Genealogy through DNA testing?

Question

I'm currious if anyone has done it? I see some places such as https://www.familytreedna.com/ but it's $129 and up, depending on type of dna and number of markers.

I just want to know my ethnic heritage, since there is some inference that we may have Melungeon in our past, but I don't know what type I would need.

Would I do YDNA? If so 12, 37 or 67 markers, or should I do mtDNA? Which would determine ethnicity?

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Men can find out their direct male or female line of heritage, and Women can find out their direct female line of heritage (but not the male because we don't have the x chromosone to test). This gives you a view of only one branch of your family tree, and only in a very general way. It would tell you which continent that line of ancestors came from, but without information from other sources, it's pretty hard to narrow down the region.

In the case of Melungeon heritage, I believe by definition they are a racially mixed people. It might be worth it to get the test to see if it turns up a line of racial heritage other then the one you appear to be, but if it doesn't, you need to bear in mind that when you go back several generations you have thousands of ancestors, and you are only looking at the ethnic heritage of ONE of them through an X chromosone (male line) or mtdna (female line) test.

There is also a test for a region of DNA that is supposed to give you clues about your ancestry in a more general way, however it is not considered very reliable or accurate yet, so if you want that type of test it's probably better to wait a few years until they improve it.

I had my maternal line DNA tested by family tree dna which I feel was worth it. They did both the HVR1 and 2, as well as extra tests for free to determine if the results really put me in haplogroup H or V. Most companies would not have done those extra tests. My results were Haplogroup V which just tells me my direct female line ancestors were probably from just about anywhere in Europe, well, big woof. It was only because my mom talked to a great aunt who remembered that my great, great grandmother's mother was Swedish, that I was able to discover that we probably have Sammi ancestry, because V is very rare in the Swedish in general, but very common in the Sammi people, who are the indigenous people of Scandinavia including Laplanders. So you see how the test won't give you very specific answers by itself, but it could give you a good clue.

Answer 2

It is great to find out if you are related for sure to another person with the same surname. 37 Markers is recommended.

mtdNA is Dna for all women line.

My line traced back to the Vikings, through DNA.

Answer 3

I did about $300 worth of Y-DNA. My 4th great grandfather never told anyone where he was from. There was speculation his father was a man named George Pack who died in 1754 in Maryland. If someone who was a proven Pack from one of 1754 George's sons who didn't leave home took the test, and we matched on 37 points, it would have been 95% certain that my 4GGF was indeed the son of 1754 George.

A proven descendant of 1754 George and I matched on 34 out of 37 points. So, 1754 George was either father, uncle, grandfather or granduncle to my 4th GGF. Research continues.

We guys get our Y chromosome unchanged (mostly) from our dads, who got it from theirs , . . .  So, it works best when a dozen or so men with the same surname take the test.

Here is the FAQ page for the company I used

http://www.familytreedna.com/faq.html

Answer 4

The ethnic heritage tests do not give you specific countries.  It will tell you for instance, Northern European, East Asian etc etc.  

FamilyTreeDNA is a good source but I think they have discontinued the ethnic DNA.

SMGF is also doing DNA. They won't send you a report but you can eventually see your results on the internet(it was about 6 months for mine).  They state they are trying to contract a company that will interpret the results for you at a reasonable fee.  They are working to use autosomal DNA.   You get autosomal 50-50 from both parents and it is what most of your DNA is.

Since I assume you are a male,you could have both a Y & Mitochondrial done.  However, it would not show your relationship to your paternal grandmother or maternal grandfather and various lines that go back paternally to the mother and maternally to the father. Only autosomal can do that.