I have always been curious about my family history. We were the first Mormon converts in England during the mid-1800s. My ancestress was what was called a hand-cart Mormon, meaning once her husband had died she gathered up their twelve children and travelled from England to Missouri. All of their personal belongings fitting in a hand cart and they then walked from Missouri to Utah. I thought that was a pretty impressive feat on her part as a single woman. So when Ancestry.com offered their DNA test, I bought the test and then with great excitement sent in my saliva and then anxiously waited for the results.

Orally, my mother told me that we had family born in Scotland, Ireland and Wales. We supposedly even had some American Indian in us from when some of our relatives settled in Canada. The Mormons were great about compiling family trees and accordingly, the Jones family did show that we had relatives born in in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and even Normandy. So, when the test results did finally come in, I was rather surprised and a little disappointed that we had zilch Scottish, zilch Irish, and zilch American Indian in us. The results were 18% Norwegian, 65% British, and the remaining 17% Northern Europe.

What that means about the 17% Northern Europe is that it didn’t fit in the identified categories, but fit in the family which is called Northern European. I was surprised and a little dubious about the results so as a Christmas present, I purchased two of the 23And Me test kits. One for me and one for my sister and we both sent in our saliva and once again we waited for the results.

Not surprising, my sister and I share 50% of our DNA, which means she is my full sister. WHEW! I am glad to hear that part. Now the test results were a little surprising and seemingly more accurate than then Ancestry.com. I got the 18% Norwegian, and 56% British, but instead of Northern Europe I got 26% French/German. Which fits with the family tree having relatives born in Normandy and Canada.

The DNA Tests are great if one wants to know where their family originated. I was more impressed with 23AndMe’s accuracy, but Ancestry.com is great if you have family members who have registered their trees, because they do DNA matches. They send notification if you have a family DNA match and they even let you know what side of the tree that match is and what ancestors you share.

If you want accuracy then 23AndMe, if you want to complete your family tree then Ancestry.com is great by connecting you with possible family connections that you might not been aware of. Either way, these DNA tests are great for getting to know more about you and where you may have come from, but just keep in mind that the tests are only as good as the research that has been done to date identifying family groups. You too might be surprised to see where your family originated.