Advice needed on taking DNA tests

[SusieK]

My mother is very interested in taking a DNA test - she apparently knows people who have found long lost cousins through DNA testing and is convinced, despite everything I tell her, that she will do the same. She has never been online in her life and has no idea what is involved, so everything will have to be managed by me. And I have never had any interest in DNA testing so need some advice on the best way to proceed.

For example, there are so many companies doing testing - are any better than the others? Does it really matter who you take the test with?

Apart from the DNA test itself, what are the costs involved? How long before you get something back so you can start looking at the results? What do you get back? I expect to have to resubscribe to Ancestry or some other site. I know you can upload the results to a number of sites, do you have to subscribe to them all to get matches? I assume you have to upload your tree at each site you use. Are some sites better than others or are they all likely to give the same results? Do they all supply the same tools?

I know everyone will have different opinions depending on their own experiences, so I am not looking for a definitive answer, just some suggestions on a reasonable way forward that won't cost me an arm and a leg but won't leave me feeling that if I had done something else I might have had more success.

If the answer is that it doesn't matter which company you use or what tests you get done the chance of success is the same I will be very happy with that 

[youngtug]

Some interesting points here; https://blog.kittycooper.com/dna-basics/dna-testing/

[SusieK]

Thank you youngtug! That IS interesting, especially this bit " Use Family Tree DNA or MyHeritage for older family members since the cheek swab is easier for them than filling a vial with spit", as both my parents are quite frail and for some reason I always assumed it would be done by cheek swab. How big a vial is it ??

But also this "note that Family Tree DNA saves the physical DNA for up to 25 years so more tests can be done on the sample later." - what tests can be done later? Is this if you only have a specific test done first time around?? Why do people do more than one DNA test???

[youngtug]

The phial is not very large and there is a cone/funnel attachment to help but you do need the correct amount of spit.
Although you can upload the Ancestry dna file to Familytreedna and gedcom, also Myheritage if you want I don't think Ancestry allows other companies dna results to be uploaded to themselves.
 
https://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/basics/molgen/

[davidft]

Thank you youngtug! That IS interesting, especially this bit " Use Family Tree DNA or MyHeritage for older family members since the cheek swab is easier for them than filling a vial with spit", as both my parents are quite frail and for some reason I always assumed it would be done by cheek swab. How big a vial is it ??

But also this "note that Family Tree DNA saves the physical DNA for up to 25 years so more tests can be done on the sample later." - what tests can be done later? Is this if you only have a specific test done first time around?? Why do people do more than one DNA test???

To answer the latter point. There are many many different tests that can be done on DNA and saving the sample means you do not have to submit a new sample each time you want to take a new test. For example I originally tested with a yDNA37 test. When I wanted to upgrade this to a yDNA67 test i only needed to purchase the test i did not have to give a new sample. Also there are new tests being designed all the time so who knows what further tests you may want to take in the future and not having to provide a new sample each time is a bonus in my view.


As to what site to use it really depends what you want to get out of it. No one can really say unless they know what your detailed objectives are and you may not even know that yourself. As you may be aware Ancestry is by far the biggest site but their results do not give as much detail as some of the others and that is why people who are into the subject usually end up testing with a few companies even if initially they say they won't!

[sugarfizzle]

SusieK, My advice, for what it's worth, is to test with Ancestry.

Several links in first post of this forum, including -

https://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters2/wedding18.htm#Masterclass

Ancestry has the largest database and growing. You can upload elsewhere, but you don't have to.

They have a special offer at present. Usually you get an offer for a subscription with a DNA test. You will get more out of it with a subscription, but it isn't essential.

I strongly advise you to build a family tree to connect her results to.

Test results come back in about 2 months, usable results straightaway. One drawback with Ancestry, no chromosome browser, but you can get started without one.

See how you get on, you might decide to get tested yourself. Or you could always tell your mother that she will have to go online and sort it out herself if she wants to get tested, it can become very time consuming.

Regards Margaret

[youngtug]

https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_testing_comparison_chart

[sugarfizzle]

I see from one of your replies that your father is still living. He may or may not be interested in DNA either, but if they both get tested, you won't have to. Am I right to presume you have an interest in genealogy, just not DNA?

The amount of spit required by Ancestry is fairly small, can be added to  over an hour or so if I recall, so shouldn't be a problem.

As to David's point about knowing your objectives, I think you have said it is so that your mother can find 'cousins'. If she means long lost first or second cousins, she may be unlucky, whoever she tests with. If she means 3rd, 4th, 5th etc cousins whom she has never heard of, she is going to be lucky, but somehow I don't think that is what she means.

You can upload Ancestry DNA to other databases, but at familytreedna you won't get a full list of matches with an upload, you would need to test there to get distant matches.

After the first test, wherever she has it done, the cost is over, unless you want a subscription. All uploads are free (but you can't upload to Ancestry or 23andMe from any other site).

Regards Margaret

[SusieK]

Thanks to youngtugs original link I found myself at the ISOGG site and have been doing a crash course in dna testing 

Some really basic (ie not too complicated for me!) but interesting articles, and I now understand some of the acronyms I've seen scattered around the threads here.

Thanks also for your input davidft and sugarfizzle - yes, I think my mother is thinking that she will find relatives of some description, I'm not sure even she knows exactly what she thinks will happen.

We've been doing our family history for some time now so have quite extensive trees for both my mother and father, all backed by lots of paperwork. Both trees are on Ancestry because I used to subscribe but haven't been updated for some time as I now tend to work offline.Thinking about it while I was reading some of these articles I've realised that we have a major brick wall on each side of the family that we have been chasing for years (including on rootschat) and have never broken down, and dna testing may actually help us with these.

On my father's side I can't go back beyond about 1820 (Scotland) as there are no paper records. However, I am sure that some of the families around will be cousins/aunts/uncles, I just can't link them up. If any of their descendants have taken a dna test it might help point me in the right direction.

On my mother's side her grandmother seems to be parentless (Wales). Again lots of people have been researching for years and someone has now come up with a possibility of a family but there is nothing concrete. So this could posssibly help to resolve that.

Ethnicities don't really interest me - our families have been English/Welsh, Scottish/Irish for the last  six or seven generations. Whatever ethnicities show their faces are okay with me but I don't feel the need to go looking for them.