Anyone get surprise with their AncestryDNA results?

[tzolkin]

On the bold I'm sure that is not true in comparison. It probably has more to do with the ability to use birth control and have an abortion.

Birth control definitely plays a role. But we also tend to think that sex before marriage was very rare in earlier generations when it was actually quite common. There were huge percentages of pregnant brides throughout history.

The DNA tests are more accurate than guessing but they're not anywhere close to 100%. My BIL did the Ancestry kit. It showed a high percentage of Iberian Peninsula but no French, French Canadian, and nothing from Ireland/Britain. The family has records from France and they left Nova Scotia and moved to Louisiana during the Expulsion. That's their Dad's side. Their mom's family came over from Ireland in the early 1900's. She knew her grandparents and they were definitely Irish. Maybe they mixed up his sample.

The best way to tell would be if there were any relative matches. And, if not to have a sibling complete a test. If he matches to someone then the sample was certainly not swapped.

There could be explanations for why the results came back unexpectedly. Perhaps someone along the way was adopted (this seems to be the most common explanation for “wrong” DNA results). Perhaps the grandmother had an affair. Perhaps although the grandmother came from Ireland at least 50% of her DNA was non-Irish. (You only inherit 50% from each parent so there can be things that are present in the parents but not in their children).

 

[lambdabeta]

Birth control definitely plays a role. But we also tend to think that sex before marriage was very rare in earlier generations when it was actually quite common. There were huge percentages of pregnant brides throughout history.

Thank you. That was my actual point. We were told it didn't happen back then but it did. I guess I wasn't very clear.

 

[LovesTimone]

I am debating on doing this....

My Grandmother on my mom side both of her parents were from Germany...but her mom ( my Grandmother mom's) was adopted by a minster and his wife during the war... so not really sure of where was from but her last name was like Laurent or something close which is French before they changed it.... My Grandfather (my mom's dad)( this side of the family is quite colorful) story was that his family emigrated from Ireland... but there are a lot of "differences" in the story line... Then one day my Granny says they were from Scotland and had to flee the country due to some type of revolution or political mess they got mixed up in... and she( my grandfather - grandmother) was French, and there Surname is Scottish based...

My Dad's side is also quite colorful... His dad (my dads) said they were from England... but there surname is Scottish... His(my dad's) great grandfather was a fur trapper ( and my dad mom said that he was French and spoke French, along with Cherokee, and English), and was supposedly married to a Cherokee woman...and one of his sons( my dads grandfather) was married to a Cherokee woman... My Dads mom was never sure were they were from... they had a very common last name... But her great grandmother spoke French, Italian and English, and her dad ( my dads mom) was a farmer and there is really nothing on where he is from or anything on his heritage...

I am actually sort of worried to find out what I am...

 

[tzolkin]

Thank you. That was my actual point. We were told it didn't happen back then but it did. I guess I wasn't very clear.

Yes, according to some historical studies about 30% of Puritan women were pregnant when they married. Definitely contradicts the belief that people in the past did not have sex before marriage.

 

[lambdabeta]

I am debating on doing this....

My Grandmother on my mom side both of her parents were from Germany...but her mom ( my Grandmother mom's) was adopted by a minster and his wife during the war... so not really sure of where was from but her last name was like Laurent or something close which is French before they changed it.... My Grandfather (my mom's dad)( this side of the family is quite colorful) story was that his family emigrated from Ireland... but there are a lot of "differences" in the story line... Then one day my Granny says they were from Scotland and had to flee the country due to some type of revolution or political mess they got mixed up in... and she( my grandfather - grandmother) was French, and there Surname is Scottish based...

My Dad's side is also quite colorful... His dad (my dads) said they were from England... but there surname is Scottish... His(my dad's) great grandfather was a fur trapper ( and my dad mom said that he was French and spoke French, along with Cherokee, and English), and was supposedly married to a Cherokee woman...and one of his sons( my dads grandfather) was married to a Cherokee woman... My Dads mom was never sure were they were from... they had a very common last name... But her great grandmother spoke French, Italian and English, and her dad ( my dads mom) was a farmer and there is really nothing on where he is from or anything on his heritage...

I am actually sort of worried to find out what I am...

I think that is the best reason to do it. I found out all kinds of things about my family I didn't know. Go back and read my original post. I had Aunts and Uncles no one in the family knew existed that is still alive. No one talked about it. I also found out my maternal Grandfather is probably not my Grandfather. Now I want to know how but that is the hard part. Finding someone who may know the answer and is willing to talk about it. All kind of stuff went on and I find it interesting to find out. It may be an adventure or it may be a disappointment and you will find out the stories are just stories.

 

[lisaviolet]

Birth control definitely plays a role. But we also tend to think that sex before marriage was very rare in earlier generations when it was actually quite common.

I absolutely agree.

I didn't elaborate further. I find it all very interesting. Watching Finding Your Roots, Who Do You Think You Are?, Christiane Amanpour's new CNN Sex and Love series shows how we are off in our thinking of what we think we know of the past.

Heck our own family stories coming out of secrecy brings us there pretty quickly.

Studying and reading. And common sense, no sarcasm meant.

Thank you. That was my actual point. We were told it didn't happen back then but it did. I guess I wasn't very clear.

I knew what your actual point was lambdabeta. And I found your post and findings very interesting. I wanted to say more beyond what I posted but there are days on here that I'm not just in the mood for the number of pouncing people on here. Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not.

When I was replying to you I was thinking of something relatively off topic from this thread and your point. And that might have added to my response inadvertently. One day at work I was at a table where some people were joking, in a very light manner, about Jamaican kids finding new siblings later in life. Half of the people talking were Jamaican by birth. One was telling a story about someone being on a city bus and finding a new sister.

The discussion suddenly took a very judgmental turn. Short story was that a coworker was acting like there was way more affairs, way more premarital sex, way more promiscuity in the West Indies. Compared to Canada/US and almost a lily white kind of talk here.

Sigh.

This was about twenty years ago. And of course Jamaica has cities (ease of birth control) but in many rural areas it is not like you can go somewhere and get it as easily, even in a town (I asked about that). Abortion would have been illegal and even more off putting, taboo. So I put that out as in "come on there would be more evidence here of all of the above without the ease of birth control and people deciding to have an abortion".

Anyway totally off topic but it kills me that we think we know circumstance so easily, all of us. Not everything is black and white. And just when you think it is and you know all - well something will open that door one day, in some form.
Okay rambling far too much! But it is social history that I find so incredibly fascinating about ancestry and DNA.

 

[princesspiglet]

My DH and I both took the tests. I wasn't surprised at mine- my uncle did my family genealogy a few years ago, so I knew I would come back with 80% Irish, 10% Wales and 10% Scottish- both sets of my grandparents came to the US from Ireland in 1925/1927. My DH though was in shock. His family has long been told and believed that they were German- they even speak it and take pride in all their German customs, traditions, etc. His DNA came back with 10% German and 70% French! Turns out his "German" ancestors actually lived in France! LOL

 

[manning]

I've posted this on other DNA threads about Native ancestry. It explains some points. The title just about killed me because the stories in my family as well ---

http://www.rootsandrecombinantdna.com/2015/03/native-american-dna-is-just-not-that.html

Very informative on the issue. As well as using third party tools to go forward.

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Remember, just like the explanation/link posted earlier, that there can be multiple children in a family with no link to a certain heritage and it can show up in just one. So none for you does not mean it is not there.

There are four of us in our family, and only one picked up a bit of Polynesia. We are mainly Irish, Scandinavian, some Great Britain.

Only two of us picked up a bit of Finland/Northwest Russia.

There is a story of someone who was 100% that they had Native American ancestry. Four children. None. Nope. No and then suddenly a percentage in the fourth.

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As far as the tests not being accurate. I totally disagree. Why? We sent six samples within a month to ancestry.com. Four of us are white, one is black and one is extremely mixed heritage (meaning between white, black, and South Asian heritage - all of us are mixed to some extent). Obviously, no one knows that - a given.

Bang on with everyone. Meaning it all made sense. My mother was three distinct main categories - Ireland, Scandinavia, Europe West (how they put that). My two sisters carried the exact three distinct main categories. Sent in at different time periods, separately.

I picked up a fourth main and it is evident that I picked up my father's there.

The next, the test obviously doesn't know that she's black. She carried mainly African countries/areas. And of course a good percentage of smaller white percentages - Great Britain/Ireland. And more - Caucasus, which explained some stories through the years.

The sixth, a family member, was practically every single area in the world. We obviously knew generally but boy was it was something! From East Asia to Ireland to Polynesia to South Asia to Scandinavia to African countries to Central Asia to Great Britain to Caucasus. And that's not the full list. She had five main areas and twelve smaller ones.

Someone must have been a sailor

 

[lisaviolet]

Someone must have been a sailor

And none of her ancestry is overwhelmingly one area, it's wild.

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You know what is the most interesting ---- it is from her black and South Asian family that she gets her largest block, English ancestry. Although we have some on our side and are whiter than white , her mother/my sister has the tiniest of percentages. And her father's side has said that they clearly know the background there. If you think about it, it's the not that hard to follow in history but once again, so many of us - most of all the enlightened racists - think we are all knowing on just seeing someone.

I loved Steven Tyler's joy in hearing about his not very far back in history black relatives on Who Do You Think You Are? He was all "I knew it!' , with a big smile. He had never heard of any family history, and yet it was no further back than his great grandfather.

 

[alizesmom]

I did 23 for my adopted daughter. She is 100% European but I’m not getting much information from any relatives. Guess I’ll have to try Ancestry.

 

[Turn the Page]

Yes, according to some historical studies about 30% of Puritan women were pregnant when they married. Definitely contradicts the belief that people in the past did not have sex before marriage.

I work in historical tourism and my boss was talking about how researchers in the past were digging through church records looking for something, she didn't remember what, but while looking for the answer to a particular historical question they compared the baptismal and marriage records and noted quite a large percentage of first babies were born less than 9 months after the wedding. It was a lot more common than we are led to believe.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Does anyone else remember hearing a few months ago about one DNA company that put in a small amount of African heritage just for grins in some of the customers who were mainly British, Irish, German, etc?

 

[Deb]

Does anyone else remember hearing a few months ago about one DNA company that put in a small amount of African heritage just for grins in some of the customers who were mainly British, Irish, German, etc?

nope

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

Does anyone else remember hearing a few months ago about one DNA company that put in a small amount of African heritage just for grins in some of the customers who were mainly British, Irish, German, etc?

No. But I’d like to hear about it if that’s true.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

When I got mine back it just said Congratulations.

I'm not surprised.

 

[Nakkira]

My result didn't even remotely match what I knew of my family history.........

 

[tzolkin]

My result didn't even remotely match what I knew of my family history.........

Perhaps the family history was inaccurate?

Did you find any relative matches?

 

[Nakkira]

I haven't had time to go much further than my results yet

 

[mousefan73]

My family did! My cousins found out my uncle had a love child when they were ver young !!!! This women did a test and found her bio father. Still don’t quite understand how the test matches people. I guess my Uncle’s cousins were in the database and one lead to another. ( she never met my Uncle, but her mother always mentioned his first name). She contacted my cousin. Was a shocker but not unbelievable as my Uncle was known to mess around back then. Hence his divorce from my Aunt 45 yrs ago

Present day. My new cousin met her half siblings and the family. All is good. She is a nice woman and strangly looks like her half sister and only live 20 minutes away. They are now friends. Interesting as noe my other Uncle mentions he knew there was a child out there all these years.

My cousin also took the test to confirm. My other cousin a male said no way he is doing one. He also had many flings as a single guy in his 20s. Is now almost 50 and has no desire to know the possibility of another child out there.

And my new cousin got the kit gifted from her kids for xmas. She wasnt even actively looking

 

[tzolkin]

My cousin also took the test to confirm. My other cousin a male said no way he is doing one. He also had many flings as a single guy in his 20s. Is now almost 50 and has no desire to know the possibility of another child out there.

Well, he may find out anyway even without doing a test himself.

DH found his biological father because he matched with a half-sister and several cousins. He wasn’t actively looking; just did the test to find out about his ethnicity.