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  1. #11
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    I know this thread has been quiet for a while but can I add my thoughts and experience.

    Late last year my husband and I did the LivingDNA test because we fancied knowing if we were vikings. It was as silly as that. No intention of looking for family matches. The tests came back - I was also 100% English, not even Scottish, Welsh or Irish connections which confirmed everything I had found through straightforward FH research so far. My husband found he was mostly English but with a tiny percentage of Kurdish in him. That caused a laugh as I've traced his family tree back at least 12 generations and they never moved from the same two counties in all that time.

    However, I made a connection with someone via Ancestry who is a second cousin and she encouraged me to consider matching. That proved hard. LivingDNA files aren't readily accepted by many sites - MyHeritage says it accepts the files but LivingDNA changed the format of their data at the end of last year which makes it incompatible with MyHeritage's systems. MyHeritage say they are working on the problem but clearly have no urgency to sort it out. My cousin uploaded her data to LivingDNA and after some time she and I were matched. But I'm her only match and she's my only match. Clearly, LivingDNA have a very small database to use for matches and as their files aren't easily shared, I have to question the value of using their service. So far, the only site that takes my test results and runs with them is GEDmatch - such a lot of data and 3000 matches but none close enough to consider pursuing. At last I feel the test has more than just novelty factor although the science of it goes way over my head and will need some studying.

    We decided to have the MtDNA and Y-DNA tests done and as a result the original test was re-run by LivingDNA and our results changed. I now have a wider range of geographic connections that do include Scotland, Ireland and Wales and a proportion from the Iberian peninsular. My husband lost his Kurdish connection but gained a Germanic link. I've no idea how they work in our trees but they've given me something to think about. Being female I could only have the MtDNA test done and that has been fascinating - I share my maternal lines with 47% of the Saami population. It's made me think about my mother's mother's line rather than my paternal lines for the first time which is about time I suppose.

    Sorry for such a long post but I wanted to know if others had the same lack of use for LivingDNA test results or if it was just me? It's the test pushed by FindMyPast so I thought it would be worth taking. Any thoughts?

  2. #12
    Newcomer to Brit-Gen
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    Hi to Norfolk Nan, from another Norfolk Nan,
    I, too, used Living DNA for testing. Giving me a 90% British Heritage and.... 10% Chuvashian (a region in Russia} Complete mystery to me how Russian's come into my ancestry. Especially as my brother did the same test and was 100% British with no European infiltration. I did find a first cousin on Gedmatch. He is the closest match I have found on the comparison sites.
    Regards

  3. #13
    Knowledgeable and helpful stepives's Avatar
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    Jun 2011
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    Ireland, but born Buckinghamshire.
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    I find this whole DNA thing so tiresome. 100% British combines most european nations.

    From Ireland to Russia(it was part of the Swedish Empire(Viking), to Spain and and even China, it's all a mish mash.

    Angles and Saxons,Bretons(Brittany,France), Romans and Greeks,Celts(central europe), Normans(French/Scandinavians). Britain is a veritable soup of nations.


    Steve.
    Too many bones, too much sorrow, but until I am dead, there's always tomorrow.

  4. #14
    Newcomer to Brit-Gen
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    Of course you are right, Stepives, but it’s the variability and strangeness of the results that’s the puzzle.

    And hello DeliaB - I’m Norfolk Nan on GEDmatch too so if you find me on your list let me know!

  5. #15

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    I read an article recently that said at most - less than a handful of people actually have 100% British DNA. BUT my results from Ancestry DNA came back at 100% -19% Scottish, 3% Welsh, 2% Irish and the rest English. Ancestry says their results go back to up to 1000 years. I'd like to think they're accurate on that but chances are - probably not completely accurate. I've only traced back to 1700's - would love to go back further! Note: I'm afraid I feel a bit guilty these days - moved to the USA as a child in 1968, married an Italian and had 3 wonderful daughters. I'm afraid I'm the "end of the line" as far as 100% British in my branch of the tree!

  6. #16

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    The problem is that there is no such thing as 100% British. People have been arriving and producing children in the UK since the Stone Age.
    For example, ask the companies what they mean by X% Scots. How is it defined? Are they talking about Gaels - the dominant lines in the Highlands? Or Scots - the dominant lines in the Lowlands? Of course Gaels and Scots did and do intermarry. On the west coast, the Scots/Gaels and the Irish freely mixed, and the Irish Gaels and the Scottish Gaels are related, anyway. Then there's the contribution from Scandinavia via the Vikings, and the assorted lines that make up the English coming up from the south. There should be contributions from the Roman armies (which came from all over Europe and as far away as Nubia). Is anyone claiming to be able to identify Pictish DNA? And there was a big intake of French Huguenots... And so it goes on. The Border between Scotland and England moved frequently until the kingdoms were merged.

    And Scotland's simple, compared to England.

    DNA analysis has its uses for tracing family lines and confirming or denying relationships, but these companies should have to define exactly what these terms mean in their hands... What would you think if someone told you that they were 100% USA?

  7. #17
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    I have some Huguenot, Scottish, distant Welsh and Irish ancestry. I think all countries have been settlements for migrants at some stage, I agree with the Out of Africa thing.

    No such thing as "British DNA", I think it is a DNA that is common among British people.

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