Should I Do a DNA test? What will a DNA test tell me?

Yes, do a DNA test. Which one? At this time I have to suggest AncestryDNA. There are several others and they are all a little different and have different tools you can play with, but right now  Ancestry has the largest database so you'll have a better chance of finding matches if that's what you're looking for. Ancestry advertises mainly to find your ethnicity, but there is so much more to learn from a DNA test.

The following information and images are from my own AncestryDNA test.

On the left in Figure 1 are my ethnicity estimates. It shows that I'm 55% Europe West (France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Liechtenstein). I'm also 16% Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). When I click on the green button at the bottom of that section (Discover Your DNA Story) it opens up more regions as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 1

In figure 2 below you can see that my Ireland/Scotland/Wales roots make up about 10% of my DNA and Great Britain is 7%. If I click the plus sign next to Low Confidence Regions it shows 4% Scandinavian (Finland, Sweden, Denmark) and 4% Europe South (Greece, Italy, and Albania). There were also some other areas at 1% or less which is not enough to get excited about. They are all estimates. Nothing is exact. My sister and I have nowhere near the same numbers in our charts. We did not inherit exactly the same DNA from our parents. It's very random, but there's still enough of the same DNA that we know we share the same two parents.

Figure 2

Also on this page is a color coded map that shows the areas that corresponds with the areas on the list above. Starting on the European side of the ocean - those are where my ancestors were located thousands of years ago. The areas of North America that are red and gold colored are more recent, in the past two to three hundred years. The gold colored areas show the Acadian migration from the eastern areas of southern Canada to southern Louisiana. You can't see it that well on this map because the red over powers it, but that gold color is under the red in a small concentrated area of southern Louisiana. This area is sometimes referred to as Acadiana and the people are affectionately called Cajuns. We don't mind at all. In fact, we are proud that our ancestors survived what they went through to get here. The red area is the southern migration of settlers from Great Britain, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales from the east coast toward the west as the country expanded and land grants were issued. 

Figure 3

The middle section of my DNA results (Figure 1) shows Shared Ancestor Hints - that is how many people I match and share hints with. A hint means that we have common ancestors and Ancestry can tell who they are because of the data we have entered into each of our family trees. Our trees match somewhere and our DNA also matches.

Figure 4 below is what I see if I click on one of my matches that I share hints with. At the top level it shows our common ancestor(s) then each generation after until it gets to my match and me. In this case my match and I are 3rd cousins. It shows that at the bottom of the last person on the right. It also shows my relationship to each person on her side. 

Let me back  up a minute to explain the relationships shown here. Joseph and Euphrasie are the parents of Belzida and Pierre who are siblings. Siblings are on the same level across from each other. The next level down are the children of the siblings and they are first cousins to each other, and the next level are second cousins, and so on. It's when you compare people on different levels that you get the 1st cousin twice removed or second cousin once removed that confuses so many people. When you see it visually like this it's easier to understand. If you're not on the same level - you are removed.

Figure 4

The starred matches from Figure 1 are ones that I have marked myself. I usually mark someone either because I know how we are related or because I see something interesting in their tree that I want to investigate. I also write them down in my notebook with a note about what was so interesting about their tree.

DNA Circles in the last column of Figure 1 are connections to people who all match other people in the circle, but don't necessarily match everyone else. At this time I have 46 Circles. This is just one of them.

Figure 5

This circle shows my father's group at the top (my sister and me) and each other person in the circle that we are related to. If you look closely there are some light gray lines connecting each person in the circle to those they match. In this case most groups within the circle match each other. This is a case of endogamy - the custom of marrying only within the limits of a local community, clan, or tribe, i.e. Cajuns. The reason some do not match may be that one or the other did not complete their tree far enough back to catch the connection. 

This next slide is a snapshot of my sisters relationship to me which I got from her list of matches. The predicted relationship is "Immediate Family". That means we are full siblings. In the case of a half sibling the predicted relationship would show "Close Family to 1st Cousin" because they share less DNA than full siblings. 

Figure 6

The feature I really like here is somewhat hidden and you have to know about it to notice it, but that little "i" in the circle above the black square is what I'm talking about. The square does not appear  until you click on the "i." This shows how many centimorgans (cMs) you share and on how many DNA segments. The short definition of a centimorgan is a unit for measuring genetic linkage. The higher that number the more closely related you are. My sister and I share 2,859 cMs across 48 DNA segments while my mother and I share 3,478 cMs across 47 segments. I share more with my mother because half of my DNA comes from her. My sister also got half of her DNA from Mom, but not exactly the same parts that I got. It's random. We have a first cousin who has tested and she shares 1,514 cMs with our mom who is her aunt, but only around 800 cMs with my sister and me. 

This is a lot of information to absorb, but once you have received your DNA results you will already know what to expect to find. But to get your results you first have to submit the test. Don't put it off because you're not sure if you should do it. If you've read down this far then you are curious about it and you should do it! And while you're at it - test your parents and grandparents if they are still living. They will be more closely related to some people than you are because they have more of the DNA from their ancestors than you got from them.

See ya'll on the match list!