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Question:I am trying to research my ancestry. There are no living relatives who can provide information. I have been told that a DNA search would help.

Can someone explain how it is possible to trace back DNA when all known relatives are deceased and most died before DNA was discovered.


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I am trying to research my ancestry. There are no living relatives who can provide information. I have been told that a DNA search would help.

Can someone explain how it is possible to trace back DNA when all known relatives are deceased and most died before DNA was discovered.

There's a lot of misconceptions out their in regards to DNA testing. Unfortunately, a lot of this "information" is promoted by companies that have sprung up recently offering all sorts of DNA tests (for a fee of course) to satisfy a recent fad for genealogy.

DNA analysis can absolutely show you something. However, what it can show you and what it really means is often truly unknown. Most of the DNA testing sites marketing to the "genealogical" community do tell the truth pretty much, but in a rather sneaky way. With ANY DNA analysis there are probabilities. And these sites tend to either omit or significantly downplay this. Also, a lot of analysis is based on current theory (often scientific but not always). This is continually evolving and being modified. There was just an article in New Scientist magazine that talked about how they just recently had to totally "rewrite" the source of population of certain areas of Indonesia because of DNA analysis of a rat - yep, a rat. Through this, it was shown that unlike prior beliefs that Indonesia was populated by a single migration, it was populated by at least two separate migrations - and from different parts of Asia. But any "site database" that had the old information would come back and tell you that you came from Japan via Indonesia from your DNA.

DNA testing, on it's own, can't "prove" anything. It can't even prove that a man is the father of a child when the man and child's DNA are compared directly. It might say that it is a 99.993% chance that this man is the child's father. That's pretty darn good odds - most would say "proof". Only 7 out of 100,000 people would yield the same match. BUT, what if two or three of the father's brothers lived just down the street??? Well, likely the brothers would show up as highly probable fathers as well, and they had opportunity. DNA testing can prove someone IS NOT the father, but it can't, on it's own, prove someone IS the father. Consider this, NOBODY has ever been convicted for a crime based solely on DNA evidence. Yet many, many people have been proven innocent solely based on DNA evidence.

But if you have the money, it can provide leads, and might even get you contacted with a true relative. If you do a 21 point test and you end up matching someone else perfectly, it certainly would be worth investingating to see if there is a common ancestor somewhere. That's what a lot of sites do. They just match up your analysis with others and then put you in touch with them to do your own collective research.

But "where did I come from" analysis, besides being a bit fluid based on current scientific research, doesn't really do you much good. So you find that at some point in the last 0 to 14 generations you had an ancestor from Russia. OK, cool. Now what? But even if true, where did that particular ancestor come from genetically? Remember, in 14 generations you have 16,384 people contribute to your DNA - yet you are doing a 21 point test??

And don't even consider the possibility of contamination and testing error. Did you passionately kiss your spouse/significantly other within an hour or two of taking the swab (of course in a highly clean, sanitized area of your bathroom)? When the minimum wage office assistant opened your submission, did they maintain an uncontaminated environment while they were in the process of making sure your check cleared?

DNA testing can be cool. And if you can afford it, why not. And people have in fact found a relative or two through it. But as far as "where I'm from" DNA results, my best suggestion if you absolutely want to know where you are from, only get ONE DNA test. Don't get two or more...if you do, you will not absolutely know because study after study has shown that different places (actually, even the same place given different samples from the same person) come back with different results - sometimes minor, sometimes significant.

Remember, the man with one watch knows what time it is. The man with two watches is never sure.

I expect to get my typical load of thumbs down, especially from those who have already dished out $150-$500 for there testing and know absolutely, with 100% certainty where their ancestors came from.

DNA can be used to give a general, and sometimes fairly specific rundown on where in the world your ancestors came from. That's all you can do, I think, though.

I doubt it, unless you have something to compare yours to. Also sounds really costly.

What you have been told is misleading.
DNA will give a very broad overview of your genetics... but I think you might want to know more than your ancestry is European or Asian, some 2000 yrs ago. It will not give you names or specific locations, or tell you who you are related to.
If the relatives are deceased, then there are records accessible, such as death certificates, tombstones/ cemetery records, etc. Barring an adoption, where your birth certificate shows adoptive parents and not biological... your birth certificate is where you will start. That would be true, even if people were living. Death certificates for your parents should show THEIR parents, as well as place of birth.
Contrary to popular thinking, research is based in finding documentation of facts. Asking relatives is helpful, but not necessary. And much of the time, what relatives tell you, is based on fallible memory or family traditions that might or might not be correct.
Basically, you just need to pick up the trail from available records. If you are in the US, census records open up at 1930 (later ones are not yet released). In the UK, the census is closed for 100 yrs. Using the census, you will be surprised how far back you can get. Once you have dates and approximate locations, you start digging for other records in that location.
DNA is useful in genealogy, but overall, mainly when you have a group project going, and it is used to confirm paper records that already exist.

A DNA study will tell you the ethnic origins of your ancestors. If you have the luck that you are related to a line that has been studied and documented, you may discover unknown relatives. FamilyTreeDNA.com is one of the companies doing this. I used them and got results that were quite believable.

no, but you can go to sites and put in their last name and people with that last name will come up.