For many years I’ve been hearing about using DNA for
genealogical purposes. I must admit I was pretty skeptical about its
usefulness. Periodically I would get notices from Ancestry.com about a sale on
their DNA tests. I would think about buying one, but would always forget about
it until after the sale ended. It just wasn’t a priority for me.
About a year ago one of my genealogy contacts asked me if I
had done a DNA test yet. Shortly after that, I got a notice from Ancestry.com that
their DNA tests were on sale again, so I finally took the plunge and ordered a
kit.
Once the kit arrived, I spit into the enclosed test tube, as
instructed, and sent it off to Ancestry’s lab. For about 6 weeks I anxiously
awaited my results, not really knowing what to expect.
Finally, the day arrived. I received a message from
Ancestry.com with a link to my test results. My ethnicity estimate was pretty
much exactly what I expected: 100% European, with 57% heritage from Ireland and
Scotland and 43% from England, Wales, and Northwest Europe. I knew from my
research that my roots were almost entirely from the British Isles (especially
Ireland) and Germany, so this result was not much of a surprise.
I was, however, very pleasantly surprised by the other
results: my DNA matches. These were the people whose DNA matched mine in some
way.
The first thing I noticed was that one of my first cousins
was at the very top of the list. I also recognized a number of third cousins
that I had already connected with through traditional research methods.Since my results first arrived about a year ago, I’ve gradually learned how to use the tools on the Ancestry DNA website to find new connections and to prove some relationships. I hope to share these techniques and discoveries with you in upcoming blogs.
I have been delighted to connect with some family members thanks to Ancestry.com, Mary Pat. In fact, I've been communicating with 2 people I hope to meet with face-to-face! One of them is a cousin from my father's side of the family. Since he was adopted as a child, I never came to know his father's side of the family but now I will be meeting some of those cousins for the first time later this year. I'm so excited about that! We're sharing documents with each other and it's been fun getting to know a little bit about them. Thank you for this interesting post. I'm enjoying reading your blog.
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