I am interested in taking a DNA ancestry test, but I am overwhelmed by the number of choices. I want to know which the best one is so that I get accurate results.
What Is The Best Dna Ancestry Test I Can Buy?
The fact that you want to find out more about your ancestry is a great decision. From my experience, there are three main companies in the DNA ancestry test, 23andMe, FamilyTreeDNA, and AncestryDNA.
However, it is kind of difficult to say which the best one out of all the three is? All the companies are known for helping you form family trees and find about your genetic genealogy. Before you go ahead and give your DNA sample, you should know what you want to achieve with this test. For instance, you can find out about your ancestors or if you have unknown cousins.
Even though these companies conduct the same test, their procedure varies as they use different genetic markers. Due to this, it is likely to notice variations in their tests. The size of the database for each company is different, which has an impact on your results. It isn’t necessary that these databases will have the same individuals. Also, you should keep in mind that your test results have higher accuracy, when you are from North America or Europe, as a large number of people from these regions have participated in this test.
If you want to find out about the ethnicity of your predecessors, there are certain obstacles which have an impact on the results. For example, as every child gets random sets of DNA from their parents. As a result of this, your DNA will have traces of your ancestors for several generations. However, the sad thing is that this information can vanish, when it gets replaced by other DNA during the process of recombination. Also, if there was any non paternal event, a situation where the biological father is different from the recorded parent, it will change the results.
Another important fact to keep in mind is that these DNA ancestry tests won’t fill up your family tree. The purpose of these tools is to discover people related to you, allowing you to build your family tree. If you want to create an elaborate family tree, you also have to put in manual effort. For example, you need to follow the paper trail, which is a challenging, yet rewarding task. You have to go through various types of records and certificates to track down your ancestors. As you won’t get all this information online, you will have to use different techniques to obtain this data.
If you want to get in touch with your relatives, there are community forums on these websites. To ensure that your relatives maintain contact, provide accurate contact information.
As I can’t say which DNA ancestry test is the best one, I have another solution. You can take the test from FamilyTreeDNA or 23andMe, get the raw data of your test results and share it with the other companies for a small fee.