Inexplicable DNA Test Results (1 Viewer)

[ucla1967]

I recently purchased an Ancestry DNA test. I thought it should be fairly straight forward since I am half Italian and half German. All my grandparents immigrated to the United States in the late 19th or early 20th centuries. However, I was interested in seeing if I had any residual Hellenic Greek blood in my line, specifically from Sparta.

To explain. My last name indicates someone who came from Taranto which is located on the Ionian Sea in the instep of the Italian boot. In Roman times, it was know as Tarentum and before that as Taras when it was part of Magnia Grecia which had been settled in 700 B.C. by Sparta. It would be kind of interesting if I could establish a Spartan connection, or so I though. I recently learned on our April and May southern Italy and Sicily vacation, that it had been settled by Spartan bastards. They were the offspring of Spartan women who were impregnated when their husbands were off fighting various wars and were known as " the sons of virgins." Oh great, I am not so sure that I wanted to be associated with that. Not to worry. To be continued.

 

[ucla1967]

My Ancestry DNA results said, as expected, that my ethnicity estimate was 51% Europe South (with a range of 38% to 61%) which includes southern Italy. Drilling down, it said my DNA was similar to Italians living today in Rome and Naples. The next highest ethnicity estimate was Great Britain at 19% (with a range of 4% to 33%), followed by Europe East at 14% (with a range 5% to 23%), and finally Europe West at 5% (with a range of 0% to 18%). WHAT! Since Europe West includes Germany and I can trace my relatives back eight generations to my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Andreas Martin, who was born in 1668. In fact, I still have relatives living in Herenzimmern, where my grandfather was born. They have lived there or in nearby Adolzhausen for centuries. So how can my DNA show only 5%West European?

 

[ucla1967]

Ironically, on my Italian side, I can only go back as far as my grandparents and I don't even know where they were specifically born in Italy. Yet Ancestry's ethnicity estimate of 51% Italian corresponds to what I believe to be true. I have a MyHeritage family tree with 238 people on it, of whom, excluding my immediate family, only three are not German. Something is really wrong with Ancestry's results that estimate that I am only 5% Europe West (German) and 33% Great Britain and Europe East, which I believe to be zero.

 

[theBaron]

I see the commercials, and I'm skeptical of the quality and accuracy of their tests. The stories in the commercials predict the results they gave you.

(A middle-aged white guy stands before the wall of a living room set, with some contemporary artworks and a tasteful vase to his right)
"My name is Schmidt, and my great-grandparents came here from Germany."
(cue the sepia-tinted images of stern gazes from above a high collar and under a bonnet)
"At least, that's what they told us. Imagine my surprise when Ancestry.com's geneology test revealed that I'm actually 100% ethinc Japanese from Honshu!"
(cut to the white guy now striking a Belushi pose in a silk bathrobe and topknot)

And sitting at home, Ancestry.com's CEO's eyes ring up dollar signs and we hear, "Ka-ching!", just like in a Warner Bros. cartoon.

Prost!
Brad

 

[jazzeum]

Did you write or call them?

I thought about doing the 23andme one but I know where I'm from: it's going to show some combination of German (father) and Polish/Pale of Settlement (mother).

 

[bradleyl30]

Did you write or call them?

I thought about doing the 23andme one but I know where I'm from: it's going to show some combination of German (father) and Polish/Pale of Settlement (mother).

23andMe uses more modern genomics equipment and processing. I plan to use them. Most of my family has done ancestry and it is OK, but I think they use the original genomics processing which is not as accurate.

It can be surprising. Our family was one who had lots of lore about having Native American ancestors. Nope, not a bit.

Turns out the dark skin and hair comes from Cornwall and it’s connecti to Hispania!

 

[tdubel]

My mother and step dad recently did and called BS too. My mother can trace her entire family like you from Germany to Ellis Island to present day! and her results were sub par and vague. My stepdad is 100% Scottish/english (Burns) and can trace also on both sides from Scotland to settlement of America, and he got a completely bs result that I think included Italy and Germany. Now I am sure you could argue that in 1400 some Germanic tribe that invaded England could have caused this, but...............doubtful that the DNA would be that good.

TD

 

[ccdc11]

I believe the NYtimes or the WSJ just had a report about a women who's parents and grandparents were from Italy but she showed less than 5% Italian in her DNA while her sister showed 60+ Italian. They were making the case that the testing sample is easily contaminated and most results are highly suspect.

 

[Phantom Warrior]

It's not scientific - it's statistical based on a database of DNA samples especially including the database of DNA customers of the DNA testing companies like AncestryDNA. Each company has it's own in-house created algorithm to compare similarities in clusters of output. I can trace my ancestry back to 1715 based on paper records supported by photos from around 1910 which show my grandparents and my great cousins, great-grandparents and great-great-grandmother. The photos show info on military service and uniforms, social status from clothing and facial features which hint at past ancestry. One of my great cousins has distinctly asian features indicating a different path too the present than one would assume.. AncestryDNA can't do that.

Terry

 

[ucla1967]

Did you write or call them?

I thought about doing the 23andme one but I know where I'm from: it's going to show some combination of German (father) and Polish/Pale of Settlement (mother).

Not yet, but I will. I would like an explanation of how this could be possible. I also am going to have a 23andme DNA test run. It will be interesting to see what they come up with.

 

[ucla1967]

23andMe uses more modern genomics equipment and processing. I plan to use them. Most of my family has done ancestry and it is OK, but I think they use the original genomics processing which is not as accurate.

It can be surprising. Our family was one who had lots of lore about having Native American ancestors. Nope, not a bit.

Turns out the dark skin and hair comes from Cornwall and it’s connecti to Hispania!

I will try them, too.

 

[ucla1967]

My mother and step dad recently did and called BS too. My mother can trace her entire family like you from Germany to Ellis Island to present day! and her results were sub par and vague. My stepdad is 100% Scottish/english (Burns) and can trace also on both sides from Scotland to settlement of America, and he got a completely bs result that I think included Italy and Germany. Now I am sure you could argue that in 1400 some Germanic tribe that invaded England could have caused this, but...............doubtful that the DNA would be that good.

TD

I was wondering if my Great Britain 19% ethnicity estimate could be the result of the Germanic Angles and Saxon tribes who settled the British Isles combined with the four centuries that Rome ruled over Britannia. Maybe it is that my DNA is similar to present day Britains because of that early history.

 

[Michael Seemann]

Many of these DNA testing businesses are not only accused of bungling the fidelity of accuracy in interpreting the origins of applicants, there is some evidence that a bit of deliberate "perceptive social engineering" may be taking place as well. By that it is meant that they have been caught introducing erroneous diverse ethnic components into test results for whatever agenda(s) may be the motive.

I'd take the results with a serious dose of salt.

 

[ucla1967]

Many of these DNA testing businesses are not only accused of bungling the fidelity of accuracy in interpreting the origins of applicants, there is some evidence that a bit of deliberate "perceptive social engineering" may be taking place as well. By that it is meant that they have been caught introducing erroneous diverse ethnic components into test results for whatever agenda(s) may be the motive.

I'd take the results with a serious dose of salt.

I am going to do just that.

 

[bradleyl30]

This is the best article I have seen on it:

https://now.tufts.edu/articles/pulling-back-curtain-dna-ancestry-tests

 

[ucla1967]

At the risk of beating a dead horse, here are some of the maiden names of wives on the Martin side of the family: Rupp, Plueger, Merkert, Bauer, Albrecht, Pemmert, Hofmann, Stemmier, Burghardt, Ruff, Kolb, Kraft, Baumgartner, Mundlen, Stirnkorb, Weidmann, Rummler, Ehrlein, Ziegler, Kummerer, etc. Not a British or East European sounding name among them.

 

[ucla1967]

This is the best article I have seen on it:

https://now.tufts.edu/articles/pulling-back-curtain-dna-ancestry-tests

Thanks. It was an interesting article.

 

[ucla1967]

For those of you who haven't taken an Ancestry DNA test, it also includes an ethnicity estimate from low confidence regions. In my case, Caucasus (0 to 10%), European Jewish (0 to 5%), Middle East (0 to 6%), Scandinavia (0 to 7%), Asia South (0 to 2%), and Ireland/Scotland/Wales (0 to 3%).

 

[Grognard]

Mine with 23andme was pretty accurate (French). Same for my daughter (we adopted her from Russia in Magadan, Siberia - btw you can only see the mother's side with girls since they are XX while boys are XY). I offered one kit to my father's in law who was born in Sweden from Swedish parents and again it was purely Nordic so no inaccuracy here. I also read somewhere that they used DNA from 500 years old bones (taken from cemeteries) to benchmark the whole thing (at least for Europe). This because 500 years ago people where not migrating too much from the place they were born in so they can pinpoint better the DNA group origins...

 

[Combat]

They recently tracked down the Golden State Killer using one of the public DNA databases. Apparently someone in his extended family provided a sample and they were able to link it to his DNA and trace the family line to the most likely suspect in terms of age and geographic location. Pretty clever. A lot of nervous criminals out there now in old cold cases.