And why did you do a DNA test?

Question

Just curious about everyone's thoughts on why they have done a DNA test.   Here is the reason I ask.   

I have several "brick walls" that I am trying to work through.   I thought DNA testing would help.   Here is my issue.   My brother and I have done both FamilyTree DNA and Ancestry.com DNA.   We have lots of great matches, some of which the connections are obvious, but many have no connection that we can figure out (I am talking about matches in the 80+ cM range, across more than 5 segments,  2nd-4th cousin value).   Where the connections were not obvious I sent the standard message asking them to look at my WikiTree names and profiles.   See https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:DNATests&u=5472076  The message gives them links to my compact tree https://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Lee-5956/5 and a list of surnames https://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Lee-5956/10

I have sent over 100 messages like this and have received 1 response.   Is it that most people are doing DNA only to discover ethnic heritage and not doing it to find family?

Just curious what others think.

Comments

I decided to do DNA to identify my chromosomal breakdown.  

Ethnicity is too estimated to be too useful so I generally ignore that.   

If I come across a match that has just surfaced, or hasn't made the connection themselves I send them a message with what I found out and let them follow it up with their research.   I confirm the connection for those with trees showing a match with my own research before noting the ancestral line that match is on.    And, for those without tree's I attempt to identify them and trace their line back to a common a link.   However, I have more trees drawn up with no ancestral matches found.   So, the closer ones I send a message and hope they can shed light on their end.  Some respond and we help each other and other's don't for one reason or another.

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I did it mostly out of idle curiosity. My brick walls are too far back for DNA to help with very much.

But having done an Ancestry DNA test, I discovered two interesting facts.

I knew I had slaveowners in my background. I always wondered whether any had raped any of their slaves. Not long after my test results came back, I was contacted by an African American gentleman who I match at about 18 cMs. So yes, there's a rapist in my ancestry.

I had discovered that my great-grandmother had given birth to a son four months after her wedding, and that the son had never been acknowledged. My grandmother, who was born 11 months after her brother and who left extensive family history notes and records, never mentioned him; whether she knew about him or not I do not know. I'm certain that my mother never knew she had an unacknowledged uncle. But I knew nothing about this uncle other than his date and place of birth. Through a DNA match, I found his name and established contact with one of his descendants, with whom I match as a second-cousin level (we're actually first cousins three times removed).

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Robin, you've got lots of good answers here, so not much reason to do more than a short comment.  I've been involved with DNA testing for 17 years.  I first tested my dad's mtDNA to help a purported cousin prove their maternal line.  Two years later I had my dad's Y-DNA tested to confirm his paternal line.  Then six years ago I had his autosomal DNA tested (and also tested my mom) to help me break down brick walls.

I haven't had much help from cousins with regard to breaking down brick walls, but as others have told you, I've built out their trees and map chromosomes to figure out my tree.  As Julie mentioned, I've expanded my tree (which I keep on ancestry) to include the descendants of siblings of my direct lines.  Certainly it gets frustrating with the lack of responses.  If you are on ancestry, work with the matches that have a tree.  On other sites (I'm on ancestry, MyHeritage, 23andMe, and FTDNA), I reach out to people and ask if they have a tree that I can view.  I ask them to let me know the names/dates of their grandparents if they don't have a tree and offer to try and put together a tree to figure out our common ancestor.  For me it has gotten easier/better as times goes by, as I have over 60% of my parents' chromosome segments mapped, so I have a good idea of which of my lines my newfound cousins are matching me through.  I do think you are doing a good thing by adding the collapsed Wikitree pedigree chart.  But I've yet to have anyone tell me they figured out our match from it.  It at least opens up the conversation, though.

Answer 1

It's true, a lot of people are doing it for ethinic heritage, and maybe haven't been on ancestry for a long time.

However, also by asking people to look at your wikitree you are asking them to do the work of digging through your tree and figuring out how you two are related and a lot of people might not be willing to put in the time to do that. Personally I will use shared matches and their own tree if possible to narrow down what side of the family they are related on and then only send 3 or 4 surnames from that side to ask if they recognize them. That's a much simpler question than asking them to look at my tree and I have had a pretty good response rate, though there are still people who don't respond. Also if they've put up a tree even with just a few people I will often build them a quick tree (focusing on the lines that seem most likely to connect to mine) to figure out how they are related, even if they never reply.

Comments

So, you suggest that instead of sending them to this page

https://www.wikitree.com/treewidget/Lee-5956/10 I should just give them a few of the names????

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If you can narrow down which side of the family they are on, yes. Just send a few names from that side.

Or if they've posted a tree, used that to try and figure out how they are related.

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Robin and Janelle,

If either or both of you ever have the opportunity to attend a seminar by Blaine Bettinger, PhD, JD, you will get some real eye opening and outstanding learning as to how to use Y DNA, mtDNA and mtDNA! He has a tree of 60,000 that he grew as he became more and more involved in genealogy. I attended an all day seminar that he did last Saturday. It was sponsored by the Southern Arizona Genealogical Society. It cost all of $75 and included lunch and snacks (and raffles, which I never win, but the $$ goes to a good cause--genealogical societies). His information helps determine how one is related, how to break through brick walls, and so forth.

At any rate, just a suggestion. Might want to google his name and see if he will be presenting at a genealogical society near you. He is also very approachable. He shared with the audience how he found a 'brother' that he and his family (except for his mother) were unaware of!

Dr. Bettinger will be doing a webinar for RootsTech in Salt Lake City next week on Law Enforcement and DNA. Sadly, I will not be able to log on as I will be in Phoenix doing work for ASU!

Happy DNA hunting you two!

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Janelle, I agree "1000%"!

Rule #1: Make it SHORT. IF somebody sees a long message, they might think "I don't have time to go through all this right now." - and then NEVER come back to it.

Rule #2: Make it as easy for them as possible. It's especially true with the closer relations that you ought to be able to figure out at LEAST which great-grandparent's side of the family they're on. Figure out who your applicable grandparent's first cousins are, and float THAT list by them. Even if it's their great-grandparent, there's at LEAST a 50/50 chance that they'll recognize the surname.

They might LIKE saying, "Hey - that's my grandpa you're talking about, we're really related!"

Rule #3: "Fire and Forget". It's like the proverbial "message in a bottle". You might hear back shortly you might hear back in months, or you might not ever hear from them at all. Anything they tell you - EVER - should help, and if they don't get back you're at least no worse off.

Answer 2

I have had limited response from messages that I have sent, also.  I have sent them a list of some of the common surnames and haven't been able to figure out how some of them are related.  I think it is too much to ask someone to look through all the branches on wikitree that I have uploaded, but I did see something that seemed like a good idea when I was working on something else.  

Someone posted a link to their 'Compact Tree' from wikitree, which quickly gives 8 generations of names that could easily be searched or reviewed to see if a common ancestor stands out in the list.

I have been in contact with a couple of people that were 'adopted' that we didn't know about, so some of those type of gremlins have also come forward.  I think that is partly why some people that are very active in contacting others have had their DNA test.

Answer 3

Adoptions - my mother was adopted which is why she and I - and later my sister - all did our DNA tests.

We needed to find out who my mothers biological family were.  Which we have done.

I also have several other "Cousins" who have a high DNA match with me and my mother as well, and they too are also adopted, but since they choose not to dig into their adoption records at this time, there is nothing further that I can do. I suspect that their adopted parents are still alive at this point in time.

But yes many of those who do DNA tests, do so for their ethnicity and have no interest in checking out their matches whatsoever.

The one item of good news is that my mother has made contact with her half siblings - her mothers children after her mother later got married.

Answer 4

I hear you regarding the response rate. Like you, I’ve sent out dozens and dozens of messages, with only two or three responses. The return rate is really discouraging. A couple of adoptees have reached out to me, and two of them I have been able to connect to my family. But that’s it.

It’s a bit baffling the number of people who do these DNA tests but do not post their family trees along with the test. I get it, some folks may not know their family tree, but I match with a lot of people who have trees and keep them hidden. I find that really annoying, especially when Ancestry.com gives me little leaf that tells me we have common ancestors.

I did my DNA test to try and find more about the Stewart side of my family. With a name as common as Stewart, it’s been very difficult to determine my heritage past my great great grandfather.

Comments

If AncestryDNA gives you the "Common Ancestor" indicator for someone with a private tree, you're in business. You just click on the thing that shows how you're related, on just look on ThruLines. If there are blank boxes without names, you can STILL fill in most, if not all of them anyway.

The thing is, ThruLines will use information from PUBLIC trees to fill in the names, if available. So if that branch is NOT available on a public tree, you can just add it to yours.

Start with the top KNOWN person in their line, and add all that person's children. Sometimes it's pretty quick, and sometimes it takes hours (maybe up to a day or two), but eventually the next box down should be filled in with the name.

Then just repeat, until you have the whole line. Usually, you only run into trouble with the most recent generation or two - it can be hard to find out who "the living" are (obituaries are usually the way to go with that).

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What I don't get is how occasionally I don't hear back from an ADOPTEE, who has clearly taken the test to try to find their biological family.

Or when people on GEDmatch don't get back to you. Practically the WHOLE POINT of being on GEDmatch is to collaborate on chromosome-level research.

Another thing that doesn't make sense is how AncestryDNA invites you to make a tree for free (but without the resources behind the pay wall) but then doesn't automatically ATTACH the tree to the DNA test. How many people are "out there" who thought they were all set because they did a tree, and don't realize they need to do ONE extra step? I guess the problem is that you can attach a test to different places on the tree (so you only need one tree, even if you have several family members tested).

BTW, I hear ya, about the Scots. I have some Scotch-Irish, and while their surnames may not be like "Smith" relative to the general population, within their communities it's often common. Then there's how the men are mostly named either John, James, William, Alexander, of Robert, and they name everybody after their forefathers. You can't tell families apart, especially if they're related to each other.

DNA should definitely be able to help you go back a generation or two, but yeah - you need some COOPERATION from your distant relatives. I suppose ti doesn't help that the main "authority figures" in genetic genealogy are semi-quacks who will tell you that it's "not useful" for people that distant. Ideally, people would eventually start getting their skills up with this genetic genealogy stuff, and "miracles" would be happening, but sometimes it seems like the very people teaching everybody are undermining the whole thing instead of moving it forward.

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A word of warning: ThruLines provides suggestions based on personal trees, which could contain errors. Those suggestions should be verified from other sources if accuracy is important.

Answer 5

I started off hoping to find some new connections in my ancestry, and ended up confirming an urban legend that was considered to be a family secret (that my grandfather wasn't my biological grandfather). I have used it to reach out to others who might be genetically connected to me in some way or another and have had very little success in this area. Seems that most people are reluctant to connect with someone who "might" be who they say they are, and don't want to get hooked up with a kook. I do get this. There are so many fake emails and fake phone calls these days, it's not difficult to begin to believe they're all that way. We've become a somewhat jaded culture overall and have a hard time dealing with honest, simple folk these days who have little to no ulterior motives.

Comments

That's 100% true, and you have to appreciate the irony.

If some stranger contacts you, and says they're some relative you don't know, and asks some questions  about your relatives, how do you really know they're who they say they are?

I suppose you could, say, have them do a DNA test to be sure they're for-real ...  

Answer 6

Robin, the number one reason I did a DNA test (and paid for those of about 20 of my relatives), was to validate my existing tree.  The results have been well worthwhile.  Branching out in order to extend my tree has been an added benefit.

I agree with several comments others have already made.  Most people do appear to have tested only to learn their ethnicities, especially in the last couple of years as Ancestry did so much advertising.  I couldn't care less about what Ancestry says my ethnicity is because I already know that.

There are also many people who have done DNA tests and just don't have a clue how to use them.  I know from my own experience that some people, even when they test in the hope of finding an unknown parent (as one example), never take that next step of consulting a genealogist or a WikiTree Adoption Angel, etc.

Yes, the response rate to inquiries is disappointingly low, and more so in recent years.  But that is not the only tool you have for identifying your matches.

If you want to learn who your matches are, one important tool is descendant tracing.  That is, for each of your ancestors, trace their siblings' descendants all the way down to present times.  That will not only provide ideas for identifying your matches; it can also identify people you might contact for old-fashioned reasons--just meeting new relatives.  

Another tool for identifying your matches (if they are anywhere but Ancestry) is chromosome mapping.  Once you have maps, you can tell how you are related people in a general sense, even if you can't identify the entire chain of ancestors.  And even if you don't have maps, you can learn a lot from their shared matches.

Comments

By the way, it is not only a matter of my contacting matches.  Sometimes they contact me.  You can increase the odds that someone will want to contact you with transparency on your own part.  I have a large public tree on Ancestry that others can consult.  Sometimes they can even find themselves on it (living people are private, but matches might find their parents, and see that there are children listed).  I use my real name on GEDmatch.  My WikiTree profile is a public as possible, so that people can see who my ancestors are.  And I respond to every single person who contacts me, which sometimes leads to additional contacts.

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It's ironic, but having all that transparency can work the other way, too. If you make it obvious how you're related, they don't NEED to contact you to find out! But that's actually a GOOD thing. Isn't part of the idea to share your common heritage with other family members who are less genealogically able?

I've done the same thing, to a degree. I think I've got most of my dad's 3rd cousins on my AncestryDNA tree, and even 4th cousins on some branches (especially those that have a DNA connection). On the Standley side (my surname in it's original form) I even have branches going out to my 6th cousins! I'll never get EVERYBODY on the tree out to that level - there are many thousands of them - but I think I have most of them down to my gt-grandfather's level. Countless others are in my offline database.

Another advantage of this is that AncestryDNA's ThruLines doesn't get confused. People find their people on YOUR tree, and copy it, so you don;t get as many problems with bogus or unverified trees. The number of dubious ThruLines matches I have are very small.

Answer 7

I tested to break down brick walls. I've smashed a few but it was either mostly or entirely my own work. I found most of the people who responded to my emails had no idea how to work their matches, didn't understand what the results were telling them, and hadn't progressed beyond BDM dates for their direct line. So much valuable information is missed when people only look at BDM indexes. If you want to break down those walls, accept that you will need to construct your matches' trees, check for accuracy and do all the interpretation yourself.

Answer 8

A 2nd cousin once removed had DNA tested to try to locate her unknown paternal grandfather, and in the process she had a match with a mutual distant cousin, where are ancestors were 2 sisters born in 1750/1760s. I had not realised it would be possible to go back that far, so my husband & I both tested with FTDNA, my sister & her son tested with Ancestry & recently our Mum tested at FTDNA.

I've also found very few matches will respond to messages (even close relations), but have managed to crack a few brickwalls (one over 35 years old). I also work on the trees for matches, and have managed to connect a few.

Generally, I am using DNA to confirm my 35+ years of research.

Answer 9

I originally took it (23 & me) to see a general ethnic breakdown. On my mother's side I am Italian. My grandmother's family from Italy and my grandfather's from Sicily. We wanted to see the Greek and Middle East/N. African breakdown. My biological father's side is German from his mother and French Canadian/Irish/German from his father, or so we believed. I do the 23 & me in Jan 2019 and I get results showing me related to people I have never heard of. All Southerners. I'm a NY Italian and as far as I knew all my family came here from Italy, Sicily, Germany and Canada. So this past Nov I grabbed an ancestry test. I get the results and I see one of my Aunts on there. My biological father's sister. I notice that we only share 907 cm's, making her my 1/2 Aunt, and that we have a grand total of 6 matches in common, 1 is my nephew and another is her grandson. The other matches are on her mother's (my grandmother's) side only. I have ZERO matches on what should be my grandfather side.

I then have a match with a total stranger who is a 2nd cousin, who dna wise, is as close to me as all of the cousins I have grown up with. In order for us to be this closely related we would have to have grandparents that were siblings.  I look at his tree and see that he has a grandmother with the last name of Odom. I have tons of matches with this surname, it's the only name that he has in his tree that matches my matches. His grandmother had 2 brothers, one of whom I strongly believe met my grandmother around March of 1941.

Comments

From what I hear, 23andMe is notoriously problematic for genealogy. People get on there trying to learn medical things, not the least bit interested in genealogy. I'd suggest uploading your AncestryDNA test to GEDmatch and MyHeritage.

It sounds like you have the disadvantage of your American roots not going very far back. DNA testing is far more common in America, and all those relations out there that might help you out by testing are overseas and not testing.

Still, sometimes you might catch a break, where, say, a cousin or 2nd cousin of your immigrant ancestors also came over.

If you've identified, via "shared matches" clusters connected to three of your grandparents, and this Odom relative isn't connected to them, that sounds pretty compelling, as to it being a relation on your mystery bio-grandfather's side. How many cMs for this "total stranger"? It really sounds like you're on the right track.

I'd try to sort out how some of those other Odom matches connect to this guy's grandmother. I'm guessing that pretty quickly a picture will emerge that will give you a great deal of confidence how you're related to these people. Brick wall smashed!

Even I (with American roots going 4 to 10+ generations back) get those DNA matches to people whose roots are entirely in the Deep South, despite my having no ancestors or known relatives being anywhere south of Baltimore. What I make of it is that there are certain DNA segments that have persisted for quite a few generations - that our common ancestor is further back than my 4th-great grandparents, most of whom I know about (the ones who aren't in Ireland, anyway!) Really it shows how practically everybody in this big country of ours are connected by blood, in at least some small way - that even we Northeasterners are CONNECTED to our Southern "brethren". From what I've seen of the history of the South, it was settled, in large part, by people from the North back in the mid 1700s. Back then, if you were looking for open land to farm (which was the only occupation back then, for the most part) your choice was to either hack your way through the forests and mountains, going West, or get on a boat and go South. There was SOME direct immigration from abroad (especially with the Scotch-Irish) but I think most immigration from overseas went to the big sea ports up North.

Answer 10

I originally took a DNA test to see my heritage breakdown because my daughter requested one for Christmas and had some surprising results.  However, I also started uploading that data to other sites to try to find matches that would give me hints on who my paternal grandfather's biological dad was.  He was adopted by his stepfather when he was very young and the family was never told.  

With that being said, I'm still no closer to finding his father but I have found many cousins!  Some have reached out to me and have told me who their parents were and we have figured out how we're related.  Some we haven't figured  out the connection yet.  I think I've probably had about an 80% response rate to my queries but then I've mostly asked those that have had a connection to a distant great grandparent.  And I have responded to everyone that sent a query to me even if I haven't figured the connection out.

Comments

Sounds like you need to run a few things by us here on G2G, or run it past our "Adoption Angels". Figuring a grandfather out ought to be pretty feasible most of the time (at least s far as figuring out that he was one among possibly several brothers). You sound like you have information that might even tell you the answer, if you had a little help interpreting what it's telling you.

Answer 11

I tested at Ancestry and FTDNA and have also paid for a number of other relatives to test at FTDNA - several for Y-DNA. My purpose was to both confirm lines and try to break through some brick walls. Last year DNA finally paid off when one huge wall crumbled! I also have DNA leads on three other lines that have been problematic for years. Now, to find the time to dig in and really work on those!!

Answer 12

I received a message from my nephew who had already had his DNA tested. A woman who was a close DNA match to him had contacted him. She was looking for her biological father. My nephew, who knew I knew more about our family genealogy, asked me to communicate with her. I was reluctant at first, but after talking to another relative, I talked with her and agreed to have my DNA tested to see if she would also be a close DNA match to me. The results confirmed she was, indeed, my first cousin I had never known about and that her half-sisters/brothers had never known about either. Unfortunately, her biological father passed away quite a few years ago so she didn't get to meet him in person, but she did get many new relatives and the new connection has ended up being a blessing for most of us.

Answer 13

I also submitted my DNA to break down several brick walls. In addition to myself and my siblings, I also had first cousins on both sides of my family as well as my mother and father‘s living first cousins to test. I was also blessed to test my mother prior to her demise. This has helped greatly with identifying where the match most likely originates, or at least which side of the family the match originates.

This has improved the process and I have been able to extend my mothers family by several generations on multiple lines. With DNA I was able to also Find one of her missing sets of great grandparents. We are still missing I set but we have the matches so it is a matter of doing the hard research including traveling to a couple state archives in hopes they have records with our answers  

ThruLines at ancestry.com has suggested several ancestors on my paternal side; however,I cannot document the paper trail or even a close paper trail with some of their suggestions so I am not adding those to my tree obviously. Other than distant cousins and branches I have not been able to extend my paternal tree with DNA.

Good Luck and Happy Hunting.

Answer 14

I am an adoptee. I took a DNA test to find my biological family. Starting with a third cousin with the same name that was on my adoption papers, I have now traced both sides of my family tree, which has over 2500 names in it.

Some people do the DNA test to find out their heritage (which varies greatly from site to site) and are not interested in building/submitting a family tree. Many have no idea how DNA works, and a letter sent explaining how much DNA you share and what it means may as well be Greek to them.

I have one 1,001 cM match who insists I must be a second cousin "because I already know all my first cousins." I'm not going to upset that applecart. I didn't tell her I was an adoptee. 

Asking someone to look at Wikitree names and profiles may be too much "work" for some people. They may have no clue about their ancestors' names and couldn't match them even if they were willing to do so. Again, they may have no clue about how DNA works and may not understand how significant an 80+ cM match is. Are you on MyHeritage or GedMatch? My Heritage is a free upload (analysis may cost extra) and it has a chromosome browser and a feature called auto-clusters which will group matches together based on shared DNA. I believe FTDNA also has a chromosome browser, as does GEDMatch. Please PM me if you have any questions.

Comments

Obviously you'd have a better "read" of this cousin, having actually had some contact, but some people might actualy WANT to know if they have a "mystery relative". People who are too close to the situation might resist the truth coming out, but a 1st cousin might be able to deal. Really, they have the means to figure it out themselves, if they look at it long enough - you undoubtedly match relatives on one-half of their family, not 1/4. If you didn't explain that you're adopted, I'm having a hard time imagining what you even talked to them about. It seems like you're at least fortunate that they actually responded to your message.

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Frank,

This is the second time I have responded to a question on these boards, and the second time that you've replied to my comment with a snarky retort: This time you were a little nicer: "It seems like you're at least fortunate that they actually responded to your message."

Does being a jackass come naturally to you, or do you have to work at it? Do you have nothing better to do than scan responses to questions, looking for someone to snipe at? Get a life.

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If you took the time to read the various responses on this thread, you might notice that it is positively littered with people expressing their frustration at how rare it is to actually get a response from people. Given that context, I don't see how anyone could interpret what I said as "snarky", and I find your own comment to be quite rude.

If you don't want to "upset the apple cart", then don't. Nobody's making you - it's your life.

Answer 15

I did mine because my father talked to my great-aunt who is in her 90s and did hers. She and my dad's cousin tested and she wanted to see how we all connected and everything. So, my dad talked my great-aunt about everything and he asked me if I wanted to test. I said "Sure". I asked my mom and the rest as they say is history.

Around the same time, a professional genealogist who is also a 4th cousin of mine asked me if I had considered testing. I wasn't sure. I talked to my dad and he had the same conversation with my great-aunt. So....ummm....

Maybe it was peer pressure?

Answer 16

Depending on your brick walls, I'd suggest your brother do some Y-DNA tests at Family Tree DNA. While I didn't resolve my brick wall I found a number of matches with surnames that neither matched mine nor any other surname in my tree.

Answer 17

I was curious who I would match.  My sister gave me a MyHeritage cheek swab autosomal test for my birthday.  My parents are only children so I have no Aunts nor Uncles nor first cousins!  I thought it would be a pretty short list.   I did not recognize any names at first upon looking for my matches.  I start looking at my tree, and building out more of it to see if I could find some of my matches.  YES, as I added siblings of my GGGrandparents and exploded all down to as much as I could do with FamilySearch records.. I found promising results.  I contacted everyone who was considered to be a 2nd cousin or closer.  Few replied until I told them how I thought we matched and showed them.  

I have taken 3 more autosomal tests since then, one being 23andme and they have a unique product right now with a tree in beta form that tries to put its own tree together based on matching chromosomes.  I have a few people who I know where they connect back to my GGGrandparents, but do not have the entire path worked out.  I get no reply from them when asking for their thoughts.  Unless I tell them exactly how we match I almost never get a reply.  If I do get a reply it is a promise to help and nothing ever comes.

I also have taken a YDNA-700 test and have found several people with different name spellings.  FIVE different surnames all spelt a little differently.  Two individuals I contacted, both with different spellings of us all also took a YDNA-37 test and as I predicted, we all match within 20 generations of our MRCA.  My YDNA-700 test will be available soon, but the YDNA-37 upgrade to YDNA-111 is now being used, and the upgrades are fantastic with no additional testing required from me, just the lab test from my stored swab.

YES, I am using DNA to try to break down barriers if I can.  I am helping others build their tree in hopes I can link theirs to mine.  If you like 10,000 piece puzzles with lots of blue sky, then this DNA research is for you!   Oh and by the way, my 10,000 piece puzzle is over 38,000 individuals.  It's amazing how many people you need to put in to find these missing DNA matches..

Comments

The more I do this stuff, the more it becomes clear that it really IS like a jigsaw puzzle - the more you find out, the easier the next piece is to figure out.

Don't expect to fit ALL those 38,000 people into your puzzle, though! DNA segments can persist for a dozen generations and more - there's just no way you're going to make sense out of some of them (and by "some of them" I really mean "90%+ of those matches below 40M"). Nonetheless, that still leaves a VAST number of matches to tell you all kinds of interesting things!

Answer 18

My husband gave me a kit for Christmas several years ago.

He knows I love genealogy and was looking for something to enhance what I have.  Then last year we both did additional tests because we wanted to see what more we could find out.

Answer 19

I have multiple brick walls that I've been researching forever and am hoping that DNA could at least point me in the right direction.  So far, it seems to be doing that...I can't wait to see the state of my research in ten more years-genealogy is definitely a lifelong hobby!

Answer 20

I was stuck on a very solid paternal line brick wall and hoped that having the Y DNA test done would at least put a few cracks in it, which it did. I cannot say it broke down the wall but it did tell me I was on the correct research path.

I had my nephew, my half-brother's son's, Y and autosomal DNA tested and his results, once I added them to the MyHeritage database, were the dramatic kind.  My mother had never revealed who my brother's father was until shortly before her death, and the name she gave me then went to a brick wall because she couldn't or wouldn't provide details such as birth dates or relatives of the father. Anyway, the Y DNA came back and it had no matches to the surname she had given us, and the surname that did match wasn't close or specific enough to trace down. When I added the autosomal results to MyHeritage though it came back with an immediate family or very close relative match. I was able to use that information along with the Y DNA matches to identify the father's immediate family, and narrow down to one of three brothers in that family.

Both my nephew and his twin sister are content with what we know now, and I am as well, and we do not desire to dig any deeper.

DNA is a fantastic genealogy tool, as long as you go into it with an open and accepting mind . Self-educate yourself, and anyone you plan to convince to test, about what DNA tests can and might reveal BEFORE you have tests done. Don't judge anyone after you get the results, even if the results contain surprising information. DNA reveals what has happened in the past, it really shouldn't mean anything about what happens today or tomorrow.

Comments

Indeed! Genealogy - and especially genetic genealogy - is fundamentally a search for the truth. If you let yourself get judgmental, you can't be objective, and it undermines what you're trying to do!