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... and from what I can tell, most people just wanted to know their nationality.
by analog31 2y ago
... and from what I can tell, most people just wanted to know their nationality.
- ginkgotree 2y agoyep. I found this by simply visiting my local municipalities and easily dug up 3 generations of ancestors and immigration records. It was fun, I learned far more, and cost me $0.
- wbl 2y agoI imagine the Germans didn't leave them in a mass grave and burn the entire village down in 1943. That's the reality for a whole bunch of people and the International Tracing Service only did so much.
- 0_____0 2y agoI found out my nationality by looking at the front of my passport.
- ginkgotree 2y agoThis also works.
- csomar 2y agoI think he meant ethnicity.
- bossyTeacher 2y agoDid he? People change ethnicity over time so the ethnicity of your ancestors isn't necessarily the same as yours. I am always curious as to what people being by ethnicity. Maybe ethnic ancestry would be a better way of putting it as that's what those tests would get you a glimpse of
- analog31 2y agoActually I wasn't thinking much about the distinction. People seem to want some kind of assurance about their identity. Also why they take personality tests. People get DNA tests for their dogs.
- Buttons840 2y agoWith ancestry and similar sites you can probably learn your origin down to the street address of your great great great grandparents.
- smt88 2y agoMy ex has a doctorate in genetics (specifically studying evolution through genetic data) and described such tests as "genetic astrology" because of limitations in the data.
- dekhn 2y agoNo, identity by descent works extremely well.
- smt88 2y agoNo it doesn't. We don't have DNA from 100 or even 50 years ago. These genetic tests are essentially geographical. For example, there are tens of millions of people in Africa and Latin America who unknowingly have mixed ancestry and will be labeled in the data set as being "from X country." That will mean the dataset thinks European genes might indicate Latin American descent or vice versa.
- InitialLastName 2y agoI think their point with "Ancestry by descent" is that tracing your ancestry through birth/death records is pretty reliable (relative to your noted imprecision with genetic testing).
- trogdor 2y agoNot always. For example, my birth certificate has my father’s name on it. I am in my 30’s, and it was only a few months ago that I learned that I was conceived via IVF, and that my biological father was a sperm donor. In my case, my mother told me. But I could have also learned that from a DNA test. (Which I have since taken. As a result, I now know the identity of my biological father.) It is not uncommon for DNA tests to reveal misattributed parentage — something you could almost-never learn from records-based genealogical research.