If you’re a regular reader of this blog, then you know that I am a strong proponent of genetic testing for genealogical purposes. I believe that when used correctly genetic testing can serve as a valuable tool in the genealogist’s toolbox.
A recent visitor found my blog with the search term “Is ‘genetic genealogy’ a scam?” When I recreated the search, I discovered that a previous post on this blog is the leading link for this search. The process made me think about the many people who are skeptical or wary of genetic genealogy. As a scientist, I appreciate and encourage healthy skepticism. After all, genetic genealogy has been available for less than a decade, and it has changed considerably since it was first offered. I believe that anyone who forays into the world of genetic genealogy should have a basic understanding of the science and the application of the results. Just reading about genetic genealogy in the media can give one a distorted view of the technology. Along this point, I recommend reading an interesting article by Rebecca Skloot (author of the upcoming book “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”, which I can’t wait to read). I was referred to that article by a post on her blog (Culture Dish) entitled “The Bogus-ness of DNA Testing for Genealogy Research” in which she reiterates the point that genetic genealogy tests “simply can’t tell you anything definitive about your heredity unless you’re testing your DNA and comparing it to someone else’s to find out if you’re related.”
I agree with Ms. Skloot – the skepticism and wariness about genetic genealogy comes from the interpretation of the results. As a scientist, I believe that a DNA sequence is a DNA sequence and a person can’t argue with those results. But, using that DNA sequence to tell a person that they are 50% Native American is the type of data interpretation that should be viewed skeptically. It can be exciting, but the science is still too new. For me, the verdict is still out on autosomal testing (click on About Genetic Genealogy at the top of the page to learn more about autosomal testing).
On the other hand, I strongly believe in mtDNA and Y-DNA testing. The results are nothing but DNA sequence and an approximate haplogroup determination. These tests CAN tell you if your Y chromosome or your mtDNA is Native American or distinctly European. The information from these test can serve a multitude of functions. For example, I run a surname project to determine if all people in North America and
Genetic genealogy best serves people who are ready for genetic testing to add to their basket of knowledge. It is not as well suited for people who have no experience in genealogical research or who know nothing about their past (unless, of course, they are unable to know anything about their past – then it’s perfect), although it can still be a useful tool for the beginner.
Genetic genealogy is definitely not a hoax. DNA sequence can be a very useful and exciting addition to a genealogist’s research, IF that genealogist is aware of meaning and consequences of genetic testing. If you have any questions or thoughts about the usefulness of genetic genealogy, leave a comment below.
Note: When writing this post I attempted to find other online sources or blogs that had discussed this topic. Unfortunately, I failed to discover a fantastic review of the subject written by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak at the Family History Circle (available here). If your interest was piqued by my post, please be sure to read hers. Interestingly, the format of the posts are remarkably similar and both mention the article and blog post by Ms. Skloot (although in much more detail at Family History Circle)! Nothing like re-inventing the wheel!
20 Comments
Dna Tribes or http://www.dnatribes.com
Never sent my results but
charged my card.
Even had a Fex ex con# they recieved it.
Try to get help but just got
the lab..who says they are not associated.
Humm..lost $225
I sent for my dad’s DNA from DNA Tribes. And unlike the other post I did receive the results and now I’m sorry I did. I did it primarily for indian results. My French Canadian, Scotch Irish, Sioux dad came back, Italian, Arabic and Puerto Rican. Three nationalities that are an impossiblity in my family going back 300 years. So now I really an wondering if his results got switched with someone else’s. I was warned that these DNA studies aren’t accurate, but I didn’t listen. Save your money and savor the mystery.
Our family spent over $600 for DNA testing by http://www.ancestry.com. A brother, sister, and her husband submitted swabs. The results were botched, mixed up, difficult to access. The results for the unrelated brothers-in-law were identical which is impossible. Whether this is a blatant fraud or incompetency is not clear; the end results are the same: worthless.
Hi,
read this blog entry and would like to get your opinion on this. I am female and adopted and know that on my mother’s side, I am European (Eng. Irish and Scot.) but have no idea about my father’s side, and no real way of finding out through anyone. I have no contact with my birth mother and from the letter from the agency I read, she seems to have been protecting the father’s identity. I have been asked many times whether I’m native american…greek…and a few other things, and my answer always has to be “I don’t really know”. It gets frustrating.
I recently came across things like dnatribes.com and was considering getting the basic $150 test to try and figure out my patrilineal side, since there’s really no one I could meet or talk to in order to find out about it. But it’s beginning, from the other comments, to sound like these things are scams or unreliable…?
I would just do the National Geographic one to test my y-chromosome, but again, no male relatives I can contact. : ( Any ideas or advice? Your feedback/input would be VERY much appreciated.
Thanks!
I have a DNATribes analysis. I do not believe the results. Actually, I wonder whether this is a scam perpetrated to take advantage of the growing interest in DNA use in genealogy. Obviously, their people are well educated and intelligent. I read all of the purple prose and realize that I have no recourse. I chose to order the DNA analysis, regardless.
In my case, I believe that the expensive report is wrong. I base this opinion upon my genealogical research. With documents, I have proved 41 Revolutionary ancestors and several Magna Charta ancestors to several hereditary societies. I have a BS and an MBA.
I have a German surname, Metz/Mitts/Metts. However, the more than a hundred surnames in my family tree are English, German and Scottish. There are no Polish names or ancestors. (I would have no reason to be ashamed of Polish ancestors! In fact, I would welcome them, but there are none.). The report shows that over half of my ancestry is Polish!
I suspect that my German surname was considered and they sent me a pre prepared mid European report. I wonder whether any lab work was done. They may have “boiler plate” prose, which can be doctored with a computer and sent to people like me! I knew better as I read their literature. I have no one to blame but myself. I knew better.
Please notify me of followup comments by e-mail.
Al - I don’t think you were scammed, I think that the results of your test weren’t fully explained to you. As I understand the analysis your DNA received, the test looks at 21 locations on your autosomal (non-X or Y) chromosomes. This is, of course, the big limitation of autosomal testing – it looks at just a very few locations out of 3 billion in the entire genome! As a result, the results you received examined your inherited ancestry only at those 21 locations. They then compared your results to other people in their database. It would appear that your results most closely match people who are native to Poland. Thus, the results you received were accurate; they were just not as informative as you might have believed them to be. If you are only interested in learning about your ancestry percentages (i.e. autosomal testing), then I suggest you wait for a few years for whole-genome sequencing to revolutionize this field. Otherwise, Y-chromosome or mtDNA might be more to your liking (for more about that, click “About Genetic Genealogy” above). I just answered a question related to yours for an writer at Wired Magazine. You can see it here: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/magazine/16-11/st_kia.
As for your match with Poland, I don’t think that result is too unexpected. First, it might be that there just aren’t any more accurate matches in their database, and your closest matches were in Poland. Second, genes have plenty of ways of moving around geographically. Just because we have a complete family tree doesn’t mean that it represents our actual biological ancestry; non-paternal events (including adoption, illegitimate children, etc) have occurred frequently throughout history (the estimated rate is anywhere from 2% to 10%!!).
I hope this answers your concerns, and that you are dissuaded from genetic genealogy; it has plenty of great uses. For example, did you know that there is a Metz DNA Project (http://www.worldfamilies.net/surnames/metz/)? A simple Y-DNA test will tell you whether or not you are related to these Metz’s.
The two test I took , both from DNA tribes, the general and the Europa one. The general one put me as Polish. The Europa one put me as Russian.
Now if I hadn’t be doing geneolgy for the last couple of years, this would be fine but it doesn’t add up with what I know about my family or their current locations.
Nor are the results inline with known migrations, though I could be ignorant of a russian and/or polish migration prior to 1800 that made it to the England, Scotland AND Ireland.
It is possible that ALL my female forbears had a “weakness” for slavic gentlemen and ALL my male forbears were either very forgiving or painfuly unobservant. Now if I can put a Pole or a Russian in those areas I will have a plausible story.
In other words, Geneology by DNA, seems like a good way to make sure you are/aren’t related to someone else, but that’s about it. It’s not the “Holy Grail” of geneology.
After reading the comments on this site, I think that the biggest problem is that a lot of the individuals doing the test go into this process with preconceived notions. My experience with dna.ancestry.com, familytreedna.com, and dnatribes.com has been nothing short of exemplary, and I would like to present it as counterbalance.
I have always considered myself of African-American ancestry, and have ancestors listed of African descent for as for back as the available historical records show. That was the only preconception that I went into this experience with. My first test was a Y-chromosome test with dna.ancestry.com, which came back indicating Bantu-affiliated lineage in West Central Africa. I then did an mtDNA test with familytreedna.com that came back with Bantu-affiliated lineage in Southeast Africa.
After doing these two tests, I felt that an autosomal test would balance out my knowledge of self, and researched all the different companies, finally settling on dnatribes.com. When I received my results from this last test, it indicated several South African tribes, but South Sotho was at the head of the list….this corresponded with where the mtDNA test from familytreedna.com placed some of my ancestry. The seventh entry down listed the Fang tribe of Equatorial Guinea in West Central Africa; again, exactly where the dna.ancestry.com Y chromosome test indicated lineage. So DNATribes actually corroborated two other tests done by two other companies. Both of these results, however, where under the .25-.75 TribeScore normal range.
The kicker, however, was in lines 2 and 3. These lines indicated ancestry in common with Israeli Arabs (.78) and Tunisia (.72). Ordinarily, like the other posters, I would have dismissed this is a scam, but for the fact that ten years ago I was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease, which historically is a disease that overwhelmingly afflicts people of Semitic backgrounds (even my new family doctor asked me, before I had done the test, if I was Jewish!). The abnormally high Arab result actually explained a disease that I had previously had no idea how I had contracted. And there is no way that DNATribes knew about my Crohn’s, so they could not have “manufactured” an explanation. Likewise, they could not have known about my Y and mtDNA tests either, yet they corroborated them. It as appears, in my case, that the strongest portions of my DNA came from one particular Arab ancestor that probably lived over 2,000 years ago in Tunisia. It would seem to me that people will have the most difficulty with these tests (especially the autosomal) if they rely on the limited historical records of the last 300-400 years, as it is quite possible, that the ancestor who gave you the strongest genes may have lived outside the historical period.
My mother’s mother’s side (grandma) line can almost all be traced back to West and Central Europe. Yet, they all have/had white olive to dark olive skin. They don’t look like English or German people. They don’t appear to be French.
But, when you go deep into the history of Europe (B.S. in History) you do find that there were minorities that settled or traded with Europeans. Southern France is a perfect example. Arabs were trading in that region even up to the Medieval ages. And let’s not forget what the historians tell us, that there was a time in ancient times of a movement of Neolithic farmers from Turkey and the Near East throughout Europe.
Doing genealogical research, I found my friend to have background from the Ural Mountains that went to Prussia. Once in Prussia, they spread west in modern-day Germany.
Let’s not forget about Roman history. Romans put people groups from Turkey, Syria, Israel, Northwest Africa, Britain, Ukraine, etc. all across their Empire. Let’s not forget the enslavement of Jews by Europeans in the Dark Ages. Like Jewish children being given to Spanish people in the years 700-800 or so A.D.
Then you have Romani people. Not all of them traveled in caravans. Some tried to settle down and be considered part of their populations. This is why we have ‘Black Germans’ and other terms.
DNA tests are still at a very basic level. We are only at the beginning of a long climb to the top. But, if the company is legitimate, don’t blow a top because it shows (out of the few chromosomes an autosomal test can show) that you are Arabic or even for that matter African. If it shows you to be predominately Native American or East Asian, and you know your genealogy goes back to Europe, and you appear white skinned; check to see if there were any adoptions in your family history. If not, then your test is obviously not legitimate. If this is so, please write me. I’d like to know of any such sites. Plus, maybe you should file a complaint with your local bureau.
Just got my DNA Tribes profiles back. This is a SCAM Operation!!!
It showed that I am from Italy, Greece, Turkey, Oman, and Iran. My father’s people are from Ireland and go back a long time. My mother’s people are from Lithuania and also go way back. There is no evidence at all that we have any Italian, Greek, Turkish blood. My family is tall, thin, blond, green/blue eyed, and fair skinned. My 5 siblings LOOK like they belong in Lithuania. I have sent them emails demanding that my credit card be reimbursed and not to bother contacting to explain why I might be Italian, Greek, Turkish when that is so out of the universe of probability. DNATRIBES IS A SCAM!!! DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY!!! SHARON
Friday, July 10, 2009 9:51:00 AM
Al Metts et al
I also have some german ancestry and got strong polish results.Alot of areas of germany were once part of poland etc etc.When I looked up my ‘german’ surnames the areas they came from were part of Prussia. I consider many germans to be ‘germanized slavs’.The slavs were also used very heavily as slaves in ancient times [so much so that the term 'slave' stems from them,and were taken across the isles and europe and the middle east.The PIE [proto indo european homeland] is also considered to be in Poland and the Balkans.I’m not suprised at any of these results.I think dnatribes far more accurate than most autosomal tests as they have the largest database of populations.People conflict with them because they dont confirm their current ‘cultural’ indenity.
SharonAnn
Middle eastern farmers introduced argiculture to Europe and the british isles I don’t even blink when I see the 30-40% of europeans that get oman/arab results on dnatribes.Oman is a frequent result for french people on there.No shock whatsoever consider civilization as we know it started in the middle east.
It’s also often indicative of some jewish ancestry often enough.You really think outsiders never got into lithuania???or ireland? hilarious. I was just reading abt the history of the jews in Lithuania last month
People in the past have placed too much faith in geneaological paper trails, which can be full of errors, distortions and educated guesses. One’s ancestors may have come on a boat from England, but that did not necessarily mean that they were “English.” Another common myth in American ancestry is Native American stories to account for olive skin and dark hair, and handed down for generations. In my case, this test pointed to ancestry in India
Its better to be what you are than feign to be what you are not!
I sent for my dad’s DNA from DNA Tribes. And unlike the other post I did receive the results and now I’m sorry I did. I did it primarily for indian results. My French Canadian, Scotch Irish, Sioux dad came back, Italian, Arabic and Puerto Rican. Three nationalities that are an impossiblity in my family going back 300 years.
EnglishRussia’s last blog post..The Ultimate Anti-Theft System
My grandmother was an orphan in the 1920s in NYC- so there is no record whatsoever of her parents. She had a forged birth certificate. I am half Japanese and a quarter Polish and a quarter whatever my grandma was. I think I have recessive traits from my grandma. We always guessed at what her background was based on her appearance- 5′10”, blonde hair, green eyes. Would wwww.dnaancestryproject.com help me in finding out my grandmother’s background? (I am not concerned with the rest as I’m somewhat confident which parts of the world that part of my family is from)
What is truly sad about reading these comments is how strongly people feel these DNA sites are scamming them. Is it DNA Tribes fault that SharonAnn (Posted 10 July 2009) doesn’t know her own history and the history of her people? FYI SharonAnn the Celtic peoples of which te modern Irish are one of the six tribes first appeared around 400 BC in historical records when they came down out of the Alps and invaded the lands of the Estrucans in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. And you wonder where the Italian results come from? it is equally sad that there seems to be a broad ignorance of both history, politics and genetics as displayed in some of the comments. Modern day community names do not link up to country names and tribal ethnicities from centuries and millenia ago. People got around back in the day, through trade, war, enslavement, political alliances, etc. And the predjudices displayed by certain countries/regions today are not necessarily the same predjudices oflong dead people. Also, on the genetics side, I hope all are aware that it takes less thn 25 generations to modify a family group’s appearance / presentation especially if that family is migrating to lands dissimilar from their origins through both adaptation and marriage to existing local people. For example, the Asians who crossed the North American ice bridge back in the day are not exactly the same as my Cherokee cousins who are in the USA, and look nothing like me who has more African/Caucasian on my mother’s side of the family and only African on my father’s side trough inter-marriages.
I became interested in my genealogy just recently,
I have been reading a few articles on DNA testing and then I happened to find this page after doing a search to see if DNA testing is a scam. Now I am not sure if a DNA test would be worth it. I want to find out the Lineage of my mother’s father who was born in Mexico, would a DNA test show what indigenous tribe my grandfather’s ancestors came from?
This can’t be as hard to understand as some people make it out. DNATribes can not tell you where your ancestors are from. They don’t even claim to do that. Some people just can’t read and have misinterpreted what they CAN tell you.
DNATribes can tell you where in the world people that have DNA similar to your are now. It’s a clue. Your ancestors might be from there - they might not. Maybe those people’s ancestors and yours are from the same place that isn’t where they are now. That’s all they promise - it doesn’t mean “oh, my top match is Scotland so I’m Scotish” - it means only “people who live in Scotland have an atDNA that looks like mine”
Really simple stuff and no scam at all.
The Dna testing results that I have recieved do not show SHOW, SUGGEST or point to any information that was previously known about my family’s origin. It not only doesn’t show ANY of my KNOWN ancestors locations but tells me something COMPLETLY different. BOGUS, WASTE OF MONEY!
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