AncestryDNA

[vvfj]

Originally Posted by Lincoln

Would you mind telling us how many matches you have here (or 23andMe)? I was wondering what kind of numbers to expect.

263 on FF 39 3rd-4th and 25 3-5th

997 on 23andme

[Lincoln]

vvfj - Thank you for the info. (BTW, I just got the kit today - will mail tomorrow unless I forget) I have 32 matches on FF and 360 at 23andMe and hope to get something on Ancestry...

[Lincoln]

slwr - I activated my kit just now (typed in a code which was in the box of the DNA sample kit) - on one page it asks whose sample it is - (see pic I attached)

[slwr]

Originally Posted by Lincoln

slwr - I activated my kit just now (typed in a code which was in the box of the DNA sample kit) - on one page it asks whose sample it is - (see pic I attached)

Oh Okay-Got it---Now if I just get an invite email 1 &2 I'm set-Thanks

Late last year I got an e-mail message from ancestry.com to do a test for $10. I thought the price was extremely right and so did it (my first DNA test). My first (cheek-swab) samples didn't work, so then they sent me a kit for saliva samples, which did work. I finally got these results:

45% British Isles
38% Scandinavian
06% Eastern European (changed from "Middle Eastern")
06% Central European
05% Uncertain

I'm very new to all of this and so don't really know what to do with those results beyond saying, "Okay." I sure don't know where the 3/8 Scandinavian come from. All of my gg-grandparents were born in the USA and almost all of the gggs (except one from Ireland about 1805 and one from Prussia about 1820) and most that I know beyond that. Both sides had rumors of an "Indian squaw" ancestor, but I was mostly skeptical of that from what I had found via traditional genealogy. My paternal grandmother's mother or someone like that was said to have gotten "the Indian hair". In the paper trails I actually did come up with an alleged descendant of an Indian squaw, a woman named Elizabeth Spurlock, a bunch of generations back.

So anyway, there they are. I'm awaiting my FTDNA Y-DNA 37 test, just submitted this past Monday. My most distant known ("for certain") paternal ancestor is John Cannon (1712-1763), born in England and died in South Carolina.

[not sure what to put in my signature]

[DeeTyler]

OK I ordered my kit the first week of June, they received it back on 6/14, and I just received my results this morning. I have had my results tested on the three major sites now, and have very few close connections. But I thought I'd post the results for comparison:

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FTDNA was the first company that I tested with ... here, I have the following results:

Population Finder: 66.82% Europe (Western European/Orcadian); 33.18% Middle East (Palestinian, Druze, Jewish)

Unfortunately, here I only have 11 Matches, which is the main reason that I decided to expand my tests to other companies:

1 Brother
1 1st Cousin
1 2nd-4th cousin
1 4th-Remote cousin
7 5th-Remote cousin

COMMENTS: Even though the number of matches are very small, I *DID* make a significant connection with the person shown as a 2nd-4th cousin, who also matches my brother and first cousin. (Also another significant connection with a person who matches my brother but not me). While I haven't found the records to prove the ancestry of my branch of our common surname, I have been able to trace the ancestry of my match back in Polish records and have a fairly good idea of the families and towns to focus on for mine. The matches may be few here, but they appear to be sound.

---------------------------

23 and me ... Relative Finder
158 total matches
Only 4 are 3rd to 5th or 6th cousin; the remaining are 3rd (or greater) to distant cousins.

COMMENTS: No responses from the closest matches, which is unfortunate. Those matches who either have public profiles or who have responded to me appear to link to my Eastern European ancestors. Some more distant relatives have Colonial surnames and locations in common, but these connections are much more distant.

--------------------------

AncestryDNA - 149 matches total, ALL shown as 5th-8th cousins

47% Central European (46 matches)
17% Finnish/Volga-Ural (13 matches)
13% Persian/Turkish/Caucasus (5 matches)
9% Southern European (26 matches)
12% Eastern European (36 matches)
2% Uncertain

COMMENTS: Initial reaction is that the genetic breakdown appears to be off. I am 50% Sicilian on my maternal side and I can't figure out how this ancestry is reflected in those numbers. Compare to Eurogenes results in my signature. However, the number of matches that I have comes close to the number of matches at 23andme (which indicates that Ancestry's database is growing fast), and the addition of being able to see family trees will make it easier to see common connections. At first glance I am impressed, though I wish like most that there was a way to download the data and examine it more closely.

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OVERALL IMPRESSION: The main problem I have is the lack of response from matches. Where I have received responses from FTDNA, I have been able to see surname or geographical connections with the closer relatives. However, the more distant relatives are more difficult to ascertain. With a non-paternity event in our family tree, probably somewhere in the 18th or 19th century, many of these distant connections are a mystery. Being able to see the family trees more easily at AncestryDNA might help me piece that mystery together more easily - but because they don't share the genetic data it is hard to determine where the match occurs.

[MFWare]

Originally Posted by DeeTyler

...

AncestryDNA - 149 matches total, ALL shown as 5th-8th cousins

47% Central European (46 matches)
17% Finnish/Volga-Ural (13 matches)
13% Persian/Turkish/Caucasus (5 matches)
9% Southern European (26 matches)
12% Eastern European (36 matches)
2% Uncertain

COMMENTS: Initial reaction is that the genetic breakdown appears to be off. I am 50% Sicilian on my maternal side and I can't figure out how this ancestry is reflected in those numbers. Compare to Eurogenes results in my signature. However, the number of matches that I have comes close to the number of matches at 23andme (which indicates that Ancestry's database is growing fast), and the addition of being able to see family trees will make it easier to see common connections. At first glance I am impressed, though I wish like most that there was a way to download the data and examine it more closely.

-----------------

OVERALL IMPRESSION: The main problem I have is the lack of response from matches. Where I have received responses from FTDNA, I have been able to see surname or geographical connections with the closer relatives. However, the more distant relatives are more difficult to ascertain. With a non-paternity event in our family tree, probably somewhere in the 18th or 19th century, many of these distant connections are a mystery. Being able to see the family trees more easily at AncestryDNA might help me piece that mystery together more easily - but because they don't share the genetic data it is hard to determine where the match occurs.

You appear to be confirming my greatest fear about Ancestry's AncestryDNA-branded autosomal DNA test. That is, your results question its accuracy.

My first experience with genealogical DNA was with 23andMe. I have no reason to question its accuracy. For what you receive, it is the least expensive. However, I am frustrated by the refusal of some of closest matches to share their genomes. However, many 23andMe customers also test with FT-DNA and post both results on GEDmatch.com. Their 23andMe and FT-DNA results are as identical as can be expected. 23andMe identified my paternal haplogroup as R1b1b2a and my maternal haplogroup as L1c2b1. Using 23andMe's raw data, this result was confirmed using the James Lick mtDNA website.

I tested with African Ancestors. As 23andMe had already found to that my paternal haplogroup was European, it was pointless to test for my paternal haplogroup. AA identified my uninterrupted maternal roots to originate with the Tikar of Cameroon. AA does not maintain a growing list of current mtDNA matches. It also does not maintain an accessible DNA record of its customers online. That said, AA's results are consistent with 23andMe's results.

I tested with Ancestry. Ancestry identified my paternal haplogroup as R1b, a haplogroup determination with far less specificity than 23andMe's results. It identified my maternal haplogroup as X, a result that is diametrically opposite the results of 23andMe and African Ancestors. X is most densely represented among Native Americans in Eastern Canada and the US and Canadian Great Lakes. Other members of the DNA-Tested African Descendants group on Facebook report similar experiences with Ancestry's mtDNA test. Ancestry wrongly identifies subclades of the L haplogroup as X.

It is found in Northern Africa albeit infrequently. It is not found at all in Sub-Saharan West Africa. Ancestry identified a number of matches to my Y-DNA. However, the closet MRCA is separated from me by 9 generations. To my mtDNA, it found seven matches.

I have also taken the AncestryDNA autosomal DNA test. I await the results. Until I receive the results, I urge everyone who is considering it to hold off. I am willing to act as the guinea pig.

I am also currrently awaiting the results of my FT-DNA Comprehensive Genome with the Y-DNA upgrade from 67 to 111 markers. My tests are in Batch 472. The first results will be ready on August 24 and the rest by September 7.

Early posters to this thread took for granted that Ancestry conducts accurate DNA tests. I became interested in its tests because I am a subscriber to its website and the prospect of attaching DNA results to my family tree was attractive. After I made the decision to test with them, however, I learned of the problems with the company's accuracy.

Whether the accuracy problems lie with Ancestry's sampling, sequencing, or analysis, I do not know. Whatever the cause, Ancestry needs to get its act together.

[EdwardRHill]

FTDNA

mtDNA test complete 1 match
Y-DNA test 2 matches tested to 67 markers.
FF 335 matches

23andme

RF over 1000 matches

AncestryDNA

mtDNA manually entered no matches who is in the same Haplogroup.
Y-DNA test 5 matches tested to 46 markers.
Ancestry Autosomal test 650 matches and growing every day.

[auntsha]

Wow...can't believe the amount of matches some of you have. I have tested with FF and started with 112 matches and now 117 after a month or so. Ancestry, I started with 27 and now have 31. I just tested with 23 & Me and hope that yields more but with what everyone is saying don't hold out much hope for contact with participants. Ancestry is very quiet with quite a few having private trees and not wanting to share. I have only 2 responses and one was from here so feel like I know him! I am just very surprised as I thought you get tested to find connections. Just about all of my matches are distant with only a few being 2-4th cousin and I don't think that is accurate. The rest say 4th and on and have found because of my paper trail 6th and 7th cousin is what they truly are. The French Acadian is the problem with all of us sharing the same old DNA. I am just hoping that this is really catching on and the data base will get large and we will have more and better results. Hey I know it is catching on because my 78 year old 2nd cousin used my coupon for fathers day. Can't wait until he shows up on my list!!!

[GayeSherman]

I'm 1/2 Ashkenazi and 1/2 colonial south which appears to be predominantly British Isles (father unknown, this is based on my matches' ancestry).

FTDNA
-- mtDNA FGS (HV1b2)
-- Family Finder 708 matches

23andme
-- RF 1,017 matches

AncestryDNA
-- mtDNA manually entered, several matches, two of whom I recognize from FTDNA. Since Ancestry does not accept the Coding Region, I'm getting matched with Hg "H" at 4 steps which is ridiculous.
-- Ancestry Autosomal - in progress, expected early August. I expect the admixture to be way off.