Test Kit: Genetic Testing for Ancestry & Ethnicity Covering 2,114 Geographic Regions and DNA Matching to Relatives

The kits arrived very quickly. I already did my own test on another site years ago, but I needed to buy more for other relatives. I like that they use the swab instead of requiring spitting into a cup. It's so much easier to do. Some people have difficulty with the other kind of test.I like the origin results I get from MyHeritage. Each site has slightly different results because they are based on others who have tested there. No one has examples of pure DNA for different ancestry, so the results will vary a little, but they should be generally the same. MyH is the first site to give me 3.7% Italian. (Must explain my love of American Italian food.)I also like how MyHeritage emails with matches and lists them for me, instead of forcing me to log in to see one or two new matches that might not even be very close. MyHeritage also shows shared matches so easily. And the results come up faster than some other web sites.The way MyHeritage shows a percentage of shared DNA is different than all the other sites and makes a lot of sense, the only problem being that we've spent years trying to figure out the centiMorgans and how to calculate relationships. So now we have to learn to convert that information.Some of the low star reviews are people complaining that they didn't like their results or think they're wrong. It's not wrong. It might be analyzed a little differently than on other sites. Or your research might not be your genetic line. Not so long ago, adoptions were big secrets, so there's no telling what your ancestry could actually be. That's what these tests can tell us.MyHeritage is the newest of the big genealogy companies to introduce DNA testing. They still have a way go to, lacking a chromosome browser, for one. I look forward to seeing where they will take the system.

"Just what the doctor ordered."

A+

This is my first DNA test. I'll probably get a more detailed expensive one from them or another company, but this was a good basic start that gave me some interesting info. They emailed me about two weeks after I sent in my DNA to say they got it and were processing it, which I appreciated. I Got my results back in about 7 weeks. One week ahead of schedule which was wonderful. A nice touch were the graphics they used to show me my results. It was like a special effects movie scene were Bond is being briefed on his latest multi-national nemesis LOL, but not cheesy, just sleek, impressive and easy to understand. Not terribly in-depth, but gave me two specific countries and two basic regions of continents I am from. A few people who have some of my DNA/are distant relatives around the world have reached out to say "Hi" via the site (the company says they do not release your personal contact info), so that is kind of nice to. All things considered and the reasonable price a good first look tracing my ancestry.

I had always known that I was a multiracial black person but I never knew that I had 10 different ethnicities and that I'm almost as much European (and a few other things) as I am African. I guess this is true for a lot of black people who are descendants of slaves. We lost our connection to our African culture and our connection to our European ancestry was denied to us due to racial hatred so we were never able to really embrace other parts of who we are. (I realize that this is changing now because there are so many interracial relationships and more and more people are no longer tripping about pigmentation, but I grew up in the southeastern United States and I am in my 40s. I'm not an old lady, but I've seen my share of racial hatred and social/economic/cultural separatism.) Since I've always identified culturally as a black person, I've never really allowed myself to consider all the other things that are running through my veins. I am literally a melting pot of ethnicities from all over the world that includes things such as Iberian, Balkan, Syrian, Portuguese, Irish/English/Welsh, South Asian and so much more. I found that my African ancestors descend from Nigeria predominately plus a little bit from Kenya and other parts of West Africa. It's so funny that several years ago I met a co-worker who was originally from Ghana, and even though we were just co-workers and not at all romantically interested in each other, every time he would talk and tell me stories about Ghana (which is in West Africa), I felt like time was standing still and a few times I felt oddly emotional. Who knows? Maybe my soul knew I was standing face to face with someone from the very region of Africa where my some of my ancestors are from and that resonated at the inexplicable, far reaching levels of the soul. I am also part Native American. It was one of the best gifts I ever gave myself because I spent a lot of heartfelt time really considering all of the people that had to come together in order for me to be here. With love and sadness and forgiveness, I accepted that some of those "unions" may have been by force while others may have been by choice. I found a whole thing to be healing, cathartic, and affirming in a sense. I was able to research some of the areas where my descendants come from and really contemplate what their journeys might have been like.But truly one of the most shocking things is that I was able to prove the paternity of a half aunt who I had always heard of but who has been estranged from the family for more years than I've been alive. I have never met her. I knew her name and that she was said to be the product of a relationship that my maternal grandfather had outside of his marriage. For that reason, she was not called in to the fold even though she grew up in relatively close proximity to her other siblings. Some even expressed doubt about her paternity. Apparently, she had submitted a MyHeritage DNA test and her name popped up in my list of matches at the very top of the list as a close match. This thing was dead on. It said that she had to be either an aunt or great-aunt. Sadly, she didn't respond when I tried to reach out but this proves she is biologically part of us.I wouldn't mind trying some other DNA test from other companies to compare results and see what they come up with, but for my first foray into DNA testing, this was an incredible experience and I would recommend it to anyone!

The kit is very easy to use. I am very excited to get my results soon.

MyHeritage Removes Russian Records Without ExplanationI used to rely on MyHeritage for genealogy research, but recently, I discovered that they have artificially removed records related to people from Russia. This is extremely disappointing, as I had valuable family history stored there, and now much of it is inaccessible.It seems like they are deliberately erasing Russian ancestry from their database, which is unacceptable for a company that claims to support genealogy and historical preservation. If you have Russian roots, don’t waste your money on this service—they do not respect or preserve this heritage.I will be switching to alternative platforms that actually care about