Ancestral DNA Profile Results

[W!nston]

We recently had our DNA tested to find our ancestral heritage. I blocked out my name and some other details for obvious reasons but this image is a screen grab of those results:

One fact that surprised me was my ancestors immigrated between 1700 and 1740. I already knew they landed at Saint Simon's Island, GA. I just didn't know it was that early on in the history of the colonies.

I created a family tree and so far I have 4,000+ matches. Over 1,000 close relatives, 1st cousins or 2nd cousins. Many live in near by states. Some popped up in European locations.

If I had a lot more money, I mean a whole lot more money, I could hire experts to delve into my families history to learn more but I'll have to make do with my own efforts. Who knows what I might turn up on my own. It'll be an adventure.

I was wondering if anyone else on GH has been brave enough to take the plunge and have their DNA tested.

 

[topdog]

I've done my family tree on Ancestry with the help of my brother who is really in to it. He has done the DNA thing, but I haven't.

BTW, if anyone is interested they are having a St Patrick's Day sale over at Ancestry if anyone wants to get the DNA package.

 

[waistingmytime]

That sounds like an interesting thing for me to do one day .. I have two questions if you don't mind W!nston. Did you go somewhere and have it done or send off the samples somewhere ? About how much did it cost you ?

 

[W!nston]

That sounds like an interesting thing for me to do one day .. I have two questions if you don't mind W!nston. Did you go somewhere and have it done or send off the samples somewhere ? About how much did it cost you ?

I ordered sample kits from Ancestry dot com

At the time the kits were specially priced for $59 apiece.

The sample tube you get looks like it would take a lot to fill but it's a very small amount really. The tube is like 4" long but there is a bottom at about 1.5" down and the fill line is about .5" down so it's about 1" or maybe 30ml of spit required. That's about spitting 2 normal times. You must not drink, eat or smoke for 30 minutes prior to collecting the sample. You receive the tube, a sealable zip-bag to put it in, a small sealable postage-paid box to put the sample in and drop it in the mail. It only took about 4 weeks for my results to be ready. But the wait time is dependent on how busy they are when you submit it. They say it might take 6 or 8 weeks.

Getting your DNA profile is one thing. Completing your family tree is another. You can access their ancestry database with a membership subscription which was beyond my reach at this time. You can hire professional researchers who will do all the work for you ... at a greater cost, of course, lol.

So for now I just check on my 'hints', which is what they call hits on your DNA profile that suggest a relationship whether close or distant. I chatted with a fourth cousin I never knew. He offered to help me by visiting cemeteries or checking obituaries for names and dates if that would help. He lives near my parents' family homeplaces. He hit me up again a few days later and gave me the names of his great-grandmother and her sisters who were part of my mother's grandmothers family. It was a strange feeling to hear those names for some reason. Almost like time traveling or something.

Anyway, I've got them now and if I make more connections that will add to my family tree again which will reveal more 'hints' and more connections. It may take more years than I have left to reach back to the day my ancestors first set foot on American soil but that's okay. It's a fun journey.

 

[brmstn69]

It may sound paranoid, but I have issues with submitting my DNA, you never know who might have access to it or how it will be used.

That said, one of the more obscure attractions in my small little mid-western city is "Willard Library" which is a small privately donated and funded but public library. Which also houses one of the most extensive genealogy databases in the world. Unfortunately, it only accessible in person at the library. Researchers from all over the world come here to use it. Years ago, a distant cousin traced my family history all the way back to a Blackfoot tribe that assisted the Lewis and Clark expedition on the Native American side of my family and a Christian missionary who died in an insane asylum in the late 1700's on the German side...