Connect with your ancestors? DNA testing

[outlaw13]

There was an interesting article in the Sunday Times at the weekend about dicovering your family history by getting your DNA tested. They referred to:
GeneTree - You Belong Here | DNA Genealogy
but there seems to be loads of these sites. The premise is you pay them approx £100, they send you a swab, you swab your mouth and send it back. They can then tell you about where you descended from, Viking, Roman, Native American, Derbyshire Pit Village etc. They also then compare your DNA to others on the site and you can see who your distant relations are, sort of 25th half cousin reunited.com.
I guess there's some issue around how the dna profiles get used in the future. I'm not overly concerned about the big brother stuff but I am a bit concerned about this info getting into the hands of insurance companies.
I thought I'd give it ago but not sure which service to use. Does anyone have any experience?

Cheers

Andrew

[Adrian Kelland]

Originally Posted by outlaw13

There was an interesting article in the Sunday Times at the weekend about dicovering your family history by getting your DNA tested. They referred to:
GeneTree - You Belong Here | DNA Genealogy
but there seems to be loads of these sites. The premise is you pay them approx £100, they send you a swab, you swab your mouth and send it back. They can then tell you about where you descended from, Viking, Roman, Native American, Derbyshire Pit Village etc. They also then compare your DNA to others on the site and you can see who your distant relations are, sort of 25th half cousin reunited.com.
I guess there's some issue around how the dna profiles get used in the future. I'm not overly concerned about the big brother stuff but I am a bit concerned about this info getting into the hands of insurance companies.
I thought I'd give it ago but not sure which service to use. Does anyone have any experience?

Cheers

Andrew

Your family been in the UK for a few centuries? Then expect a mix of Celtic, Viking and Saxon, proportions depending on geography. More or less.

Norman descent is also viking (Norseman), viking can be Norwegian or Danish.

Personally I would not waste my money. Although it might tell you more than those dodgy websites that pupport to tell you the origin of your name and you family coat of arms. Now there is a real rip off.

Adrian

[mochynhapus]

I reccommend the book of the C4 series "Face of Britain" by Robin McKie, its an excellent summary of the current state if scientific understanding of the ancient population movements around the British Isles. Depending on where you live and the relative uniqueness of your surname you can plot your origins even without paying the £100.

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[mochynhapus]

Oops sorry, tried and failed to copy a picture of the book cover.

[outlaw13]

Originally Posted by mochynhapus

Oops sorry, tried and failed to copy a picture of the book cover.

No worries just ordered it from Amazon @ £10. Looks good.

Cheers

[Debs]

Have you tried this site - its excellent

National Trust Names