Ancestry/Genealogy
Related: About this forumHas anyone done more than one DNA test?
How did they compare? I've done the 23 & Me test and am considering doing the Ancestry.com one to see if there's any difference.
Thoughts?

MiHale
(12,223 posts)But the again I know my genealogy 50% Lithuanian, 50% Polish.
chia
(2,672 posts)The article is from 2018, and it says:
Think of your family like layers of an onion, Erlich tells Paul Raeburn of Scientific American, with each layer from the center of the onion representing increasingly distant relatives. When you go to very distant relatives, chances of a link are much higher.
The researchers estimate that within two or three years, as more and more people submit their genetic data to genealogical databases, 90 percent of people who hail from European ancestry will be traceable in this way, reports the New York Times Heather Murphy.
PoindexterOglethorpe
(28,143 posts)Since all four of my grandparents came from Ireland, I doubt another test would show anything new or different.
Irish_Dem
(76,127 posts)Ancestry, 23me, FTDNA.
Ancestry now has the largest DNA data base in the world so you
will get more matches and more exact percentages of ethnicities.
If you are looking for NA DNA, 23me used to be the best for picking that up.
They will be running Christmas sales soon so you can get a kit for a
good price.
Ancestry does autosomal DNA testing.
If you want YDNA you have to go to FTDNA.
I am not sure if 23me is still doing YDNA.
But FTDNA is the best for YDNA.
Ancestry for autosomal.
ShazzieB
(21,753 posts)I found the results a little less specific than what I was hoping for. It said most of my ancestry is from the British Isles, which was pretty much what I expected, with some from "northern Europe," which seemed rather vague to me. It did not show any native American ancestry, which surprised me, because a cousin of mine who did some genealogical research told me there is native ancestry in our family tree. (He supposedly confirmed this, but he's deceased now, so I can't ask him about it. )
I've thought about getting my DNA done again somewhere else, but wasn't sure which, if any, company would be likely to tell me anything I don't already know. Any thoughts?
Irish_Dem
(76,127 posts)They have updated a great deal in the last 5 years.
They have the largest DNA data base and have upgraded their research
techniques significantly.
So you are most likely to get much more accurate results.
They might be able to delineate the Northern Europe much better than years ago.
23Me used to be the best for picking up NA DNA.
But they have really fallen in reputation due to management problems.
If you can get a good sale you might want to try it.
The problem with the NA DNA is that the NA population does not want to DNA test
so we cannot get any norm groups. The DNA will show up as Asian DNA.
Or indigenous population.
Also it appears that NA DNA washes out quickly from the DNA pool of
a family line for some reason. And also sometimes the family folklore does
not match reality.
I would look first at Ancestry to see how much they have updated your profile.
You can PM me with questions if you want.
I have been doing genealogy and DNA work for decades now.
ShazzieB
(21,753 posts)I'll check my DNA profile on Ancestry and see what I can find out.
I always suspected the native American ancestor story might be a myth until my cousin told me he'd confirmed it. He was not the type to make up something like that.
He also discovered a great (maybe 2 greats) grandfather who immigrated from Germany sometime in the 19th century, settled in Georgia, and ended up getting drafted into the Confederate Army. (He was a dentist, so not on the front lines, and he survived the war unscathed.) Because of him, my daughter and I could technically qualify for membership in the United Daughters of the Confederacy, a fact that we find both horrifying and hilariously ironic.
Irish_Dem
(76,127 posts)You can have a rock solid paper trail of birth certificates, baptisms, marriage, death certificates and all kinds of legal documents. So you have a confirmed family tree
and all professionals would agree.
However that means nothing once you take a look at the DNA.
The DNA tells you the truth. Not the paper trail.
The only legitimate way to confirm your family tree is YOUR DNA.
Not your cousin's DNA or even a sibling or parent.
Your DNA is the only confirmation of parentage and family tree.
I do adoption searches and it is amazing how many people's DNA does not
match the paper trail. There are always some surprises.
That is funny yes. You could be a daughter of the confederacy.
Amazing the things we find out in genealogy.
BOSSHOG
(43,815 posts)In case my remains had to be identified in Saudi Arabia back in the day.
WmChris
(420 posts)Results are similar but small differences do show up. 23 and me offers some non specific health info. They correctly identified a a genetic identifier that concluded when I sneeze they come in groups of 3 and they actually do.