After toying with the idea for some years now, I finally bit the bullet and purchased myself an Ancestry DNA kit.
I have been working on my family tree for about 17 years now and I always wanted to know if I was on the right track! The odd thing with genealogy is there is no way to check if your findings are 100% accurate. It really comes down to trusting your own research and often choosing the option that seems most plausible. The rest of my family have little interest in this hobby of mine and getting answers to questions has proven difficult at times. My grandparents, although all living when I started our family tree have now all passed away. They were incredibly helpful during my initial research, but I would love to ask them hundreds of subsequent questions my research has raised. Or simply to ask, “do you think that this is likely?”
Ancestry.com
I have been a member of Ancestry.com on and off for the past 17 years. I absolutely love everything about it! It’s really useful for me that I can stop and start my subscription monthly. So when I know I’m going to have some free time to work on the family tree, I will subscribe for a month or two and then cancel my subscription when there are more demands on my time.
Their website is incredibly user-friendly and I like the layout. I am grateful for their tree hints through which I have found more ancestors than I care to count. Via ancestry, you can also look at other people’s family trees. These could turn out to be long-distance relatives and messages between tree members are a really useful feature.
There are many ancestry DNA kits on the market, but given my long-standing relationship with the company, I decided to purchase an Ancestry DNA kit. Here’s how I found the whole process:
Ancestry DNA Kit
I ordered the kit online during one of their offers. The basic kit was on special offer at £59 plus shipping. I opted for the Ancestry DNA + Traits kit which cost £69 plus shipping. Shipping came to a total of £9.99. So I paid a total of £78.99 for the kit and all shipping costs.
The kit arrived through the post and was well packaged. I was given full instructions on how to use the kit.
Opening the kit, I could see I was given a tube in which I had to spit in my saliva. I was surprised just by how much saliva was needed to fill the tube to the line.
Once that had been completed, I sent the kit back in the post in the packaging provided.
The Results
I was told I could wait some weeks for any news on my ancestry DNA. Within a week of posting my DNA sample, I received an email to let me know that my results were being processed in the lab. 10 days later, I received an email to let me know that my results were in!
The results are accessed online via Ancestry.com. Like other features on their website, I found accessing my DNA results and the interpretation of them really easy.
Origins
My origins, or ethnicity estimate is given in the form of a map. I can see where some of my ancestors came from based on data collected from a range of DNA samples.
Most of my family appear to have settled in North West England relatively early on. One branch of my family was living in Oldham, the town I still live and grew up in, back in the late 1400s. In fact, most of my ancestors appear to have settled in Oldham and the surrounding areas prior to the Industrial Revolution. Many were farmers whose sons and daughters worked in the mills post-late 18th century.
I was pleased to see Scotland on that map! My great-great grandfather was illegitimate and trying to find information regarding his mother, let alone his father was proving rather difficult. I was told many years ago that his family originated in Scotland. I was torn between choosing a line that originated from Scotland and one that came to Oldham from East Yorkshire in the 19th century. In the end, I plumped for Scotland, given the family story I remembered from childhood. Although I cannot be sure that my Scottish DNA comes from this line of the family, I am nevertheless pleased that some of my ancestors were Scottish – I like to think I have been vindicated on that one!
Another sigh of relief came when I saw the breakdown of my Irish ancestry. I knew I had Irish ancestors from the 19th century and my research had given me some indication of where in Ireland they came from. To say I was overjoyed to see Leinster and Connacht on the map is an understatement! These were the precise areas my research had indicated that several branches of my family had originated from.
I have yet to find any Welsh ancestors in the family tree. But this was of no surprise to me given my location in the North West of England.
The one I was thrilled to see was Sweden and Denmark – this means I can say I have Viking blood!!! Given the fact that many of my ancestors seem to have settled in the North West of England, this was of little surprise as the Vikings settled in this region in the 9th and 10th centuries.
My DNA was tested against 2,600 regions, and it came back with a total of 5 – all of which seem plausible.
DNA Matches
One of the reasons I opted to go with Ancestry DNA was their popularity. They offer a DNA matching service and millions of people across the globe have used their service. I figured I would get more DNA matches with Ancestry than any other company. I am pleased to report that I have indeed found thousands of DNA matches. Some of these individuals share their trees on the site so you can discover exactly how you are related to them.
On my maternal grandmother’s side, I have found numerous relations as we all descend from Robert and Amelia Shaw who lived in the mid-19th century. They are buried in my local cemetery where I walk my dogs and I had no idea who they were until fairly recently. I have walked past their grave thousands of times over the years and now I can do so with the knowledge they are my 5x great grandparents!
Traits
The traits feature is quite fun to look at. It analyses things such as your likely eye colour, finger length and complexion. There are some random ones such as your ability to small asparagus metabolites. Some of these traits are true to me, some are not. It relies more on the likelihood of these traits being true or not based on your DNA. But it is a fun feature nevertheless.
My Overall Experience
My overall experience with Ancestry DNA is a positive one. The kit arrived quickly in the post. The process of giving my DNA was very straightforward. Once the lab had my DNA, the results were in much quicker than expected. Most importantly, I have been able to see that the results are accurate. Some of my known relatives have appeared in my DNA matches. This gave me a huge sense of relief and trust in the product. I will be ordering one of these kits for my husband in the future so our children can have a complete set of ancestry DNA results.
The features and the DNA data are updated continuously and I look forward to what my DNA will reveal in the future!
