Officially signed my life away - 23 & Me

How exciting! I'm sure you are both happy and scared to find out so much about your health and possibly your future. Hope all the results are positively great!

My sister just got her "results" the other day. Her Neanderthal rating (and she said "Don't laugh - that's probably your story, too!) was 3.2%. The rest is European, mostly Eastern European, which doesn't surprise me since we are 1st generation Americans from parents born in small Eastern European villages relatively close together. Oh, and that Marie Antoinette is an ancestor (marketing codswallop IMHO).

I had one of my dogs tested on a whim. When anybody asks "She's so beautiful. What kind of dog is she?" [as in "Where do I go get a fill in breed name here puppy like her?"], I always say "Don't know, she flunked the test." "What test?" "Her DNA test!"

kathyg_in_mi I'm actually not scared to find out any of the health info. I'm the type of person who likes to make lists. I don't always follow them but I'm constantly making them. I like to plan even if the plan goes astray. So I look at the test as a huge opportunity for me.

malna My results will likely be similar on my mom's side, but I'm always up for a good surprise. Her maternal side came from Europe to Canada in the late 1800's and I've been able to trace back as far as my 6x great grandmother who was born in 1729 near London, England. With it being so hard to trace female lines it will be nice to just get a piece of info that you can't find in documents.

My dad's side is one I really would have liked though. There's always been some belief that we were part native American because of dark eyes, dark hair, dark olive skin. I've found no evidence of that through genealogy so it would be nice if we could find out if it were true or not since there is always a possibility that someone was fooling around somewhere. I wouldn't put it past that side. LOL Oh the info I've found out, it's like a movie. I have pictures of my dad in his younger years in the summer and boy could he ever pass for being Native Canadian.

I love your dogs story. Diversity is beautiful and your dog likely has less health problems because of it. At least that's the way it works with my cross bred livestock..... hybrid vigor.

I recently had this done through Ancestry, and am having more fun than I imagined. So far I have over 100 close matches and 400 others. Or maybe the total is 400, anyway, a lot! All of the close matches I can identify easily. They match with someone on my tree. Others are harder, with names and places I don't know. Some friends of some of my ancestors did show up, but no way to connect them. I know they were friends in 1750 because they were constantly in court cases, usually losing and having to pay off in amounts of tobacco. They lived on land later owned by George Washington which is as close to royalty as I can manage. I am 90% British Isles. Have fun, it will keep you off the streets!

I did the 23andMe test awhile ago. Since you possess DNA from your father, it will be reflected in the results. I know if a male in your family is tested as well, it will reveal more about you, but I don't really know how that works. I do know that my own ancestry showed approximately 25% Ashkenazy, which was no surprise since my paternal grandfather was Jewish. So that was from my father's side, as were some other things. I was surprised to discover a small percentage of Italian in the mix. I don't look the slightest bit Italian, but maybe this explains my fondness for Italian opera. :-)

I'm glad I got the test done because it revealed a couple of useful health-related things. And the number of genetic mutations seemed to confirm my long-held suspicion that the large amount of radiation I received as a small child had a lasting negative impact. But I found a lot of it disturbing, and not just because of health risks. Friends who had the test done had a much more positive experience, and you probably will too.

One problem was my very limited knowledge of genetics. Just because we possess a certain gene doesn't mean it's turned on. This goes for the "good" genes as well as the "bad." At some point I'd like to do some reading on the subject.

I think eventually DNA testing will be a routine part of our health care, with gene manipulation increasing in scope. The whole field is pretty amazing, really.

Oh, and I'm just over 2% Neanderthal. Apparently it's a good thing to have, Maina, because they lived long lives. They were also smarter than we've assumed:

Smithsonian Magazine: Rethinking Neanderthals

miss_sistersue LOL, ya it will for sure keep me out of trouble out in the middle of nowhere living on a dirt road. ;)

Just with doing research I've been able to connect with my dad's cousin, my grand-father's cousin and woman who is related through my 2x great grandfather whose side of the family is all still in England. It's nice because I was able to get some family pictures. We have none in our family so it's been really amazing to see faces. For me it's another sense of connection.

I've also done almost my husband's whole side. I still have his maternal grand-father's side left. I just ordered his death certificate the other day so I'll be starting that soon. My husband couldn't really care either way. For me, it's nice to see that all these people in direct lines had a part in making you, who you are. The good, the bad and the ugly.

One thing I found funny was that I was able to trace that my husband is actually related, though distantly, to my neighbor. My neighbors are Mennonites and my husband's grandmother was family were Mennonites. We live 1 1/2 hours away from where they lived too. It was just kind of neat to see that connection.

I agree about the Neanderthal being a good thing. It's believed that's where some of us get our immune system from.

I do have some knowledge with DNA and how it works, though I am far, far from and expert. I'm also not one to panic if I saw something that was upsetting. I would use it as a research tool.

I suspect most things will come back without surprising. Since I've done genealogy for about 10 years now, I've know that the majority of my lines do live very long lives, many living close to 100, two past that point. I do know though from personal family connections and death records research that heart disease does seem to run on my mothers side as well as stomach and colon cancer on both my mom and dad's side. I know that the test is more about risk factor than anything else, but I do think it's useful in the sense of giving people information that may make them do things differently. There is of course the whole privacy issue that is scary though.

As a genealogist, you probably know there are sites where you can share your results and find relatives, etc. I haven't done this myself (23andMe's periodic notifications are enough for me), but one of my cousins, an avid genealogist, has told me about them. For example:

FamilyTreeDNA.com

Gedmatch.com (which is often down for maintenance)

Come to think of it, I did do Gedmatch last year. It was fun because it gives you a code number, and I entered my code and a friend's code to see if we had any matches. We were hoping our Scottish ancestors overlapped some DNA. But nope. :-(

Alisande, I actually opted out of the 23 and Me one for now. I don't upload any of my genealogy info online just for privacy issues, but I did reach out to the three I mentioned above because I could tell from the info they posted that they were closely related to me. That may change with time of course, but for now I'm ok.

I just started doing my husband's maternal side this year since he has no contact with that side of his family at all. All he knew were his grandparents names who died in the late 1980's. He always thought his grandmother was from Ireland and grandfather from Scotland. I sent away for his grandmother's death certificate. He was pretty shocked to find out that not only was she born in Ontario, Canada but that the family has lived in Canada since the 1800's. I'm interested to see more about his Scottish side. He definitely gets his looks from his mom's side of the family and so I think it would be nice for him to connect with pictures, despite the fact that he plays it off. I found a picture of his grandmother's uncle who was one VERY good looking man. I told DH no wonder he is so hot, it's in his genes. He had a laugh at that one.

When I was a teenager I decided that Scottish men in general were very good looking. I couldn't say the same for the women, although there are exceptions of course--my family being one of them. LOL

The 23andMe notifications are fairly private. Names are not usually used (unless you specify that you want your name on the lists), and if you choose to contact someone it's up to them to decide whether or not to respond. So far I contacted only one person because he sounded like such a close relative and I couldn't imagine who it was. He turned out to be my first cousin's son, whom I'd never met.

Now I'm wondering if his DNA satisfies the requirement for a male in my family. Obviously, he wouldn't represent both sides of my family, just my mother's. But stil . . . ?

I've sent my DNA and my aunt's on my father's side to ancestry. I'm waiting for the result and trying to study the DNA sites. It's SO complicated! And I just joined another blog a couple of days ago and it's so far over my head I doubt I will ever understand what he is talking about! I hope to connect with more "cousins" and maybe we will figure out which Bailey is our ancestor before 1800. And when I get done with that, it's onward to my mother's grandfather who must have been raised by unicorns. I can trace her grandmother back to the Mayflower. It's annoying not to be able to find her grandfather.

I am somewhat cautious about the privacy issue......... I don't want to be "out there" but to do genealogy, I have to be. This is my long range plan. I just need a big pile of money.

http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/2015/02/02/2015-most-bang-for-the-dna-buck/

If you want to fish in all the ponds for the lowest price (updated for 2015):
Of course, the best way to get all the matches you can possibly get it
to test with all three major companies. These days, testing with all
three is less expensive than it used to be to test with just one. But
you can save yourself a little bit of money and get your results into
all three databases this way:

Step 1. Test with AncestryDNA first. It’ll cost you
$99 in the U.S. — maybe a little less if you catch a sale. (Remember:
since late 2013, we haven’t been able to use 23andMe tests for this
first step because its V4 testing chip isn’t compatible with the Family
Tree DNA system.) Updated note: Remember that to see
full matching data and the family trees of your matches, kits activated
under accounts created after October 2014 have a $49 annual subscription
fee. You don’t need to pay that to test and get your raw data, but do need to pay it to see everything AncestryDNA has to offer.

Step 2. The minute you get your results from
AncestryDNA, transfer your raw data to Family Tree DNA. When I say
“transfer,” that doesn’t end your matches at AncestryDNA, it just gets
you into the Family Tree DNA system with all of its benefits. You can do
this for free but remember that “no free lunch” bit: the information
you get with a free transfer is very limited. So you have two ways to
unlock the really useful data: get four other people to transfer in
their data or just pony up $39 and unlock the information right away.

Step 3. When you can afford it, test with 23andMe for another $99 (U.S. pricing), occasionally a little less on sale.

That puts you into all three pools for a total (assuming you have to
pay full freight for everything) of $237 — less than what you used to
pay for one such test in the past.

Imhappy&Iknowit IOWA zone 6b What are you finding confusing about it?

In Canada we have to pay $199 for the 23 and me. Canadians always have to pay so much more for everything. (that's my little gripe about that)

With the 23 and Me, I did opt in to the health surveys. It's basically like being a test subject. LOL So if anything comes up that would apply for me I can do the surveys and you are usually compensated in some form or another. My youngest brother was actually a "professional" test subject for real medical testing so I guess I'm just keeping it in the family. LOL I do like the idea though that I may at some point be able to contribute in some form to further medical research. I already have myself registered as an organ donor/ donor for medical research so why not do something while I'm still alive to help if I can?

What I've personal liked most about genealogy is that it's not just raw factual information all the time. You can infer a great deal from the documents you find. It's like detective work, which I was interested in becoming a cop when I was younger so perhaps that's why it interests me so much. I love putting the pieces of the puzzle together. I've found some very sorrid details out, fit for a movie kind of details. It's kind of like a novel but only you end up being a character in it.

Imhappy&Iknowit IOWA zone 6b I also wanted to add that keep at it your mother's grandfather's side. For the longest time I was tracing my maternal side which is often very hard to do. I got stuck for quite a while then finally found a document that gave me a breakthrough. I'm stuck yet again though at the lovely Anne Buckel who was born in 1729 but cannot find her maiden name. Perhaps one day I'll head to England myself or hire someone over there to try to find more, but it's the small breakthroughs and then loads of info then nothing, then the cycle starts again.

I did it a few months ago. I did it for the health aspect so I haven't even shared with anyone yet to see "where I come from". If you are really interested in the health you can also go to Snpedia and use your raw data to find out so much more. There are even other companies you can get further analysis with. I just recently downloaded my info on athletigen to see my athletic performance review (well, genetically). I am trying to get into genealogy but am way more interested in genocode. I found out that I don't fully process folic acid through 23andme and switched my supplement to a methylated folate and voila, improvement. Would never, ever have known this otherwise.

Well my kit has made it, now just wait for them to analyze my spit. Which by the way, doing the sample in front of other people is a very odd feeling. I think I laughed the whole way through it because I felt so ridiculous. So now I wait, like a kid a Christmas.

My mother's mother and grandmother are easily documented. It's her grandfather who's a dead end.

It's confusing because I don't like math and I don't have the gene for spreadsheets. I guess if I just do the ancestry circles they will do the work for me but I had planned to carry it farther.

My husband and I did it for $99 each back when we could find out the health information. He found out he was at increased risk of developing diabetes and he has since become pre diabetic even though he is normal weight. I found out I have about 45% risk of devolving leg clots. I'm fine so far but both my mother and older brother have had them.

My mother had some first cousins she lost track of ( this was a while ago and I had forgotten about it). Well, I found them through 23 and me! Only one first cousin is still alive( in his 80's) but I have connected with 2 second cousins.

Imhappy&Iknowit IOWA zone 6b Ah ok, I understand now. That's not all that far back then. Do you use ancestry. com? Perhaps you can find a family member to help you with the math part of it. Luckily I don't mind math too much. I'm not a genius or anything, but at least my hubby is definitely much better than I am so he should be able to help if I have issues with the math parts of it.

I finished all my pre survey information so now I just wait probably a month or so for the results.

happilady How does the diabetic portion work. Is it just a risk factor?

So my hubby is now saying he may want to do the test. I'm sure it's more for the health aspect, but I hope he does.

So I was looking at their example family and wow, so amazing that they can tell most likely from genes how your muscles are built. We'll see how mine comes back. I'm for sure built like a work horse. LOL I'm short but I have what my son call's "man arms". I always did well in the sports that were power driven like hurdles and sprinting and was not very good with distance.

Genes are so amazing when you really think about it. So many little details to make you who you are. I have a feeling it's going to take quite some time to read through and research all aspects of the report. LOL

BTW, I don't know if 23andMe is now permitted to give health-related information on your genes (they were blocked from doing this some time ago), but for $5 you can upload your report to Promethease.com and they'll provide it to you.

I hope y'all understand that the state of medical knowledge, insofar as how personal genetic patterns affect health, isn't anything like what your descriptions would suggest. Far more is not known, and not understood, than otherwise.

Even with discrete site codes known to lead to enhanced risk or probabilities of a specific type, many are known to be inconsistently influenced by environmental or other factors. Other inherited traits may be too, or may interact with other sites, but this is where the picture gets fuzzy. None of it should be taken too literally.

Alisande They are allowed in Canada.

SnidelyWhiplash I don't think anyone here would suggest that more is know than not known. We've already discussed earlier in the thread that even genes that have been isolated for certain illness' or characteristic don't necessarily mean you have or will get an illness. I would hope that everyone here that did the test, read all the lengthy information provided by the company and did research before ordering so they are aware that it's a statistical analysis.

It seems that many people that posted, including myself are interested in the genealogy side of the test and the health portion is simply bonus that allows us to then look into things further, assess risk factors and perhaps change habits or speak with a doctor about it. It's just a tool.

I bought my tests on sale @ $79. I then looked for a coupon and found
one for free shipping. If you're going to do the ancestry one, shop for
the best bargain. Wait for a sale. There will probably be one again
this year; I'm watching Decoration Day and 4th of July. Perhaps Columbus
Day. But for sure next March 12, 2016 there will be a sale. That's
Genealogy Day. I've got my mad money jar ready. I'd like to buy a couple
for my "other side" next time around.

Genealogy is not a cheap hobby! But, what is?

I got started by doing the history of my house. After I researched
the 1857 land warrant that gave this Louisiana Purchase land to a
soldier in Ohio for his service in the Mexican American War I was
hooked. Every owner/family who ever owned this section had a fascinating
story. I "met" relatives at ancestry for most of them. I was able to
fill in some missing years in their family tree and they sent me photos
and information about the people. I have a coffee table binder all about
my house and the people who owned the land.

When I was finished I still had 2 months of ancestry subscription
left and on a whim I put in my grandmother's name. Until that day I
really didn't know anything about any of my family. Part was lack of
interest and part was that my parents didn't talk about their
childhoods. My paternal grandfather died when I was 8 but I never "knew"
him. My maternal grandparents died before I was born. And now I know so
much about my whole family. My mother came from Mayflower people (did
you know they sailed from Holland, not directly from England?), my
father is from the same line as Jack Bailey (Queen for a Day). My
mother's mother lived less than 5 miles from where I live now and I
never knew it until I worked on my family tree. I know the names of the
ships my ancestors arrived on. I found my 2x great grandparents were
uncle and niece and when he died she abandoned her 2 children and
remarried. My grandmother had an illegitimate son. It's been the most
fascinating mystery story I've ever read and I'm the author! I'm pretty
good at geography now that I know I came from France, Prussia, the East
Riding of Yorkshire and Prince Edward Island, Canada. I'm almost ready
for Jepardy! I suspect the Canada ancestor is Irish but he's been a
brick wall so far. Come on DNA results! Find a connection to Margaret
Clark/e. AND I now have "cousins" I never knew before. We've teamed up
in the search for more people, we share documents we've bought so that
each of us doesn't have to spend money for the same documentation.

The names that show up in the extended family are so familiar to me,
having known/heard them as a very young child. Little did I know they
were (very) extended family. I was related to everyone in town! In those
days most families had 10 kids who married 10 other kids who were
members of a 10 kid family. Pretty soon you have a town! I've made
several diagrams of the circle of intermarriages and relationships. Who
knew! Well, my parents did but I never gave it a thought. And then
there's the display at the historical society for Jack Bailey and for
Alonzo Moody Bailey. If I would have known all this stuff when I was in
school I could have written much better papers. And I probably would
have made much better grades since I would have been interested in the
subjects.

My, how I do go on!

Jeopardy here you come! LOL

My test was an inclusive one. It was the only test offered here so it was health and genealogy. It can definitely be an expensive hobby, but it doesn't have to be. Really when you think about how much it cost for a gym membership, or sports team or many other hobbies it actually isn't too bad.

In the early years of my research I would go for a drive and check out branches of local historical societies. I am lucky that many generations of my family were born in Canada. My dad often joined me in the early searches as well. We'd go for the day and do some research, which was a nice way to spend time together since we are pretty much the only two that are very interested in knowing more.

If you don't have access to Canadian genealogy records right now I'd be happy to do a search for you. I have a subscription right now and that gives me access to Canadian records.

The "Pilgrims" of Mayflower fame were English religious dissenters who'd left England to live in the relatively more tolerant Netherlands. For various reasons, they came to a point where the community needed to move on.

The Mayflower left from England. Its Pilgrim passengers traveled over from the Netherlands on The Speedwell, a different boat, to join the Mayflower prior to departure.

Wikipedia article on Pilgrims

I've never understood the interest in genealogy. Take this example, everyone had relatives who were living in 1620. Where they were and what they were doing really don't shed much light on anything. As the saying goes, only the lead dog pulling the dog sled has a view, the others spend their days looking at the butt of the dog hitched in front of them. And so it was with most all of everyone's ancestors.

Why does anyone take an interest in anything? I don't understand how people can sit on their couch for three hours and watch a hockey game, but that's because I have no interest in it. It's a hobby, just like anything else. I've always been interested in anthropology, archeology and history. I always excelled in those areas. My dad was actually the same, history was his favorite subject. My youngest brother has one of his major's in anthropology and my oldest brother is a war buff. I guess it just runs in our genes.... Haha get it?

Hobbies are great, there's nothing better to make life more interesting and enjoyable. I just said genealogy is one I don't get.

My exposure to those with your hobby would suggest it's a mistake to equate a study of one's personal ancestry to a study of history. History is one of my interests. I've read a couple of (history) books on the Pilgrims, including the recent one by Nathanial Philbrick. I'd guess the previous commenter who thought the Pilgrims had embarked from the Netherlands hasn't. Which one of us is studying this period and these people in history?

Those I've discussed geneology with seem to known very little about the individuals involved and the worlds they lived in. Births, deaths, family trees, common relatives, sure. That's not much insight.

It's too bad you don't have an interest in it because you'd find that there's far more to learn than just vital statistics. I've been doing this for years so I've done all sides of my own family and most of my husbands (like you he doesn't have interest in it).

It's amazing what you can find out from documents. For example I was able to find that my 3x great grandfather left his wife and 4 children and had an affair with the wife's cousin. At that point in history it was very common for men in certain professions to be journeymen and travel from place to place where they could find work. In this case my ancestor worked both as a stonemason and a cordwainer (both family professions that were apprenticed from one generation to the next). He was staying with his wife's cousin's family at one point. The affair between the two resulted in a child. After they had a second child together they moved to Canada. That child died, but they then had a 3rd child together in Canada. They always are listed as married, despite the fact that the first wife was still alive until the 1880's. My 2x great grandfather then joined him in the early 1880's so there was obviously still at family relationship over the years despite his father leaving when he was 12. Through contact with the descendants of my 2x great grandfather's full siblings, they never knew what happened to the 3x great grandfather. It's likely this was something that would not have been discussed at those times.

Some of the other things I've learned about from documents are that I had ancestors who were indentured servants, resulting in a child's birth and payout because of this. I have many UEL ancestor's and there is a great deal of military documents related to that. I have ancestors that came to Canada during the potato famine in Ireland. I have Swiss ancestors who came to Canada in the 1700's as "foreign Protestants" fleeing religious persecution. I also have ancestors who were part of the "witch" trails in Germany in the 1600's who were burned for their Lutheran ties. I could go on and on, but given that you take no interest there's really no point. LOL I do take joy from it and even sometimes get a great sense of empathy for some of the things my ancestors had to endure.

Look, there's no need to justify what you enjoy doing. Especially not to me.

I don't see the attraction of it, but that's fine, everyone has their own views. If you knew me and came to me one day with - "here's some info about your background", and then proceeded with what you have outlined above, I'd still have no interest and would leave it at that.

The other thing, always amusing, is that details that do appear too frequently describe ancestors who were saintly, overcame obstacles to live virtuous lives, and set examples we can follow to this day. Of course!. Some of your tale reads like that too. Reality is, most of our ancestors were grey, colorless souls who were successes and failures, whose lives were happy and sad, who were honest and also thieves, morally upstanding as well as wife-beaters and child molesters, who came and went from the earth without having much impact beside any children they had.

You know, sometimes I write things and in re-reading them, find that I've done a good impression of the Saturday Night Live character Debby Downer. This is one of those times! I'm really a very happy person - I need to leave a note about that somewhere, so that any future generations in my family who decide to get into genealogy will know the truth about me!

Oh, I wasn't justifying, just sharing. Don't worry, I get the same reaction when I talk about my animal's antics to my family members. LOL I view the genealogy as a hobby for me, just the same way knitting is.

Editing to add, that I find the mundane info just as interesting. FYI, I am the type of person that actually enjoys documentaries, and listen to CBC radio and likes TVO programs.

I've done the Ancestry test but was unaware of the 23andme health information available. What kind of information do you get from having your DNA tested? This is new territory for me. :)

Evenshade 8a The health aspect of it is not available for Americans, but in Canada some of the things they test for are gene variants that would give you a higher risk factor than the general public for developing certain illness. Some examples they test for are the genes known for increased risk for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, breast cancer, blood clotting disorders that leads to things like pulmonary embolism.

They can test for gene variants that would increase your increase for having reactions to certain types of drugs.

There are also gene variants for specific diseases. These are things like cystic fibrosis and sickle sell anemia. There is a large list, this is just 2 of the well known diseases. These types of things you may not have but are a carrier and can pass on to children.

Then there is just the fun stuff like heritable traits like eye and hair colour and things like if your body is likely to metabolize caffeine slowly or quickly.

The health aspect of it is not available for Americans

Not quite true. Americans get a report of all the genes, mutations, etc., just as Canadians do, but 23andMe is not allowed to provide information on each of them. As I noted above, the 23andMe report can be easily shared with other sites that for some reason are permitted to explain the genes. For $5, for example, you can get the health-related information from Promethease.com.

Alisande Ah, ok I get it now. I wasn't sure what you meant in your previous post.

I think I'm going to do this, just for the fun of it. Will probably go to Promethease.com too and find out the health side of it also.

"I've read a couple of (history) books on the Pilgrims, including the
recent one by Nathanial Philbrick. I'd guess the previous commenter who
thought the Pilgrims had embarked from the Netherlands hasn't."

Wrong AGAIN. And wikipedia is not the leading authority on anything. Helpful, yes. An authority? No. If you really read a few history books about the Mayflower people you would know why they were living in Holland, how long they lived there and why they left. What happened to the Speedwell? Do YOU know? And what happened to the people who couldn't sail on it? For someone who has no interest I wonder why you are participating in this discussion. Don't assume I don't know anything more than birth and death dates. You don't know anything about me and even less about my research methods.

Reality is, most of our ancestors were grey, colorless souls

I don't know why you would think that, Snidely. It makes no sense to me. How would you know what the reality is anyway?

My paternal grandmother ran away from home at 16 to go on the stage. A soprano, she married the handsome baritone who, according to newspaper clippings, had women swooning in the aisles. In comparison, my maternal grandparents lived quieter lives, but they were creative and fun-loving.

I can't imagine very many people in my lineage were grey and colorless, and I would think the same is probably true of your ancestors, Snidely.

" If you really read a few history books....."

imhappy. a comment like this doesn't start a conversation with me, it ends one. I stopped reading your post after the word "books", as in the quote.

alisande, if you like stories like the one you briefly mention, then enjoy yourself by pursuing them.

It's been long true that people in the entertainment business are never too far from a newspaper story. You know about these relatives perhaps for that reason, not because anything they did was important.

Contemporaries of those folks, namely other of your relatives and hundreds of thousands or millions of people in the same city or areas nearby, lived and died and left little more than a headstone. Some not even that. They have living descendents too. For most of them, their stories aren't findable but even if they were, they're also not particularly interesting. That's what I was referring to.

Important? Interesting? Those are relative terms.

I'm not saying my ancestors discovered the cure for cancer or brought peace to the world, but I am saying they weren't your "grey, colorless souls." In fact, I don't know anyone personally I'd describe that way--including myself. And I certainly haven't done anything you'd consider "important."

As mentioned above, it seems odd that you jump into these discussions of genealogy, Snidely, hammering away at your point, only to say you don't care about it one way or the other. You did this at the old KT too.

I always find it puzzling when people will argue about things they don't care about just so they can feel smarter or better informed than the ones who are passionate about it or are inquisitive. The need to be right seems to overpowers their ability to let others enjoy their own opinion. In real life, we have the option to avoid people like that. Online, it's harder.

You will have a lot of fun with it. Um, I guess I use the term lightly because when I bring up things to friends and family and cross that line that brings the glaze over the eyes.... There is also a forum for discussion so you will be with like-minded individuals. It has been a tool for me as I geared my workouts to something that suits me (yes it a science that is still immature) but I am still going to experiment because - why not? I also found out that I am a slow caffeine metabolizer so I cut my intake to a fraction of what it was. The heavier stuff I kind of shrug off and live my healthiest lifestyle I can since nothing has been proven for what triggers what.
Finding out my European ancestry was interesting as my family is pretty disconnected so there wasn't much info in that regard. My dad is also (mostly) Native and I wanted to see how much I was.

" I stopped reading your post after the word "books", as in the quote."

And yet you argue on. About what? The facts I know or the Wikipedia article you read?

YOUR quote "I've read a couple of (history) books on the Pilgrims, including the
recent one by Nathanial Philbrick. I'd guess the previous commenter who
thought the Pilgrims had embarked from the Netherlands hasn't."

They embarked from Holland on the Speedwell. Went to England where they met the crew and passengers of the second ship, The Mayflower. Were only able to sail on the Mayflower from England to America because the crew of the Speedwell kept making the ship leak so they didn't have to go on the voyage. Fact. If you don't like the facts then don't study history. Nathanial Philbrick is not an authority on the Mayflower or it's passengers. He knows yachts, though. Try Caleb Johnson if you are researching the Mayflower.

Ancestry Based on Shape, Size, Proportion of Your Feet & Toes

Maybe when I get my DNA results it will explain how a German, French, Canadian, Irish, English ancestry has Roman and Asian toes. Hmm?

Ordered my test late yesterday. Can hardly wait all of the weeks to get the results.

Sorry but I had to jump in here with a history lesson. Frankly, I had no idea this wasn't basic school child knowledge--I certainly learned it and have studied it since as a professor of early American literature. The Pilgrims were a group of Separatists who spent 11 difficult years in Leyden, Holland (briefly, first in Amsterdam) seeking freedom from English persecution before deciding to journey to America.

On a more related note I think I'm going to do the 23 and Me test. I have a deep interest in genealogy having also sprung from ancestors that were poor but certainly not uninteresting. Can't wait to get the results!

Well now I wish I had of set up some sort of referral system. LOL For those of you that know of family or friends wanting to do it you can usually get a discount on your test if you order more than one. You also get a $20 amazon gc if you refer someone that takes the test. I'm not sure if that's just a Canadian thing. My husband is thinking he wants to do the test now so if he does at least we get a gift card out of it. Well see though, like I said earlier, us Canadians have to pay $199 for our test.

And how many know Pilgrims and Separatists were two different groups living in two different places? I blame the American education system for not knowing the real facts. All those Thanksgivings when all of us had to make black hats with buckles on them, shoe buckles, and little white caps and big square white collars.

littlemonkeys, it must be Canadian. We get the "special price" a couple times a year but that's all I've ever seen. But I haven't been watching for a good deal on multiples until lately. I'm torn between spending more at ancestry on other relatives or spending some at 23 for me. One thing I thought about today.........if ancestry is going to find other ancestry members who have a tree there and who have done the DNA test, why am I spending money on the test? I've already contacted the owners of the trees with my brick walls. They have the same brick walls. So we commiserate our misery as a group.

Just updating with the progress of my sample. I thought I had read that the DNA needs to be analyzed in your own Country, but looks like my sample was received to their Canadian depot and then shipped down to North Carolina. So that's just a heads up for those that decide to order in Canada. The shipping may take a while. It wasn't too bad timing though. It's out for delivery today and we did have a holiday here on Monday so it just got shipped out yesterday.
I'll update everyone with how long it takes to get the sample analyzed.

snidely, I think most people who trace their family roots will discover some facts that might make them proud, and some that might make them cringe, when learning about their past relatives. But the fact that most of the 'cast of characters' in our past aren't exciting, doesn't take away from the interest in learning history, to me. I learned that although I'm from Canada, and our family has been here for many generations, my father's great, great, great.........grandfather was indeed a very integral figure in the American voyage on the Mayflower and settlement in America. He even has a monument dedicated to him in Plymouth, that I'd like to visit someday. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Cushman

But I also learned that one of my great, great....uncles robbed trains for a living, haha! Only the former man has any historical relevance, but I found reading about both, just as interesting. I guess, to each his own.

pickyshopper, imagine my dismay when I read about my Mayflower ancestors, Robert Latham and his wife Susannah Winslow, abusing and murdering their 14 year old servant boy. They got a slap on the hand for it.

Well, the death certificate for my husband's grandfather came the other day. The last line to do of all our combined grandparents. I think I saved the most difficult for last. This one is definitely more digging involved. I have the death certificate saying he was born in Ontario, not Scotland like my husband believed. The parents were both supposedly born in Scotland according to this, but I'm finding links to Nova Scotia for the mother.

This puzzle had me thinking that perhaps another big part of why I have so much interest in genealogy is that it's like putting pieces of a puzzle together. I love a good puzzle and I rock at games like Risk that take logic and strategy. I also love mystery novels. So maybe it's partly due to that desire to "solve" that makes it so enjoyable for me.

littlemonkeys3, that is exactly why I like doing it. Puzzles and potato chips. Betcha can't stop at one!

My DNA is now being analyzed. That was pretty quick for everything considering I mailed it out right before a Canadian holiday and the week after Memorial day in US. So pretty speedy service so far since I go the kit just after Mother's day. Not sure how long the genotyping will take, but to get to this point it's actually taken less time than expected.

John and I had ours done and I was surprised to find that my ancestors are basically from England. A small percentage from Wales and Ireland...Fact is. I always thought we were German.

Thanks for sharing Ruthieg. So for females do they do only maternal side for the genealogy aspect. That's what I keep seeing on their website, but up thread someone mentioned it for both sides. I'm expecting to have some German, England and Swiss for sure on my mom's side or generalized from those areas. If I'm also remembering correctly I think there is also some Irish in there as well. I'm a real Heinz 57 of European ancestry with both my sides.

LM3, I have not had much luck with official Canadian information. I've never been able to locate my grandfather's immigration records. I found my mother's, but I have her ticket stub (and that of my grandmother and my uncle on the same voyage) so I knew the date, the ship, the port of Montreal, etc. My grandfather had "come over" first to make enough money to send back and bring the rest of the family. I do have a picture of him on a farm somewhere near Regina, Saskatchewan in 1922. Now my mom was born in 1924, so I have to think he went back to Europe (maybe I'm just being naive again :-). He did tell me stories about making the voyage more than once, but not a lot of details (I was too young to ask the right questions). I've never found one trace of him. I even spent the money to sign up with ancestry.ca, but no leads there either. I put every misspelling of our name, "sounds like", starts with this letter, etc. I could think of.

On the same note, I never found a trace of my father's father coming through Ellis Island or Battery Garden. The family scuttlebutt is he and his brother used the same papers. Wouldn't surprise me a bit. And I did find more than one record for my grandfather's brother. Couple of scamps, those two!

When I went back to Eastern Europe to the towns they were from and asked in person at the town halls and churches, they told me so many records had been lost during the wars, they couldn't help. 6 generations is enough for me, though. I think it's really cool that I have the handwritten birth certificates for my mom and dad and my grandmother.

Fun stuff!

Looks like the DNA has all been geneotyped. The data is undergoing quality review right now. I'm impressed with the speed this has taken. Perhaps certain times are heavy than others.

From your posts on this subject I assume you are an experienced family researcher. For others reading this thread:

Bear in mind your results won't tell you which "side" your matches are from. You still have to do the detective work to figure it out. Both of the tests I sent in were finished in about 3 & 4 weeks. I never did get a notification from ancestry; I just kept checking.

There are matches who won't answer you. there are matches who will answer expecting you to do ALL their work for them. There are matches who don't have a clue what they are doing. Somewhere in those matches you will find someone who understands the process and who has a well researched tree and who will share information with you. If your tree consists of you and your parents, you aren't going to learn anything without a lot of follow up and a lot of research. It's not the magic ancestry says it is.

I did mine and my aunt's on my father's side. We are each other's first match but so far, after that, we don't have the same people in our match list. My hope is that as more people test I will finally know which Bailey branch I belong to.

But I was very disappointed in the connect aspect. I don't know why people tested and then don't respond to a contact email.

I'm really undecided about buying more tests if/when they go on sale REALLY cheap. It seems like playing the slots at the casino and I don't do that. If I just play once more................

malna, have you looked at the Castle Garden web site? And if they may be German, google Germans to America. Google ship's lists. There's a great site with tons of information. I don't know how deep you have already looked but we can start a new thread if there's reason to discuss sources.

Imhappy - I decided not to opt into the connect portion of it because I've btdt with the ancestry match up's and for now I'm good with that. I might go back to it later on, we'll see.

1 thing I have found is a lot of incorrect info that people had when doing my own research. Some people just copy from other people and don't want to check the results. I can understand info that is further back where you have to either hire a local genealogist or physically visit, but the recent stuff where you can access yourself frustrates me. I've seen it on several of my lines and my husbands as well. So that's part of the reason I don't want to just hand everything over to people anymore. I might decided to do that again later on, but sometimes you reach a point where it's enough of the same non-grateful "attitude".

With that said, I did have the opportunity to "meet" my grandfather's cousin this way and we both shared info and stories. Her moreso than I. This was earlier on in my research. It was nice because my grandfather was still alive at the time. She even emailed a few photos of my great grandparents. It was wonderful to see because we have absolutely no family photos.

Some of my family was visiting this weekend and we got to talking about genealogy and this test. Really only my dad and I have a keen interest in it in the past. What's funny is when you have a know it all sibling who thinks he's right but hasn't actually looked into anything. LOL I just had to keep calm and say, "no it was this way." "No Bristol is not in Wales." LOL A few good looks to my mother in a knowing manner also occurred, it was hard for us not to laugh. Too bad there isn't a gene for "know-it-all" syndrome.

Imhappy, why would you consider getting retested? Is it because another test might go back farther? Or might be more accurate? Or are you thinking another testing service might yield more family connections? If the last, I'm sure there are sites where you can share the results you have. These can be free or charge a small fee. Gedmatch, which I mentioned above, is one.

I got my initial health results back. The ancestry component is still being finalized. Nothing too much to report. I do carry the gene for celiac disease and that's about it. I also found out that I am likely to metabolize the drugs used to treat things like h-plori too quickly. This is good to know because it's something that I may need to deal with at some point. I am prone to ulcers and I do carry h-plori. I haven't really looked into it in depth, but later on tonight I'll look into it more deeply. I did find it funny that I am very unlikely to flush due to alcohol when I flush pretty much after the first sip. So that I noticed was not correct.

It could be that it's not incorrect, exactly; you could possess the gene, but it isn't "turned on." Perhaps this is how some people are carriers of certain diseases, but never get symptoms themselves.

My report said I have a gene that makes it impossible to smell asparagus in urine. Uh, no. :-)

There were other things like that as well.

That's true Alisande. I hadn't looked at the gene breakdown before posting. Just a brief review.

I'm wondering if it could also be due to the fact that I just have skin sensitivities. I get the same way when I am in the cold, wind or even when I am coming down with an illness. It could just be some sort of immune reaction.

I was right about having lots of fast twitch muscle fibers. I carry both genes for that. I build muscle very easily. I'm short but am very strong. My eldest refers to my arms as "man arms". LOL I was very good at sprinting when I was younger and this explains why I was always terrible at long distance and had no endurance. When you tie it into genealogy it's interesting because I had many ancestors who were stone masons, which is a job where you'd need to have strength.

I was also not that surprised to find out I am a fast caffeine metabolizer. TMI but I don't even need to finish a cup of tea and I'm running to the bathroom. My dad is the same way and so is my sister's boyfriend. I was thinking about giving up tea but now heck if it says based on my genes that 1 cup per day is better than no cups then I'll keep drinking it. No point in depriving myself for nothing. ;)

Also check out your MTHFR (snps C677T and A1298C) gene. It has to do with how you metabolize folic acid (or don't, as in my case). You can do this in the raw data. I flush with alcohol too and don't have the gene for the true alcohol intolerance. It is a histamine reaction with me but I can drink a sparkling sweet wine without any flushing. Very weird. LOL, the more I learn how my body reacts, the weirder it gets.

If you are interested in the athletic aspect athletigen.com has a free download for you to discover how your genes contribute to your athletic traits.

I'm 2.6% Nethanderthal and maternal Haplogroup is in T2a and . "An offshoot of T2, haplogroup T2a, can be found at low levels in Egypt and the western part of the Arabian Peninsula. Although extremely rare outside the Near East, T2a has been found sporadically in Iberia, France and Norway."

Cookie- I will for sure check into it more. Right now I'm just browsing the data here and there otherwise I'd be sitting here for hours. They are still loading up a lot of the details too. I didn't even get a notice I just happened to sign in and found it was there.

Yes, the MTHFR snp is interesting, and not uncommon. There's a ton of information about it online. Important to note that folic acid is the man-made, synthetic form of folate, and not well tolerated by those with MTHFR mutations. True folate is what we need.

Another potentially useful one to know about is the CBS mutation. Two of them, I think. Some (not all) people with this mutation deplete their serotonin levels when they consume sulfur. Sulfur is an important nutrient, found in many different kinds of foods, so it's a complex issue. I don't know much about it.

Littlemonkey, sounds like you have an interesting Haplogroup! Mine is not unusual, coming from northern and western Europe. I have around the same percentage of Neanderthal--not a bad thing to have, as they tended to be long-lived.

I never heard of fast twitch muscle fibers, but will have to look into it. I always said I put on muscle quickly--like my dad. Although it certainly isn't true this year. Maybe those genes got tired and left. :-)

They are still uploading the raw data so some stuff isn't up yet.

I learned about fast twitch and slow twitch way back in high school because I took every gym course I could in high school. When I was in high school it used to go up to Grade 13 here so I took gym in grade 9, 10, two in 11, 12 and OAC (13) which was a kinesiology course. In grade 12 I was recruited for the track team. I did 1 month of training where every day they made us run several km at the start of the practice. 1 month in I quit. LOL I just was not built for endurance, told you. I loathed it.

I think they've now loaded up the MTHFR genes but I can't find the info with the SNP you've given above for folic acid.

There's not a whole lot of info on my mitochondrial dna group. I guess it's pretty rare especially in Europe. I suspect my group were the small group that travelled on to France and Norway area. Then much later on they must have at some point went to England. I have been told I look Scandinavian on several occasions. I believe it's just due to my cheek bone structure though, which is high. It's going to be interesting to see what they come up with for the areas they have when the breakdown is finished.

It will be interesting to share this with my mom. She seemed interested on the weekend, but she's quite religious and not sure how she feels about the whole migration. I think it threatens her beliefs a little bit. Wish I could share it with her and she believe it.

Ok found the SNP C677T is rS1801133

A1298C is RS1801131

For C677t - am AA whichI believe is a risk. I wondering if this is the one that there were studies into pre-eclampsia, which I had with multiple pregnancies. I'll have to look into that further.

For the A1298C I'm TT, which I believe is not the variant that puts you at risk.

Wait until you get some free time. Wow, you can really do a lot of research on so many things. My biggest surprise with the genealogy aspect was there was (nearly) no French. My grandfather was Quebecois and French came up as 1%. No one in my family believes 23andMe is accurate now. I hope to get more involved in genealogy later in the year but there is just no time at the present to figure this out. Was he adopted? His lineage migrated to Canada many, many years back? What? My mom gave up most of her religious beliefs, she's just stubborn lol.

For convenience sake you can go to the forum and there is a thread on MTHFR - Do you have it. All you have to do is click the snps in the entry paragraph and it tells you right there. I was totally lost when I first started out.

Thanks Cookie, I am looking through that forum now. I pretty much just get the early mornings to really have uninterrupted time. You are so right it IS a lot of info, but I did expect it at least. I can't imagine if someone didn't know what they were in for. I'm sure it is too much for some people.

I should have French on my dad's side for sure. I do know some that came over to France and settled in Quebec and on another separate branch I have French that settled in Pennslyvania before coming up to Canada in the early 1800's. I'm sure the percentage is low though with my dad's very mixed European background.

I'm not sure on my mom's side. Of course with this Haplogroup T2a it could very well be I had a long line of "French" before they settled in England. My mom's side is a lot of Foreign Protestants who came to Nova Scotia around the 1750's. They were mostly from Germany. There's also a great deal of English in there. There's little bits of Irish. I keep checking throughout the day to see if it's uploaded despite the fact that they say it could take 2 more weeks. I do like how they release things as they have it ready. I've been very impressed with the speed of it all.

My dad's side I should see more diversity. If there is any Native American it would finally put some rumors to rest. My dad looks quite Native (just using the term broadly as a group) and so did my grandfather. I looked at a few old pictures and so did my grandfather's mom. We haven't found any evidence from records though. It's been a puzzle in our family. I feel like it could just be from Dutch roots, which some do have that dark olive skin, dark eyes and hair.

My understanding is that 23andMe tells you where your ancestors were living 500 years ago. Cookie, does your family insist your grandfather's line was French forever? A lot can happen in 500 years.

MTHFR.net, run by Dr. Ben Lynch, is an excellent source of information. Here's a clip from that site:

Supplemental and enriched folic acid foods should be avoided by those afflicted with MTHFR C677T mutations because the MTHFR mutation has partially destroyed the MTHFR enzyme which is required to process folic acid completely.

Natural foods with folate should be consumed by all with MTHFR mutations as food folate helps make other forms of folic acid which are needed for various functions.

Those with C677T MTHFR mutations do not process folic acid into 5-MTHF.

If folic acid does not turn into 5-MTHF, folic acid levels build up. Elevated folic acid has potential to stimulate pre-existing cancer cells.

That said, it is unwise to provide supplemental folic acid to anyone with MTHFR C677T mutations.

Cookie - I uploaded my info into athletigen. Very interesting.

I agreed with the majority of it. And it seems I missed my calling as a power athletic. Ah shucks. I though it was very interesting under the aspect of if you are likely to train and it says that I have the gene that creates greater temperature changes during exercise. This is so true. I will get hot very quickly and flush where my face feels like it's burning up. I'm only a few pounds over weight too and I do physical (non-workout) activity everyday. Also not sure if this is related but I do have an allergic reaction to exercises. I get itchy all over my body. I've been this way for as long as I can remember.

I'm sure by the time my kids are my age, there will be even more research done to prove, disprove, and find new links. I will definitely be sharing the MTHFR c677T mutation info with my family. I'll have to get software to analyze the raw data, it would just take forever to do it on an one at a time basis.

"Also not sure if this is related but I do have an allergic reaction to
exercises. I get itchy all over my body. I've been this way for as long
as I can remember." Me too!! I hate it and it is tortuous. It is called exercise induce urticaria. It is histamine related so if you have an event where you do not want this to happen, I found an anti-histamine worked. I spent a lot of time in my youth at dermatologists because of psoriasis and I would bring this up and it was always something except a diagnosis - dry skin, materials of certain products, detergents, etc, etc. Nothing worked. Gluten free seems to work for me to keep it at bay. I haven't had an episode in awhile now. Anyway, on athletigen be sure to check out my dashboard at the top - even more info. BTW, I am a power wimp with a great metabolism. Really though, I do find myself quite strong for my size.

do you want to find out how your ancestors made it out of Africa and into your present location? Try the Smithsonian's Genographic project...https://genographic.nationalgeographic.com/

cookie, I was allergic in a similar way - just that I reacted to sudden change in temperature and broke out into large hives. It managed to go away after some time. My way of handling it was to take cooling showers (when I got too hot and itchY) and take some antihistamines. When I would jump into cold water (pools), Id break out too but as my body heat normalized its temperature, the hives also would disappear and I was fine. re psoriahsis. My cousin has it and she reacts to anything that is of the nightshade family - that is potatoes, tomatoes and eggplants.

Yes that's what I believe it is, never diagnosed from a doctor though. I'm going to have to go searching and see if there is a specific gene that they believe is linked to it and show hubby. He's never come out and said he didn't believe me but always had that skeptical look. It doesn't matter what it is either major workout, brisk walk or even sex. I have environmental allergies to everything so heck, why not be allergic to physical activity as well. LOL I've been lucky that's I've never had hives from it, more like something similar to heat rash, but not quite.

I had looked into the National Geographic one in the past but $200 is pretty steep for what you get, unless it's changed since I checked it out.

Editing for my terrible typing skills tonight.

Results came in for ancestry so overall pretty quick process. I'd recommend it for anyone interested in Genealogy to add to your files. I sent the kit in the Friday after Mother's Day and there was a Canadian and US holiday in there so pretty darn quick.

I went ahead and purchased the promethease report. Any tips for the best way to arrange the data or go through the data? I was thinking of printing it out since I'd like to share some with family.

Let us know your thoughts on it. I'm curious.

I'm still going through it (lots of data obviously). I'm just going through a little at a time in between doing chores. For $5 it is definitely worth it. The time saving alone is worth that much. Of course I think if someone is a worrier it could be a negative thing, because those people may feel they are doomed and not understand it doesn't mean you'll get something. Some genes seem to contradict one another. It's also import for people to realize that the info is based on scientific studies which we all know can change over time. With that said, a lot of the info I have read so far does correlate to my family history. Many genes seem to point to a higher risk for heart disease and I have several that are also higher risk for schzioprenia which given the fact that an uncle and sibling have it, we figured it was at least in part genetically related and genetic links to stomach, colon and bladder cancer. I also do not metabolize folate, beta carotene or vitamin d well so that will be something that I can and will change. Some of the plus' I have read so far is that I am likely to have more good HDL cholesterol and have several long life genes. In doing genealogy I did find many long lifers even in the 1800's getting close to 100. That I believe is more from my dad's side. I do think a lot of the bad genes come from my mom's side. There is so much to go through and look more into but it's far, far more in depth than the info you get from 23 and Me where the details are broken down.

Oh and it said that if I did cocaine I would be less likely to become addicted. Good to know. LOL

hi, it's more to do with body heat rather than activity related allergy. However avoidance doesn't work and makes things worse in the long term. Its far better to workout and let your body 'learn' that heat is not the enemy... (allergy is an overactive immune response)

Ianna, that was just a bad joke above. That's why I mentioned it was more like heat rash. I mostly get it on my chest and my thighs. Although I don't do workouts, I am far more active than the average person on a daily basis because I have to do everything on the farm with manual labor since we don't have a tractor. I'm in the best shape of my life right now. I have a few extra pounds of fat of course, but at 17 years old I never would have been able to handle the work I do now. For example today I had to carry 3 female goats that weigh roughly 80 lbs each into our outdoor pen. I never would have been able to do that 20 years ago. That was 80% of my whole weight. haha

Should I be happy or sad? homo sapiens gene (not
Neanderthal) 0.1
I did the Promethease test And I am totally lost. It will be YEARS before I find everything on that site. I've already played the youtube several times.

Imhappy - that is pretty low especially if you have European in you.

Ancestry says:

Europe
100%

• Europe West
  62%
• Ireland
  17%
• Great Britain
  8%
• Scandinavia
  5%
• Trace Regions
  8%
• Finland/Northwest Russia
  3%
• European Jewish
  2%
• Iberian Peninsula
  1%
• Europe East
  < 1%
• Italy/Greece
  < 1%

Which company and where did you find your Haplogroup? I've been looking until my eyes cross for it and I don't see it.

promethease says I don't/won't have dementia/Alzheimer's. Whew! I was wondering if it had started already. Guess it's just bad memory. Like you, some results canceled each other out, some were just ho-hum. Most were interesting. I don't metabolize Novocain and have to get it an hour before any dental work. There's a list of stuff that "doesn't work" for me like it does the general population so if/when I ever get prescribed anything I will check the list.

I printed out the - drug list?? - or something! I did a highlight all, paste to word, print but maybe you can print right from the new window that opens. I'm working on firefox which I'm not used to and some times I don't get the options I expect.

And I just saw this on a blog. I haven't looked at it at all because I knew I'd get so far away from my thought of posing it here I thought I'd better post first.

http://genesforgood.sph.umich.edu/

I wish we lived close enough to get together in person and hash this stuff out!

I used 23 and Me for the Haplogroup. My group was T2a, which is a pretty rare group from what I was reading. I guess my female ancestors weren't a hardy bunch or great reproducers. LOL I am wanting to look more into some of the info on promethease. It says I am a homozygous for a gene that is link to rheumatoid arthritis. My g grandmother on my dad's side had it bad by around and got it in her early 30's and my uncle on my mom side has it. So I do want to look into that a little more I am going to up my folate because of the results and my beta carotene and I'll for sure be taking d supplements now all winter. We're not terrible eaters but we could be better and now I know I need to eat more of certain things.

According to the speculative report my ancestry breakdown is

99.3% European the following is a breakdown for European

53.5% British & Irish

10.8% French & German

3.5% Scandinavian

0.2% Finnish

26.5% Broadly Northern European

1.3% Iberian

1.5% Broadly Southern European

0.1% Eastern European

1.8% Broadly European

0.5% Middle Eastern & North African - showing for North African

0.2 % Sub Saharan African - showing 0,2% West African & <0.1% Broadly Sub-Saharan African

<0.1% unassigned

I need a promethease study group!

I'll join!

I ended up going through promethease. LOL, grim outlook - keep eating those veggies.

Since we're sharing:

76.2% European; 21.7% East Asian (very small fraction) & Native American; 2.1% unassigned with 2.7% Neanderthal.

Cookie, just remember that some of the results on promethease are just associated with studies that have been done that show those genes may increase risk factor. Sometimes the percentage is so small like instead of a 5% chance, it's now 7 % chance. Many of these studies are also based on survey questions which can be flawed. There are some that are more indepth scientific studies but just remember just because you carry a gene, doesn't mean you'll end up with the disease. Many times there is an environmental trigger to illness.

I do find it odd that nobody has the African DNA. Shouldn't everyone have that?

No worries here. I do have four of the conditions that I was at higher risk for (autoimmune related) but are under control due to diet and lifestyle with symptoms no longer presenting themselves. It's all good. I do believe the science is too new to be set in stone and be concerned about.
It is fun though.

I do find it odd that nobody has the African DNA. Shouldn't everyone have that?

I think the explanation is that 23andMe tells us where our ancestors were living 500 years ago. For those with European ancestry, the African period took place much earlier.

I got 100% European. No surprises except for 0.7% Scandinavian and 3.1% Italian. The Italian surprised me more than the 2.3% Neanderthal!

Well there has to be something I am missing somewhere then. I haven't found any evidence genealogically to suggest any sort of African heritage. I'll have to try and do more digging. I was assuming based on the fact that they also put Iberian in there that it was based on my haplogroup. If you go to the conservative view which is supposed to have 90% accuracy I have 97.4% Eruopean of which it's 6.4% Bristish and Irish, 48.5 % Broadly Northern Eruopean, 42.5 % Broadly Eruopean and 0.1% Sub-Saharan African. Then 2.4% Unassigned.

I think I need to talk my dad into doing this. I'd be able to see which side the African comes from.

Editing to add that if the test doesn't include the last few hundred years after the widespread migration, then the test is only for a window of 300 years or so?

From a post from 23blog

Hi Rick,
I think we've exchanged messages before, but I'll try and answer your question.
It's best to look at this in two ways, one is looking at deep ancestry which we can trace following your paternal and maternal lines. This links you to your ancestry back through thousands of years because there is little change from generation to generation on the maternal and paternal lines.
Then we look at your more recent ancestry, that is something that helps us connect you to close and distant relatives with whom you share a relative within the last five or six generations.
When we predict your ancestry we can do that by comparing your DNA to about 31 reference populations.
When we report back your ancestry it is not looking at deep ancestry but ancestry within the last five to six generations. Although you may be say Italian, you may learn something about your maternal or paternal haplogroup that gives you a deeper insight into your Italian ancestry.

So the African, Iberian results are from the Haplogroup.

My husbands test showed he has about a 45% chance of getting diabetes. He has since been diagnosed as pre diabetic. Mine came back with about the some % risk of venous thrombosis (blood clots) and both my mom and brother have had them.

I'm 100% European but my husband has a very small % Native American. Another friend who is white discovered she has a very small % sub sahara African.

happilady was this test from 23 and Me and was it recent. According to the person that writes their blog and posted the message I posted above that was written in the last few months, it's supposed to include Haplogroups. So that means anyone getting the test recently should have some form of African since all humans emigrated from Africa. So they are mixing newer genetic information to tell where your ancestors may have lived in "recent" times and the info from Haplogroups which is 10s of thousands of years ago.

So I opted in for the relative match ups and it is finally up. No close relatives, none with the same Haplogroup. The person that shares even the closest dna to me is 0.73 percent (that's less than 1% folks). LOL I guess my relatives don't like to do genetic testing.

I just had a realization about my haplogroup. In my own family it's pretty much ends with my generation's kids. My grandma had 7 kids, 4 of which were daughters. Of those 4 daughters the total biological grandkids are 9, of which are 4 girls. My sister and I both have boys so we've ended that line for our immediate family. 1 cousin has yet to have children, the other has 1 girl. Only potential of carrying on that line is if either of those two have girls. Maybe that's one factor why my maternal haplogroup is so small, more boys born than girls?

My relatives don't like to work on ancestry OR genetic testing. There has to be more of us Out There somewhere! All my ancestors had a dozen kids of which 3/4 lived to have children. As far as I've looked I'd guess 90% have children of my generation. Hard to say how many of those are living. Of the living, where are they? Hiding? Protecting their privacy? In the nursing home?

BTW Promethease said I had a lowered risk of dementia. So what's wrong with me? I CRS every hour of every day! I spend hours looking for stuff I just had a minute ago. Can anyone imagine what it's been like while I study Promethease, 23andme, ancestryDNA, GENmatch, Family Tree DNA, and the list goes on. The worst mistake I made was joining/doing all of them the same night. I should have done one at a time over a few months.

I don't have my haplogroup. How much effort/$$$ should I spend to get it? And if/when I know it, then what?

Imhappy, if you did it through 23 & Me your haplogroup should be there. It will just be your maternal side though. I'm not sure how worth it, it would be to go and have it tested if you don't already have it. It is pretty amazing that they can track details like that, but it likely won't help in a search for genealogy.

If you have 23 & Me go under your ancestry over view. Then click on Your Mother's Line. That is where it will say your haplogroup. It will explain how your group evolved and will link some famous historical figures or famous people to your group. For example mine T2a is an offshoot of T2. T2 is an offshoot of T. And if I remember correctly T is an offshoot of J. A historical figure with T2 haplogroup is Jesse James, yes the outlaw. It's really of no significance for me though.

I would like to do the genographic one as I'm curious as to my deep ancestry. I'm particularly curious as to my spanish ancestors background. There are rumours in my family about a jewish line or even perhaps a moorish line.

I am always fascinated by ancestry and have had the privilege of meeting someone who is a descendant of Genghis Khan (apparently there are millions of descendants worldwide) and also another who is a direct descendant of the first Emperor of China..

I'm finding the relative match up thing on 23 & Me pretty frustrating. It doesn't help that there is obviously nobody remotely close to me if the highest amount of dna shared is so small. The odd thing in all of it is that I keep seeing people with surnames for loads of surnames on my husband's family. Those surnames are not in mine. I joked to him that maybe we are related. Anyway, just wanted to share my frustration. I'm not necessarily looking for relatives anyway as I have at least to 4x great grandparents in all of my family trees, but I thought it might be nice if there were some closer relatives that may have pictures. Ah well, guess my family just doesn't like genealogy.

I have written off the ancestry matches. My matches at GEDMatch answer me AND they have my family names in their tree!! BO-NUS! All I have to do is compare the amount of DNA we share and where and I have a pretty good idea if they need to be contacted. I've had a couple contact me, too! At ancestry people don't answer, have private trees, have trees with less than 10 people in them, or no tree at all. I guess the ancestry advertisement of "just enter your parent's names and we'll produce your family tree" worked. If I'm really serious about family trees at ancestry I will do the search from the person page and choose family trees. I've had a much higher success rate doing that than following the match hints.

I'd like to see some pictures, too. Someone must have some. On another note, there is an "aunt" who is probably dead by now who is rumored to have 13 boxes of genealogy stuff she inherited from her mother and aunts. She wouldn't share with anyone. I call her insulting names under my breath. I bet she's dead and I bet it all went in the dumpster since she didn't have any kids.

Well found a distant match to my DNA. I think some of the problem with using the feature is that many people don't have very far back, perhaps a few generations. The match was on just 1 segment and 0.19% but it goes back to the late 1700s. I have higher matches but either no response or ones that say it's probably just chance. I don't think they realize that people did move from County to County in England. I kinda just said, "oh you're probably right". They likely didn't have as far back as I did anyhow. Or it could even be a connection to another surname that one of us are unaware of.

Imhappy - that would be amazing if you could come across all those boxes. Pretty selfish of her not to share. Just goes to show you can't choose your relatives.

Decided to take the plunge and join Gedmatch. The results are so disappointing. My relatives really don't seem to care about genealogy. Other than one person that is approx 3.3 generations away and 143cm of shared dna. The next highest is only 30 cm.

Is anyone else experiencing this with only quite distant matches. I'm talking hundreds of years for our shared relative. I've had better luck in the past when I use to use the ancestry message boards.

I've had better luck in the past when I use to use the ancestry message boards.

I think it's possible--even likely--that many people are actively involved in genealogy but haven't had their DNA tested.

That is true.