Have you been searching for answers for a long time?  For many people, there are clues hiding in their own DNA.  Have you considered taking a DNA test?  Even figuring out which one – or where to start can be a daunting task!

From my experience, a great place to start is by testing with AncestryDNA.  Ancestry offers the largest database available with over 5 million users and has a great platform to interact with common matches.  This alone is significant, but you can also download your DNA data from Ancestry for use on other DNA platforms, should you choose to, but you cannot add data from other platforms to Ancestry.

Even after you test, it can leave you scratching your head.  How do you get to the answers you are looking for?  There will be matches
you have no idea how you relate to. The DNA platforms do a great job of putting different matches into categories – but even that isn’t always cut and dry. What you find will depend on how close you relate to your matches and the information they make available to their matches, and often doesn’t lead you directly to your answers. 

This is where DNA and genealogy work together… Genealogy is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of lineages, through oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and many other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members.

If you are considering next steps, keep in mind that there is no guarantee a DNA test will immediately give you answers.  Over time, you may notice new matches as more and more people take DNA tests.

If you are looking for information about your health, I recommend testing with 23andme. 23andme offers a wide range options in terms of health and reporting.

Tests do go on sale several times a year.  I will often post links to our Facebook page when I see a good sale on different DNA kits.