DNA Matches and Results

The hottest topic presently in the world of genealogy is DNA. Submitting your DNA to one of the various DNA/genealogical platforms can be very beneficial to your research. And it can be very confusing (how do I interpret my results), which company should I test with, and what if I find something unexpected?

It appears that many people are taking the Ancestry DNA test simply to find their ethnic origins. That is OK. The more people who test themselves or older relatives the better off genealogists will be. Because the larger the DNA pool the better the chances are to find a distant cousin. However many DNA results are online without an online family tree to compare your own to. Ancestry has blitzed television viewers with media commericals hourly regarding this; such as the man who traded in his German lederhosen for a Scottish kilt.

I have submitted DNA with all of the testing companies, Ancestry, 23 & Me, FamilyTreeDNA, and I have uploaded my raw DNA files to MyHeritage. This was done to spread the wealth. Everyone does not test with the same companies so I tested with all of them to hopefully discover better results.

Again results can be confusing. Compare the two scans below. The top scan is from Ancestry, which details my ethnic origins. The lower scan does the same and is from MyHeritage.

Ethnic origins according to Ancestry

Ethnic origins according to MyHertiage

As you can see both companies state that I am 100% European. However, Ancestry predicts that my ancestors were predominately from the British Isles and mostly Irish. Conversely MyHeritage reports that I mainly descend from ancestors in continental Europe from countries such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands. Both testing companies are correct in my ethnic origins. No surprises here but the question remains which one is more correct than the other?
Further research to follow...