Have you taken a DNA test in hopes of finding cousin
connections or possibly breaking through your
genealogical brick walls? Are you prepared to be
disappointed?
Howdy, I'm Devon Noel Lee and this is a segment of DNA and
guess what? I'm probably one of the few people in the genetic
genealogical world who's disappointed by their DNA
results. No, I'm didn't get anything really exciting with
my ethnicity telling me that I'm not what I think I am. I'm
European. Yay. I already knew that from my genealogical
research. Now, I originally tested with twenty-three and me
and it was kind of interesting to see some of the health
reports. I'm really glad my husband talked me into taking
that because I learned a number of things such as I might have
a genetic prediposition to be an alcoholic and it might be a
family tradition just like that old Hank Williams song says.
So, that was kind of interesting to find out and
learn some of my fears. I was worried that maybe diabetes and
heart disease and strokes cancer were a genetic trait
because they affected many of my parents and grandparents.
So, finding out that with twenty-three and me was kind of
interesting but that only goes so far, right? After that, I
was very disappointed to find out that I'm more Neanderthal
than Andy. That's just not fair. But after that, what else
was there to learn on the genetic test that I took? Well,
that's when the disappointment set in. Now, 23 and me offered
some possible matches in their service but for the vast
majority of my matches, they were third to six cousins. Not
not that exciting and it's also very difficult for a number of
reasons for me to figure out how we're related and I'll tell
you about that in a moment but I was hoping to find a closer
connection and I just didn't find those and that was
extremely disappointing. I also have to admit that I was having
DNA envy. I know that sounds funny, isn't it? There were a
lot of people online who were celebrating the cousin
connections that they were making and even Andy solved the
mystery of one of his great grandfathers, Benjamin Freeman
Lee who isn't what who he really says he is. You'll have
to take a class from Andy about the of Benjamin Freeman Lee to
find out why her last name really isn't but in any case I
was having a lot of envy all of most of the people that were
super excited about DNA testing were finding matches and I was
finding nothing for years I thought I was abnormal
considering all of the excitement around DNA testing
but then I learned that there are several reasons why my
disappointment is validated and if you have these encounters
then I hope that you won't be too disappointed because I
prepared you in a ants. The first reason I was disappointed
is because I come from a small family. You see, my dad was an
only child. I have one brother. My mother was one of three but
there those three are females. They don't have the male Y DNA
line. Um my grandparents, they were from small families as
well and on and on many generations back. I come from
small families. So, what does that mean? Well, if you've ever
taken or watched videos by Andy, you know that you're
related genetically to only about 128 ancestors in any
given generation. Well, if you don't have that many ancestors
to draw genes from, it's kind of hard to have descendants
alive today to have common DNA with and so because I'm from a
small family, there's less possible people to genetically
match with and that's kind of disappointing but be advised
that might be at something that you're facing. The second
reason that I was disappointed is I might have been in the
wrong database. Now, on this channel, we talk a lot about
which test should you take and it's hard to figure out which
text you could really take to find those cousin connections
because you have no idea which database your cousins chose.
Well, it turns out that I was in the wrong database. My
husband and I originally tested with twenty-three and me and as
I said, I wasn't making a of cousin connections. When my
heritage in 23 and me partnered, my DNA got
transferred to my heritage. Now, I was in another DNA data
pool if you will. I didn't make more matches over there but I
was now getting second to third cousins rather than third to
sixth in the original test so that's a little better. In
February 2017, Ancestry. com was having an amazing deal on
DNA testing and my and he's still gung ho about DNA and I
said why don't you get a test and he wound up getting two one
for him and one for me and I'm glad that he did because when I
was finally had my DNA in ancestry's gene pool if you
will to compare matches I started getting closer matches
and I'll tell you about the other reason why I was more
excited to be in ancestry gene when we talk about the third
reason why I was disappointed I is disappointed because very
few individuals have their trees online to create cousin
connections based on their DNA match. 23 and me does not have
a tree as you have learned in videos previously. My heritage
has a tree but there's not a lot of people that I'm related
to with the tree over there that have also taken their
genetic test. Over in Ancestry. com, there are no numerous
people. We're talking millions of people with their trees in
ancestry connected to DNA test they have taken and all of a
sudden I'm starting to make cousin connections. So the long
and the short of it is without those trees online it makes it
very difficult for me to make matches and without those
matches I start to think that I'm in the wrong database. So
two and three kind of go together. Number four. The
fourth reason why I'm getting disappointing results is not
enough genetic relatives have taken the test. Remember, I had
come from a small family. So, I'm not going to make a lot of
matches if my genetic relatives aren't being tested. So, I I
have a double-edged sword right there. I did test my brother
and I did test two of my aunts. Well, actually my only two
aunts and I started to improve the quality of matches that I
had as if an individual match my brother and myself then even
if they're third cousins I know which side of the family
they're related to because if they're not related to my aunt
it's chances on there from my mom and dad my dad's side where
my aunts are from my mother's side so if we have more people
tested then that we know that we're related to them
genetically then when we find more matches it makes it more
exciting so I just didn't have enough people tested the fifth
reason why my results are disappointing could be
something that many people face. There's an adoption or an
illegitimacy taking place in your family tree somewhere.
Now, I do know that my grandmother was adopted. She
was born in 1920 to a single woman. Her biological father
was never named. So, anybody who I match to on that side, if
we're only trying to match based on surnames, I'm not
going to make a match because I don't know surnames that match
that biological father. So, if you have a non-paternal events,
surprise illegitimacy or an adoption situation like in my
case, you will be frustrated with your genetic matches
because people are trying to say, well, Howard related and
you say, I have no idea, that's what I'm hoping you can help me
find out. Now, although I was very disappointed with my test
results for many years. Now that I'm in a variety of
databases, I'm getting a little more excited. Not as excited as
my husband who's constantly doing a segment of DNA videos
for you but I am more excited because of the potential as
more people get tested. By the way, if your last name is
Geisler Hoppe Karsberger, Anderson Sparks Weekly and you
happen to go through Ohio, go get tested. If you went through
and you're German. Go get tested because we just might be
related and you can make me a whole lot more excited with DNA
testing. Don't forget to subscribe by pressing the red
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