Sunday, October 5, 2014

DNA TESTING–TIME FOR ME TO SEND IN A SAMPLE

DNA test kit from Ancestry

DNA testing is becoming more and more popular in the genealogy world.  I have never done a test on myself.  That’s about to change.

However, both of my brothers have taken tests and we have their results.  One of the brothers, my younger brother, and I share the same parents.  He took the YDNA test.  My other brother and I share a mother, so he took the MtDNA test.

I thought for a long time, that was all we would need.  There haven’t been any close matches on either of those tests.  Hopefully, something will pop up sooner or later.
I finally decided that it was time for me to take the test and find out what the results are. 
  • Will they be any different than what we already have?
  • Will they give us more information on our ethnicity?
I don’t know the answer to those questions, but I’m curious.  The other kits were through Family Tree DNA and this one is through Ancestry.  

I’ll be mailing the test in tomorrow.  When I get the results I’ll post them here and let you know what I’ve learned.

Have you ever submitted a DNA sample?  How about your family members?  Have they?

SIDE NOTE:  We adopted a rescue dog several years ago. He’s cute as a button, but we didn’t have a clue as to what breeds he might be.  I sent for a doggie DNA kit and sent it in.  No photos, just the saliva.  They sent back the results that he was Irish Setter, Saluki and Chow.  All of which made perfect sense based on his attributes, black spots on his tongue, curling tail, penchant for running away and chasing absolutely everything when off leash and his aloof behavior when we first got him.

Here’s a picture of him.  While this is not genealogy related, I just had to share.

WYATT 
Stay tuned for the results.  Hey!  Maybe I’ll connect to one of you.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl


Copyright ©  2014   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

2 comments:

  1. Hate to be anonymous, but just wanted to share: Through Family Tree DNA, I administer a private project with about 15 kits of family members (my husband's side as well, but I digress). I had a male cousin take a test, in place of our deceased fathers. Results are great and interesting, and my sister and mother joined as well. Thinking I'd like to have more male participants, I asked my half-brother to join the group. As a project administrator, I was able to view the results in a graph. There's always a little wiggle room - nothing is 50/50 with genetics - but all I saw was 0.00000000% and...he's not the biological son of our father. His mother is also deceased, so there's no way of knowing the identity of his biological father. I offered to test my other two half-siblings, and the results are pending. I feel awful about the whole situation, since a fun science experiment flipped my brother's life upside down at the age of nearly 60. Luckily, we share our dad's pragmatic nature (and sense of humor), and after the initial shock, we both started tracing his mom's timeline. I upgraded his test from autosomal to Y, and we're working on it by email. He has a strong match to a particular surname, but time will tell.

    So, just a bit of advice to your readers and fans: Science doesn't lie; no matter what you believe to be true, there's always a tiny chance for a surprise.

    Also, you get 15 bonus points for that ADORABLE dog, and an extra 50 for busting him out of doggie jail. :)

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    1. I appreciate you taking the time to comment. And, I do understand why you remained anonymous. Genetic testing can certainly lead to unexpected results. Are we ready for them? Guess we never know. Good luck with all of yours. Thanks for the points for our dog. His name is Wyatt. He is a treasure and we've had him 6 years now.

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I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.