Ancestry

[FlightlessDuck]

I won't pay for something I can get for free from familysearch.org and local libraries.

 

[tvguy]

I think it's just a commercial based on the season.
We have found Ancestry to be entertaining, and it did confirm what we suspected. There isn't much of a paper trail for my ancestors. They were all born in places where records either weren't kept, or were destroyed by mishaps or war.
There are no records of my Grandmother before she boarded a ship in England in 1912, and arrived at Ellis Island a week later, and was suddenly 10 years younger.
No records of my Grandfather before he came to the U.S. in 1912 either. Or my dad who was 2 at the time, other than we know he was born in China. Or my Aunt, who was 4 and also born in China.
Lots of records from 1912 on once they arrived in the U.S. But even legal documents were amazingly vague. The rental agreement for this house did not list an address, it just said "near the corner of Grand and Acacia in South San Francisco".

 

[tcufrog]

We don’t know much about the history of my dad’s family so my sister asked for Ancestry for Christmas.

 

[aprilgail]

I won't pay for something I can get for free from familysearch.org and local libraries.

your local library does DNA testing? DNA testing uncovers relatives you did not even know you had- family given away for adoption, affairs etc-

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

Walgreens has an AMAZING deal on 23andMe kits today for Black Friday. Only $29.99. Amazon has the FULL kit (health + ancestry) for only $99.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

your local library does DNA testing? DNA testing uncovers relatives you did not even know you had- family given away for adoption, affairs etc-

The thread title indicated "Ancestry" in general, which is a genealogy website. At the time I didn't realize we were talking specifically about DNA testing.

But DNA testing will only link you to missing relatives if they had DNA testing done through Ancestry as well. It's more useful for uncovering unknown ethnic origins. I might use Ancestry or 23AndMe eventually to figure out for sure if I am in fact partially Ashkenazic as I suspect.

 

[JaneBanks]

AncestryDNA kit is on sale for $59.99 until Monday!

 

[Colleen27]

There is this new commercial about Thanksgiving dinner being more crowded now because they've discovered all these new relatives through one of these ancestry tracking things. I don't see the people I am related to that much; my parents are gone for years, and my siblings all have their children and grandchildren.

Is this something that has a great appeal?

I'll admit, it is something that piques my interest. My father lived out of state for most of my life and we weren't exactly close, nor was he an upstanding sort of man. I do wonder sometimes if I have half-siblings out there that I don't know about, and if I did find out that I do I'd be curious enough to want to get to know them.

 

[PigletsPal2]

Two of my cousins did a fairly extensive genealogy search on my father's side of the family so we know we're part Austrian, part English and part Irish, but it only goes as far back as my 3xgreat grandparents. I got curious about my mother's side of the family and I've been able to track them back to my 3xgreat grandparents, with a possible lead on my 4xgreat grandfather. I'm especially interested in confirming information about him or his wife, as all the generations after him were born in North Carolina, the oldest in 1786. I suspect that he was the first to come to "the Colonies" but I'd like to confirm it.

My granddaughter's mind was blown when she realized that I had tracked her ancestors down back to her 5xgreat grandparents and possibly her 6xgreat grandfather!

My generation is the oldest living of my family, so I doubt we'll find many (if any) long lost relatives.

Queen Colleen

 

[lisaviolet]

But DNA testing will only link you to missing relatives if they had DNA testing done through Ancestry as well.

Of course.
_____________________________________

To anyone who wants to look beyond Ancestry's database, you can download your raw data from there and put it into GEDmatch. That will widen your search. That website is an absolute wonder.

You can also put your raw data from Ancestry into MyHeritageDNA for free as well.

 

[bushdianee]

I've been tempted to try DNA testing. My father was never told anything about his biological father. He figured out on his own that his father was not his biological father and his mother refused to tell him anything about the man who was. My immediate family has been diagnosed with a few things that may be hereditary like a blood clotting disorder, 3/4 sisters who all had ovarian cancer, and a chromosone disorder that no one else in his or my mother's family ever had.

 

[blana]

I have a friend who did an ancestry test this year, in part to try to find out about her family. She was adopted as an infant in a closed adoption. She's now found a first cousin, who believes she may know who friend's mom is. So, it does happen. Another friend has said he's interested in doing the same thing, but doesn't want to hurt his adopted mother. So, he's planning to wait until after his mom died.

 

[low-key]

I'm sure if you traced mine back far enough there would be a pack of wolfs involved

 

[aprilgail]

Another friend has said he's interested in doing the same thing, but doesn't want to hurt his adopted mother. So, he's planning to wait until after his mom died.

That's to bad- it may be to late by then. My adoptive mom is 89 and alive. My bio mom passed at 74 a few days ago- if I had waited I would have never been able to get to know her. Luckily for me my mom was fine with me looking for my bio mom- in fact she invited my b-mom to my baby shower and they exchanged Christmas cards and were facebook friends! I made very sure that she did not feel threatened like I was looking to replace her or anything, just needed to know who I really was and where I came from.

 

[disneychrista]

My daughter did the DNA test because she was interested in “what she was.” Found out she is very “white.” I could have told her that. She has no interest in finding unknown relatives.

 

[karmic]

Ancestry sponsors a program on TLC called Long Lost Family which uses the DNA test to locate parent or child involved in the adoption process- it’s a bit of a sobfest but for some reason it is a guilty pleasure of mine.

 

[tzolkin]

Another was to establish paternity for hubby. His mother will not tell him who his father is. We knew he was clearly European but didn't know what exactly. Ancestry provided us with 2 1/2 sibling matches. I've not contacted them but have now been able to confirm who his father is (deceased unfortunately) and what nationality he is.

Hubby's maternal grandmother was also adopted and I'm slowly narrowing down the possibilities.

It's been well worth it so far and a whole lot of fun.

I think this is more valuable to people who have these types of unanswered “who am I?” questions.

My husband is interested for two reasons. Like yours, his mother has refused to tell him about his father. Also, he was heavily involved in American Indian culture throughout his younger years (with his mother) and is curious how accurate that part of his family ancestry is.

For others, it may not be as much finding extended family members as confirming them. I have an aunt who found out recently through an elderly family member that she was adopted (her parents still will not discuss it with her). She has always been very close to her older brother, but not the younger. He was nothing like them and even looked different so they used to joke when they were kids that he was adopted. It turns out that both she and the older brother (13 months apart) were both adopted from the same mother. The younger brother was the biological child of the parents. DNA could also answer that their mother was not another relative as they had originally expected (perhaps a niece or cousin got pregnant young and family adopted).

 

[mamamary]

Great episode. And as a person who used to watch As The World Turns I was shocked to learn about Hoffman's father. I had no clue.

I wish that they would only cover two people, not three on each episode. I enjoyed the more in depth look this week. And Leoni's story shows clearly how different family members can think about opening a door, so to speak.

You have me curious - I'll have to watch - I grew up watching As the World Turns lol

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Ancestry sponsors a program on TLC called Long Lost Family which uses the DNA test to locate parent or child involved in the adoption process- it’s a bit of a sobfest but for some reason it is a guilty pleasure of mine.

I love this show too.

I would like to do ancestry since my family comes from Puerto Rico which is a huge melting pot. My great grandfather was Afro Puerto Rican. My great grandma had blond hair and blue eyes. In my family we come in all colors, hair textures, eye colors, etc. I’m curious to see my line.

My xh is Central American (born in USA) and he recently did it. He was 44% Native American and about 40% Iberian peninsula and mixes of Asia, Africa, and i believe Palestinian.

I would like for my kids do it when they are a bit older.

 

[lisaviolet]

You have me curious - I'll have to watch - I grew up watching As the World Turns lol

Well it's a character that went in and out of Oakdale, always leaving his mark.