Radical Thinking - $99

[econnore]

After more than two years of hoping to connect the dots, and enduring the changes related to Affy matches, non-responsive matches, matches with fake names or no e-mail addresses, loss of many matches and gain of weak new matches related to the latest build, I bit the bullet and bought an ancestry.com kit.

Let's see what those results will show.

[JPHutchins]

Good Luck!! I have FTDNA, 23andMe and ancestry and I have been looking at the dots for 4 years. But none of the three have answered any significant questions in my past. I am adopted and know of my maternal side. DNA has been helpful in ratifying our beliefs that I have the correct maternal side. However I have no answers as to my paternal side.

Rating the three dna providers, I would rate FTDNA (with all of its problems) as number 1. Number 2 would be Ancestry.com and in 3rd place would be 23andMe.

FTDNA has more information available than any of the others. I have not found any help with Ancestry, but at least most of its subscribers have email addresses and are not listed as anonymous.

[Lincoln]

I hope the best for both of you. I've done all three, and only 23andMe has not helped at all, well maybe a little given all of the Ukrainian matches may point me to what point of Poland some relatives came from. Ancestry & FTDNA - both have matches with ancestral surnames - unusual ones are the ones I assume are good matches. Everyone has different luck with different companies...

[Táltos]

I hope the best for both of you. I've done all three, and only 23andMe has not helped at all, well maybe a little given all of the Ukrainian matches may point me to what point of Poland some relatives came from. Ancestry & FTDNA - both have matches with ancestral surnames - unusual ones are the ones I assume are good matches. Everyone has different luck with different companies...

You are correct. Everyone has different luck with different companies. In the past two days my mom not only received a match at 23&me who shares one of our Italian surnames. She also has another match who has ancestry from our same Arbereshë village of San Nicola dell'Alto! Imagine my surprise.

I also want to add I have been very lucky that everyone I asked to share genomes accepted. My mom even received an invite from an Albanian who is not one of her matches. It is cool to compare.

[T E Peterman]

A large part of it all depends on which 4th or 5th cousins at random test with which company.

Since I have an elaborate field of tested cousins here at Family Tree DNA to ascertain side of family, I encourage all to transfer their results here.

I really wish 23andme would at least provide names. I have a match estimated to be a 2nd to 3rd cousin at 23andme; no name of course & no response to my introduction. She happens to share the same mitochondrial haplogroup as me (T1a1), which really narrows the guesses as to who she might be (probably one of my great aunt's granddaughters).

Timothy Peterman

[nwgen]

My closest matches have been at Ancestry. When my results first came in I recieved a documented 3rd cousin at ancestry. Two weeks ago I recieved a 2nd cousin at ancestry that helped me locate a missing great grandfather. I assume it's just the luck of the draw. I also matched a predicted 4th -6th cousin at ancestry that supports a theory I have on who one of my 4th great grandfathers is.

[tomcat]

I am also on all three and would give higher marks to 23&Me in consideration of their tools and the lowest marks to 23&Me for the overall unresponsiveness of their clientele.

[Footprints]

I signed up on 23andme for a trial account thinking I could upload my FamilyTreeDNA test results. I don't see an option for that. Anyone know if they accept FamilyTreeDNA test results?

[Javelin]

I signed up on 23andme for a trial account thinking I could upload my FamilyTreeDNA test results. I don't see an option for that. Anyone know if they accept FamilyTreeDNA test results?

You've got it backwards. If you sign up for a real account (meaning you pay) at 23andme, then you can upload to Family Finder.

[MoberlyDrake]

I couldn't believe it. New matches on Ancestry on Easter! I just got new matches yesterday, so I was surprised to find more new ones today. You'd think that the DNA department there would take a holiday on Easter, though certainly Ancestry as a whole can never have a holiday.

[Jackd]

Good Luck!! I have FTDNA, 23andMe and ancestry and I have been looking at the dots for 4 years. But none of the three have answered any significant questions in my past. I am adopted and know of my maternal side. DNA has been helpful in ratifying our beliefs that I have the correct maternal side. However I have no answers as to my paternal side.

Rating the three dna providers, I would rate FTDNA (with all of its problems) as number 1. Number 2 would be Ancestry.com and in 3rd place would be 23andMe.

FTDNA has more information available than any of the others. I have not found any help with Ancestry, but at least most of its subscribers have email addresses and are not listed as anonymous.

I too am adopted and know my maternal side. In fact, I have extensive knowledge about my ancestry on my maternal grandmother's side of the family.

As far as my paternal side is concerned, I have an educated guess as to who my father is. I'm about 80% sure that I've found my father based on several factors.

1 An exact match on level 25 on my Y-test to a man I suspect might be my first cousin..

2 A handful of probable matches on my Family Finder on what I suspect might be my paternal grandmother's side of the family.

3 A distinct physical resemblance to men in that family. I especially look like a man who I suspect might have been my uncle.

4 Last but not least, my intuition suggests to me that these people are my family.

As of now, none of this has been proven or confirmed. The pieces seem to fit.

[econnore]

$99 update

Well, my ancestry.com results were posted today. So different from FTDNA.

My ancestry.com percentages are:

Eastern European 56%
British Isles 38%
Scandinavian 6%

0 matches!

FTDNA percentages:
Europe (Western European) - French, Orcadian, Spanish 86.51%

Europe - Tuscan, Finnish, Romanian, Russian, Sardinian 13.49%

199 matches!

[MoberlyDrake]

Zero matches at Ancestry??? Maybe they haven't finished posting your results???

Mom has over 1000 matches at Ancestry now. Compare that with 143 here.

[sjadelson]

Well, my ancestry.com results were posted today. So different from FTDNA.

My ancestry.com percentages are:

Eastern European 56%
British Isles 38%
Scandinavian 6%

0 matches!

My ancestry percentages showed up the day before the matches. Check back in the morning.

Almost 800 matches, best are 7 in the (supposed) 3rd-4th range. I know enough as an Ashkenazi to not be overly impressed yet.

[econnore]

Thanks, MoberlyDrake and SJ. I'm sure the matches will be there soon. I predict plenty of Belarus/Ukraine matches.