We've all seen the commercials... 'I found out I was 26% Native American'... 'I thought I was German'.
Genetic genealogy is all the rage with the new DNA testing available. To a genealogy buff like myself I was super excited to try!
A little info on what lead me to this DNA experiment...
I live in Kentucky and my family is all from Eastern Ky. Until I was 14 I thought my Dad was the same as my sister and brother. We have dark complexions so it made sense, right?
Well, I found out that my Dad was actually from Saudi Arabia! That was quite a shock. Who was he? What did he do? Did he go back to Saudi?
Ohhh, the questions. Perhaps this sparked my interest in genealogy and eventually genetic genealogy.
Twenty-two years later... I have these results with 'cousin' matches, and trying to make sense of it all. I am far from a geneticist or certified genealogist; but, I like to think that I can figure out mostly anything through research and well, Google of course haha!
I am presenting 2 comparisons for each site. I am including my sisters DNA (keeping in mind we only share the same biological mother) and mine. I am comparing the results for both of us from AncestryDNA and FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA).
NOTE: DO NOT PURCHASE BOTH! You can download your file from one and upload to the other for a fraction of the cost, I uploaded mine from ADNA to FTDNA and only paid $19 for the FTDNA results.
Let the fun begin!
Here are our side by side results from AncestryDNA and FamilyTreeDNA:
Here are the notables...
| My ADNA | My FTDNA |
|---|---|
| Middle Eastern 52% | Middle Eastern (Total) 47% |
| Sephardic Jewish 0% | Sephardic Jewish 4% |
| My Sister's ADNA | My Sister's FTDNA |
|---|---|
| Scandinavia 21% | Scandinavia 2% |
| Iberian Penninsula 5% | Iberia 0% |
To understand these differences I took to research, for the difference between the breakdown of Ireland, Great Britain I can clearly see that FTDNA lumps all of those regions into the British Isles, okay, I can deal with that. TheMiddle Eastern for me is clear that FTDNA just does a deeper breakdown in that region.
My sisters differences were so great in so many different areas however, it is taking some deeper research. The Scandinavia for one is crazy! From what I can find it is all based on how they interpret the DNA. How these regions are delineated within your DNA is based upon sampling of DNA from Ancient DNA, current populations, and well some scientific deductions that only they would know about haha! They use that data to determine your predicted origins.
The take-away from all this is that while there are variants you can start to piece together a basic understanding of your Ancestors and where they migrated from. This can help you create your actual tree. In addition, you are provided with DNA matches that are in their database, connecting with 'cousins' and viewing their trees can also provide a greater understanding and allow you to verify your genealogy research.
We all tend to have the want to understand our past or 'where we come from', this is a fun start.
If you are looking to DNA research for other reasons like you are adopted for instance and looking for biological relatives this can be a game changer. I will make another post on decoding the language of your connections; our DNA relations are predicted from the number of centimorgans we share. But, that's enough for this post so I'll follow up on that more later!
I hope you enjoyed this post and hope it helps you in your genealogy research! Feel free to comment with any questions you might have. You can spend HOURS upon HOURS doing this research and I am happy to share any knowledge I have to help you along!
I'll add that while I like research and genealogy I LOVE my present moment; it can be easy to get caught up in a swirl of questions and sometimes it can open even bigger family questions. Always remember a lesson I have learned...
Family is who YOU decide is family, NOT your DNA.
Peace, Love, and Light to all you beautiful SteemIt'ians you all are MY chosen online community/family ❤
