I Took A Second DNA Test, 23andMe

Two months ago, during the April DNA Day sales, I ordered my first DNA kit for myself, after ordering over a dozen kits for other family members.  I wrote about it in I Finally Took a DNA Test.  Well, the results are still not back yet (hopefully will be any day now), but during the Father’s Day DNA sales I ordered myself a 23andMe kit.

Like Ancestry, 23andMe does not accept DNA transfers into their system.  You have to take their DNA test to gain access the majority of the two million testers in their database.  (Some people take their results to GEDmatch or have results at other companies, but certainly not a majority.)

The recommendation for anyone researching a question of parentage, like I have been for my grandmother, is to test in all the pools of DNA test takers.  You never know where those critical close matches will be.

Of course, it is also important to test the oldest generation possible.  Next month I am planning a visit with my grandmother to connect with her and also hopefully help her take DNA tests at Ancestry and 23andMe using this method: How to Help an Older Person Take a Saliva-Based DNA Test.  This time when I took this saliva-based test it took me about twenty tries to fill that vial to the line.  We’ve been having a heat wave here in California, so I could have been a little dehydrated.  But I can sympathize with older people who find it hard to do this type of test.  Hopefully this method can help them.

Today I am mailing back my test.  I am looking forward to learning about the 23andMe match interface, seeing how their ethnicity estimates compare to the other companies, and finding more family.