Ancestry and other such genealogy databases.

[DWalt]

I found one interesting story in my genealogy research I didn't previously know much about. I had heard several times from my maternal grandparents about my paternal grandfather's brother (I guess that would make him my grand-uncle) killing his wife long before, but with no details. Anyway, I did some research and found at least some of the details. Seems that in 1908 his wife at the time had a "gentleman friend". He caught them together and emptied his revolver (I never found out what kind) into the scoundrel, but one round accidentally hit his wife. Both died on the spot. He was charged with two counts of first degree murder, which at that time in Ohio meant the death penalty, but his lawyer bargained the charge down to second degree on a plea deal, and he ended up with a life sentence in the Ohio Pen. He served only eight years before he was pardoned (not paroled). After his release he went on to have two more wives before he died in the mid-1920s. I found out most of the information through old newspaper accounts and state records, but I was never able to find out just what it was that caused him to be granted a pardon after only 8 years behind bars. Or how he died at a relatively young age.

 

[GaryS]

Why anyone would give their DNA to a database that the government can easily access is beyond me.

 

[boatme99]

Two things.
1. My sister did the DNA swab
2. My brother got into the ancestry thing.

Results:
No surprises on the DNA. German/northern European (Dutch/English) all the way. Looks like the maidens were able to avoid the Invaders, pirates, occupiers, and odd deliverymen for lo, those many years!

On the ancestry, only one real surprise.
Paternal side is descended from Sibiu (Hermanstadt), Transylvania. A historically German enclave that was settled by the Saxons around the 12th century. These folks apparently followed social distancing (new name for segregation?) as this side seems to have maintained Germanic blood.
Pretty good for a people that were most likely collecting mud, fighting neighbors, and rutting like farm animals for 700 years!

Maternal side: grandfather Dutch, grandmother English.
The surprise was that a great, great, whatever grandfather was killed at the Battle of White Plains in October 1776 during the revolution.
On which side? No idea but the widow or children apparently wanted to stay close to the old boy, as mom was born in White Plains some 153 years later.

 

[TTSH]

What this thread was really all about was me wanting to know if other folks who had dabbled with Ancestry's DNA Tests had the same inconsistent results as I regarding crazy variations in regional percentages between updates, which seems to be the case among those who don't get into the Family Tree aspect of the website.

Yeah, I think it's to be expected at this point in time. It's still in the realm of junk science. I've heard plenty of similar stories to yours, although the few members of my own extended family who have taken the test say they feel it is pretty accurate in their cases. I should point out that their cases are pretty simple generally and the major percentages (not the little tag on percentages) match what they know to be factual.

I would guess that the more complex your ancestry, the more you are likely to get evolving results. I wouldn't stress over it. It's all supposed to be for fun after all.

 

[TTSH]

Why anyone would give their DNA to a database that the government can easily access is beyond me.

Well, that's another whole issue. I totally agree with you. The problem is that it doesn't matter once one person in your family tree does it you are all effectively in the government's database.

 

[Drm50]

I did Ancestry.Com thing several yrs ago. Since I had family members that had been into family tree since 1970s I new what to expect and it was what we expected. Since family was in Western Virginia ( now WVa ) since before the revolution and SE Ohio shortly after that part was surprisingly easy to trace. We had family that went to UK and Europe where it gets harder beyond 1600s.

 

[desi2358]

I think it's interesting though it's still an evolving science. As more people add info some things change as far as what they consider group classifications. We had some family research that was done years ago (1970's) tracking the family name back to the 1790's in the Ohio valley but hadn't gotten any farther back. Did find info indicating the family name supposedly links to a village in southern Germany. Tried to track some of mom's side when my kids were young but didn't get back very far. Have thought about trying again just because there is more data available with so much info being put into computer data bases nowadays.

My daughter wanted to try the DNA testing so we did it @ a year and a half ago. No big surprises except less German links than expected on my side and some totally unexpected French (though oddly the genetic link that traces to France is in an area somewhat close to the German area the family name is supposed to trace to....?). Also heavy on Scotts/Irish links too but that was expected. Some other links from all over Europe too but really not surprising as there were always some people moving from one area to another over time.

 

[Dave_n]

It depends entirely upon the "completeness" of the databases being searched. None are complete and as companies buy each other out, they combine their databases which is why you end up with different results. Bear in mind that DNA databases from Africa are hardly present in any of the testing companies records, and since we all descended from areas such as the Olduvi Gorge, take "IHC" comments to heart. Dave_n

 

[GaryS]

I don't know if anyone in my family has had it done, but if they have they haven't told me.

If they tell me they are talking to me because my sister had it done, I'm just going to tell them that my parents found her on their doorstep.

As a kid, she had natural flaming red hair and blue eyes. There was NONE of that in the rest of the family, so it's plausible. I'll claim that her birth certificate was a fake.

Well, that's another whole issue. I totally agree with you. The problem is that it doesn't matter once one person in your family tree does it you are all effectively in the government's database.

 

[hoosierone]

I've used Ancestry for about two years now. My surname is very common but I was surprised how much I could find out. The key was, many years ago a great uncle on my fathers side said they were originally from New York. That helped a lot with ancestry. Problem is, I'm stuck researching an ancestor born in 1810. Was hoping to see if there were any ancestors who fought in the Revolution.

A funny discovery was that my maternal grandparents married about four months before their first child was born.

 

[Echo40]

Thanks everyone for all of the helpful responses.

I agree with the sentiments that ancestry has no bearing on one's identity as an individual, and have never thought anything to the contrary.

Upon reading many responses, I have reached the conclusion that the more simple one's geographical and genetic background may be, the easier it is to get accurate results from DNA Testing.
Unfortunately for me, unlike some folks here, my family has not been on the soil of this great nation all that long. In fact, I'm only a 3rd Generation American because my great grandparents on both sides immigrated to the United States in the first decade of 1900. My mother's side was supposedly 100% Italian, but given the history of Italy and the many different people who lived there historically, Italians tend to be rather genetically diverse. (Perhaps that's why so many Italian Actors have been cast in a wide variety of roles and can often pass for other races?) So "100% Italian" doesn't necessarily mean that genetically they were indeed 100% Native Italian.
Furthermore, my father's side was predominantly Greek (Greece is a neighboring country to Italy) on one side and mixed English, French, and German on the other, on account of my father having some sea-fairing ancestors who traveled all over Europe.
So yeah, I don't have the luxury of tracing my family back hundreds of years because they weren't even in the US until 1900. Fortunately, I don't care to anyway.

Why anyone would give their DNA to a database that the government can easily access is beyond me.

Frankly, I fail to see any harm in doing so. Honestly, within reason, what's the worst that could possibly come of it?

 

[boatme99]

My paternal grandparents didn't get ere until 1921.
While we know what city they were from, nobody has been able to track any further back. The US government tried for both my father and myself for security clearances and they couldn't get anywhere past my grandfather.

 

[pawngal]

Another source of information is thru Ellis Island, If I remember correctly they have records back to about 1850 for every immigrant and ship that passed thru there. It was free when I used it.

 

[PALADIN85020]

I once did the calculation - at the time of Jesus, the entire human population of the earth were my ancestors. The numbers are mind-numbing once you go back even 25 generations or so.

John

 

[Echo40]

I once did the calculation - at the time of Jesus, the entire human population of the earth were my ancestors. The numbers are mind-numbing once you go back even 25 generations or so.

John

Technically every human being on Earth is related to one woman.

No seriously, it's a scientific fact. Apparently every human being on Earth shares a direct genetic link to one woman from Africa. Scientists have named her "Mitochondria Eve" after Eve from the book of Genesis. Oh, but it's totally not the Biblical Eve though because, well...Obviously the last thing the scientific community wants to do is start backing something as unscientific as religion, especially when against all odds, scientific discoveries support religious text that features an origin story that sounds completely implausible otherwise.

 

[St0rmshad0w]

Invasions, counter invasions, slave raids, mass migration, kidnapping, mailmen, milkmen and cable repair guys muddy the water too much. I learned who I was interviewing my grandparents and great grand parents in that cub scout project we all did. I insist on letting that stand. I do not want to hear different. My wife is into all that but I refuse to participate in a DNA test. Besides, I don't want any of my old girlfriend's middle age children knocking at my door.

Hahahah This is so funny, Believe me no one wants a teenager crying telling you that you are his/her real dad/mom.
As a kids i have always been interested about my heritage and i spent lots of time speaking to my grandparents acting them about their grandparents and anything they knew about their family, Tha't good enough for me.

 

[Golddollar]

I've had 3 tests done, one by a company that is no longer in business but was the first company I know of that was doing DNA testing. One of the more modern company tests confirmed the first test but the other modern test was different from the first test I did.

But the most important genetic test to me is that when the age differentials are taken away, my late dad and I look almost exactly alike.

 

[Echo40]

Hahahah This is so funny, Believe me no one wants a teenager crying telling you that you are his/her real dad/mom.

I'll never understand why adopted children always want to meet their so-called "real" parents who never wanted them in the first place and abandoned them. Granted that isn't the only reason why children are put up for adoption, but it seems to be the most common by far, especially when the kid grows up never knowing their biological parents.

Your "real parents" are the ones who raised you and looked after you, not the two people whose temporary union resulted in your birth.

 

[pawngal]

I'll never understand why adopted children always want to meet their so-called "real" parents who never wanted them in the first place and abandoned them. Granted that isn't the only reason why children are put up for adoption, but it seems to be the most common by far, especially when the kid grows up never knowing their biological parents.

Your "real parents" are the ones who raised you and looked after you, not the two people whose temporary union resulted in your birth.

I agree, the one real reason for contact would be for medical history. My last husband was adopted as a baby, he had no desire to find his biological parents.

All of this searching results in things like my post #26 on this thread. My daughter certainly wasn't thrilled to find out she had another 1/2 sister.

 

[oldbrownhat]

I'll never understand why adopted children always want to meet their so-called "real" parents who never wanted them in the first place and abandoned them. Granted that isn't the only reason why children are put up for adoption, but it seems to be the most common by far, especially when the kid grows up never knowing their biological parents.

Your "real parents" are the ones who raised you and looked after you, not the two people whose temporary union resulted in your birth.

I was very fortunate to have had wonderful adoptive parents and certainly got a "better" upbringing than I would have had from my biological ones. And although I always knew I was adopted I never had any interest in finding out about my biologiical parents until a gf suggested I do so, reminding me that they might not be alive much longer.

As it turned out, my father desperately wanted to keep me, and my mother equally desperately insisted I be put up for adoption! Being a woman of ....um... strong temperament, she got her way. She was still around when I started investigating and, via the gov't agency that acted as an intermediary at the time, made it absolutely clear (to put it in the very mildest of terms) that she was NOT interested! My father, OTOH, had died about 10 years earlier, and would have been over the moon. (He would have been 97 by that time.)

I did get to know some relatives and stayed in touch for a few years. Still, it was an interesting process, and I gleaned a few things about myself in the process, as well as some details of my parents' personalities from interviews when they applied for adoption. So all in all for me it was a worthwhile exercise.

Here's a little gem from tha time: I was trying to get some details of my father's childhood and decided to send a fax (this was 1997) to the school board in KY. I live on out on the west coast, so, to save a few pennies, sent it late at night. It wouldn't go through for some reason so I decided to call the number. To my suprise a man answered- it would have been in the wee hours there. I apologized profusely, explaining what I was up to but he said, "Well it's a nice night and I'm up anyway" and we chatted for 45 minutes! He'd been a WWII bomber pilot and had lost a leg.... Many years later I was reading through family history I'd been sent and to my surprise found his name in it. I had been talking to a relative and not known it! By this time he'd passed on.
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