DNA testing is a valuable tool when used alongside other genealogy methods and has helped many people with their family mysteries. It can help confirm your research bringing it all together.

DNA can be used to

• Help find relatives – find close and distant genetic relatives
• Expand your tree – with DNA matching you can expand your tree
• Break through brick walls – it might be the only clue to that missing ancestor

For some people, using DNA is the only way to find those missing answers. However, DNA can sometime bring heartache, giving more questions than answers.

Ethnicity Estimates

There are plenty of people who use a DNA kit just to find out their DNA ethnicity estimate. It’s interesting to find out where your roots are from.  To find your ethnicity, the DNA company you choose will compare your DNA with a group of people from specific areas around the world. As these databases grow, you may find over time that your ethnicity estimate changes slightly. This is due to the company’s knowledge base changing and improvement in analysis.

As you can see my own estimate has changed over the past four years. 

My ethnicity estimate varies slightly between two of the big commercial genealogy websites, however, the regions are mostly the same.

For me, using DNA is a great way to find family links. I have connected with several distant cousins and this has helped me confirm correct family members and add to my tree. For some areas of my tree, it will be the only way to confirm or disprove family stories, so the work continues.