Comments on: A Review of AncestryDNA – Ancestry.com’s New Autosomal DNA Test

By: steve

steve — Sat, 18 May 2013 19:58:25 +0000

I was certain that Ancestry had mixed up my sample with another. Then 4 months after receiving my “incorrect” DNA results from Ancestry.com, my 86 year old mother revealed that my biological father was in fact a long time family friend and not the father who raised me. My own mother confirmed the DNA test results. This formerly 100% British Isle boy is now 50% Italian! Go figure!

By: So what

So what — Sun, 05 May 2013 06:30:02 +0000

I concur with James. Nobody likes to be the bastard child, consider themselves the bastard child, or even mention the bastard child. My own mother is a bastard child, but nobody in the family likes mention this, my mother included. You really do see what you WANT to see when you think you look like someone else, but it could be misgivings. It’s upsetting that your senses deceive you and more upsetting that your truth has been a deception. For people “totally” certain of their ancestry, why even bother with these tests? Even if your mother is from Germany, her mother could have been from Denmark, and her mother from Sweden. Just look at the similarities in language and it reflects the gene flow.

It apparently hasn’t been stressed enough that these maps are not complete. When more data arrives, it will possibly change. Read, people!

By: james

james — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 15:59:40 +0000

To all the people wondering why you don’t match what you thought you should match, perhaps somewhere along the line your mom, grandma, etc. cheated on their spouses, that would throw your research off a lot. Perhaps someone was adopted, perhaps a daughter had a bastard child that was raised by the grandparents as their own (this happened in my family).

Bastards & infidelity will really throw off your testing!

By: Angel

Angel — Mon, 15 Apr 2013 04:14:19 +0000

I’m an adoptee searching not for relatives but for ethnicity. I think I would have still done the test anyway (seems like I paid more than anybody else and feeling kind of stupid for it), but I also wish I had seen all this before diving in. I’m willing to more or less accept the results I got, but knowing that I could have 0% of one parent’s ethnicity, or even only have 100% of one *part* of one parent’s ethnicity is so useless to me when I’m trying to find out who I am/what I’ve come from, and the “distant relations” are just teasers as far as I’m concerned (no closer relations have been found, but again, I’m not looking for relatives). I guess it’s not possible but I’d really like a test that could do just like the last 500 years or so – which seems to be all the people who even have 16 generations of family charted care about, too. I know, ethnicity doesn’t work that way. Still, I do feel like I might as well have rolled the dice and chosen an ethnicity or combination of ethnicities, since immediate family members have so little to do with it… I don’t see why it can’t show all the latent ethnicities, too? Does it work *that* way – if we don’t take on the ethnicity of a parent, aren’t we at lest a carrier?) The way it works now, this test only leads to more questions, no answers.

By: Eva

Eva — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 00:13:04 +0000

A bit of good news.

Ancestry.com has made DNA raw data available. I downloaded it today- here’s how it’s done: from your ancestry.com DNA Home Page; click on Manage Test Settings, then click on Get Started in the box marked Download Your Raw DNA data. Follow the instructions from there.

I’m glad ancestry.com finally did this. It restores a bit of faith in their integrity as a data gathering/sharing business. Glad they decided to share!

If I had my druthers now I’m not sure if I’d get the test with ancestry.com, but I got it for $10, the cost of shipping, back when it was in the early beta testing, so it was no skin off my nose…but I was irked when they didn’t share any of the raw data. So, a year later is better than not at all, but still rather slow. Hopefully this is a sign they are learning from their mistakes. As for customer service…meh. I’m glad I never had anything urgent I needed from them.

Best of luck all!

By: Tori

Tori — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 00:32:07 +0000

My experience with Ancestry DNA was mixed. I was disappointed with the vagueness of the results. The amount of Scandinavian surprised me at first, but I remembered that they spread their DNA over most of Europe.

I found three cousin matches on my dad’s side. I also found one on my mom’s. The one on my mom’s side had no common ancestors listed, but one of the common surnames listed individuals from the same town as one of my ancestors.

Ancestry now lets you import the raw data from your file. This data can be imported to other databases that give medical information, etc. I’d use this with caution, however.

I’m pretty sure Ancestry uses computers to generate their results since they come from thousands of SNP’s (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms), which are single base pairs. Certain base pairs are more common in certain ethnic groups, but it is not an exact science. It is, however, improving all the time, especially for base pairs with medical implications. Check out SNPedia.com for more information.

By: John B

John B — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:06:54 +0000

Stay away from FAMILY TREE DNA
I ordered an online special offer for a 67ydna test from Family Tree DNA and got ripped off. I paid $205.00 including postage for the test which was actually, what they call, Family Finder test. I did not receive the results for the test I ordered but received a cheaper test instead.
I called their office but they did not want to even follow through with my complaint. I wasn’t after a refund, just the results for what I paid for.
My advice: stay away from this company – they have no integrity!!

By: Jean King

Jean King — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 21:00:27 +0000

Alas, I wish I had read this blog before ordering the Ancestry.com DNA test, too. After 30 years of genealogical research, and lots of connections I hoped for at least some definitive information to come from the test results. The test is inconclusive, vague, and produced emails from people who had no idea how they might be connected to me, or me to them. All in all, this is a self-serving process that we pay for, so that Ancestry can create a database. I await a really useful test which will provide clear connections and accurate, detailed information. A scam.

By: Linda Graves

Linda Graves — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 03:08:35 +0000

I did not know what to expect with ancestryDNA, and so far I am not disappointed. Of course I wish the matches were easier to find, but it’s great when you see something familiar, work on it, and find a possibility. I received many more matches than the reviews I read. I received 5 matches with hints….matches worked out already (although one did not have a leaf,but showed up when I happened to click on the match). In one of those we matched through two different lines. I do think the program is a bit cumbersome. A genealogy cousin and i tried to work on this together, but when asked do you have xyz, I’d have to look through 58 pages of matches. My cohort did find a way to print out his matches alphbetically and emailed them to me. I’m not that computer savvy so can’t do the same. I’ve talked with ancestry about some issues. They are most receptive to changing the program and are in the process of working on some of these things. It’s too early to give up. I’m encouraged. This is a major undertaking. We are at the cusp of an awakening. Give it a chance. I do find it frustrating to not have access to matches who have locked their trees. I also think we need a better understanding of DNA and where our ethnicity comes from before we get started. I matched with a person who is 100% Scandinavian. I suspected that I had some Scandinavian blood in me, and through reading about ethnicity, it can come through other countries. I have French in my ancestry which shows up. Normans came down to France 1000 years ago. That may be where part of mine came from. Also when you read about the history of migrations, that could provide more hints. Again, it’s too soon to give up. Hang on a little longer. I know people who went through other companies. There are frustrations with all of it. I do think the companies need to provide more inservice to us prior to us just diving in. And keep in mind that all companies want you to think that they are the best.

By: Karen Snowdon-Way

Karen Snowdon-Way — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 23:20:47 +0000

As a professional statistician, I understand roughly how the analysis must work, even without seeing the particulars. I’m prepared to be patient while they build their accuracy.

However, there was material on their website that indicated we would receive the mtdna (for everyone) and y-dna (for males) haplotypes in addition to the “ethnicity” reports. That hasn’t happened, and Ancestry is not responding to inquiries about it. From what I’ve read above, they may not intend to provide it.

That’s fraud, even if the sales price was good. If I don’t hear anything from them fairly soon — at least to say they are working on it — I will likely pull my tree down and move my geneological research elsewhere.