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General => Ancestral Family Tree DNA Testing => Topic started by: annesthreads on Tuesday 28 April 15 17:26 BST (UK)
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I've just received my results and am fairly bemused at the moment. They are:
Irish:39%
Western Europe:35%
Great Britain:22%
Iberian Peninsula:2%
European Jewish:1%
Italy/Greece:<1%
One of my paternal grandparents was Irish, and there's a bit of Irish on my mother's side, but most of the lines for the other 3 grandparents are English. I'm guessing that the Western European may be explained by the fact that quite a lot of my mother's family came from Suffolk and south Lincolnshire - Anglo Saxon influence? But how far back are these tests looking? eg could Iberian Peninsula be early migration into Ireland, or much later shipwrecked Armada ships? (My Dad always reckoned that was the explanation of his very dark colouring!). Is Great Britain indicative of pre-Roman, pre-Anglo Saxon ancestry?
The matches I've looked at so far are disappointing: I can find no obvious links as far as surname or area are concerned, even though I've got my lines fairly complete to 4 or 5 generations.
A distant Canadian cousin (we think) did the test at the same time. We met through Ancestry, have the same surname and our families come from the same part of Northern Ireland. She's done the work on the Irish side of the family, but hasn't been able to definitely prove the link between us because of the gaps in the Irish records. Her test result is totally different, with only 10% Irish and an above-average Great Britain score, which seems bizarre, given that she knows for sure that her family is Irish. Might it indicate Scottish emigration to Ireland? (though the surname is Irish, not Scots).
The test has posed far more questions than its answered, but nevertheless it's fascinating. I've wanted to do this for years, but have had to wait for the cost to come down.
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If you join gedmatch.com (its free) you can download your results there and get alternative analysis which may or may not confirm what Ancestry told you. It has a few other tools too that you can play with
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If you join gedmatch.com (its free) you can download your results there and get alternative analysis which may or may not confirm what Ancestry told you. It has a few other tools too that you can play with
Thanks David. I've just uploaded the results onto GEDmatch and FTDNA: I'll decide whether to pay for the latter when I see what they send me.
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Apparently GEDmatch is running at 7-10 days, but I've had results from FTDNA. There weren't many matches - less than two pages - but they're closer than the Ancestry ones, 2nd-4th cousin, and I can actually identify which branch of the family is involved for some of the entries. Still all in the US though, which is disappointing, though there's a branch of my mother's family that it might be interesting to follow up and another lead for the Irish branch who are proving so elusive. However I'll wait and see what GEDmatch produces, as $39 seems a lot for the number of matches available.
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The FTDNA free transfer only gives the first 20 matches. There should be a lot more if you unlock.
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Ah, thankyou for that. I may go ahead then, but I'll look at the GEDmatch ones first. I've also noticed that one of the FTDNA matches has names in common with an Ancestry match, which is a good sign!
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I've been keeping watch on ancestry dna as i sent a sample on the 19th and today has just been arrived, i wanted to make sure it had got there. I also did a family finder on the 16 th april with ftdna, I had both done so i can compare results against each other as i 'd heard different things about database sizes and ethnic mix etc. I had the ftdna one done at the wdytya live show and bought the ancestry one back. There was offers on at the show. I presume they posted the ftdna one.
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I've been keeping watch on ancestry dna as i sent a sample on the 19th and today has just been arrived, i wanted to make sure it had got there. I also did a family finder on the 16 th april with ftdna, I had both done so i can compare results against each other as i 'd heard different things about database sizes and ethnic mix etc.
It'll be very interesting to see how the two compare - you must let us know I was wondering what result I'd get if I tried a different test. I'll wait and see how yours come out!
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Yes i'll keep you informed. It says 6-8 weeks at the moment.I think they said the same for ftdna. I thought it made sense with all i was hearing. I'd been thinking about it for a bit. I went to the show in mind of the offers.Sat in a talk about the pobi project on ethnicity and comparing british dna to european. They seem to be able to pick out some distinct dna for certain areas but unfortunately staffordshire was n't mentioned! Ftdna seemed to be keen on herding people in and out of talks , even getting people to move up. Both the ancestry and ftdna stand seemed to be doing good business on day 1 and so can only be good for the database.
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Yes i'll keep you informed. It says 6-8 weeks at the moment.
Mine came back a bit sooner than expected - just over 5 weeks. But the demand at the show will probably slow things down.
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The family history society i belong to had a member ask whether anyone in the society had been tested and i told the secretary that i intended and then there was offers on so i let him know.Told him i'd it done and he wants me to keep him informed as well. At least i can give a balanced view from both tests as well but i knew the ancestry one was more new and that the ftdna database was bigger but people got more matches in the ftdna one and i know i'd keep wondering so went for both there and then while the offer was on. Dads line he has family from a village where there is a little bit of inbreeding and i noticed when my ancestry tree was public quite a bit was copied. I'm hoping some of them have been dna tested. Hope i get some reasonably good results.
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The sample's being processed. I had an email from ancestry telling me it had arrived and so it looks as if their emails are lagging behind what it says on the DNA tab on ancestry as that's saying processing.
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Update i think i may hear within the next weeks from ancestry but not impressed with ftdna so far. Not heard anything since tested on april 16 as i was n't given a password so tried all the things the site suggested. I was concerned as the site says they send you a password when receive kit back. I've emailed them and said i would have thought it had at least arrived by now. I have said that i'm not impressed at the moment and the family history society i belong to are waiting to see how i get on and some people are interested in testing. I don't know whether the sample were taken back or mailed to them. I thought i chase everything up now as could take a lot longer if they don't receive the sample but if i can't log in i won't know.
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Sounds like something has gone wrong with your particular case and may not be the fault of ftDNA. I say that because I know someone who bought a test on 1 May and they have their password, account and their test has been despatched (may even have been received I have not checked that)
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Had it done at the ftdna stand at the wdytya show i don't know whether they took them back with them or posted them. I had a reply from email i send them and it assigned a number and saying they are closing that email so they have ones with query cateogories that was in april and in future use there new contact bit. From what i can see there's been a few problems when i read the forum but it does n't say what they are doing about the query! I'll give them another week. Thanks davidft. I was worried in case something had gone wrong! Let you know what happens.
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I do not really want to erase peoples perception about their origins but it needs to be realised that the DNA markers and strands have been given a classification based upon our current understanding which is changeable. A Saxon origin is largely impossible to differentiate from a Viking origin due to the Germanic subcultural influences. Although given that Ireland was a Viking slave trading base the Viking influence was most likely a dominant feature.
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if i was to do a DNA test which one would yous recommend ??
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if i was to do a DNA test which one would yous recommend ??
The best way to approach it is first to decide what it is you want to find out.
YDNA - can only be taken by men and only gives the direct male line ie father, grandfather, great grandfather etc. Can be useful in helping with surname studies
mtDNA - can be taken by men and women. This gives the direct female line ie mother, grandmother etc
Autosomal - can be taken by everyone. This looks at all your DNA (albeit based on a very small sample) and is what is used to determine your ethnic\regional origins (although this is more subjective than objective as the science is in its infancy). This tests is also what is used ti find potential relatives hence its alternative name of family finder.
With all tests what you need to remember is that only a very small percentage of people have taken the tests and then mainly in America so you may have to wait a long time to see results that are meaningful or there again you may hit lucky and get productive results straight away - its a gamble
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I had my DNA test results from ancestry tonight.
60 % great britain
16 % ireland
15% Europe west
The other regions to make up the%, 5 regions ,but basically I am 100 % European according to ancestry. Although we know ethnicity prediction is n't precise. Just getting to grips with the rest. 17 matches , some 4th-6th cousins highly likely and some high and some 5-8 high. I'll let you know more later but no Pacific Islander!
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Ive had a distant relative find 3rd-4th cousins through the FtDna and her father in law found a first cousin that he didnt know he had :)
i cant wait to do one!!
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The best way to approach it is first to decide what it is you want to find out.
YDNA - can only be taken by men and only gives the direct male line ie father, grandfather, great grandfather etc. Can be useful in helping with surname studies
mtDNA - can be taken by men and women. This gives the direct female line ie mother, grandmother etc
Autosomal - can be taken by everyone. This looks at all your DNA (albeit based on a very small sample) and is what is used to determine your ethnic\regional origins (although this is more subjective than objective as the science is in its infancy). This tests is also what is used ti find potential relatives hence its alternative name of family finder.
With apologies to everyone who may have posted something similar but this is the best explanation I have read . Thank you :)
Yet the problem is I reckon I would get all 3 and be broke or take out a house loan ;D 8)
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;D i was thinking the same thing only the Ancestry one is not available here in Oz yet
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;D i was thinking the same thing only the Ancestry one is not available here in Oz yet
I keep getting emails from them saying '' very soon''
I should check my emails I sent to the trash
Now available from only ::) a small house loan ( I wont put the price - not doing their advertising)
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oh no not the house loan! its still telling me Available soon :-\
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After a second email I've actually got a reason for why ftdna have n't sent my results. Davidft was right. Something had gone wrong. Someone had put my email as viscali instead of tiscali. I wrote the email on the form and my t does n't look like a v so someone must have typed it incorrectly into their system. What is just has bad, they've said is let them know if I need a password so they obviously don't read properly either. You get your password when they batch It. If they've typed it incorrectly then surely the email would have bounced back. I noticed it took them 5 days to ask for payment from my credit card company as well. They've sent me a customer survey form to do, I will do when I receive my password and results. It takes 3 days plus to get a reply. Hope I find out before the bank holiday.
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Blimey your making me worry about getting one from ftDna now :-\
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Blimey your making me worry about getting one from ftDna now :-\
Don't worry ftDNA are a very reliable company but like all companies there are sometimes glitches
Weste - glad you are making progress, stick with it
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Don't worry ftDNA are a very reliable company but like all companies there are sometimes clichés
Weste - glad you are making progress, stick with it
There is light at the end of the tunnel
Take it one day at a time
Patience is its own reward
Glitches happen to the best of us ;D
Sorry DavidFt :)
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My you are quick off the mark today dgibbin ;D
I must have been correcting it as you posted
Still it seems oddly appropriate that I make a mistake when we are talking about mistakes ;)
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Well they sent me a customer survey anyway. So i wait with bated breath as they say! What i will do is use ancestry for the other two people to be tested and then transfer the results to ftdna. Ancestry have offered 25% off at the moment but that does n't include shipping. For 2 family finder kits it came to £ 178. Mom wants to get on with it and while sister in laws agreed to it , i'm eager to get on. My sister in law has the same maiden name and we would be interested if there are any links as they are in similar areas but as the surname is westwood it may be multiple origins. My brother and sister in law we kept in the reg office whilst the staff phoned london to see if they were related before the wedding was booked. So far can't see anything linking. I have said it may not show a link even if related. I'm interested in watch matches come up in common.
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I went to school with a Westwood
Any links to SA Weste?
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I take it you mean south aus? I have some cousins who went out as adults. One became a prison officer. I think he's first name is maurice but prefers jonathan. 2 other cousins came back. I know maurice and his wife have kids. Don't know where exactly ,its something like burra burra. Don't quote me on that though. His brother would tell me.
Anyway on another note, got me password and me results!!! From ftdna
European 98 % middle east 2%
subdivided western and central europe 51 % , Scaninavia 28 %, British isles 19% and middle east 2%.
I've crunched ancestrys results into ged match and await to see what happens and then will try the latest results in to it. There were 2 of 100% matches in 2-4 cousins, one 99 % and 1 of 95 %. I recognise the 95 % surname from my paternal great grandmothers surname side but it seems to match with another name , perhaps its the nearest of the match. Anyway need to study more. There's a lot of scottih as well as american. I think wdytya show did a show up there. By the way the 95% is rowley regis which is about 15 mins away and there's a birmingam one and i live in baggie land. So i think the matches do look realistic in ftdna but i think i ight have seen one of them in ancestry. You get that many names you can't concentrate.
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It looks like i've got a match with my westwood paternal line in 5-8 cousins range moderate. There's a couple of obadiah's in bilston and my lot came from bilston. It goes back to 1720 with his father john.I got back as far as 1791 if i remember right as i could n't be sure of an 1828 married until i realised they had about 6 kids which died quite young and the first surviving into adult hood was born in 1841. Did n't helpf with great greatgrandfather birth name appearing to be called henry but had a brother thomas who died and great grand father being out by a couple years on the marriage cert appearing younger than his wife and also later known as thomas henry. 1 Also i found a great wyrley match by using the filters but private tree with an administrator and have tried a few obvious surnames but have n't come up with the right one yet! I think there's possibly at least another match for great wyrley but in what surname as its a private tree.
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I had mine done by Ancestry 85% Brit, 11% Irish (no idea where that came from) the rest is Scandinavia and other Viking areas. I thought it was very interesting and I am so glad I did it.
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I'm glad i've done mine, one i think has gone back a couple of generations but need to do that paper trail although i know bilston and i've got a match in a tree to some one born in great wyrley and one in bloxwich which i can relate they were moderate, good ones with ancestry. The ethicinity one was just slightly different. I'm awaiting gedmatch crunching now.
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im so jealous :o i must get one done
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My irish is higher on the face of things, 16 %, think may be a bit on dads side but not too recent but it sortof makes me think that our suspicions re greatgrandmother bridget which we know nothing other than her first name and says was born in yorkshire about 1863 and was catholic may be right. Funny thing is there's a bridget or 2 in walsall where he settled and one where he boarded! That's considering he came from northampton was supposed to have gone to yorkshire had at least 2 lads both by different women. There's a gap of 16 years between the lads. You might guess gran dad is from the second. We don't know the first marriage and there's even rumours he went to canada and there's the same area in canada.! Grand dad was told he did n't exist with his either of his surnames when he tried to get his pension. Richardson or blake! We have thought about getting moms cousin from the third relationship to do a dna test at least the fathers the same. Decided to go general first with autosomal.