DNA Tests

[ellebud]

We didn't know either about the Yakut. They were, I guess very busy. My father said that it was possible that we had some Mongolian blood because of the original last name. The tribe, so says wikipedia, lived in Siberia. My family is from Germany and Kiev, Russia.

May I ask if you are Jewish?

[glittergal1985]

Originally Posted by ellebud

We didn't know either about the Yakut. They were, I guess very busy. My father said that it was possible that we had some Mongolian blood because of the original last name. The tribe, so says wikipedia, lived in Siberia. My family is from Germany and Kiev, Russia.

May I ask if you are Jewish?

Ethnically, yes. 47.9 %. My great grandfather was part Siberian, I'm guessing that's where it came from. Very interesting though!

[Dixie_Amazon]

I am an adult adoptee and have tested with Ancestry and 23andMe. I have uploaded my results to Family Tree DNA, GedMatch, DNA.Land and MyHeritage. MyHeritage is not ready for primetime in IMHO.

I am going to meet my bio-father in June! My bio-mom refuses contact.

As far as ethnicity some of it is very broad. If Ancestry lists you as Irish it is really more accurately described as Celtic. So it could refer to six territories widely considered Celtic nations: Brittany, Cornwall, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Man.

[honeychile]

I think I have Mr. honeychile talked into doing it! Turns out that he's the only local male cousin, and his cousins would love to get his report. Cousin #1 used 23andme, for what it's worth.

[luv n tpa]

My mother and I both did Ancestry as our Christmas gifts last year. Mine took about 8 weeks to come in. My mom got a notice in about that time frame that her sample could not deliver results, so she had to resubmit and wait another 8 weeks. Frustrating!

It was cool to see what part of my heritage comes from what side. I knew for the most part i would be at least half Polish and a quarter Norwegian. Turns out I'm 70% Eastern European and only 16% Scandinavian - however that I'm also 9% Irish! News to me, but that could absolutely be from Viking conquests. 16+9=25. On the nose.

My mother was exactly what she thought she would be - 98% Eastern European.

Neither of us have matched with any relatives closer than 4th cousins.

[honeychile]

^^Didn't they break down the Eastern European? I'm not expecting someone to be of, say, Lichtenstein descent, but Eastern Europe is pretty big!

[navane]

Originally Posted by honeychile

^^Didn't they break down the Eastern European? I'm not expecting someone to be of, say, Lichtenstein descent, but Eastern Europe is pretty big!

On Ancestry.com, it starts out by telling you a broad category - "Eastern European". It then goes on to clarify a little bit - "Europe East: Primarily located in: Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Russia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia." That doesn't really help too much as the difference between the Ukraine and Croatia is quite large.

However, Ancestry.com does have a feature called Genetic Communities where it compares your DNA to the DNA of other members and, through the family tree records, deduces where everyone is from. It's pretty cool and, for me, it hit the nail right on the head.

This is what a Genetic Community result looks like --

[luv n tpa]

Originally Posted by navane

On Ancestry.com, it starts out by telling you a broad category - "Eastern European". It then goes on to clarify a little bit - "Europe East: Primarily located in: Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Russia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia." That doesn't really help too much as the difference between the Ukraine and Croatia is quite large.

However, Ancestry.com does have a feature called Genetic Communities where it compares your DNA to the DNA of other members and, through the family tree records, deduces where everyone is from. It's pretty cool and, for me, it hit the nail right on the head.

This is what a Genetic Community result looks like --

Thanks for detailing while I've been MIA. Ancestry does have a "European Jewish" estimate separate from any other European category as well.

The genetic communities are great when syncing with your tree - it will tag your ancestors on the map that fit into the communities provided.

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by navane

On Ancestry.com, it starts out by telling you a broad category - "Eastern European". It then goes on to clarify a little bit - "Europe East: Primarily located in: Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Austria, Russia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Serbia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia." That doesn't really help too much as the difference between the Ukraine and Croatia is quite large.

However, Ancestry.com does have a feature called Genetic Communities where it compares your DNA to the DNA of other members and, through the family tree records, deduces where everyone is from. It's pretty cool and, for me, it hit the nail right on the head.

This is what a Genetic Community result looks like --

Awesome! Two of my great grandparents were from Switzerland, so I'm somewhat expecting them to show as Germanic, but if there's a community, all the better!

navane, you've made my day!

[navane]

To clarify, Ancestry will give you ALL of the genetic communities to which you belong, not just one. For example, I had my "honorary cousin" in Poland submit his DNA to see if we were related. See the earlier story in this thread; but, he's not a match so far. However, he DID come up with the exact same genetic community as I did -- Poles in Pomerania, which is the graphic of Poland with the orange dots. He also had a second genetic community - the above red-dotted German region. I said to him, "Uhm...it looks like you might also be part German?" To which he laughed and replied, "Yes, my maternal grandfather is a German from Berlin." So, again, the results were quite accurate.

[LXA SE285]

I did 23andMe and my sister did AncestryDNA. My results:

Northwestern European 78.0%
French & German 31.8%
British & Irish 18.7%
Finnish 0.2%
Broadly Northwestern European 27.3%

Southern European 11.7%
Balkan 4.0%
Iberian 2.1%
Broadly Southern European 5.6%

Ashkenazi Jewish 1.2%
Eastern European 0.6%
Broadly European 7.8%

East Asian & Native American 0.5%
Native American 0.4%
East Asian < 0.1%
Yakut < 0.1%
Broadly East Asian < 0.1%
Broadly East Asian & Native American < 0.1%

Sub-Saharan African 0.2%
East African 0.2%

Unassigned < 0.1%

My sister's results:

Ireland 38%
Italy/Greece 22%
Europe West 18%
Iberian Peninsula 5%
Great Britain 4%
Finland/Northwest Russia 3%
European Jewish 2%
Europe East 1%
Caucasus 1%
Africa 0%
Asia 0%
Native American 0%
Pacific Islander 0%

Both of us were surprised that we apparently have little to no Native American ancestry—our grandmother (mom's mom) grew up thinking her father was full-blooded or mostly Cherokee.

[ellebud]

An fyi: eastern european generally is code for Jewish. Since Jewish is NOT a race but a religion part of who one is is about the cities or ghettos (de facto not Nazi type ghettos or walled off) ghettos.

In any case what one is doesn't make who one is.

[navane]

Originally Posted by ellebud

An fyi: eastern european generally is code for Jewish. Since Jewish is NOT a race but a religion part of who one is is about the cities or ghettos (de facto not Nazi type ghettos or walled off) ghettos.

In any case what one is doesn't make who one is.

I disagree. Eastern European is code for......Eastern European. That includes the peoples of Russia, Latvia, Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, etc. If you meant to say that Jewish is generally code for Eastern European, you might have a better case.

[honeychile]

Having been a tour hostess through The Nationality Classrooms, I've learned to never paint such a wide brushstroke over any group of countries! I've seen people come close to fisticuffs over centuries-old borderlines!

FWIW, what I've been told (and have discovered through genealogy), my ethnic background is Scots, Irish, English, and German/Swiss. I expect that there could be some Iberian and/or Nordic, due to the Irish, but we'll see. I'm sure that there will be a surprise or two!

[Jen]

So my mom did 23andme and it phased with my results which updated them. I'm hoping to get my dad done too. This is a big reason why I prefer 23andme over Ancestry DNA. Although Ancestry broke my 70% of British and Irish down to 62% Irish (meaning Ireland, Scotland, Wales) and 13% Great Britain which was nice to know.

I like 23andme more for matching to relatives, and I like their comparison tools.

I have a question for anyone that's familiar with family trees and genetics. I have a great-grandfather who was born in Jersey in the Channel Islands, and his side of the family I can trace back in the Channel Islands to the 1600s. I'm wondering what they'd show up as genetically? I am assuming British/Irish looking at my DNA, but the islands are close to France, so I'm wondering if that's where the French/German factors in?