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Where personal DNA testing is today

Feb11

All the DNA testing companies are still refining and improving their bio-ancestry estimates (which they call ethnicity). They are getting closer to agreeing with each other now, but that aspect of DNA testing is not yet a firm science. A number of companies have recently updated their estimates. Ancestry did a major update in October 2024 (click here for that white paper) and MyHeritage just did an update as well. The main effect on my family’s results is a far more accurate prediction of our Norwegian percentage. In the past, all the companies, except Ancestry, called our Norwegian Scandinavian and English. MyHeritage even gets the locations in Norway correct, since we have ancestors from 3 different areas. This is due to my grandad, born in Kristiansand, marrying the daughter of Norwegian immigrants (from Vestland and Hordaland) who met in Brooklyn.

Above are my brother’s current estimates with the new MyHeritage update. Since we have one German Jewish grandfather, I love to see how much each company assigns to Ashkenazi (northern European Jewish) for me and my brother. They all agree that I got about 8% more from our grandad than he did, but the exact amounts are different. Plus MyHeritage now breaks the Ashkenazi into Western and Eastern Europe. My brother got those refinements (added in to Jewish below) but I did not.

Our various bio-ancestries, note Family Tree DNA is actually called Scandinavian not Norwegian. Also the extra jewish regions for MyHeritage have been added back in.

In the past MyHeritage showed only 44% Scandinavian and 27% English/Irish/Scottish which did not fit with the fact that my Dad is Norwegian going back to the 1500s. Now they show me with 53% Norwegian and no British. Ancestry has long since gotten rid of the erroneous British etc. prediction (it’s now 1%) while Family Tree DNA still has that. Yes my ancestors visited the British Isles and undoubtedly left some genetic material … While he was still alive my Dad did a 23andme test and they predict 97.3 Scandinavian for him with the rest Finnish. Unlike MyHeritage and Ancestry, 23andme does not break down Scandinavian by country.

I have a previous blog post (click here) about our ethnicity percentages where I remind my readers that “Although you inherit half of your DNA from each parent, they do not have to pass you an equal amount from each of their parents.” As you can see above, my brother and I got different amounts from our Jewish grandfather.

As the experienced tester knows, it’s the relative matching where the companies excel, although the exact relationships of more distant relatives cannot be accurately predicted. Even close family relationships, like uncle versus half brother versus grandad, are not always clear. (Click here for my post on that). Looking at that person’s relationships to other family members plus age and location can often get you to an answer.

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DNA day sales end today!

Apr26

Dna-splitNational DNA day on April 25 celebrates the day that Crick, Watson, et al published their papers on the structure of DNA. There is an article in Wikipedia about it at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA_Day

Both Ancestry.com and Family Tree DNA have been celebrating this date with sales of autosomal DNA test kits that end today. So buy a few!

23andme did not have a sale, but has sent a $50 off coupon out to people who have already tested there as a mother’s day sale or gift and that is good through next Sunday.

See my DNA testing page for a comparison of the sites. Remember that if you test at ancestry you can transfer those results to Family Tree DNA (click here for my post on that with the details)

DNA testing has been a blessing for adoptees

Oct3

I can only imagine the pain of not knowing your family’s medical history or origins or why your mother gave you up for adoption.

DNA testing has reunited many adoptees with their birth families. Some get lucky and find their biological parents within days of their test results. Others work on it for years before succeeding. There are some wonderful reunion stories at DNAadoption.com – Trish’s story moved me to tears, as did many of the others. That web site has a tried and true methodology and classes for using DNA in these searches.

Richard Hill, an adoptee who found his biological roots, has just published an excellent two page summary of how to use DNA testing for adoptees. A great starting point, it is available at http://www.dna-testing-adviser.com/support-files/seven-guidelines-for-adoptees.pdf

Also if you have not read his autobiographical story of his search, I highly recommend it; click on image at the left to get that book from Amazon. It reads like a good mystery novel.

Times have changed now and for many it is no longer an embarrassment to have a child out of wedlock. These days an adoption can be open, which solves the medical and ancestry issues for the adoptee (see http://www.adoptionhelp.org/qa/what-open-adoption ). But back in the 1950s and 1960s, being unmarried and pregnant was a huge social stigma, so many of those women still want to hide that fact today.

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A Success with my DNA Spreadsheet

Aug7

The other day I got an email from Katy, a new close cousin match for my Dad at family tree DNA, a 2nd to 4th cousin. I went and looked at where she matched Dad and saw two quite large segments,  34.47 cM and 18.87 cM. So I added those segments to Dad’s master spreadsheet and saw that the smaller one overlapped an 11.9 cM match with a known 3rd cousin on my WOLD line. But he was tested only at 23andme so I could not compare them. However because I am tested at both, as well as Dad, I could use the comparison with me to determine if they matched each other (see my post on alternate triangulation) and yes we all matched. So I wrote Katy back that she looked to be related on my WOLD line and she replied oh yes, my grandmother was a Wold!

My Gg-grandparents Jorgen and Anna Wold from another cousin

My great-great-grandparents Jorgen and Anna Wold

Her grandmother was the granddaughter of my great-great-grandparents whose pictures are shown above. So they are her gg-grandparents too, making us 3rd cousins and my Dad her 2nd cousin once removed. I had received these photos from another 3rd cousin some time ago. My family no longer had those pictures. One delightful thing about finding new 3rd and 4th cousins is that they often have photographs and stories of ancestors that are new to you.

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