All I wanted to know, plain and simple, was: is DNA testing worth it, in relation to family history\/ancestry?<\/p>\n
\u2018Centri-Morgans,\u2019 \u2018FIRs\u2019\u2026 but listening to a talk on DNA results, I was left thinking \u2018maybe you need a scientific background to make sense of this stuff\u2019. And a very specific one, at that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My humanities degree for sure doesn\u2019t qualify me, but it does help me boil down a lot of jargon and technical detail into plain and simple English.<\/p>\n Boiling it down, DNA testing results can tell you:<\/p>\n Here are some quick plain and simple points I noted as conclusions from the talk, and from researching DNA testing online.<\/p>\n The information about your ancestry available from DNA alone is limited. It relies on other people having done tests, and on matching people\u2019s results up on databases to find connections.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n So, if all your distant cousins put their DNA test results on a different database from you, you won\u2019t find each other.<\/p>\n DNA tests matches may help you get answers as to your parentage. But there is no guarantee they will be happy ones.<\/p>\n Even in a \u2018regular\u2019 family, there may be surprises. Regular family history research can uncover illegitimacies, bigamists, other criminals. DNA results can show that at some point in time, \u2018Daddy\u2019 was actually the milkman.<\/p>\n Some hints on databases may be based on incorrect family trees. Ie, may point to someone who shouldn\u2019t be on the tree.<\/p>\n Also, be aware that we don\u2019t inherit exactly the same DNA from our parents as our siblings do. So if you and your sister do the same test, you won\u2019t get identical results. She may have inherited a lot of Great-Great-Grandpa Smith\u2019s DNA while you got almost none.<\/p>\n If a man married two sisters, or two brothers married two sisters, it mucks up the use of DNA to point to relationships.<\/p>\n If you are British, you are a mongrel, or a Heinz 57, if you\u2019d rather. Go back far enough and our ancestors all came frome somewhere else: Romans, Angles, Saxons, Vikings, Normans.\u2026 They came, they saw, they conquered \u2013 and inter-bred with communities who were here before them. So if you want to know how many parts Viking you might be, or if the stories about someone settling here from Greece way back, go ahead with that mtDNA\u00a0 <\/span>test (see below).<\/p>\n However, the results are based on \u2018clusters\u2019 of people with similar DNA and should be treated with caution. Possibly a very large pinch of salt.<\/p>\n DNA can be used for a lot more than genealogy. There are laws governing what the police can do with your DNA, and how long they can keep samples. If you are going to hand yours over to a private company, be sure you know what exactly you are agreeing to, regarding its usage.<\/p>\n As for ethics\u2026 if you find out something surprising, think very hard before sharing that information with someone else. Will they be happy? Or is their ignorance bliss?<\/p>\n Looking at a printout of someone\u2019s results, I suspect very few people attempt to get their heads round it all. And instead, look to see if the database suggests matches with other people. However, you do need to know about the three types of DNA testing available.<\/p>\n These trace a person’s autosomal chromosomes, which contain the segments of DNA the person shares with everyone to whom they’re related (maternally and paternally, both directly and indirectly).<\/p>\n This is what sites like Ancestry use.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n It is only any use for going back five or six generations, at most.<\/b><\/p>\n These are for men only, and trace the patrilineal (male-line), only. If you are a man and only interested in your literal forefathers, this may be for you. However, don\u2019t forget that your direct paternal line is a pretty small part of who you are. For example, you have 128 great-great-great-great-great grandparents, of whom 127 are not your direct paternal line.<\/p>\n Mitochondrial DNA tests trace people\u2019s matrilineal (mother-line) ancestry through their mitochondria, which are passed from mothers to their children.<\/p>\n Men and women can take the test, but the results are the female line only. They do show \u2018ancient history\u2019, but that seems to be in general terms.<\/p>\n As I understand it, that means it may show you share a connection with someone from the Middle Ages, but only in a pretty vague way. And if you share a full mtDNA sequence with someone, your common matrilineal ancestor could be from the 1800s \u2013 or the 1300s.<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n Ok, that\u2019s \u2018plain and simple,\u2019 but it would be helpful to explain my decision!<\/p>\n I have traced most lines of my family tree back at least several more generations than autosomal DNA testing can.<\/p>\n Through my research, I have discovered second and third cousins around the world. And through family history societies, and \u2018message\u2019 options on sites like Ancestry, I have got to know some of them. And met people from\/in other countries.<\/p>\nKey plain and simple points: what can DNA testing tell you?<\/h2>\n
\n
Quick plain and simple points<\/b><\/h2>\n
Matches are only as good as the database you are looking at<\/h4>\n
<\/h4>\n
Adoptions or foundlings<\/h4>\n
<\/h4>\n
Skeletons in the closet<\/h4>\n
<\/h4>\n
However\u2026<\/h4>\n
<\/h4>\n
If your mother is also your aunty\u2026<\/h4>\n
<\/h4>\n
Ethnicity<\/h4>\n
<\/h4>\n
Privacy and ethics<\/h4>\n
<\/h4>\n
All that science<\/h4>\n
Types of DNA testing<\/b><\/h2>\n
Autosomal DNA tests<\/h4>\n
<\/h4>\n
Y-DNA tests<\/h4>\n
<\/h4>\n
mtDNA tests<\/h4>\n
Will I bother?<\/b><\/h2>\n
<\/h4>\n
Why?<\/h4>\n