DNA for family history?

[Sadeesmom]

My child is curious about family history. One of my parents was adopted, and my ex-partner is incommunicado, so I am only able to provide 25% of that knowledge, and frankly I have never cared about it, so even my 25% isn't very helpful/robust.
So we are thinking of doing a DNA test - something like an ancestryDNA or 23&me test.

Does anyone here have any experience with one of these (or something similar)?

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

What kind of "family history"? I never got the impression these kinds of tests do much more than estimate your ethnicity, identify some more common health-related genes/markers, and perhaps find potential relations in people who also took the test. FWIW I am only biologically related to 1 out of 4 grandparents I knew and don't think these tests would be helpful for anything I would want to know.

 

[Buzz Rules]

My child is curious about family history. One of my parents was adopted, and my ex-partner is incommunicado, so I am only able to provide 25% of that knowledge, and frankly I have never cared about it, so even my 25% isn't very helpful/robust.
So we are thinking of doing a DNA test - something like an ancestryDNA or 23&me test.

Does anyone here have any experience with one of these (or something similar)?

AncestryDNA is better than 23andme in my opinion. I have heard that if you have Jewish dna, that 23andme can tell whether it is Ashkenazi vs Sephardic since 23andme is Israeli based I believe. Ancestry is American based I believe and does a lot more with European based DNA. Both services explain their tests and how they get the most accurate results. You can contact them and ask them any questions you may have. Both are good services.

 

[tvguy]

I just did mine. I'm 34% Czech, as expected, from my mom's side.
My dad's side is a mystery for a whole lot of reasons. Main one being nobody on his side seemed to give a hoot about their ancestry. And my Grandparents both died when he was 10 (in 1921) so a lot of history was lost then. Turns out my Grandfather was Jewish, so I am 24% Jewish. Not unexpected given the little bit we can figure out about him. And frankly, IF records ever did exist, they no longer exist.
My daughter has been working for over 10 years trying to trace family history and the biggest finding is, obituaries can be huge works of fiction. Almost nothing in my Grandfather's obit is true, including his cause of death.

 

[easyas123]

I did Ancestry a few years ago, it confirmed what I already knew but it was neat (to me) to see the percentages. For what it's worth, it picked up the Ashkenazi jew in me, as well as the other ancestry.

 

[georgina]

My mother's father died (in Ireland) when she was quite young and we don't know much at all about him. My sister did the ancestry test and it turned up a 2nd cousin in the US whose grandfather was a brother of our grandfather.

I would think about how old your child is and how you may want to handle any results that turn up. Relatives that may or may not want to meet, etc.

 

[Moliphino]

I did 23andMe a few years ago. Based on what I know of family history, they pinpointed the right areas for the major stuff. There is some questionable data in there, though - pretty sure I'm not Indian, but I've got .2% Malayali, plus it thinks I'm only 49.95% related to my mom (50% with my dad).

 

[Kennywood]

I've no desire to do an ancestry DNA test. I already know that I'm a mutt.

 

[Marrila]

Nope. Answer questions as best you can and move on.

 

[lanejudy]

My child is curious about family history.

How old is the child, and how invested in this information are they? A 15-yr-old? Sure, talk it over and be sure they are truly interested not only in the knowledge they may gain BUT ALSO in allowing their information to potentially end up with others. If it's an 8-yr-old? Tell them what you know, maybe try some research on the Ancestry.com or a similar website (there's a free one my DD has used in school) and then agree to revisit the DNA testing when they are a little older.

Regardless of the stated privacy statements and policies, be prepared for others' to somehow get knowledge of the child, and potentially reach out as distant relatives.

 

[Mome Rath]

I'm an amateur genealogist, and I think there are several ways to look at this, or rather, to tackle it. One is to join a site like Ancestry and put in any info you already know (names and dates, mainly), build your tree as much as you can, and then look for member trees that are a close match (that's not hard to do, as the site will do that for you pretty much). When you find members with matches, you can message them and ask for any additional info they have. This is easiest when you at least know some ancestors that have passed away (as living individuals usually are harder to pinpoint, since their info is usually hidden from public view). You would be surprised how much you can find on there even if you start with just a few names (pull any info from public social media as you can to fill in gaps; I find cousins by sleuthing through various people's public friends lists on Facebook, for example). There are members on Ancestry that are really helpful, and some you'll message and never hear from...

If you go the DNA route and only get the results they send directly to you, it's mainly just going to give you an idea of what percent of the ancestors are from where. It's not going to reveal stories, or histories really, just geographical data. However, if you do the DNA test, like through Ancestry, and merge it with your family tree, you'll then be shown public matches of individuals who have also done the DNA testing and linked through the trees. If so, you can contact them, and they can contact you, and hence get a lot more info and history. There's obvious pros and cons. Then, there's the other, more medical tests (like 23&me), but I don't know, nor follow much about them.

If it were me and my kid (I don't have kids, so this is all hypothetical lol), I'd take the DNA test myself (if comfortable with it) and wait til the kid is at least 18 if not 21 to let them choose to do their DNA. There are privacy ramifications... though I think we are kind of fooling ourselves as to privacy if we have had anything at all medically done that removes any type of tissue from our bodies, that is usually always sent off for some type of testing.

There used to be away to have the DNA test done and then request the sample be destroyed so at least nothing further could be done with it, but I haven't kept up on that. Any test you choose should offer you the data, which you can then do different searches with through something like DNAGedcom, which further analyzes your data by running it through a huge database, again, not something I'm familiar with, but people say it makes the info a lot more specific as to things like geographical locations of ancestors.

 

[Moliphino]

AncestryDNA is better than 23andme in my opinion. I have heard that if you have Jewish dna, that 23andme can tell whether it is Ashkenazi vs Sephardic since 23andme is Israeli based I believe. Ancestry is American based I believe and does a lot more with European based DNA. Both services explain their tests and how they get the most accurate results. You can contact them and ask them any questions you may have. Both are good services.

23andMe is American.

 

[mrodgers]

I have trouble with the idea of sending anyone my DNA to test and record and save. You can think I wear a tin hat if you want, I'm not giving that out of my own free will, nor my children's.

 

[_19disnA]

^^ I agree, seems you should treat your DNA the same as something like your Social Security #. I would NEVER send it away to some random company regardless of where they are or what guarantees they might provide about your privacy. I do know that those in the military are told to NOT make use of those products, so there are clearly valid concerns about how such information could be misused.

Know someone who did one of those test kits and basically all they got back was a generic report of X% of this and Y% of that regarding where his ancestors might have been from. It read like an off the shelf summary they could have sent to hundreds of other people, so he never found it of any value. Unless they have specific samples of other relatives to match it to, I don't understand how they can get any more specific about your family history.

 

[tvguy]

^^ I agree, seems you should treat your DNA the same as something like your Social Security #. I would NEVER send it away to some random company regardless of where they are or what guarantees they might provide about your privacy. I do know that those in the military are told to NOT make use of those products, so there are clearly valid concerns about how such information could be misused.

Know someone who did one of those test kits and basically all they got back was a generic report of X% of this and Y% of that regarding where his ancestors might have been from. It read like an off the shelf summary they could have sent to hundreds of other people, so he never found it of any value. Unless they have specific samples of other relatives to match it to, I don't understand how they can get any more specific about your family history.

If you were an adult as recently as 2000 and had health insurance, it is likely your Social Security was your health ID number. If you had Medicare, your Social Security number was your Medicare number until 2 years ago. So your social security number may very well be out there.
I was on the Little League Board of directors and I had a laptop with all the player registration information including all their health insurance information, in most cases it was the parents social security number. When I recycled the laptop, I had the hard drive removed and professionally destroyed so those numbers would not get into the wrong hands.

 

[flyingdumbo127]

No suggestions not already given. Just wishing you and your child peace with whatever you do decide

 

[_19disnA]

Virtually every company I know no longer uses SS# as an identification number due to concerns about potential identity theft. Any printed documents that show your SS# always obscure the first portion and only show the last 4 digits. Being in a company's database (Medicare or other health care providers, for example) is different to me then voluntarily sending off your SS# (or DNA as it relates to this thread) to some company performing a service for you.

 

[DisneyOma]

I've done both Ancestry and 23&me - I've found 3 first cousins I didn't know existed (one adopted out at birth, two that were from an affair of an uncle with the mother of his best friend ) and reconnected with my dad's side of the family up in Canada, where his mother was born. The ancestry part (where the DNA is most likely from) is a little different when I compare the two companies. I have no issues with either company; both send infrequent updates.

 

[Southernmiss]

I would be hesitant to do the DNA test until your son is an adult.

Once the info is out there, it's out there.

Dh and I and our 4 adult kids have done our DNA test with ancestry.

The tests solidified and proved a lot of my genealogy research is accurate that I've done these last 25 years.

For dh and the kids, they've been fascinated to see the Asain ethnicities in their DNA. Dh's grandfather was from the Philippines. None of the kids outwardly look Asain. My 2 blonde haired blue eyed kids have the greatest Asian DNA and that cracks us up.

But, you have to be ready for the family secrets it may uncover. I found a 2nd family for my husband's estranged grandfather and details on his untoward life and death. A relative from that 2nd family reached out to me, but I could not help him because of family dynamics and because we had no info for him.

 

[DisneyOma]

I would be hesitant to do the DNA test until your son is an adult.

Once the info is out there, it's out there.

Dh and I and our 4 adult kids have done our DNA test with ancestry.

The tests solidified and proved a lot of my genealogy research is accurate that I've done these last 25 years.

For dh and the kids, they've been fascinated to see the Asain ethnicities in their DNA. Dh's grandfather was from the Philippines. None of the kids outwardly look Asain. My 2 blonde haired blue eyed kids have the greatest Asian DNA and that cracks us up.

But, you have to be ready for the family secrets it may uncover. I found a 2nd family for my husband's estranged grandfather and details on his untoward life and death. A relative from that 2nd family reached out to me, but I could not help him because of family dynamics and because we had no info for him.

So what if the info is out there? It's not like the kid had any say in the past, and people who judge that way should look closely at themselves, IMO. My family has embraced all new-found relatives. It's not a difficult thing to do if you don't judge people. I actually wish I had known about the two from the affair sooner - one has passed away, and the ones involved in the affair (and subsequent "accident" that killed my uncle when he was 20 years old) are long gone. One of them should have been charged with the murder of my uncle.