Ancestry DNA results

  Back in this post, I told you that I was taking an Acestry.com DNA test. I was so excited to get my results back in 6-8 weeks. Well, I finally got them. Get ready for some bumps in the road.

1) I am a very time oriented person. The kit directions state that you will get results in 6-8 weeks. (There is a disclaimer that it might take longer if there is a high volume of tests at that time.) After 6 weeks, I logged on to my account and checked the status. The test had been received by Ancestry on 1/24. Ok... that's not too much more time, no biggie. However, after 8 weeks, I still hadn't heard anything so I called their help line. I had noticed that they had marked it received, but there was no record that it was being processed. When I called, the woman at Ancestry.com explained that after they receive it, they send it to the lab for processing, Apparently none of the testing process had even started. Grr. Luckily, I'm a patient person (most times) and I realize that they had a HUGE push for advertising these kits around Christmas. I get it, no reason to ruin this poor woman's day. On 4/3, they started processing my test and I got my results mid-week this week.

2) I thought I'd get something like 80% Ireland, 20% French Canadian.  From my Ethnicity Estimate, I'm 72% from Great Britain, 25% Irish, 2% Iberian Peninsula and 1% West Europe. Great Britain surprised me. Then I realized it said "Thousands of years ago."  Ok, less shocking I get.

3) I belonged to 2 possible genetic communities- Settlers of New England and French Settlers along the St. Lawrence. Both of those seem likely too.

4) DNA Circles- I was excited by this. I was hoping to find lots of close matches... ANY close matches. I do not belong to any DNA circles. This was disheartening. In my head I guess I was hoping to find some "distant" (but really- not distant, close enough that I could figure out a connection) relatives. There was 1 2nd cousin, my dad's cousin Elizabeth. I was hoping for 3rd cousins or closer. I have found people that might be a 3rd cousin but they don't have family trees submitted. I thought that maybe I could find people who were connected by my 3 mystery relatives that I've been struggling with. Nope.

5) What does THAT mean?! A few months ago, I thought I had solved some big mystery. Now that I have my test, I looked forward to confirming people I should've been related to. There was no DNA match. I guess this can happen with distant relatives, but I'm also wondering if I have something wrong with my research.People who have not taken the test will also come up as a "no match."  

       It was interesting to read the results and maybe somewhere down the road they will help connect with people,  but I was hoping for something more. Maybe I should force all of my relatives to do the test too. lol. Kidding.. sort of. I think I need to spend a few days parked at the Ma Archives to try to dig deeper.