their terms and use your head. Most have gotten much better about protecting consumers.

[CountAllVotes]

14. I asked ancestry.com a lot of questions

They DO NOT SELL your info. to anyone and it can be removed by one person only and that is yourself. It is private.

End of post and best of luck to those out there that do not know who they are due to an adoption, etc.

[WePurrsevere]

19. Yes, thanks! This is exactly what I was told and how it's written there. nt

[CountAllVotes]

22. I became worried

One of the cousins I found appeared to have gone *poof*.

He is the closest match to me.

They checked my record and found he was still there and still had the match star next to his name. He could have removed his record but he would not have access to ancestry.com any longer ancestry.com told me.

In any event, he is still around but not an active member of ancestry.com.

Nothing gained and nothing lost so to speak and good riddance is what I tend to think knowing what I know abt. this individual and the family that dumped my mother!

Bad genes indeed!

[Spider Jerusalem]

12. It's only worthwhile if you're interested in genealogy, really

since you can find people you share DNA with and are related to (sometimes very distantly; my mother's most distant confirmed matches share common ancestors who were born around 1650). The "ancestry" component is interesting, but it's also less precise than people seem to think; you can use DNA to distinguish populations at a broad continental level, but it's much less precise when it comes to distinguishing, say, French from German or English from Belgian.

You can also find things that you weren't expecting; somewhere between 1-5% of people who take a commercial DNA test find out that their father wasn't the person they thought, and people also find previously unknown half-siblings and first cousins, so you need to be prepared for that possibility.

[Ms. Toad]

13. My daughter found her bio-dad through "23 and me"

She was conceived by donor insemination, and we had given up trying to find him because of the secrecy surrounding such donations.

But because of her illnesses, she signed up for 23 & me to get medical information, risks, etc. (unfortunately between the time she signed up and the time they processed her sample they were forced to temporarily close that part of their operation.

But a couple of years later, she got a note from bio-dad's wife (who was managing their acounts), curious about why her husband showed up as a 100% match as her father.

Long story short, fast-forward 2 years, she has 2 moms, a dad, a step-mom, and 3 siblings (and all of the other assorted relatives that came with his side of the family). And she has access to the medical history for all of her DNA.

For us, it was an unexpected blessing.

But - the same scenario could have been disastrous. Wife might not have known her then boyfriend was donating, we might have concealed our daughter's origins, they might have been incredibly offended that his daughter was being parented by a lesbian couple, etc.

If you're open to potentially surprising and unpredictable discoveries about your relatives - go for it! Fortunately, all 8 of us (the three in our family, and the 5 in his) are willing to embrace an expansive definition of family.

[Trailrider1951]

58. What a wonderful story!

Thank you so much for posting your story! It brightened my day, giving me hope for our world. Hugs to ALL your family.

[Ms. Toad]

73. Thanks! n/t

[Hekate]

15. LA Times Op Ed a day or two ago was very interesting on just this subject...

Last edited Sat Oct 27, 2018, 05:05 PM - Edit history (1)

Sorry I don't have a link -- it's on my kitchen table in paper format. The author has the BRCA genes -- she knew it 6 years ago when she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent extensive genetic investigation and counseling before undergoing radical surgery at age 41. Her mother and sisters do not carry the gene -- it came from her father.

She took the 23 and Me test recently just to see what it would say about her ancestry (and she is now in mdical grad school), and in a black-bordered box it noted that she did not carry the BRCA genes, contrary to what she already knew from actual doctors.

I've been thinking about 23 and Me also, but just for the fun of the ancestors. I had no idea they were in the business of doing quickie disease screenings, but apparently they are, and not terribly accurately.

Have fun! And let us know if you trade in your lederhosen for a kilt!

[MineralMan]

16. Get a biological brother or sister to do it.

That way, you won't have to pay for your own. If you both have the same parents, you'll both get almost identical results.

On the other hand, if one of you has a different father, you might discover that if you both get the tests. That's an unexpected outcome that has shattered families a number of times, when siblings learned that there had been parental shenanigans in the past.

My sister did hers, so I don't have to.

[rusty fender]

23. Sibling results aren't quite identical

because dna distribution is random.

Three of my siblings and I have had our dna tested and we all have slightly different results, but close enough that Ancestry.com has identified us, with high probability, of being immediate family

[MineralMan]

32. You'll have the same basic background information, though.

[The Genealogist]

40. Yes

The main difference is, if you are using it for genealogical purposes, one sib might match up with some different distant cousins than the other.

[pnwmom]

35. You'd be surprised how different it can be. For one thing, a brother has a Y chromosome

and a sister doesn't so anything carried on the male line won't show up.

Maybe that's why my brother had a significant amount of Scandinavian DNA, and I had none. But despite the various differences, and our different names and locations, Ancestry recognized with "extremely high confidence" that we were brother and sister.

[wasupaloopa]

17. I think their advertising is bull shit. Like the one where a black woman

finds out her ansestor was a very strong black woman queen who ruled her people. So now she knows where her strength comes from.

I don’t think you inherit your ansestors strength.

They got my brother’s all wrong and months later sent him a correction. Our grandparents were born in Naples and they did not pick up Italy at all.

I am not very interested in who my ansestors were. Who I am is not who my ansestors were.

[Maeve]

34. In that particular example, she had more from the Irish than from the queen's people!

But that didn't play into the story they wanted to tell...(next time you see the commercial, check out the pie chart and you'll see).

I did the test in hopes of finding something interesting. 84% English and 12% Irish (+2% Norway and 2% German)---damn, I wanted something more exciting after Dad's family has been here since 1750!

[LeftInTX]

55. LOL - That seems about right.. Especially if your mom has similar background

[GaYellowDawg]

36. Agreed.

The really ironic thing about that advertisement is that the “strength” comes from the 3% Ivory Coast/Ghana and not the 31% Ireland and Scotland.

I would never argue that strength can come from family, but distant ancestors? Not so much.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

49. There is far more truth in the "We grew up thinking we were German; turns out we are Scottish" ad

That's a pretty common scenario, and again, just using Ancestry to research your family back 5-8 generations generally answers those questions.

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

18. I did Ancestry

and was shocked to find hidden ancestry. I knew of Italian and Spanish ancestors but shocked to find roots in the Middle East and Africa. Who knew? I must admit my mom would have been shocked.

[sdfernando]

50. I would expect some middle eastern DNS

In anyone if Spanish ancestry. After all, the Moors invaded and ruled parts of Spain for 100s of years...I myself likely have a bit of it although I haven’t taken tests from any of these services.

[rusty fender]

20. It will confirm and/or explode family myths. I did ancestry.com and

the results have been very interesting to me and to other family members.

My maternal great grandfather came from Germany so we thought we’d turn out to be about 12.5% German. It turns out we’re 5% German, LOL! So he was of mixed blood.

Ancestry.com isolates your dna to geographic regions and doesn’t separate your father’s ancestry from your mother’s side, leaving you to guess, in many instances, which parent has passed on which dna to you.

My results also showed Italian/Greek dna which was a big surprise to me And of no surprise to me was the percentage of Native American and Iberian Peninsula dna I turned out to have, 20% and 26%, respectively.

As to privacy, you can register on Ancestry.com using your real name or you can use a pseudonym.
You also decide whether, and with whom, you wish to share share your results.

Ancestry.com has sales quite often. The lowest price I’ve seen them offer is $69.99, not including shipping and handling of $10.

[panader0]

21. My daughter bought me 23 and me a few years ago.

My mother told me that I was 3/8s English, 1/2 Irish and 1/8th Crow.
Quite certain about the Crow-My grandmother was a half Crow orphan
adopted by white store owners on the Lodge Grass Rez in Montana,
about 1900. I have seen her records. She was sent to Spokane in her teens to learn
how to be more white.
I wanted to find out more. I followed the directions, making sure to have
nothing to eat or drink for two hours prior to spitting in the tube.
I sent it in and about three weeks later I was notified that the test had
failed and that I would get a new test. Once again, I followed the directions
and had the same result. 23 and me told me that they wouldn't test me again.
Maybe I'll try ancestry.
Maybe I'm alien.

[LakeSuperiorView]

46. I have no real scientific basis for this, by try chewing your cheeck/lips a bit before the test.

The test relies on skin cells in your saliva. If you are doing maybe too good a job of brushing, there won't be many epithelial cells loose in your saliva.

My test (and my father's) showed that my great grandmother who was born in Sweden was essentially Finnish. The size of my tree expanded greatly after taking the Ancestry DNA test. Genealogy has been a hobby for many years and my tree had about 3,500 people when I took the test. I now have over 11,000 people in my tree. mostly from adding due to DNA matches.

It wasn't technically due to DNA match, but I found out that the guy I sat next to at work for three years was my 7th cousin, once removed. I was talking about the DNA test and he said he had started a tree. I told him to invite me as an editor and I could help him out, since I subscribe to Ancestry. Turns out, his mother's family came from the same valley in Norway as my dad's mom.

[LeftInTX]

54. Family Tree DNA only requires swabbing.

I've got Sjogrens and was afraid my swab would fail, but it didn't.

I don't know if they could get an adequate spit sample from me.

FT DNA's database isn't as extensive of Ancestry's.

I uploaded my raw DNA to GedMatch.

[unitedwethrive]

24. Questionable accuracy, in our experience

While the Ancestry DNA test does indicate that I am the mother of my daughter, it says that I am 44% of one ethnicity, yet my daughter is only 3%. Doesn't really make sense, particularly because we have a pretty reliable family tree passed down through many generations of documentation.

[WePurrsevere]

41. The link below might help explain...

the results being different then you expected. I wish Ancestry and the others pushing the ethnicity aspect would make it clearer how it works, and doesnt.

https://www.legalgenealogist.com/2014/05/18/admixture-not-soup-yet/

[TheBlackAdder]

26. Without HIPAA protections, private firms could rewrite terms and sell off info at a later date.

.

One member of your immediate family does it, it compromises everyone in the family to future issues if that information is released to other firms, such as life insurance, health insurance, employers, etc.

.

[Ponietz]

27. I very much enjoyed the ancestry.com experience.

I found roots to unexpected peoples and places. You might get a brief subscription afterwards to do your family tree. Fantastic databases at your fingertips.

[democratisphere]

28. If you like your DNA privacy, absolutely not!

Next we will have barcodes tattooed on our foreheads and RFID chips implanted in the base our necks.

[donkeypoofed]

29. Don't send your DNA into some faceless Corporation!

You never know what they'll be doing with it !

I'll bet not alot of people know that those companies are selling your DNA info. Not with your name attached, but with your age and sex.

Then there's also the chance someone could hack their site and get your info.

A less invasive thing would be Ancestry dotcom. They can give you all the info on your predecessors (if that's your thing) without giving something so personal as your DNA.

[albacore]

30. I was hoping for something spicy....

Hoping for a little wild-card. Instead....? Dull, dull, dull...
I know one set of grandparents were both from Ireland, the other both from France.
I showed up 59% Irish, 30% British Isles, and a little bit of Iberian Peninsula.
Looks like those Irish genes are STRONG!

[edhopper]

31. I question the validity

what is their comparative database?

How many people from given populations do they have to compare yours?

And yes, you should have privacy concerns.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/23andme-is-terrifying-but-not-for-the-reasons-the-fda-thinks/

[Hotler]

33. I wouldn't do it.

Why would someone want to give a private business or corporation their DNA? I think DNA should be more private than your social security number. My thoughts. If you do it have fun and enjoy.

[pnwmom]

38. I have enjoyed meeting some second cousins that my family had completely lost touch with.

My mother's favorite first cousin had moved away when she was a child and -- since that was pre internet and phone calls were very expensive -- she lost touch with her.

I found her daughter a couple years ago through Ancestry and that's when we learned that both first cousins -- our mothers -- had ended their lives in the same state, a thousand miles away from where they were born. If they had been on Ancestry then they might have been able to reunite.

[MaryMagdaline]

39. I was very gungo-ho

Ancestry.com came back with 72% Irish and Scottish (knew I was 1/16 or so Scottish). The rest English with smidgeon of Scandinavisn, Western Europe/Iberian peninsula.

Thought the percentage of English blood and continental blood seemed very high (did not share this with siblings and cousins who would not be thrilled due to centuries of anti-British politics and struggles). I know my name is Anglo and that I have Norman-Irish heritage, based on multiple Norman names in my ancestry but the anglo blood would all be pre-1200.

Several months after my results came in, Ancestry. Com UPDATED my results and said I was 100% Irish and Scottish. They said this was due to updated research techniques. I was suspicious and thought how can this wipe out 18% read as English scandinavian and continental in the first read? I was wondering if they looked at the paper documentation showing all of my ancestors to be Irish and Scottish and then just concluded their tests were in conflict with the documents downloaded from ancestry.com.

If I have an Anglo name (corresponding to the name of one of the Norman invaders) I should have SOME Anglo blood. I think that the ethnic testing only goes so far back. I read somewhere that it is really a geographic test ... it tells you your DNA matches a country where they most often find the same DNA. so ... if most people in Ireland are a mix of native Irish, English, welsh, Scottish and Viking blood (all the invaders) and I have that same mix, the results will just say Irish. I don’t think it goes centuries back.

And really, it’s the centuries back that I was interested in. I know I’m Irish with 1/16 Scottish heritage going back to 1790’s. It was the further back that I was interested in.

Would like to test with 23 and me.

[LeftInTX]

57. You could upload your raw data to GedMatch

I think Ancestry goes back about 500 years. My husband in Mexican-American and I was very pleased with the update. Felt the original was "off". Saw multiple YouTube videos with Mexicans who found out there were Afghan. (Yeah..right)


With the update the Afghan stuff was removed from the Mexican population. (The Mexican population had limited database, but it's growing)

GedMatch may or may not be able to distinguish all the Norman stuff.

I uploaded my raw to GedMatch. (It's free)

I'm 1/2 Scotts-Irish and 1/2 Armenian. I still can't quite figure out my Scotts-Irish DNA. Tests show lots of French.

[MaryMagdaline]

59. Thank you! Did not know about GedMatch

The Normans who invaded Ireland were a mix of Anglo, French, Welsh and Flemish (more mixed than the French Normans who invaded Britain 100 years earlier) so your scots- Irish blood could very well show French blood.

[LeftInTX]

61. I found an old famly tree: We may have some Hugenot. But I would probably be about 1/32

Who knows??? There were some name and religion changes in this supposedly "family tree".
I found a relative of mine (3rd cousin or so) who is a member of the South Carolina Hugenot Society.

[MaryMagdaline]

63. That's cool. Huguenots were usually on the right side of history

[LeftInTX]

65. I could be more than 1/32nd...up to an 1/8th at the very most.

Who knows.....

[MaryMagdaline]

60. Also curious to know whether Ancestry ever explained the Afghan funding to your husband

[LeftInTX]

62. It was limited database of Mexican population

Their database is expanding.

Mexicans are new to DNA testing.

[blueinredohio]

43. This may be good for my grandson

as his paternal grandfather was adopted as a baby so they know nothing about his relatives.

[Different Drummer]

44. I did Ancestry and I'm not sure about the results

My paternal grandfather's family was of Irish ancestry, so I figured a lot of my DNA would be Irish. Ancestry has me as being two percent Irish. I am apparently mostly English and Scottish with traces of Scandinavian and Spanish and/or Portuguese in the mix.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

47. What are you trying to find out?

If you just want to find out "where are my ancestors from" in general terms (i.e Scandinavia, Britain, Ireland), you could very possibly just join Ancestry and see what's out there on your family and figure out most of that on your own.

If you are looking to find specific genetic markers - 23 & Me works OK

If you are looking to find other family members via DNA or link to an ancestor for whom DNA exists, go for it, but realize:

1) Your data will only be as good as other people in your extended family testing and sharing in the database.
2) Once you share the genetic data, it's out there. Some people are bothered by that, others are not.
3) You may have to do multiple tests (e.g. 23 & Me, Ancestry, My Heritage) and upload to Gedcom to get the results you really want.

Also, and I'm not saying this is a probability but a possibility, whenever you open up the past (either through research on a site like Ancestry or a DNA match), you should prepare for the unexpected and not overreact if you find something that counters family mythology/lore/belief. I've found kidnapping and murder in my extended family; many adoptions (including some as recent as the 60s) were "off the books." I know of one instance where a woman's niece became pregnant; she had her husband put his name on the birth certificate and she and her husband raised he niece's baby. I know of another instance in which a man had died, meanwhile, the widow was "keeping company" shall we say; the deceased went on the birth certificate as the father of the child, even though the father was a different man. In rural areas (especially prior to 1920) when Typhus or Cholera wiped out a couple, neighbors would take in the kids. Often the kids would take the family name as the years went on. No papers were ever drawn at the time, and sometimes these things never were reported if no one applied for a passport.

[NurseJackie]

48. Originally... my curiosity was limited to just "where are my ancestors from". But now...

Originally... my curiosity was limited to just "where are my ancestors from". But now that I'm starting to look at all the options, and all the possibilities... it's all very intriguing.

Thanks for your feedback and comments (and warnings) that's definitely something that I hadn't considered and it's worth preparing for.

You may have to do multiple tests (e.g. 23 & Me, Ancestry, My Heritage) and upload to Gedcom to get the results you really want.

That's something that had crossed my mind as well. But for financial reasons, I'd do it over the course of a year or two.

[MountCleaners]

51. I was glad I did it

My DNA is from four continents, it explains a lot why my family look the way they do. I would take the test on Ancestry and then go to Gedmatch, where you'll get more detailed info. There is also a site (I forgot which one) where you can upload your test and it will tell you what diseases you have a predisposition for. I spend a lot of time on Gedmatch, and met a cousin in Ireland that way.

[LeftInTX]

56. I think DNA Land is the free upload site you're talking about

I uploaded mine.
Wasn't too impressed with the health stuff.
They asked alot of questions, so I don't believe their database is strong.

GedMatch and DNALand both got my eye color correct.

[WillowTree]

69. I'll never understand why people voluntarily give their DNA to some faceless outfit.......

…….to do God only knows what with it. Not in a million years.

[greatauntoftriplets]

70. I did the Ancestry test two years ago.

They've since recalculated the results and plan to do that again as the science improves. I learned that I am more Irish and more French than I thought, and that in addition to the Western European and Germanic, I'm slightly English and Swedish. I'm also 100 percent European, so that First American who was rumored to be among my ancestors was only a story.

Even better, I've met two cousins who I never knew about before. One has done extensive geneological research and I now know a lot more about my father's ancestors than I ever did. My sister did the test earlier this year and just this week has heard from yet another cousin whose family we knew very little about. Just yesterday, this cousin told my sister that we have ancestors who have been in the Northeastern United States since the 1600s.

I've found all of this to be fascinating.

Anyway, that's my opinion.

[Cognitive_Resonance]

71. If you're serious about genealogy FTDNA is the way to go. For paternal line research a Y chromosome

test is required, for material line it's a mitochondrial test. The autosomal (general) test is only good for about five generations, but maybe that's all many people are expecting. I don't think Ancestry offers anything beyond autosomal testing. There's definitely a lot of marketing hype involved. Google search DNA testing kits for detailed reviews and comparisons.

I've used FTDNA for about fifteen years to pursue family research, and I'm generally satisfied but much of the payoff will come in the future as the results data bases and tree information expands. It gets expensive for in depth testing, but specials are typically offered around Christmas, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, etc.

[Raine]

72. Your DNA belongs to them

you pay them for the test, yet they own your DNA and they can sell your DNA information. They are making off of your information again and again, I myself wouldn't do it but it's your choice.