Aye bruhs, anyone know how to trace your ancestry?

[Skooby]

Megan Smolenyak: Playing with DNA: Is Larry David Really 37 Percent Native American?

Something to keep in mind.

That's why people should send their results to a specialist like Dr. J Douglas McDonald. He can tell you exactly what you are and even what specific ethnic group you are from.

 

[Illuminatos]

There are no free sites?

 

[Northern Son]

That's why people should send their results to a specialist like Dr. J Douglas McDonald. He can tell you exactly what you are and even what specific ethnic group you are from.

No actually it's not possible to get exact percentages. The results are basically estimates.

For those who are new to genetic genealogy, I should point out that there is no magic, instant roots DNA test. In fact, there are a handful of different kinds of tests. The one being used on Lopez Tonight is autosomal. Most genealogical DNA tests can only shed light on a single branch of your family tree, but autosomal ones offer a broader picture, providing some sense of your overall heritage. Typically, such tests break your heritage into continental chunks, telling you roughly what percentage African, Asian, European and (sometimes) Native American you are.

For a variety of reasons, results of autosomal tests should be taken as an indication, not an absolute. First, percentages being presented are those calculated to be the most likely; they are not definitive! Remember confidence ranges from your high school or college stats classes? Plus or minus X percent? These come into play. Three percent Asian, for instance, might just be statistical noise. Similarly, eight percent African might really be eight percent African, but it could also be, say, 11 percent or two percent when the whole range of possibility is taken into account.

 

[Takerstani]

I've tested with 23andme, FamilyTreeDNA, Dr. McDonald and some other free sties. Most have limited samples and can only provide an affinity to a certain group. If you luck up on 4gp cousin (ex. all 4 grandparents from Cameroon) you're good to go.

23andme is now $99. They have an updated Ancestry Composition that tells you more than 3 populations. They've refined the European results and the African and Asian breakdowns are around the corner.

If you do 23andme and transfer your results to FTDNA ($89), that's less than $200 for a lot, plus any lost relatives that test with either side or Gedmatch will be able to contact you.

 

[beejus]

The best way to start is by getting info from your parents or even better getting info from you grandparents if you can. Get name, dates of birth of your great grandparents or as far back as they can remember. Once you have a solid base to start off with you can go from there. I was lucky that my grandma on my dad's side had done some research and my mom had done some research on Ancestory.com.

From what I have researched. On my dad's side I've been able to go all the way back to the late 1300's and find out that my ancestor was a Lord and the Mayor of London. Even has a street named after him. On my mom's side my ancestors came from France were fur traders eventually marrying the daughter of a Native American chief.