Ancestry.com

[lonewolf]

Anybody here ever used Ancestry? They are all over the tube but my experience was/is suspect/ridiculous/impossible.

Several years ago, my son was a candidate for a job which favored Native American Indian ancestry and asked me to document it.

Turns out, he got the job as boss of that job and said "forget it".

Meanwhile, I joined Ancestry.

I traced my paternal side to my ggf, born in Cornwall, England 1820, emigrated US 1840, homesteaded MO, OK, died in OK 1919..no known dalliances with Native Americans other than skirmishes in Western Kansas in the 1860-70s.

I traced my maternal ancestry from personal knowledge starting with my Creek/ Choctaw grandfather, b. 1880 in Mississippi where his tribe paused for a generation in the Trail of Tears exodus from SE US. His gggf emigrated from Ireland, circa 1700, married Sara Buie (Bowie), daughter of Muscogee /Creek Chief Buie, He and successive generations assimilated into the Choctaw tribe.

The trace was well documented with known/recognizable family tree.

The Comanche did not keep such good records. My Comanche grandmother's heritage is less well documented, attested only by a wedding photo of her Confederate veteran father's circa 1870s wedding to a Comanche woman in white buckskin dress standing in front of a Comanche teepee. I was born in 1931 and never knew either of them.

For Christmas, my card carrying Choctaw daughter gave me an Ancestry DNA kit.

Imagine my surprise to learn I was 99% English/Irish/Scotch and 1% North African, complete with first thru third generation family tree of people I have never heard of..

I called Ancestry. Their lame excuse was that DNA is not perfect,, some genes skip generations.. my brother may have gotten all the Indian genes... he should buy a kit and see what it reveals...
My original correct account is still on Ancestry along with the new account which does not have my middle initial..
So far, they will not admit they made a mistake.... but will redo for $99.

[Atticus]

Anybody here ever used Ancestry?

Five years ago, my summer project was to get out all the old family tree info (lots of random papers) and do a full family tree for my grand-children as far back as I could (Roots - English/Scottish/Welsh/Dutch and one Cherokee on my wife's side!).
My first step was tp subscribe for a year to ancestry.com.
It soon became apparent that there's were misinformation, errata and discrepancies galore.
It took me all summer, but now I have a glorious 3' x 5' family tree that takes many of the names back to the 1300s when surnames first became prevalent. I found not only the origin of my surname, but the actual place where it came from - and probably the first person to use the surname. I found royalty and a President (Martin Van BUren), but most of all I found a fascinating narrative to give my grandchildren. They each have it up on their bedroom wall.

[Pego]

Lonewolf, from what you are saying, I wonder if they even do testing or just pull some random numbers out of you know what. I would expect at least 20-25% Native American DNA from your above account.

[lonewolf]

Yep, I think they are selling DNA kits.. I briefly/partially heard something on TV about similar questionable Ancestry results.
With all the current use of DNA in forensic criminology, I can't buy the selective gene skipping excuse..
I turned the used kit over to my daughter.. knowing her, I expect a freebie test kit.

[mcgato]

Some of my family has done the 23andMe testing kit, including my mother and at least one sister. Since my mother was adopted at birth, we really have no idea about her ancestry except a vague Norwegian/Irish/English claim.

I think that the family members matched, and they all have different last names. The ancestry results seemed consistent with what we know about my father's side of the family (almost all Irish) and the vague mother's info. I think that my sister said that there is a match out there from someone we have never heard of, so he/she may be related to my mother's bio-parents. My sister has tried to contact the person with no luck.

With what little I know about the testing methods, it seems like 95% of it makes sense. The other 5% is random noise, but they try to make a guess--Persian or Moroccan or whatever. That way people may think that they have some secret, exotic background.

[scottmitchell74]

Man, I was hoping for better/more accurate results. My family is White/Black, so I've talked to my daughters about doing this some time. My oldest is very curious about her African roots, not to mention the European side. I admit to being curious, as well. Maybe the tests will improve over time?

[lonewolf]

I think they got the samples mixed up.

[Davidokun]

Reading about your background, lonewolf, we may have more in common than track and field. I've often been told that one of my great-grandmothers was Creek (Muskogee).

If I were you, I would not get too worked up about the results of this test. As you have documented, there is no doubt that some of your ancestors were full-blooded Native American. Nevertheless, there are two reasons why your DNA may not contain any Native American markers. First, because you are more than one generation removed, you may not have inherited any genes from your Native American ancestors. Second, even if you did inherit some genes from your Native American ancestors, those genes may not be uniquely Native American, i.e., markers. I am no expert, so I will not attempt a detailed explanation. Instead, here are some sources that may prove useful:

• Proving Native American Ancestry Using DNA
• Revealing American Indian and Minority Heritage using Y-line, Mitochondrial, Autosomal and X Chromosomal Testing Data Combined with Pedigree Analysis (See Figure 3. The Rainbow Shuffle)
• Genetic "Markers" - Not a Valid Test of Native Identity

[lonewolf]

Thanks for the links, Davidokun. ... turns out DNA is incredibly complicated.. this article confirms some of Ancestry's explanation of missing NA DNA.. but it still doesn't jibe with known facts of my maternal lineage.
Anyway, apparently my daughter submitted my spit without my middle initial on the form. Consequently, I received a first/second generation family tree of strangers..

[bambam1729]

You mean she should have submitted it as "Lone J. Wolf"??

[lonewolf]

Exactly...... we will try that next time.

[xw]

We also have a handful of companies that do DNA tests similar to 23andMe in China. Since there's not much law here regulating what they can tell you and what they cannot, I've got a full report from one of them...what intrigues me however, is not the lineage part (which I guess is accurate since I'm from a very secluded ethnicity and the result is plain and uncomplicated as expected) but genotypes of interesting genes such as MAOA, ACTN3, APOE...it was a thrill to read the whole shebang and find out that much about myself in one day; especially about my (poor) athletic potential never achieved, as the sports fan I am. Quite an experience!

[jeremyp]

My wife can trace her relatives in England back 1000 years. Her favorite is one relative hung at Tyburn. Tyburn was THE place for hanging in England from 1500 to 1800's.