Im wondering if my DNA ethnicity test results are true. How can you make sure its really accurate? Please read? (native, find)
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Okay so I did a DNA testing with Family Tree DNA, Im just wondering if it was accurate because its really hard to trace down African DNA to where I came from because of the slave trade.
Anyways I received my results
African: 84.74% Yoruba
European: 15.26% in total but within that 15% it said that Im Finnish, French, Orcadian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Tuscan (which I guess its the region in Italy).
The reason why I did this is because my grandmother on my paternal side because she said that we have Native American, I didnt believe it so thats why I tried it out. And I was right so Im going to have to tell her that she was wrong! lol
However the fact that on my dads side looks so diverse, my dad is African American but his hair texture is really curly and soft just like my grandmothers hair, and it was really weird when we lived in Texas because people kept on asking if my dad was mixed with Latino and Im no hes African American. But whats making me kind of wary about the my results is because my great grandfather was white on my grandmothers paternal side, and that my great great mother (on my grandmother MATERNAL) side was European too.
So I thought that I would have a little bit more European ancestry like in the 25%-35% range and the rest would be of African descent.
I kind of want to get another test done to compare if its the same then thats cool! : )
If it turns out to be wrong then I need to go to see a local Genealogist and do documentation and DNA testing as well. because all of this finding my roots in really interesting.
I also tried to do DNA testing to see what percentage whatever that was on my mom side because her father died when she was little and my grandmother (on my moms side) her mother died after she was born so my grandmother didnt know her mother. I never knew anything about my Great grandfather on my mom side as well.
Before you pursue more DNA, I would suggest tracing your paper trail. You will likely get back further than you may realize now.
First, gather all the information you can on your nearer relatives. Start with your parents, your grandparents, and so on. Find out when and where they were born, married, lived, and died. Be sure to get birth surnames for the women. Ask your oldest living relatives what they remember about the people who preceded them.
When you have all of that, set aside a time when you can use a two week free trial at Ancestry.com. There you will find census and other records that will help you go further and further back. The 1870 Federal census is the first that will have your African American ancestors listed in their own names. There are resources for African Americans that may help you go further back, too, in some cases. You may also connect with others who are researching the same people and who will share their information with you.
A genealogy program will help you organize everything. Trying to do it on paper gets very messy very quickly. The programs are inexpensive and easy to use. If you browse this forum you can find out more about various systems. From the beginning, record where you find every fact. Trust me, this will save a lot of frustration and wasted time if you really get into this --- and it does tend to suck you in, especially if you like mysteries!
V.V, I give a great big 10-4 and to what suzy-q Posted. If you are just now getting started you are heading into a fantastic, fascinating, habit forming world , and the questions you have, and will have, are normal for all of us. It is not unusual after hitting a few brick walls that we stop, sit back for a while then go again. Good luck. It's time well spent. Oh, and family oral history can get pretty well twisted around, but don't ignore it, verify and validate it before taking it as 'gospel'.
Yes, I second this - it's really important to understand which test you had done and what exactly the results mean. If you had the Y-DNA test done, this means that the results are ONLY from the paternal line, not the entire paternal side of your family. It includes results from your dad, your dad's dad, your dad's dad's dad, etc. Strictly the male line. So if this is the test you had done, you may very well still have Native American ancestry through your paternal grandmother since the results for this will not include her ancestry.
Equally, the mtDNA test includes results for strictly the matriarchal line - your mother, your mother's mother, your mother's mother's mother, etc.
The "Family Finder" test is an autosomal DNA test which includes results from your entriely DNA background - however, it does not go as far back in history/generations as the Y-DNA or mtDNA test. Depending how far back the Native American heritage was, it may still exist without showing up in an autosomal DNA test. At least, this is my understanding of DNA tests, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
This is where the results from the Y-DNA test come from:
So I would not be so quick to tell your grandmother she does not have any Native American heritage until you fully understand which test you had done and what the results mean.
Also, I read that you don't actually inherit exactly 25% from each grandparent. So you can't accurately calculate on your own what percentage your European ancestry would have been because you can't know how much DNA you inherited from each grandparent. I used to say I am 25% Italian because my paternal grandmother was 100% Italian - but actually, that may not be true. I could have inherited more or less than 25% from my Italian grandmother, I won't know until I take an autosomal DNA test.
Okay so I did a DNA testing with Family Tree DNA, Im just wondering if it was accurate because its really hard to trace down African DNA to where I came from because of the slave trade.
Anyways I received my results
African: 84.74% Yoruba
European: 15.26% in total but within that 15% it said that Im Finnish, French, Orcadian, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Tuscan (which I guess its the region in Italy).
The reason why I did this is because my grandmother on my paternal side because she said that we have Native American, I didnt believe it so thats why I tried it out. And I was right so Im going to have to tell her that she was wrong! lol
However the fact that on my dads side looks so diverse, my dad is African American but his hair texture is really curly and soft just like my grandmothers hair, and it was really weird when we lived in Texas because people kept on asking if my dad was mixed with Latino and Im no hes African American. But whats making me kind of wary about the my results is because my great grandfather was white on my grandmothers paternal side, and that my great great mother (on my grandmother MATERNAL) side was European too.
So I thought that I would have a little bit more European ancestry like in the 25%-35% range and the rest would be of African descent.
I kind of want to get another test done to compare if its the same then thats cool! : )
If it turns out to be wrong then I need to go to see a local Genealogist and do documentation and DNA testing as well. because all of this finding my roots in really interesting.
I also tried to do DNA testing to see what percentage whatever that was on my mom side because her father died when she was little and my grandmother (on my moms side) her mother died after she was born so my grandmother didnt know her mother. I never knew anything about my Great grandfather on my mom side as well.
I'm doing one of those tests too but don't have my results back. I am interested because my grandfather claimed to be part Mongolian. He was from Belarus so I'll see if it shows up.
But anyway I know that 23andme claims to be 98.8 % accurate. So there is a small area for error. And when I was looking at reviews and comparisons some people said their results were slightly( but not dramatically different) with different tests If you do it again 23andme is only $99 dollars so maybe thats an option. I noticed some of them are over $200. Also the the autosomal DNA only goes back about 5 generations. So the farther and farther you go back the fuzzier the results will be. At the moment though this is what science has given us to work with so this is the best we have.
I got the impression your grandparents are still alive. If so, try to get their samples submitted to the same company or submit your sample plus your grandparents to 23andme.
As noted, autosomal DNA results are a bit of rolling the dice. For an extreme example, consider this British family. The mother appears white, the father black. They had two sets of twin girls, each set consisting of one "white" daughter and one "black" daughter. Roll of the genetic dice.
I had more luck with the mormon church than with a paid subscription to ancestry .
familysearch.org
I also printed everything with my surname and place in a box, a lot of this was trash but after couple years the trash started coming together and making a tree. what I'm saying don't discard somebody just because you never heard of them.
If you look like a white, you are white. You don't need a DNA test.
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to what suzy-q Posted. If you are just now getting started you are heading into a fantastic, fascinating, habit forming world 
, and the questions you have, and will have, are normal for all of us. It is not unusual after hitting a few brick walls that we stop, sit back for a while then go again. Good luck. It's time well spent. Oh, and family oral history can get pretty well twisted around, but don't ignore it, verify and validate it before taking it as 'gospel'.
