DNA Testing to learn about ancestors

[Anonymous]

My partner would like this for his b-day, but I am not sure which to get. Lots of options out there. Has anyone ever done this? Any recommendations?

[Anonymous]

Have never done it, but am curious about it too. We could not spend the money on it now, but at some point down the line, I would love to know more about my true ancestory.

[Anonymous]

My husband always threatens to do this so he can claim minority status for our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My husband always threatens to do this so he can claim minority status for our kids.

Wow. What a winner you snagged there.

[Anonymous]

My husband did National Geographic's Genome Project. He enjoyed it:

https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/genographic/index.html

[Anonymous]

We did natioanl geographic too. It is fun. they do only Y chromosome and mit-DNA, so you trace your maternal or paternal lines. That is a whole lot more accurate than the ones who claim to tell about your ethnicity with many different chromosomes.
When I got my first set of results, I cried. It was neat since we are of African descent and little of our past is known. I found out that we are from all over African after doing my fathers line and my mothers lines. I also found that one family line is Native American (surprise) that came from Siberia, and we already knew of the Asian lines that were confirmed.
My husbands family had some surprises too.
One friend who did it thought that he was 100% Jewish, only to find that his paternal line was Germanic.
I think it is well worth the money. Make sure that you share the info with relatives so that they don't repeat the expensive tests unnecessarily.

[Anonymous]

Thanks so much! I am going ahead to order the Nat Geo one. My husband is adopted and knows something of his birth family, but this should be an interesting addition.

[Anonymous]

My sister did 23 and me and found it fascinating.

[Anonymous]

How does this work for people who were adopted, especially internationally?

[Anonymous]

NP here. This is so interesting. I never thought I'd want to do this but I'm intrigued. For the NG one, do you have to choose maternal or paternal or does it trace both?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP here. This is so interesting. I never thought I'd want to do this but I'm intrigued. For the NG one, do you have to choose maternal or paternal or does it trace both?

OP here - Here is the info from their FAQs:


Can I test both my paternal and maternal lineage?
Males possess both a Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA, so they may choose to test either maternal lineage or paternal lineage by marking their consent form accordingly. Please note: Only one test per Genographic Participation Kit is performed.

If you are a male and would like to test both your Y chromosome and your mitochondrial DNA, you may purchase a second Genographic Participation Kit and mark the consent form for the lineage that you have not yet tested. Alternatively, you can transfer your first set of results via the Genographic website results page to Family Tree DNA, Genographic's genetic-testing partner. You can then purchase an additional test to be performed on the sample that you already submitted. Please note that the cost of a mitochondrial DNA or Y chromosome upgrade test is $89. Also, if you choose to have the testing done via Family Tree DNA, you will need to waive anonymity.

Females do not possess a Y chromosome, and therefore may only have the mitochondrial DNA test performed. However, if you are a female and would like to learn about your paternal lineage, then a male relative—such as a father, a brother, or a paternal blood relative of your father's, such as his brother—can test his Y-chromosome DNA. The results will reveal a female's paternal lineage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How does this work for people who were adopted, especially internationally?

It would work the same as for anyone. These types of testing look for deep ancestory, going back thousands of years. The National Geographic one doesn't give you a breakdown (say in percentages) of what your ethnicities are, it's really just a much larger roadmap of where your ancestors migrated from thousands of years ago.

[Anonymous]

14:37 here. The kits are pricey, but the information is priceless. I recommend that if you can not afford it, but still want to do it, try to pool money in a family. I tried that, and no one wanted to pay, but they were interested when the results came out for the first test. The next time, I withheld the results until some of them coughed up some money.

I still think at night about my ancestors (I know, odd). I think about the travels and so on. One line of mine comes form Eastern Southern Africa. They said that that line in the western hemisphere is likely from Portuguese slavers in East Africa (Mozambique) who took slaves to S. America. It was amazing since that grandmother is from S. America.

The Siberian/ Native American line is still present in Russia as a minority. I think about how they crossed the Bering Strait.

I could go on and on. Highly recommend it. I would say that every family that I know that has done about 4 tests got at least one interesting surprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does this work for people who were adopted, especially internationally?

It would work the same as for anyone. These types of testing look for deep ancestory, going back thousands of years. The National Geographic one doesn't give you a breakdown (say in percentages) of what your ethnicities are, it's really just a much larger roadmap of where your ancestors migrated from thousands of years ago.

Thanks. Pesumably though I as a woman would only be able to find out my matrilineal heritage, right? Because I have no male relative to do his side? Or am I misunderstanding the explanation re: the differences btwn male and female testing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How does this work for people who were adopted, especially internationally?

It would work the same as for anyone. These types of testing look for deep ancestory, going back thousands of years. The National Geographic one doesn't give you a breakdown (say in percentages) of what your ethnicities are, it's really just a much larger roadmap of where your ancestors migrated from thousands of years ago.

Thanks. Pesumably though I as a woman would only be able to find out my matrilineal heritage, right? Because I have no male relative to do his side? Or am I misunderstanding the explanation re: the differences btwn male and female testing?

Yes, you can only do the maternal, but the less accurate ones that look at all of your chromosomes can give vague information about ethnicity. There are some web sites that attempt to get families together with the same DNA. We did it for my husband, but it depends on many participants so it did not work. I wish that all of these companies would merge their data to get a larger pool and more hits.