OK…big question these days: should you take a DNA test for genealogy, or not?
I’m not even going to try to answer that question for you!! However I will share some thoughts.
- I’ve had some huge breakthroughs because relatives have taken DNA tests and allowed me to “manage” their results (manage means I can use their results for my research); I manage about 15 sets of DNA results from people in the different family lines represented on this site, and some of them have been tremendously useful.
- Be very cautious about allowing yourself to get sucked in by the TV advertising hype; the things those TV commercials say ARE possible and true…but most are possible only if you are willing to invest the time and energy to do analysis and research. Truth is, most folks who take the tests are not willing to invest the time and energy. You will receive ethnicity estimates and other interesting information, but then what? That is not going to connect you to any living relatives or help you build a family tree. That’s the part that requires the time and energy.
- Having you take a test may help someone like me…who loves to do the research and is more than willing to spend the time on analysis…more than it will help you. But chances are that for it to actually help someone like me, you are going to need: 1) spend at least a little time building a basic tree on Ancestry, or MyHeritage, or wherever you take the test; 2) you are going to need to make that tree public (as opposed to setting it to ‘private,’ which is what many — perhaps most — casual DNA testers do); 3) you are going to need to respond to inquiries from people like me who analyze the DNA matches, see potential in contacting you, then write you a message hoping you’ll be willing to provide me information which will help our family connections. It is the experience of many of us that most casual DNA testers are not interested in doing those things. Among the most common complaints related to DNA are that the tester does not provide a public tree, and the tester does not respond to inquiries about matches. Without those things, knowing I have a DNA match with you is virtually useless because there is no context whatsoever…no way to figure out how or why we may match.
- You see a lot of concerns being raised about DNA privacy, and many stories about criminals being apprehended because other family members had DNA test, then someone else figured out the criminal’s identity. So…can you trust that your DNA is private? Well, I’m no expert on privacy, but here is my understanding: 1) all the major testing companies are going to great lengths to insure the privacy of my DNA, and give me several ways to assure the privacy of my samples. 2) all those criminal apprehensions you hear about on the news trace back to the same company/website (GEDmatch.com) where people voluntarily upload their DNA results to the site, agree to let others use it for research, and have been given no promises at all that either their results or their identities will be kept private…that’s why law enforcement has access to those DNA results. It is my impression that, following quite a bit of pressure, GEDmatch has altered its policies somewhat to give people a way to opt out of some uses. But don’t upload to that particular site and you shouldn’t have a problem (or, if you’re OK with allowing law enforcement to use your DNA results to catch a criminal, that’s fine, too!)
If you are in one of the family groups I am researching, have taken a DNA test with one of the genealogy testing companies, and are willing to let me work with you to analyze your results, contact me. I can’t guarantee I can assist you, but I’m interested to try. I’m not DNA expert, either…but I have experienced some real success.