Ancestry tests

[maxaroni]

I have no interest in doing the tests. However, my future DIL did it 1.5 years ago. She got back her results and one part surprised her and found out that there were some indiscretions in the family that they didn’t know about. Fast forward to this past week and she was telling us that she received an updated report (remember, first report was 1.5 yrs ago), stating that they have refined their testing and here were the updated results. The surprise that they had was no longer part of her DNA. Percentages of what she had originally changed quite dramatically. For instance, one was 17% and then went to 64%. One that was up there originally, plummeted to 4%.

Has anyone else experienced this? As I said, I have no interest, nor does DH, or DS but now, we questioned how reliable they are to begin with.

Any thoughts? She used 23 & Me, if that makes a difference.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

DNA doesn't tell your whole story.

https://www.freep.com/story/life/2018/10/05/dna-testing-accuracy/1517018002/

 

[MrsDuck]

My whole family has done them. There weren't many surprises but I enjoy seeing the data, even if it is slightly flawed, as I don't put too much stock in it's validity or impact on my life.

 

[Christine]

I have no interest in doing the tests. However, my future DIL did it 1.5 years ago. She got back her results and one part surprised her and found out that there were some indiscretions in the family that they didn’t know about. Fast forward to this past week and she was telling us that she received an updated report (remember, first report was 1.5 yrs ago), stating that they have refined their testing and here were the updated results. The surprise that they had was no longer part of her DNA. Percentages of what she had originally changed quite dramatically. For instance, one was 17% and then went to 64%. One that was up there originally, plummeted to 4%.

Has anyone else experienced this? As I said, I have no interest, nor does DH, or DS but now, we questioned how reliable they are to begin with.

Any thoughts? She used 23 & Me, if that makes a difference.

I used Ancestry.com and they just came out with an update too. Your DNA doesn't change but the more data they get from others, the more accuracy they can predict with. My previous reading was something like 75% Great Britain. That surged to 93%. Two others (Scandinavia and Iberian Peninsula which had low numbers anyway) completely dropped off. They were also able to refine the areas where my ancestors settled with the U.S. They weren't drastically different but more detailed.

 

[MommaoffherRocker]

I used Ancestry about the same time as your future DIL and recently had it change too. The update did seem to be more accurate in my case. For instance I knew I had family that came from Ireland and it didn’t show up at first but after the update it did.

 

[LovesTimone]

A friend of ours, found out he had a daughter that he had no idea about.... Talk about a shock... Of course they did a proper DNA test at a doctors office and without a doubt he is her bio Dad... he said that when he saw her he knew, as she looks just like his mom and sister... they do have a good thriving relationship after a few bumps they figured it out... unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it... his marriage did not survive, his wife did not want him to have anything to do with her... when they met and married and the daughter was already around 4 or 5 so it wasn't like he cheated or anything like that.... they did not have any children between them, and she ( his wife) did not want a family even though she said she did ... and he always wanted a family... lots of back story here, to much to write...

That test brought him a daughter, and now a son in law, and 1 grandchild and another one on the way... so for him it worked out great...

 

[AppleDumpling]

I would never do this nor advise anyone else to do it, due to ethical issues. Too much potential risk for privacy violations and it is a slippery slope.

 

[ronandannette]

I have no interest in doing the tests. However, my future DIL did it 1.5 years ago. She got back her results and one part surprised her and found out that there were some indiscretions in the family that they didn’t know about. Fast forward to this past week and she was telling us that she received an updated report (remember, first report was 1.5 yrs ago), stating that they have refined their testing and here were the updated results. The surprise that they had was no longer part of her DNA. Percentages of what she had originally changed quite dramatically. For instance, one was 17% and then went to 64%. One that was up there originally, plummeted to 4%.

Has anyone else experienced this? As I said, I have no interest, nor does DH, or DS but now, we questioned how reliable they are to begin with.

Any thoughts? She used 23 & Me, if that makes a difference.

I would never do this nor advise anyone else to do it, due to ethical issues. Too much potential risk for privacy violations and it is a slippery slope.

I agree, and have absolutely no interest in my distant ancestry. I also question the validity of the whole thing, considering @maxaroni ’s post above and the last thing I would want in my life is to have some stranger come knocking on my door wanting to be “family”.

 

[cinnaminny]

Yes my ancestry results were updated and changed quite a bit. I am glad that I did it before the update. It helped me kind of pinpoint a weird data point that changed and narrow down something that would have been unseen had I not done it earlier.

 

[Moliphino]

I did 23 and Me. My first results showed a low percentage of Native American ancestry, which didn't seem at all right to me (all ancestors were from Europe within the past 150ish years). Sure enough it dropped off when they did the next update.

 

[tvguy]

I would never do this nor advise anyone else to do it, due to ethical issues. Too much potential risk for privacy violations and it is a slippery slope.

My wife won't do it just because she doesn't want to get some relative arrested for some crime that they left DNA behind on 30 years ago.

 

[RangerPooh]

My wife won't do it just because she doesn't want to get some relative arrested for some crime that they left DNA behind on 30 years ago.

Our thinking is along those lines too.

 

[Christine]

I'm not sure about the whole privacy thing. I guess I don't overly worry about stuff like there. There's no way someone can come "knocking on my door" or finding me. I'm behind the Ancestry.com wall. I can see matches to me and I can contact through Ancestry, but they don't have to answer at all.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My wife won't do it just because she doesn't want to get some relative arrested for some crime that they left DNA behind on 30 years ago.

I don't think that's such a bad thing. Almost weekly, I read that yet another cold case has been solved this way. A few serial killers have been unearthed, and many long-suffering families now have closure. I mean, it would suck if it's your favorite uncle or something like that, but if he's guilty, then hey.

 

[Moliphino]

I don't think that's such a bad thing. Almost weekly, I read that yet another cold case has been solved this way. A few serial killers have been unearthed, and many long-suffering families now have closure. I mean, it would suck if it's your favorite uncle or something like that, but if he's guilty, then hey.

My thoughts exactly. If my DNA uncovers criminal relatives then they can face the consequences.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Personally, I don't have a lot of interest in doing it because I already know what my history is, pretty much. I suppose there could be some surprises. My SIL did it and it didn't seem accurate - maybe she's one of these people who will get updates. There is one person in my family who is the same age as me who was put up for adoption that I wonder about, but not enough to make me do it. I keep reading about how this data is being sold to pharmaceutical companies and who knows who else. Not sure I want that data out there.

 

[tvguy]

I don't think that's such a bad thing. Almost weekly, I read that yet another cold case has been solved this way. A few serial killers have been unearthed, and many long-suffering families now have closure. I mean, it would suck if it's your favorite uncle or something like that, but if he's guilty, then hey.

I agree. My wife doesn't. But if there was some skeleton in the closet not sure what good it would do. My Grandparents on both sides were immigrants from place where either records were not kept or were lost or destroyed. My daughter has spent the better part of 6 years trying to track down things, and about the only thing she can confirm was my father's mother got 10 years younger in the 8 days it took from her to get from England to Ellis Island!

 

[gwynne]

I don't see the upside. I'm not likely to gift very personal information willingly to anyone, especially not to a corporation or other belief related entity.

 

[Feralpeg]

My daughter did the test. Recently, her results changed, but they became more definitive rather than different.

Based on recent DNA connections, we know, for the first time, who her father is. I had artificial insemination from an unknown donor. We have no intention of contacting him, but it is interesting knowing who he is. She looks a great deal like him.

 

[Colleen27]

I'm interested in doing it, but not for the distant past as much as for the recent. Because of the nature of my father's lifestyle and the ups and downs of my relationship with him, there is a fairly strong possibility that I have half-siblings out there somewhere that I don't know about. And since I'm accepting of that possibility and open to a relationship with any such relatives, if they do exist, I'd kind of like to do it to make myself "discoverable" to anyone who might also be curious.

I've traced our family back to the "old country" via all four of my grandparents (not hard when half came during The Famine and the other half during the run-up to World War I), so I have a pretty good idea of who my more distant ancestors were and what parts of the world they came from. So I'd take any big surprises on that front with a grain of salt.