Autosomal DNA Ancestry Testing: Open Your Past and Discover Your Future

DNA Autosomal Ancestry testing has become the latest craze for family history and genealogy buffs. Understanding where in the world your DNA has been helping define who you are and where your family came from. DNA testing is the technology of the future, but the genealogy DNA testing uses that futuristic technology to look at one’s past.

First, DNA doesn’t lie. I cannot say that about all of my family members and have had to do some genealogy digging with my personal family tree finding a lot of obfuscation, denial, and obstruction at every front about all the skeletons hiding in the closets. Unlocking the doors and dusting them all off has been difficult.

Also, even the best genealogy aficionados can only discover so much. Though women have traditionally been obsessed in this field, the knowledge of women’s history is slight. Why? First, women change their names, and for some time it was only the male line that was followed, so there are fewer records about females.

Many were hoping to be related to some king, and that is how genealogy got to first be such a fad. But there are other problems with genealogy besides a scarcity of information concerning women and wanting to find kings in lines that do not have them. People do lie or make mistakes. People have changed their names coming into this country to cover up Jewish or another exotic ancestry.

Others have jotted down an emigrant’s name incorrectly at the dock or on a census. And then there are black sheep ancestors who changed their names and fled from one county to another to make the genealogy search like following someone in a labyrinth.

Also, I have heard in some genealogy circles that it is estimated 1 in 10 have a non-paternity event -like adoption- if you go back as far as your gg or ggg grandparent’s on both sides. That means everything else beyond that is wrong. Plus, you are only following two lines. What about the rest of your ancestry?

First-generation DNA testing for ancestry does not answer this question. It only follows a strict path down either the male side (Y-DNA) or the female side (mitochondrial) like this: your mother and her mother and her mother and so on as well as the same for the male side.

And when DNA ancestry testing first began, women could not even discover anything about their male side with the Y-DNA male DNA test as they do not have Y chromosomes. It isn’t wrong. And there are still purposes for their use. But haplotype, DNA testing shows an incomplete picture. Each one of your eight great grandparents has a history. What is it?

It is only Autosomal DNA testing for ancestry that answers these questions and gives you a comprehensive analysis of all your ancestry. This is the latest science. Why only know part of your ancestry? Why use old tools for a new era? Genealogy is fun but flawed, and first-generation DNA testing for ancestry is limited.

You won’t find people with strict autosomal DNA testing as it is based on populations, so you won’t find any kings or queens, but you do get a complete look at all your ancestors in one DNA test. A synopsis of what made you…you.

This new type of DNA testing can show you the places where your ancestors were. And this could open up a lot of new discussions at the dinner table. Maybe with autosomal DNA ancestry testing, you get a connection to Italy and decide to study in Rome or join an archeological dig? Or build a school or teach in a specific country? Open your past and discover your future.