Anyone do the Ancestry Thing?

[winofiend]

I've gone back and forth about doing it or not, since I have certain reservations about sending my DNA to ANYBODY.

My parents finally did it, so there's no point in me doing it.  The results were somewhat surprising on my mother's side.  My father, we all knew, would come back Italian since his lineage is known.  My mother's side was always the question mark, even though we all grew up hearing Irish/German.

My father's came back 90-something percent Italy, with a smattering of Greek, Turkish, Armenian.

My mother's came back 40% Scotland/North Ireland, English, Norwegian, and Swedish.  Also a mention of Germanic Europe. 

Apparently the way they do this, is they take samples from people who've lived in certain areas for generations, and compare it with those sent in by people investigating their background.  I have no idea how accurate it is, but they nailed my father's test.

I've tried manually researching my mother's side, and can't even get past her grandmother.  It's like she never existed.  No records at all that I can find.  Maybe she was an illegal immigrant?

I've done Ancestry.com and found it woefully unhelpful. Tells me I'm 60% Irish, 30% Scottish and other places. Anything you want to do after, costs money. I've started a family tree, but unless I pay, I can't look into potential DNA matches. Had a few people message me saying they might be related, but I've not replied. Ironically, my mother is Scottish, and dad is English, so where the Irish comes in, no one knows. Erin go Bragh, I guess...

I should have taken the other one, that tells me how much Neanderthal I am. lol. Because us auburn haired big ugly buggers have to be prehistoric...