DNA testing kits

[herbalhippie]

Has anyone here done one (or more) of the testing kits like 23andMe or Ancestry? Did you get any interesting results? Shake the family up a little?

[burnmaster3000]

Has anyone here done one (or more) of the testing kits like 23andMe or Ancestry? Did you get any interesting results? Shake the family up a little?

My dad got one done. Welp, turns out dad's dad isn't his real dad.
Made sense in retrospect due to their relationship.

[herbalhippie]

I just sent off a sample to Ancestry to see how it lines up with my 23andMe results. I was adopted and my kids got me a 23andMe kit last year for Mother's Day. <3

[herbalhippie]

Has anyone here done one (or more) of the testing kits like 23andMe or Ancestry? Did you get any interesting results? Shake the family up a little?

My dad got one done. Welp, turns out dad's dad isn't his real dad.
Made sense in retrospect due to their relationship.

Oof.

My father listed on my pre-adoption birth certificate is also not my father. He was my mother's husband though.

[Quercus]

My daughter gave both me and her dad a kit from 23andMe a few years back because she wanted to know more about the family genetics and what might be lurking in her future. The results were actually pretty reassuring but there was one thing that surprised me and that was that I had a fairly high number of Neanderthal genes. I felt a bit shaken by that until I learned her dad had significantly more and was quite shaken himself. As his ex, I rather enjoyed that.

[herbalhippie]

My daughter gave both me and her dad a kit from 23andMe a few years back because she wanted to know more about the family genetics and what might be lurking in her future. The results were actually pretty reassuring but there was one thing that surprised me and that was that I had a fairly high number of Neanderthal genes. I felt a bit shaken by that until I learned her dad had significantly more and was quite shaken himself. As his ex, I rather enjoyed that.

Someone told me a higher amount of Neanderthal DNA is a good thing, something to do with having a really good immune system. I can't remember what all she told me about it.

[Kaitlanfutbol]

This might be an insensitive question, but how many people get results that show their ancestors owned slaves? Personally I've noticed that most Kratom users are white male or females in there 20s to 40s, with almost no users of color. No offense meant by this, seriously, just a lingering question from someone who has never used either website

[Quercus]

This might be an insensitive question, but how many people get results that show their ancestors owned slaves? Personally I've noticed that most Kratom users are white male or females in there 20s to 40s, with almost no users of color. No offense meant by this, seriously, just a lingering question from someone who has never used either website

DNA testing kits only identify genes; they can't identify behavior. As an example: Someone might learn that they had ancestors who came from western Africa as well as some from the British Isles but to learn anything more than that, that person would have to study their family history as well as relevent historical documents, such as census records.

[StringThing]

with almost no users of color

Here's one

[herbalhippie]

Did 23and Me last year, got a 1st cousin once removed who led me to my birth father.

Did Ancestry DNA in early July and got my results this morning which gives me....drum roll....

ONE OF MY HALF-SIBLINGS!!!!

I have 6 siblings/half-siblings btw. My 1C1R found this interesting bit of info in an Ancestry family tree family fact. I burst out crying when she told me. "Are you sitting down? If you're not, sit down."

[the_spookiest]

this is so cool.....and how lucky to be able to cross-check and reference multiple companies doing this. For anyone adopted it seems like this is a must-do, if only for mental clarity. Would love to do this myself since I have next to no knowledge about any family beyond my parents....I just really don't like the thought of my DNA being used, sold, cross-checked by any company or government agency beyond the one I pay for the test. "Government growing storage of citizens' genome information" sounds crazy to say out loud, but it is being done.


Does it flag any stand-out genes or any widely known precursor genes for diseases? Or just ethnic makeup ?

[herbalhippie]

You can pay extra for health reports. Otherwise, just ethnic background and DNA matches. I have over 1,400 matches on 23andMe but only the first few are relatively close and the first page worth bothering with. Even 2nd cousins can be hard to trace.

[the_spookiest]

thank you for the info )))

[IndelibleDotInk]

Really neat!

I have two cousins who are adopted with different pairs of aunty/uncles, and my nephew is adopted. My sis is in contact with his birth mother, and the birth father is around too, so it would be relatively easy for him to find them when he's grown.

[herbalhippie]

I have found as many close relatives as I was able. I have 5 relatively close 'cousins' which could also match as half-niece/nephew, but the DNA sites always list them as potential cousins. I am unable to trace these 5 by Ancestry or FB and I suspect they might lead to more half siblings so I've requested a Search Angel to help. These are people very experienced in geneaology who offer to help people like me.

This is a nice distraction from life right now.

[Kaitlanfutbol]

with almost no users of color

Here's one

Glad to hear it. We could always use more diversity. I wish we had some legitimate indonesians (that aren't peddling kratom.and desperate for customers like on mewe) here, if they were exposed to kratom in indo they could shine a light on some of the misconceptions we no doubt still have and drop some serious knowledge.

[Payshince]

Agreed! ^


...And... thats so cool HH
Glad you’re finding answers

[MetalMamaRocks]

This is a timely post for me because my family just got news that was so shocking, especially for my mom. She has done both ancestry and 23 and me.

My mom got a message on Facebook from a woman claiming to be her half sister. My first thought was this is a scam and I told mom to be careful. Second thought was grandpa was getting around quite a bit back in the day.

My grandma and grandpa divorced when my mom was 5 or 6. He pretty much abandoned his family and left my grandma to raise 2 little kids by herself.

Well, it turns out my grandma got pregnant when my mom was 10 and had the baby and put it up for adoption. My mother had no idea. She doesn't remember grandma being pregnant. The baby was adopted by a couple that lived in the same town as my mom, and they grew up a few miles from each other.

This just blew our minds. My grandma passed away a few years ago so we couldn't ask her about it. In January New York opened all state adoption records and the birth certificate and adoption records confirm she was the mother. The father's name is blurred out so we don't know who it was. Grandma had a few different boyfriends and mom can't remember who she was seeing at the time. We're sure she put the baby up for adoption because she just couldn't afford another child. They really struggled financially. My poor grandma. I know this had to be hard for her.

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I took mom to meet her sister. She is such a lovely person! My mom is 82 and Bonnie is 72 and it is just a blessing for them both to be able to get to know each other now.

[IndelibleDotInk]

amazing, and with a happy end too

[herbalhippie]

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I took mom to meet her sister. She is such a lovely person! My mom is 82 and Bonnie is 72 and it is just a blessing for them both to be able to get to know each other now.

Aww, that's awesome!

Yeah, I think there are a lot of people whose first thought is 'scam'. I learned too late don't ever mention the word 'adoption' or anything really when you first contact a DNA match. I have honed my first message to "Hi, just got my DNA results back and looks like we're a fairly close match. Would you be interested in chatting?"

Unfortunately I may have said too much when I was contacting a few matches earlier on and got ignored. Recently one gentleman replied back and sounded very approachable. Until I mentioned the word 'adoption' and then....nothing. Other matches have been very helpful! Then there are others that apparently get their results back, never do anything with them and never check their messages.

That's what I'm down to now, the no-message checkers.

[MetalMamaRocks]

When I first got on 23 and me I had someone contact me saying she was trying to find her birth parents and asked me if I knew who it could be. The test showed us as being second or third cousins. I told her I didn't have any idea.

Eventually she found out who her mother was and contacted her. It did not turn out well. I felt so sorry for her.

[herbalhippie]

When I first got on 23 and me I had someone contact me saying she was trying to find her birth parents and asked me if I knew who it could be. The test showed us as being second or third cousins. I told her I didn't have any idea.

Eventually she found out who her mother was and contacted her. It did not turn out well. I felt so sorry for her.

That is sad.

[IndelibleDotInk]

Where are they pulling the genetic data and paper trail from?

[herbalhippie]

You get your raw data from wherever did the DNA test. Then you can upload it to places like GED Match and My Heritage to potentially find other matches. 'Paper trail', for me anyway, is almost all from Ancestry dot com.

[IndelibleDotInk]

By raw data, i mean the genetic information of your potential matches. Like you got your DNA information, but where/what's the stuff to compare it to? Would they have to have used the service too to get a match?

[herbalhippie]

By raw data, i mean the genetic information of your potential matches. Like you got your DNA information, but where/what's the stuff to compare it to? Would they have to have used the service too to get a match?

When your results come in, you get the matches with people who have already tested. Then they notify you of new matches as they come in. So yeah, people would have to have used the service too.

On GED Match, people upload their info from multiple DNA testing sites, so you can see matches with people that used a site you didn't.

[MetalMamaRocks]

By raw data, i mean the genetic information of your potential matches. Like you got your DNA information, but where/what's the stuff to compare it to? Would they have to have used the service too to get a match?

When your results come in, you get the matches with people who have already tested. Then they notify you of new matches as they come in. So yeah, people would have to have used the service too.

On GED Match, people upload their info from multiple DNA testing sites, so you can see matches with people that used a site you didn't.

That's cool, I didn't know about GED match!

[Kaitlanfutbol]

GED match sounds like it's a dating website for high school dropouts