Where to start?

[PamminAlong]

Hello, I am BRAND NEW to the world of DNA genealogy and am a bit baffled by it all! I am black (well, I guess that is yet to be determined!) and my husband is white. We are considering adoption and thought it would be outstanding to have an idea as to where our ancestors are from and adopt from that area. We read the article in USA Today and got excited, but, now, after checking different sites online I'm only confused. From reading several posts here I gather that there are "good" companies and "bad" companies. What should we be looking for? Why the huge difference in price (anywhere from $95 to $995!)? Is there a neutral site I can go to to determine which site I should use? Any info/insight would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Pam~

[Eki]

Hello, I am BRAND NEW to the world of DNA genealogy and am a bit baffled by it all! I am black (well, I guess that is yet to be determined!) and my husband is white. We are considering adoption and thought it would be outstanding to have an idea as to where our ancestors are from and adopt from that area. We read the article in USA Today and got excited, but, now, after checking different sites online I'm only confused. From reading several posts here I gather that there are "good" companies and "bad" companies. What should we be looking for? Why the huge difference in price (anywhere from $95 to $995!)? Is there a neutral site I can go to to determine which site I should use? Any info/insight would be appreciated!

Thanks!
Pam~

Gary Miller has compared some DNA companies:

http://www.millerfamilyhistory.com/G...Comparison.htm

RootsWeb has a message board with adoptions as a topic. You might find some useful information there:

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?ht...opics.adoption

[cacio]

You should also be aware that, while there are several types of different tests (male, female, etc.), none of them can pinpoint a specific country as origin. The newspapers like to embellish a story, but all the results have large margins of uncertainty. And this is especially true of African ancestry, since relatively little is known about Africa.

cacio

[efgen]

International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG)

Pam,

The International Society of Genetic Genelaogy (ISOGG) is a neutral organization, not tied to any commercial entity. Their website has resources for newbies, including a glossary of genetic genealogy terms, among other things:

http://www.isogg.org

That said, Family Tree DNA (who runs the boards we're posting on now) was the pioneer in the field of genetic genealogy and is definitely extremely reputable. The Genographic Project, which is a project of National Geographic, uses Family Tree DNA to handle the DNA testing for the "public participation" portion of their project.

Hope this helps, good luck!

Elise

[tomcat]

Afrigenas is the place to test if your ancestry is African as they have the biggest collection of African results to help identify a place of origin in Africa. Suppose they are - www.afrigeneas.com. Might cost more than FTDNA ...

And DNATribes has a number of African reference populations in their database - www.dnatribes.com

Tom

[lgmayka]

Here's one plan:

1) Get two kits from the Genographic Project of National Geographic Magazine, one for yourself and one for a male in your family (your brother or father if you are looking for African ancestry, otherwise your husband):

https://www3.nationalgeographic.com/...rticipate.html

Participation is about $100 per person.

The advantage of the Genographic Project is that, according to their deal with Family Tree DNA (the actual testing company), Family Tree will determine the haplogroup (prehistoric clan or tribe) even if they have to test explicitly for it. This explicit test, if necessary, otherwise costs $65 extra.

When you get the Genographic results, you can still forward them to Family Tree DNA, which may give you more precise information on your results, and will offer you more testing if you wish.

2) Your female result will almost certainly be African ancestry, but may be difficult to pin down to a particular country. You can post your results to this forum and we can try to help. A male result may have somewhat more precision, but be warned that, reportedly, 30% of male African Americans (e.g., your brother or father) actually have a European Y chromosome, due to certain common slaveowning practices.

You can always order more tests from Family Tree DNA if you want more precision.

3) This may give you several choices of country. You can then apply other adoption considerations to pick one.


Just a simple suggestion.

[PamminAlong]

Wow!

THANKS! You guys are awesome! I appreciate all your comments and advise. Now. Off to do that research!!

Pam~