Thinking of doing a DNA Kit analysis

[thelerner]

Apparently its DNA day(?)- https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/19/cnn-underscored/best-dna-day-sales/index.html?iid=underscoredbouncexad

and the major analysis kits are on sale.  I might get one.   Be cool to find out if I'm part Neanderthals on my dads side, or Denisovian on my moms.  Maybe 23AndMe? 

 

Comparisons- https://www.consumersadvocate.org/dna-testing/a/best-dna-testing?pd=true&keyword=dna kits comparison&gca_campaignid=1571295800&gca_adgroupid=62020584600&gca_matchtype=e&gca_network=g&gca_device=c&gca_adposition=1t3&gca_loc_interest_ms=&gca_loc_physical_ms=9021485&&pd=true&keyword=dna kits comparison&gca_campaignid=1571295800&gca_adgroupid=62020584600&gca_matchtype=e&gca_network=g&gca_device=c&gca_adposition=1t3&gca_loc_interest_ms=&gca_loc_physical_ms=9021485&gclid=CjwKCAjwtYXmBRAOEiwAYsyl3Fn7Tk4rjbztKpW8AFAjPDSgVLzzgkKQEA7KU9R1u1g1hcJYcnAu3hoCE6EQAvD_BwE

 

 

Anyone have experience with them?

[Bubbles]

Although I too am curious about my ancestors, I would think twice before giving my DNA to any company, whatever their privacy policy may be at the time I use their service. Just saying..

Edited April 25, 2019 by Bubbles
spelling

[dawei]

If anyone finds out they are related to another person on this site... please keep it to yourself

 

[Bubbles]

Is there anything running behind the scenes of TDB that you won't tell us about, dawei ?

[dawei]

1 minute ago, Bubbles said:

Is there anything running behind the scenes of TDB that you won't tell us about, dawei ?

 

 

 

[Fa Xin]

“Dawei, you are NOT the father !”

[thelerner]

45 minutes ago, Bubbles said:

Although I too am curious about my ancestors, I would think twice before giving my DNA to any company, whatever their privacy policy may be at the time I use their service. Just saying..

I can dig that.   An unscrupulous medical insurance company could use it to discriminate.  Also there's the whole knot of worms on whether you'd want to know more.. ie early onset Alzheimer or Parkinsons etc.,  It could create massive anxiety and rob yourself of peace of mind now. 

 

Still, knowledge is power and the first rung of the ladder of wisdom is Know Thyself.. 

Edited April 25, 2019 by thelerner

[Nungali]

41 minutes ago, Bubbles said:

Is there anything running behind the scenes of TDB that you won't tell us about, dawei ?

 

 

 

 

[Nungali]

Anywayz ... what for ? So you be ike the lady on the tv advert .... standing in front of an old sword leaning against the wall, point on the ground, upright... who does that !  What, they cold not afford a wall mount ?  Look out little Johhny, dont bump that, t will fall over on you and chop your arms off .   She has some other regalia on the wall,  suggestive of some old time colonial something ... and something suggestive of a bush rangers garb ... an old coat or something .  Then she beams about how she found out she had a bushranger in  her 'family'  and says  " Everyone wants a bush ranger in her family "  and beams a proud little smile .

 

What, when her friends come around she stands next to the objects she has casually placed around her home to highlight her new identity and says  " I have a bush ranger as an ancestor ."   Well  ,  good for you .

 

'Ceptin its all BS .... mostly .

 

Been a bit of "Hey ! I got totally ripped off ! "  by some peeps silly enough to spend $$$$ on it here .   Why ?  Some Aboriginal women sent in theirs for analysis  and it came back with all this supposed ancestry  from all over the place ... but no Aboriginal  ancestry.

 

Conversely ... my sister has spent years tracking down the roots of our mystery paternal grandmother . She found out she was Gallician, . sis even learnt some of the language , went there , people asked her why she was there and she told them, she was welcomed  and celebrated but sis said , no, its generations back .... the Gallicians  said we dont care, a big party,  a sister has come back home ... all of that !

 

Last year she  did a  DNA tests ... not Gallician at all .     Whats she gonna do with all that stuff on the wall      

 

AND  my sister is a geneticist / micro biologist . So what's going on ?

 

https://now.tufts.edu/articles/pulling-back-curtain-dna-ancestry-tests

 

Besides ....   I could by the remains of an old sled  and some snow shoes and stick them on the wall and tell everyone ' Look !  I got my DNA done, I am part  Muscraba Siberian reindeer herder . "   

 

and peeps would nod and admire me  

 

In other words , you can lie and make the whole thing up ... according to whatever flavour of ego you currenty have  ... and no one would know .

 

 

 

 

[silent thunder]

I did it.   So did my wife.  Ancestry.com was my choice.

 

I knew my family on my Father's side all emigrated to the Midwest 1850's-70's from Norway.  a

There was less info on my Mother's side so curiosity about that prompted me to participate.

 

It was fun to find out what else is part of this fluid thing I call my body.  I'm glad I did it. 

 

Results were more specific than I anticipated.  And when I decided to join as a member, I gained access to international public records and have now traced both sides back to the early 1600's with very minimal time invested.  I've got the membership for another couple months and will see where I end up before deciding if I want to maintain and pursue further.

 

It was interesting to find out my wife's family arrived in the Virginia Territory in the early 1700's. 

No one knew or spoke of that if they did.

 

As to my dna, they are welcome to it.  77% Norse 12% Welsh/Brit and 5% Scot/Irish 4% Russian steppes 2% Germanic.

I'll just say this, if you wade into my dna... mind the hammers

 

[Nungali]

4%  Russian Steppes  ?  ?  !

 

Cousy bro !  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thelerner]

My sister and her kid did it separately and the results came back very similar.  So I don't think they're made up.  Course different companies, different accuracies.  Course that does remind me that my sisters should be the same as mine, unless my parents aren't telling me something. 

 

We have friends and the husbands DNA was locationally like one village in Eastern Europe, seemingly 1,000 years of inbreeding in one spot, whereas his wife was genetically from just about everywhere.  You look at it for surprises, maybe to open up areas of interest, places to go, hidden areas of the soul that you didn't know were there. 

 

For $70 why not, except in my case I should just look at my sisters. 

 

 

Edited April 25, 2019 by thelerner

[Nungali]

Well, its a complex field that I understand little about , my sister told me I should get mine done as it might be different ... something about the descent of male and female lines ? 

 

But yeah ,   $70 isnt too bad .  Check the link I posted above, get some more info, find out what the specific tests offered are actually doing and choose the appropriate one / s .

 

You might have Siberian reindeer herder DNA  too   

 

We could  all be in the same granfalloon !  

Edited April 25, 2019 by Nungali

[Fa Xin]

I remember reading about how they solved a decades-old murder cold case because the killer sent his DNA into one of these websites. 

 

https://www.vox.com/2018/4/27/17290288/golden-state-killer-joseph-james-deangelo-dna-profile-match

 

[Nungali]

.. Well !  That has nothing to do whatsoever with my reluctance to get tested    !    ........      

 

[Aetherous]

I had my DNA done this winter. Now you can know more about me than even I did for 95% of my life:

 

 

It's cool to know where you come from...I think it helps us get our bearings in life. Instead of walking around being unsure of who your ancestors were, you're able to identify with them and those cultures and history to some extent.

It's interesting to look at your siblings' DNA results.

[silent thunder]

27 minutes ago, Aetherous said:

I had my DNA done this winter. Now you can know more about me than even I did for 95% of my life:

 

 

It's cool to know where you come from...I think it helps us get our bearings in life. Instead of walking around being unsure of who your ancestors were, you're able to identify with them and those cultures and history to some extent.

It's interesting to look at your siblings' DNA results.

Interesting.  We're crossing over heavily in central Norway with Hedmark.

My norse almost all hails from Nord-Trondelog along the coast, but the second most featured is in Hedmark.

I've found solid records placing one family line from my Father's Mother in Stange Parrish in particular, on the South-Western portion of Hedmark.

 

[Aetherous]

6 hours ago, silent thunder said:

Interesting.  We're crossing over heavily in central Norway with Hedmark.

My norse almost all hails from Nord-Trondelog along the coast, but the second most featured is in Hedmark.

I've found solid records placing one family line from my Father's Mother in Stange Parrish in particular, on the South-Western portion of Hedmark.

 

 

I haven't signed up for the thing where you can do further research, but I plan on it. I wouldn't be surprised if we found out our ancestors were neighbors. 

[Fa Xin]

Aetherous, were your results different from what you thought they would be?

[Aetherous]

6 minutes ago, Fa Xin said:

Aetherous, were your results different from what you thought they would be?

When I was a kid, I was told that I was roughly 50% German, 25% Finnish, and 25% Norwegian, with a tiny 1% being other things...even French, and gypsy. So I always thought we were mostly German in our ancestry.

 

It is interesting, since my family's last name is taken from Germany, yet in the true results I'm only 5% Germanic Europe.

I was most surprised that my sister's percentages were different from mine. We're both legitimate children of our parents, that much is clear, but it's interesting how siblings' DNA can differ. That being the case, perhaps DNA isn't the clearest reflection of one's ancestry. My parents had theirs done, as well...if I recall correctly, I think my dad's side had some things from Europe that don't show up on mine.

[Starjumper]

20 hours ago, thelerner said:

Also there's the whole knot of worms on whether you'd want to know more.. ie early onset Alzheimer or Parkinsons etc.,  It could create massive anxiety and rob yourself of peace of mind now. 

 

Still, knowledge is power and the first rung of the ladder of wisdom is Know Thyself.. 

 

Everything has its good and its bad side, however, to a warrior bad doesn't look so bad, it looks like a challenge.  Therefore, knowing how you are going to die could give you a blessing of long life.

 

A spirit told me how I was going to die and at first I didn't like that one bit, but then I thought:  If it's truth then I can do what it takes to avoid that for the longest time and live to 150.

 

[thelerner]

9 hours ago, Aetherous said:

 

I was most surprised that my sister's percentages were different from mine. We're both legitimate children of our parents, that much is clear, but it's interesting how siblings' DNA can differ. That being the case, perhaps DNA isn't the clearest reflection of one's ancestry. My parents had theirs done, as well...if I recall correctly, I think my dad's side had some things from Europe that don't show up on mine.

 

That is curious.  Just looked it- here's what https://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/same-parents-different-ancestry

 

"..Shouldn’t my sister and I have the same ancestry results for our DNA? We have the same parents.

-A curious adult from California  September 1, 2015

 

It seems like brothers and sisters should have the same ancestry background. After all, they both got half their DNA from mom and half from dad.

But because of how DNA is passed on, it is possible for two siblings to have some big differences in their ancestry at the DNA level. Culturally they may each say they are “1/8th Cherokee” but at the DNA level, one may have no Cherokee DNA at all.

 

So yes, it is definitely possible for two siblings to get pretty different ancestry results from a DNA test. Even when they share the same parents..

DNA is Like a Bunch of Colored Beads

DNA isn’t passed down from generation to generation in a single block. Not every child gets the same 50% of mom’s DNA and 50% of dad’s DNA. (Unless of course they are identical twins).

This has consequences in terms of how much DNA siblings share. And even more significantly, what DNA they share. 

One way to think about this is to imagine DNA as a bunch of colored beads. Since we are interested in ancestry here, we will say that different colors mean different ancestries.

Imagine that a man from Japan marries a woman from Europe. Her DNA happens to be 100% European and his 100% Asian.

Let’s say that the European beads are red and the Asian beads are blue. Here is what this might look like:

When these two parents have a child, that child will get a random half of mom’s beads and random half of dad’s. The child might look like this:

This child is 50% European and 50% Asian. Here is what this child’s sibling might look like:

In this case you can see that each child actually shares the same ancestry even though they got some different DNA from each parent. They are each 50% European and 50% Asian.

This is the result if the parents happen to be 100% of an ethnicity. It is a different story if the parents are not so red and blue.

Lots of Colors, Lots of Possibilities

Let’s now imagine a couple of more complex situations. First we will add in some green beads from sub-Saharan Africa. Imagine these parents:

The difference here is that mom has a small bit of African ancestry in her family tree. This is actually pretty common in the U.S.

Otherwise everything else is the same. Red is European, blue is Asian.

Imagine this is their first child:

As you can see, by chance this child didn’t happen to get any green beads. A DNA test would say the child has 0% African DNA.

Now imagine a second child happens to get this arrangement:

As you can see, by chance the second child inherited both green beads from mom. In an ancestry DNA test, child 1 would be 0% African while child 2 would be around 4%. Even though they have the same parents.

It all has to do with which DNA you happen to get from each parent. It might have ended up that each child got one green bead each but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Now imagine the newer tests that split European, Asian, Pacific Islander, African, Native American and so on into many subcategories. Now even the first mom’s all red becomes a variety of different colors. And these can get passed down differently leading to different percentages.

Mom might be 23% Northern European, 46% Eastern European, and 31% Southern European. And these can be further subdivided. Maybe the Northern European is really 15% British, 5% Scandinavian and 3% German/French.

Here is what mom looks like now:

Now she has children with her Japanese husband. Here is what the children’s DNA might look like:

Now it is getting very confusing. By chance, child 1 has no British, French/German or Scandinavian DNA while child 2 does. Even with the same parents!

Now split the Southern and Eastern European DNA into subgroups and see what happens. Then start splitting dad’s DNA further to add more to the mix. Do all of this and you can see how siblings might wind up with very different ancestry results indeed. 

 

[Pilgrim]

17 hours ago, thelerner said:

That is curious.  Just looked it- here's what https://genetics.thetech.org/ask-a-geneticist/same-parents-different-ancestry

 

"..Shouldn’t my sister and I have the same ancestry results for our DNA? We have the same parents.

-A curious adult from California  September 1, 2015

 

It seems like brothers and sisters should have the same ancestry background. After all, they both got half their DNA from mom and half from dad.

But because of how DNA is passed on, it is possible for two siblings to have some big differences in their ancestry at the DNA level. Culturally they may each say they are “1/8th Cherokee” but at the DNA level, one may have no Cherokee DNA at all.

 

So yes, it is definitely possible for two siblings to get pretty different ancestry results from a DNA test. Even when they share the same parents..

DNA is Like a Bunch of Colored Beads

DNA isn’t passed down from generation to generation in a single block. Not every child gets the same 50% of mom’s DNA and 50% of dad’s DNA. (Unless of course they are identical twins).

This has consequences in terms of how much DNA siblings share. And even more significantly, what DNA they share. 

One way to think about this is to imagine DNA as a bunch of colored beads. Since we are interested in ancestry here, we will say that different colors mean different ancestries.

Imagine that a man from Japan marries a woman from Europe. Her DNA happens to be 100% European and his 100% Asian.

Let’s say that the European beads are red and the Asian beads are blue. Here is what this might look like:

When these two parents have a child, that child will get a random half of mom’s beads and random half of dad’s. The child might look like this:

This child is 50% European and 50% Asian. Here is what this child’s sibling might look like:

In this case you can see that each child actually shares the same ancestry even though they got some different DNA from each parent. They are each 50% European and 50% Asian.

This is the result if the parents happen to be 100% of an ethnicity. It is a different story if the parents are not so red and blue.

Lots of Colors, Lots of Possibilities

Let’s now imagine a couple of more complex situations. First we will add in some green beads from sub-Saharan Africa. Imagine these parents:

The difference here is that mom has a small bit of African ancestry in her family tree. This is actually pretty common in the U.S.

Otherwise everything else is the same. Red is European, blue is Asian.

Imagine this is their first child:

As you can see, by chance this child didn’t happen to get any green beads. A DNA test would say the child has 0% African DNA.

Now imagine a second child happens to get this arrangement:

As you can see, by chance the second child inherited both green beads from mom. In an ancestry DNA test, child 1 would be 0% African while child 2 would be around 4%. Even though they have the same parents.

It all has to do with which DNA you happen to get from each parent. It might have ended up that each child got one green bead each but it doesn’t have to be that way.

Now imagine the newer tests that split European, Asian, Pacific Islander, African, Native American and so on into many subcategories. Now even the first mom’s all red becomes a variety of different colors. And these can get passed down differently leading to different percentages.

Mom might be 23% Northern European, 46% Eastern European, and 31% Southern European. And these can be further subdivided. Maybe the Northern European is really 15% British, 5% Scandinavian and 3% German/French.

Here is what mom looks like now:

Now she has children with her Japanese husband. Here is what the children’s DNA might look like:

Now it is getting very confusing. By chance, child 1 has no British, French/German or Scandinavian DNA while child 2 does. Even with the same parents!

Now split the Southern and Eastern European DNA into subgroups and see what happens. Then start splitting dad’s DNA further to add more to the mix. Do all of this and you can see how siblings might wind up with very different ancestry results indeed. 

 

 

Reminds me of connect 4

 

 

[silent thunder]

 

On 4/25/2019 at 2:50 PM, silent thunder said:

Results were more specific than I anticipated.  And when I decided to join as a member, I gained access to international public records and have now traced both sides back to the early 1600's with very minimal time invested.  I've got the membership for another couple months and will see where I end up before deciding if I want to maintain and pursue further.

Spent another dozen hours or so over the last couple days following records and have uncovered a few very interesting things in my tree.  Now glad I decided to pay for the membership to access international records.  I resisted for several years as it's pricey in my opinion, but now seems worth it.

 

On my Father's side, records are very strong and run back to the early 1400's with relative ease (pun intended).

 

I found one rather fun unexpected surprise.  In my Father's Father's line, one of my ancestors Johanson Bjorngard born in 1560 Nord Trondelog Norway went Viking, left Norway and settled in the Virginia Territory where he died in at the age of 50 in 1610.  No records of any children or marriages have emerged so far, but I'll keep digging.

 

Found another who left Norway for England, landing in Staffordshire and passing there in the 1560's. 

 

There's far less info on my Mother's side.  Info on my great grandmother stops with her cold so far.  This is the line that was said to come from Germany.  Found a bit on her husband, name of Lowe.  Traced his line back to the 1640's where it turns out his family came from Switzerland, not Germany.

 

By far the most enriching thing has been the host of names I have now to call upon.  Some truly epic names... coming from Trondelog.  How's this for a Valkyrie Warrioress Name?  Gunhild Ivarsdatter Loksengard... 1639-1699.  Or Ingeborg Sigbjornnsdatter Eikeland 1637-1701.

 

I walked around the house calling out these names and my wife, watching a film, removed her headphones and said "if I wake up tonight with some Valkyrie Warrior named Gunhild sizing me up from the foot of our bed, I'm holding you responsible!"

 

good times!

[silent thunder]

@thelerner  did you end up getting a test?