Time to get that Viking tattoo removed? Ancestry updates DNA results

[Siwsan]

I have a number of reasons why I've decided against going this route. This possibility was one of them. People seem to think it's an 'exact science', and it isn't.

DNA-profiling website Ancestry is rolling out a huge update to its ethnicity database - and changing the ethnic origin of many of its customers.

The company says the database changes, due to be rolled out next month but showing up for some users now, make the results more accurate.

But for some users, they challenge what they had been told about their identity.

Simone, who asked for her last name not to be published, is so disappointed with the new results she’s refusing to accept them.

More at: https://www.smh.com.au/national/time-to-get-that-viking-tattoo-removed-ancestry-updates-dna-results-20190426-p51hmh.html?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link&ICID=ref_fark

[jberryhill]

1. A study of Ancestry DNA data has, however, confirmed...

...that there is a sucker born every minute.

[Siwsan]

2. I understand people being interested in 'where they came from' but they expect too much

I guess if I was adopted, what ever I could learn would be a bonus. The CBC did a special on these companies and showed that much of what they put out is the result of statistics and guess work.

Most of my family arrived here in the mid-1800's. Both sides constructed a Family Tree the old fashioned way. I'm a fine blend of Welsh, Dutch and a lovely mix from the old Austian/Hungarian Empire. That's about as exact as I need, and I didn't have to enter my DNA into a massive and easily exploited data base to learn this information.

And I'm sure there are plenty of stories when what ever information they received ended up being shocking - and not in a good way.

[hlthe2b]

3. Just checked mine again. Trends the same, a bit more precision.

all which would be expected with more testing providing more data.

My sister registered separately, under different last name and from a different region of the country. Neither of us provided family tree information. I checked her results as well--they are likewise almost identical and once again ancestry.com does id her as a near 100% probable first degree relative (i.e., sister). I have also verified several of the second cousins it identified as very likely on my Father's side. My Mother is a blank slate, given she was adopted with no information available.

[hunter]

4. Muggles, muggles, everywhere.

We're all muggles.

No pure blood wizards among us.

[Siwsan]

5. So true!

I did grow up by a family who claimed they were 100% Irish, on both sides. And, both sets of Great-Grandparents did come from Ireland. But, if you go back far enough.........

[tblue37]

13. If you go back far enough grandpa was a fish. Further and he was a single cell

organism.

[Siwsan]

15. Given the proclivity for the Vikings to invade, lots of us likely have SOME Viking DNA

Especially those of us with Western European bloodlines.

I also remember when I lived in Iceland, a friend told me that when you see a Icelander with brown hair, they probably have an Irish Monk in their family tree. A case of 'turn about is fair play'.

[Hekate]

18. I love this! Hurray for Quidditch.

[Odoreida]

6. Unless you're the putative heir to the throne or something, why TF care? n/t

[tymorial]

10. She is sad because her son isn't exotic enough.

Its narcissism.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

7. I am Uthred, son of Uthred! nt

[Codeine]

33. ". . .son of another Uhtred,

and we had not held Bebbanburg and its lands by whimpering at altars.”

Just read that book recently, actually.

[BigmanPigman]

8. Man, I just emailed my mother to ask if I am still

a descendant of PA's only witch to go to trial in 1683? I liked knowing this unusual connection.

[tymorial]

9. Basing ones identity on a DNA makes no sense to me at all

Migration makes it all meaningless. My maternal side is largely French Canadian. My great grandmother and great grandfather came to Rhode Island in 1921 from Quebec. Both sides had family going back two centuries. I traced my mother's ancestry (maiden name) and the earliest person I could find was named Colin. This was not a French name though he lived in Rouen. Recently I noticed that someone else was able to identify Colin's parents and complete more of our family tree. It turned out that Colin's grandparents and all discovered generations before were Welsh. It goes back to the 1400s No one has gone back beyond that.

So what does this mean? Is my French heritage ruined because it may have started in Wales? Hell, it's likely that if we went back further I am more likely to be of Germanic origin. So am I German? What if it is further east. Am I Asian? Are the centuries of French and Quebecois culture all erased? I find it a ridiculous notion.

What is the outrage and anger? Her son's genetic history isn't exotic enough? How sad. This kind of stinks of privilege imho

[jberryhill]

11. .

[tymorial]

17. Lol. Of course Randy

Thanks for this

[H2O Man]

12. It's good to

try both Ancestry and the National Geographic tests.

[Poiuyt]

14. Am I the only one who doesn't want to voluntarily give out my DNA?

I'm afraid that they'll place me at the scene of some murder that was done in the 1800s or something. Or maybe they'll find out that I'm related to Donald Trump.

[Siwsan]

16. I'd never send in my DNA. I see it as something the health insurance companies can easily exploit

Checking for genetic predispositions and putting people in the pre-existing condition category, should they be able to get that reinstated. Or rolling you into a 'high risk' payment nightmare.

[demtenjeep]

28. this

100000

[happybird]

36. Exactly

In a perfect world, I'd love to do the testing. We have some very interesting history on my Mom's side and it would be cool to be to confirm it, but no way am I voluntarily putting my DNA into some mega data base.

[jberryhill]

21. No you are not

[shanti]

27. I did 23nMe

as well as Ancestry. Only 23nMe offers health info, and I did that one too, mainly because my paternal grandmother had Alzheimer's (died due to complications of it), and I wanted to see if I was at a greater risk. Well, they said I was at a "slightly higher" risk for Alzheimer's, and also had a gene for macular degeneration. I think it's good to be prepared for the eventual. YMMV.

[NutmegYankee]

19. DNA testing actually answered an age old family scandal.

In the early 1700s an ancestor of mine, a married woman, had some extra marital relations with a certain Baron in Germany and eventually this was discovered and the marriage annulled. However, she was pregnant and birthed a son. The Catholic Church investigated and determined that the son belonged to the Baron and not the husband. The Baron paid to educate the boy, but grew tired of being hassled for money and one day shipped the woman and son to Pennsylvania. The son would go one to continue the family line.

That would have been the end except the DNA test I took shows that we are related to descendants of the husband, clearly indicating that the Catholic Church got it wrong in 1707 (among many other things...).

[Beringia]

20. I didn't know you could lose DNA

So your DNA does not contain all your past, it selectively changes.


People needed to remember that DNA was not the be-all and end-all for a person’s ancestry, he said.

DNA from a particular place might not always make it to the next generation, he said. A person might have a Spanish grandfather, but not receive a lot of their DNA.

“It does not mean you don’t have Spanish heritage. It’s just not in your DNA.”

[csziggy]

22. The only Viking blood I have is from William the Conquerer

Or at least that is the family lore according to the genealogy of the Pomeroy family published in the late 1800s. Of course, back then nearly every family descended from royalty at some point. It is pretty certain that our Eltweed Pomeroy who immigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 was descended from Baron Radulphus de la Pomeroy who was one of William the Conquerer's cohorts.

According to the Pomeroy family history, Henry I before he became heir to the throne married a Saxon Princess and had a daughter. That daughter supposedly married one of Baron de la Pomeroy's sons or grandsons. Unfortunately, later histories place doubt on the existence of the Saxon princess, but if she and her children ever existed, when Henry I became heir to the throne he set her aside and married a woman of European royalty (Matilda?) so my family dozens of generations later would have no claim to the throne even if that line had continued to hold it.

According to my Ancestry DNA, I'm 73% English, with 22% Irish/Scots, 2% "Germanic European, 2%Norway, and 1% Native American. The last is particularly interesting since originally my results showed none, while my sister's results through the National Geographic Genome Project showed that she had about the same percentage Native American. Though there are family tales that our mother's side had some Native American, Mom's DNA test through NatGeo showed no Native American. Now we wish that we had gotten tests done for our Dad, though his family tree shows no chance of Native American and there were never any tales about any.

[Siwsan]

23. It's interesting how those little genetic factors show up

We've never had our family DNA analyzed. However, I almost completely identify with my Dad's paternal line (Welsh) and have warm fuzzy feelings about my paternal grandmother's line (Dutch). My brother is more into my maternal grandparent's lineage (Austria/Hungarian). I have absolutely no interest in, or emotional connection to that culture. I do immerse myself in everything Welsh.

That Atavistic DNA can have a strong, strong pull.

[csziggy]

24. I haven't identified with any of the cultures my ancestors left behind

Though I am interested in the histories of the people who made major moves. For instance, my great grandfather left Wales in 1872. In 1871 at the age of 20 he was working as a laborer in a lead mine. He left Wales and ended up in the mining area of Upper Peninsula Michigan cutting cedar for railroad sleeper ties and to shore up mine adits. He ended owning a house as a middle class person whose sons both became engineers and whose daughters married professional men.

This fall while I am in Britain with my husband I plan to visit the village where he was born and see what more I can find out about his parents. We're also stopping in Scotland, Yorkshire, and Lincolnshire where other family came from.

Culturally I am totally American - and even though Mom's side of the family was from the South and I grew up in Florida, I do not think of myself as a Southerner more than American.

[Siwsan]

25. Enjoy Wales!

It's my favorite place, on the planet. I especially love the north, although my people came from the Swansea area. I have a Dragon in pretty much every room of my house.

My Dad's family left the coal mines in Wales for the coal mines in Maryland, in the mid 1800's. My great-aunt said they were still speaking Welsh, in the house, when she was a child. Then my grandfather was trapped in a mine cave in. He survived, packed up his wife and child, and headed to Flint, to work at Buick.

My maternal grandfather walked across Europe, as a 13 year old orphan, worked as a coal miner in Pennsylvania, and left that behind, also to work at Buick. Neither of them wanted their sons to have to work in the mines.

[backtoblue]

26. I just seen this

I posted in the Lounge about my family results.

Even if the result are wrong...I'm NOT telling my grandmother. She is doing some much needed soul searching due to her test. Her entire world view has widened now.

[Siwsan]

29. I saw your post!! It made me laugh!!

When ever I see those white supremacists out marching, I think how surprised they might be if they had their DNA tested.

Ever notice how few of the Nazi "elite" actually looked like they came from the idealistic Aryan race they claimed?

[backtoblue]

35. I wish I had recorded her reaction. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard!

It was like a baby noticing it's hand for the first time. Complete, full-stop "WHAT?!!".

[Blue_true]

30. Does your grandmother have Black blood?

In the early 20th century a lot of people that had Black blood passed for White and kept things that was. Where I live in Florida, we have Whites that range from almost free of melanin to just a few shades lighter than African American.

[backtoblue]

31. Don't know. I've never heard of that

Her results showed middle eastern ancestry. Boy was she surprised... Lol

[The Genealogist]

32. I had a test done to find relatives

More specifically, someone else paid for the test to try to establish whether I was related to their family or not. It has been very helpful in confirming the genealogical information I have, in that there are really few surprises. As for that ethnicity business, I couldn't really care less, although I have looked at it, shrugged my shoulders, said "yep, sounds like me," and moved on.

[Codeine]

34. Meh. The only gene I ever got concerned about

is the one that made me start losing my hair before I turned twenty. That gene can get fucked.

[LiberalArkie]

37. Both of my moms parents came from Normandy with William the conqueror for that shindig Called

The Battle of Hastings. On my dads fathers side they were already in England for awhile and was married to the niece of William the conqueror. But he fought on the kings side and William lobbed his head off.

He spent almost a year in confinement before being beheaded on 31 May 1076 at St. Giles's Hill, near Winchester. He was said to have spent the months of his captivity in prayer and fasting. Many people believed in his innocence and were surprised when the execution was carried out. His body was initially thrown into a ditch, but was later retrieved and buried in the chapter house of Crowland Abbey in Lincolnshire.

In 1092, after a fire in the chapter house, the abbot had Waltheof's body moved to a prominent place in the abbey church. When the coffin was opened, it is reported that the corpse was found to be intact with the severed head re-joined to the trunk.[1] This was regarded as a miracle, and the abbey, which had a financial interest in the matter began to publicise it. As a result, pilgrims began to visit Waltheof's tomb. He was commemorated on 31 August.[2][3]

After a few years healing miracles were reputed to occur in the vicinity of Waltheof's tomb, often involving the restoration of the pilgrim's lost sight.

[milestogo]

38. Get a Packers tattoo if you're removing the Vikings one.