The DNA Puzzle - Excitement Followed By Confusion

My updated AncestryDNA Ethnicity Estimate lists Ireland - 18%. What?

I uploaded my raw AncestryDNA data to FTDNA. Those results state 39% British Isles - this cluster is typical of the British Isles especially Ireland. What?

I ran all the combinations of Ad Mixtures on GedMatch which resulted in an average of 15% Irish in those results. What??

Am I doing this wrong?

I've been actively researching my family history for 13 years. I have not found even the tiniest hint of Irish ancestry. What am I missing? Have I been chasing the wrong families? Is my Irish ancestry way, way, wayyyyy back there and I'm probably not going to find the connection?

Don't get me wrong, it would tickle me pink (or green) if I found my Irish ancestors, but so far it's just not happening.

Autosomal DNA Directions

If you've received your Autosomal DNA results and are wondering what to do now, you will want to listen to this podcast. Bernice Bennett interviews CeCe Moore and Shannon Christmas and they discuss 23andMe, Family Tree DNA and Ancestry DNA.

While parts of the podcast gets very detailed (a dot on your 17, is a 5th cousin closer than a 1st cousin 4 times removed) the episode is very informative.

Find Additional History Podcasts with BerniceBennett on BlogTalkRadio

100% Me

In two previous posts I discussed my excitement and disappointment in my Ancestry DNA results. I wasn't looking for the nitty-gritty details with a bunch of letters and numbers that explained my genetic makeup. I wanted a pie chart. Simple, easy to read and diverse.

Initially I was disappointed. This? This is what I get? 92% British Isles and 6% Unknown. Seriously? Really? That's the best you can do? Then came the questions of how can that be? My great grandparents and great great grandparents and great great great grandparents were all born in Germany. How are they not accounted for?

I shrugged and moved on. I toyed with the idea of using another service to get a second opinion but never did. I had read that Ancestry acknowledged they had some work to do on their testing methods and that there would be updates to their process sometime in the future. I didn't know the future would be just six months away!

A blog post by a fellow genealogist tipped me off. He had received his updated results and went through them in detail. Of course, being the skeptic that I am, I didn't imagine I would be one of the lucky ones to be in the first round of the new preview. Much to my surprise, I did have the bright orange button on my DNA page labeled "New Ethnicity Estimate Preview" squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee I was so excited I couldn't click fast enough! I wasn't disappointed either. Yes! I'm not totally vanilla! I have diversity in my family history and there is the connection to my German ancestry.

I understand that Ancestry is still fine-tuning their processes and my mixture could change in the future but this make up makes sense to me. Italy and Greece?? Ok, not sure how far back that is coming into play but I like it. Noticeably absent is any reference, even a trace reference, of Native American. Once again, I will have to tell my family to stop telling the story about how we have a Native American heritage.

Thank you Ancestry, for giving me my diverse pie. I'm no longer Plain Jane Vanilla!

P.S. I created the infographic using my DNA data. The chart from Ancestry.com isn't nearly that cool! 

My Ethnic Diversity Is Not To Be

I received my DNA results from Ancestry DNA and......I'm 94% British Isles, 6% unknown.

I previously posted what I would like to receive from my results, of course I was kidding about the Cherokee Princess part. I am surprised that Central European did not even register. My paternal Great and Great Great Grandparents were all born in Germany.

I contacted one of my cousin matches and have already heard back from her. We share a Great Great Grandfather, she is 2 years younger than me and lives in Denver, Colorado. That was definitely fun, finding a cousin that is my own generation. We have more comparing and sharing to do, so there are hopes of taking our shared line back another generation.

What has surprised me the most with the cousin matches, is how many people that these users have in their trees!! I guess I've been sleeping on the job. I have 263 people in my tree and many of my "cousins" have thousands. Perhaps I've been playing this a little too safe as I consider my Ancestry tree my "working tree". It may be time for me to add some children, aunts and uncles.

Now that Ancestry has allowed access to the raw DNA data I can upload my results to other services for further DNA analysis. That is something I will consider in the future, however, right now I have more cousins to contact.

All I Want Is The Pie

Almost two weeks ago I mailed my DNA sample to AncestryDNA. I will be receiving the autosomal DNA analysis which looks at both my paternal and maternal lines.

I spent a fair amount of time looking at the tests available from the various DNA testing companies. I read reviews, results, suggestions and gripes from other bloggers who had received their results. There was much conversation about raw data, no raw data, uploading results to other sites for comparison (which costs additional money) as well as some suggestions of some analysis simply being wrong.

I decided I needed to identify what my goal was in having a DNA test to begin with. Did I want raw data (what would I do with it)? Did I want an instant list of 500 cousins? Well, that would be cool, but honestly, who has the time to track down 500 new cousins? Not me. So what was the point of having my DNA tested then?

It's simple, I want the pie chart. I want to know my ethnic make up. That's it. That is where my interest and all my genealogy/family history questions stem from. Where am I from? What makes me who I am today? After watching a couple of videos from AncestryDNA I made my decision that their test would best meet my goal.

Now, if AncestryDNA would work with me a little here...this is what I would like my pie chart to look like. Yes, this is silly and I have no basis for the Cherokee Princess or Eastern European slices, but it would be fun. My actual prediction is that I am very, very, very vanilla!

I am anxiously awaiting my results and will be sure to share them with you!

AncestryDNA Video Explains their Product

If you have taken the AncestryDNA test or are considering it, you will want to watch this video. If you are not a fan of AncestryDNA (yes, I heard you on various social media channels) you may still want to watch.

What I found the most interesting in the video is how Crista Cowan, from Ancestry.com, explains ethnicity. She takes a complicated subject and made it easy for me to understand with fruits and vegetables. The other portion of the video that fascinated me is a chart showing how many direct line ancestors we have going back 10 generations.

I knew that with each generation the number of our ancestors doubled, but seeing it in this chart really brought the concept home for me. We have a lot of cousins to look for. Of course when I saw how many ancestors Crista had found and proven, I was a tad deflated. She works for Ancestry.com, if she can't find all her peeps what hope do I have?

I hope you enjoy the video.