MY DNA TEST WITH ANCESTRY.COM

So, what is an Ancestry DNA test?

Their website states "AncestryDNA is a new DNA testing service that utilises some of the latest autosomal testing technology to revolutionise the way you discover your family history. This service utilises advanced DNA science to predict your genetic ethnicity and help you find new family connections. It maps ethnicity going back multiple generations and provides insight into such possibilities as: what region of Europe are my ancestors from, or am I likely to have East Asian heritage? AncestryDNA can also help identify relationships with unknown relatives through a dynamic list of possible DNA member matches".

My DNA may hold information to help make new discoveries about my family's past, my cultural roots, as well as confirm information in my family tree. This should also give me hints that can connect me with new relatives and link me to others who have taken the AncestryDNA test.

So having ordered the DNA test kit on 24th March, it arrived within just a few days and I sent if off to the U.S.A. (via Dublin) on 28th March. Now all I have to do is wait 6-8 weeks for the results, which will be sent to me by email.

To be continued...

3rd April - Ancestry have received my DNA test sample and hopefully I will see the results by mid/end May.

18th April - Ancestry have emailed to advise that my DNA sample is now being put through its' laboratory testing, and I should receive the results by email in 2-4 weeks time.

26th April - and the results are in. The ethnicity estimate in bare detail is that I am: 60% from North England; 21% Scotland; 8% Scandinavia and 7% West Europe.

This seems quite surprising, but it has to be said that the counties where my grandpa Byers and his forebears came from (Dumfriesshire) and my maternal grandparents families (Anderson and Turnbull from Roxburghshire) are right on the Scotland / England border. How the DNA sample differentiates between north England and the very south of Scotland (a very small radius) I’m not sure, but it would certainly seem I have a distinct connection with my granny Byers side of the family from County Durham.

Very interesting results indeed.

30th April 2018
Reviewing the Ancestry website has brought up some interesting comments on the ethnicity ranges / estimates as mentioned above. Namely, it mentions that they "run 40 separate tests on randomly selected portions of your DNA. The bottom number in a range is the smallest amount of an ethnicity that appeared during the 40 analyses, and the top number in a range is the largest amount of an ethnicity that appeared".

Looking at the Great Britain / North England estimate, this covers a range of 31% - 90%, which has been averaged out at the aforementioned 60%. When it comes to the Scotland estimate, this covers 2% - 38%, and thus we see the average of 21%.

Earlier this year, a study of the AncestryDNA database was made with detail collected from 48,120 individuals with birth locations across the UK. This showed that the average Briton is 36% British with over 60% of their DNA coming from regions across Europe, including Ireland (23%), West Europe (19%) and Scandinavia (9%). So it would seem I am more British than most people born in the UK.

AncestryDNA Average Briton DNA Chart

A further comment on the website states that "Your ethnicity estimate is based on the data we have and the methods we use to compare your results to that data. When AncestryDNA launched in 2012, we compared your DNA against 22 possible regions. Since then, additional data and advances in science have enabled AncestryDNA to identify dozens of new regions and improved our ability to determine how likely it is a region is part of your past. DNA research is a fast paced, rapidly expanding field, and you can expect to see additional updates as DNA science evolves".