Ancestry Dna Tests

[237SJ]

Has anyone on here ever found a distant relative (cousin) via the Ancestry DNA tests and made contact with them?

[hellywelly4]

Yes. They notified me that a distant cousin was on Ancestry. They gave me his name, but I can't remember how I contacted him, they might have given me his email. He came round a few days later and we swapped details as far as we could and I learned a lot about of my side of the family. He was the grandson of my great-Grandfather and his second wife. He knew about my branch of the family. It was really good to meet him and he was very helpful.

[jno]

no. After I took a test, the testers assured me that I was related to a collection of houswives in Minnesota and suchlike. I knew perfectly well, through my own researches, I wasn't, so I didn't bother. (Other elements of my results were much more credible.) But others like hellywelly may get more plausible results.

[pastafreak]

May I ask what test each of you did...and were you happy with the results/service?

[jno]

mine was a Family Finder, pasta, and I was happy with the results, which essentially gave me a good idea of where my ancestors came from over the last 200-300 years (four different continents, it turned out). If I'd also been looking for it to find family members, as the name suggests, I wouldn't have been so happy.

Tou need to figure out in advance exactly what it is you're looking for and what sort of test is best for finding it. My OH took a much longer-range National Geographic test and turned out to be 2% Neanderthal (less than usual), and was happy with this.

[grannie39]

How much does it cost, and which is the most reliable, I need to know where my ancestors came from.some of my family including me have very dark skins. (sallow)

[237SJ]

grannie- I think I paid about £79. I saw a video of tests that were performed on identical twins in the US and of the (I think 5) companies that were used, Ancestry DNA gave the most consistent results. I came out as 37% Irish which made me wonder if I had been sent the wrong results as you have no way of knowing. Then I read the info and it said that Irish people share DNA with surrounding areas which would explain it.