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Ethnicity Testing- Is it really worth it?

Hmmm. I just looked at mine. I now have 7% Baltic and the map shows Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus. Not an inkling of that with Ancestry.
 
The danger of dodgy ethnicity estimates is that some people might believe them. I contacted a genetic cousin at MyHeritage, but their response was that because they were only 16% English they didn't think it was worth following up. The irony is that according to MyHeritage I'm only 5.5% English myself.
 
peter said:
The danger of dodgy ethnicity estimates is that some people might believe them. I contacted a genetic cousin at MyHeritage, but their response was that because they were only 16% English they didn't think it was worth following up. The irony is that according to MyHeritage I'm only 5.5% English myself.
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Oh dear... surely the point of researching is to follow all possible leads?
 
jorghes said:
Oh dear... surely the point of researching is to follow all possible leads?
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I agree, better to just treat these (wildly variable) ethnicity estimates as amusement, and disregard them when contacting potential cousins. I've also just received my ethnicity estimate from MyHeritage, which says I am 57.2% English (seems rather low), 37.3% 'Irish, Scottish and Welsh' (OK, I do have an Irish gg-grandfather), 4.6% Balkan and 0.9% Middle Eastern (!). Ancestry hedge their bets at 97% 'England, Wales and Northern Europe' with the other 3% Norwegian (no trace of Scandinavian ancestry from MyHeritage).
 
Helen7 said:
I agree, better to just treat these (wildly variable) ethnicity estimates as amusement, and disregard them when contacting potential cousins
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Indeed - it's what I've been saying for years. But trying to persuade someone you've never met that you're right and that the results they've just paid for are pretty meaningless isn't easy.
 
peter said:
Indeed - it's what I've been saying for years. But trying to persuade someone you've never met that you're right and that the results they've just paid for are pretty meaningless isn't easy.
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It depends if they feel they have paid for the ethnicity estimate. When I got my DNA tested it was certainly not to discover my ethnicity (I'd taken on board your comments about how unreliable these were!) but to find cousins and hopefully further my family tree. And to be fair to MyHeritage, they have come up with several new leads I didn't get via Ancestry, including a 3rd cousin related on a previously unmatched branch. So certainly worth uploading Ancestry DNA results there, and just ignoring the strange ethnicity results.
 
Helen7 said:
I agree, better to just treat these (wildly variable) ethnicity estimates as amusement, and disregard them when contacting potential cousins. I've also just received my ethnicity estimate from MyHeritage, which says I am 57.2% English (seems rather low), 37.3% 'Irish, Scottish and Welsh' (OK, I do have an Irish gg-grandfather), 4.6% Balkan and 0.9% Middle Eastern (!). Ancestry hedge their bets at 97% 'England, Wales and Northern Europe' with the other 3% Norwegian (no trace of Scandinavian ancestry from MyHeritage).
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I think Ancestry are getting better - they currently have me at 79% England, Wales & Northwestern Europe (with "Genetic Communities" - Wales & the West Midlands, which is completely correct); 14% Ireland & Scotland (with Central Scotland & Ulster Ireland) and 7% European Jewish - that pretty much matches what I know about my entire ancestry so far with no glaring anomalies - but then that is a lot closer than the previous Ancestry assessment.

Though to be honest I take all ethnicity assessments with a large pinch of salt.
 
jorghes said:
I think Ancestry are getting better - they currently have me at 79% England, Wales & Northwestern Europe (with "Genetic Communities" - Wales & the West Midlands, which is completely correct).
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I agree. My 'Genetic Communities' within England, Wales and Northwestern Europe are 'West Midlands and Northwest England', and 'Yorkshire and Pennines' - both correct.
 
jorghes said:
I also have suddenly gained a Scandinavian Ancestry of 39.5%
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I have just had my own results and those of my wife and whilst my own are reasonably compatible with Ancestry, they claim my wife's results show 61.2% Scandinavian ethnicity. To my mind - and reading what others have posted - that puts those results in Mickey Mouse territory.

Given that conventional research shows her fairly and squarely in the English camp - supported by 84% Ancestry England (mainly East Midlands which is bang on), Wales & Northern Europe (yes I know that covers Scandinavia but 61% no way José.)

So sorry folks MH of the past was always given to hyperbole and to my mind their DNA results seems little different.
 
Surely the answer is that to do DNA testing soley for the purpose of Ethnicity is not for genealogists and therefore not worth the money.
However sites like Ancestry are marketing Ethnicity because this is a hook for non-genealogists and once they have paid and are on the site they hope to convert those new people into subscribers.
 
According to Ancestry, my ethnicity is nearly all UK, (87%) which was to be expected, given what I knew. It then narrows it down to Southern England, with Devon and Cornwall printed in lighter print, which when I click on the little arrow says it is likely connected through Wales, England and Ireland and gives me 766 possible matches. Then 7% Irish, 2% each Norway, Sweden and Germanic Europe. Still found no one from those places; even if my Dad did say his parents were from Dublin that has been found to be untrue, at least in my grandmother's case.

I took the test primarily to see if I could find my paternal ancestors. So far I have heard from one person through the Ancestry link and one through MyHeritage. We are still trying to find the common link with the MyHeritage person. Oh, and I heard from a 1st cousin once removed but I already knew about her. I am still waiting for replies from others to whom I sent messages.
 
Fair's fair, and having pored scorn on MH's ethnicity results (for my wife at least) and believing from the start that Ethnicity was not why we tested (and in total agreement with Tim's last post) I have to commend my first two DNA match notifications from MH. Both stirred my curiosity particularly as the first promised a match "1st cousin x 2 removed - 2nd cousin once removed". The second a 3rd-4th cousin match. After reviewing both I was none the wiser, so I chose to contact them. To my great surprise I received responses within the hour (very impressive) and I knew immediately the 3rd-4th cousin match was right on the ball (as I will relate in a moment). The other, and the one that promised an even closer match, could only relate that she believed her mother mentioned having a 'Spiers' grandmother, so she will consult her mother and get back to me, and I am sure this will happen.

But back to the promised 3rd-4th cousin match. She told me although she only tested with MH she also had a public Ancestry Tree and (gave me its name) and had already knew of my own from conventional research. She mentioned two matching surnames one of which was 'Flynn' (my Irish ancestors) and in a relatively short space of time I was able to establish she was descended from the brother of my Irish Great Grandmother (my 2nd great uncle). I had not extended his line in my Tree beyond children, but with the aid of her Tree was to discover a spouse for one, and from what she told me found one of their children was the contact's grandmother. Thereafter Ancestry information enters the 'living' category so this information - and some of my own - will be imparted most likely via email communication. Then I will be able to pinpoint the exact cousin relationship, but have a fair idea what it will be anyway.

So a pleasant outcome and will continue to check other matches, including those for my "Scandinavian" -I've already started to call her Helga - wife as I am her Tree Manager. So -ethnicity aside- and purely on a DNA level, I am pleased I sent my Ancestry DNA results to MH.
 
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Bob Spiers said:
I have to commend my first two DNA match notifications from MH.
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Snap! My first 2 matches on MH are 'new' to me (i.e. not found on Ancestry or GEDmatch) and, not only that, they have sufficient information in their on-line trees for me to identify exactly how we are related (one 3rd cousin and one 4th cousin). I have just sent off messages to both of them and (fingers crossed!) will hopefully get a response soon.

It looks like you have made some exciting discoveries, Bob, so I can see why you are pleased you sent your results to MH, as am I. Hopefully you'll find some useful matches for your wife too.

I notice the MH DNA match 'Overview' page lists the matches by country - so you can go straight for the exotic, in my case Honduras (1) or the Cayman Islands (2), but I also have 26 in Norway and 34 in Sweden (including several >20cM) - perhaps Ancestry was right with my 3% Norwegian ancestry after all!

Whilst on the subject of ethnicity (as per forum subject), the MH overview also shows a table comparing your ethnicity estimate with those of your matches so you can see the difference. According to MH, I have no Scandinavian ethnicity, but apparently 2,456 of my DNA matches do (out of a total of 6,060), not much different to the 3,586 with English ancestry! Perhaps I have Viking blood after all...Food for thought.
 
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My first two MH matches are my maternal cousin's daughter and granddaughter. (19 and 10 segments) I expect all of our information is pretty much the same; in fact, I received an e-mail this morning asking me to confirm four smart matches. The common name for the third is Joyce (7 segments) and I have seen his matches on the Ancestry page, and we have a confirmed shared match. Someone much further down contacted me and we are still trying to find the common link, which is not Joyce or anyone on my mother's side.

ETA: and now I think I must be DNA related to everyone in England who is listed as 3rd cousin-distant cousin because in my list of new matches I have an Andrew Calver (DNA managed by Peter Calver).
 
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Bob Spiers said:
the one that promised an even closer match, could only relate that she believed her mother mentioned having a 'Spiers' grandmother, so she will consult her mother and get back to me, and I am sure this will happen.
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And it certainly did and her mother - a widow (a second cousin) - is in Italy (she married an Italian) and has a host of stories (and photos) of her family branch line, which she has indicated she will be happy to pass on via her daughter. What started as intense backwards and forwards texting using H's messaging system - which is a slight improvement on Ancestry - is now conducted via email. Early days yet but looks promising, and many questions have been asked of me, and by me to them, and am slowly piecing together a branch line of my Tree which was previously very scant. A good result all round.

Plus the fact the 3rd cousin contact mentioned above is also well underway and am in the process of producing a Genopro chart to pass on as I find this the best way to show connections than any amount of text.
 
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