Ancestry/Family Tree Research Question

[RissaLou]

So I'm working on a family tree through Ancestry.com and have pretty much gone as far as I can go with online research. There's a link on their website where you can "hire an expert" to help you.

My question is, has anyone on here actually paid for help on an family tree? Who did you use? How much did it cost (if you're comfortable sharing)?, and was it helpful?

If you haven't paid for help but have done a family tree feel free to share too! I find the subject fascinating and it has been a lot of fun and really interesting.

I've just hit a dead end on my fathers side and not sure where to go from here.

Edited to add: I'm also super curious about DNA testing if anyone has ever done that.

 

[jordyonbass]

I'm not sure about paying for help, but my family in New Zealand did dig up ours and had to pay some money for it. Not sure how much or to whom though.

The info you find can be pretty crazy though, my family found that Princess Diana, Winston Churchill and a former king of Portugal are all ancestors in our bloodline

 

[RissaLou]

I'm not sure about paying for help, but my family in New Zealand did dig up ours and had to pay some money for it. Not sure how much or to whom though.

The info you find can be pretty crazy though, my family found that Princess Diana, Winston Churchill and a former king of Portugal are all ancestors in our bloodline

OMG that's super awesome!!!
The coolest thing I've found so far was that my 8times great grandmother was a God Daughter of Queen Elizabeth. It is pretty amazing to learn about the people you come from.

 

[amc80]

I'd love to know the answer as well. I can trace most of my family way back. But my mom's dad's side immigrated from Russia, so I can't get any info on them.

 

[sonnyjane]

I'd love to know the answer as well. I can trace most of my family way back. But my mom's dad's side immigrated from Russia, so I can't get any info on them.

Same here. I found their Ellis Island papers but anything prior to that from Russia I think is hopeless unfortunately for my family

 

[missy]

RissaLou, I will alert Kristie to this thread. She is very knowledgeable about this area. Good luck!

 

[RissaLou]

RissaLou, I will alert Kristie to this thread. She is very knowledgeable about this area. Good luck!

Thank you!


I wish I had the funds to travel to all the countries that my family is from to get more info, kinda like how they do on the T.V. show "Who do you think you are", THAT would be awesome. Since I can't though I'm hoping these "experts" that can be hired might be somewhat affordable and useful. Progenealogy has a spot on their website to get a quote, so I think maybe I'll start there.

I love hearing about people's stories though if anyone else feels like sharing!!

 

[azstonie]

Hi! I did DNA saliva testing thru 23andme. Can't say enough good things about them and their services.

I had many close matches for 2nd-6th cousins. Some of them contacted me (23andme has a safe manner in which to send or receive email from relatives) and I contacted some of my cousins first. You can be very, very anonymous, a little anonymous, not anonymous, or take that on a person by person basis.

If you are female, you will get your background in maternal and paternal detail *if* your father submits a sample of saliva for testing. I'm not in touch with my parental units so my background is not broken down into my maternal and paternal lines, I just see it all without those specifics. My husband, and any man sees the breakdown into maternal/paternal.

I did my testing prior to the FDA restricting the health info so I know that I'm BRCA1 and 2 negative, no risk for Parkinson's, and more. I have a 20% increased risk for AFIB. I know what statins work for me and which would cause myopathy. I know which antidepressants would work and which would not. Etc.

One thing in my case, family lore said we had an Indian Princess in our past. I assumed that was Irish blarney. I found that I do have native American Indian blood and I found a cousin who shared it and this cousin has a photo of her, a very pretty and kind of regal looking woman. Amazing to get a pic of our shared ancestor. Shocked to discover I have a small percentage of Northern Africa in my line. Aaaaaaaaand a percentage of SubSaharan Africa too. I'm Black! On my listing of relatives there are black faces among my cousins.

I know my health risks and effects which I recommend to anyone. My new internist loved all that info as we made risk management decisions and choices. When the FDA gives up on restricting the health info I highly recommend getting it.

I emailed with several cousins who were adopted and seeking both bio family, identification of parents and sibs, and health info.

 

[amc80]

AZ, thanks for sharing! There are still third party websites you can dump your raw data into, and they will do the med stuff. It's fairly cheap, something like $10. I really want to do the dna test and am deciding which company to go through. It will probably be AncestryDNA.

 

[missy]

Hi! I did DNA saliva testing thru 23andme. Can't say enough good things about them and their services.

I had many close matches for 2nd-6th cousins. Some of them contacted me (23andme has a safe manner in which to send or receive email from relatives) and I contacted some of my cousins first. You can be very, very anonymous, a little anonymous, not anonymous, or take that on a person by person basis.

If you are female, you will get your background in maternal and paternal detail *if* your father submits a sample of saliva for testing. I'm not in touch with my parental units so my background is not broken down into my maternal and paternal lines, I just see it all without those specifics. My husband, and any man sees the breakdown into maternal/paternal.

I did my testing prior to the FDA restricting the health info so I know that I'm BRCA1 and 2 negative, no risk for Parkinson's, and more. I have a 20% increased risk for AFIB. I know what statins work for me and which would cause myopathy. I know which antidepressants would work and which would not. Etc.

One thing in my case, family lore said we had an Indian Princess in our past. I assumed that was Irish blarney. I found that I do have native American Indian blood and I found a cousin who shared it and this cousin has a photo of her, a very pretty and kind of regal looking woman. Amazing to get a pic of our shared ancestor. Shocked to discover I have a small percentage of Northern Africa in my line. Aaaaaaaaand a percentage of SubSaharan Africa too. I'm Black! On my listing of relatives there are black faces among my cousins.

I know my health risks and effects which I recommend to anyone. My new internist loved all that info as we made risk management decisions and choices. When the FDA gives up on restricting the health info I highly recommend getting it.

I emailed with several cousins who were adopted and seeking both bio family, identification of parents and sibs, and health info.

Thanks Kristie!

 

[RissaLou]

Hi! I did DNA saliva testing thru 23andme. Can't say enough good things about them and their services.

I had many close matches for 2nd-6th cousins. Some of them contacted me (23andme has a safe manner in which to send or receive email from relatives) and I contacted some of my cousins first. You can be very, very anonymous, a little anonymous, not anonymous, or take that on a person by person basis.

If you are female, you will get your background in maternal and paternal detail *if* your father submits a sample of saliva for testing. I'm not in touch with my parental units so my background is not broken down into my maternal and paternal lines, I just see it all without those specifics. My husband, and any man sees the breakdown into maternal/paternal.

I did my testing prior to the FDA restricting the health info so I know that I'm BRCA1 and 2 negative, no risk for Parkinson's, and more. I have a 20% increased risk for AFIB. I know what statins work for me and which would cause myopathy. I know which antidepressants would work and which would not. Etc.

One thing in my case, family lore said we had an Indian Princess in our past. I assumed that was Irish blarney. I found that I do have native American Indian blood and I found a cousin who shared it and this cousin has a photo of her, a very pretty and kind of regal looking woman. Amazing to get a pic of our shared ancestor. Shocked to discover I have a small percentage of Northern Africa in my line. Aaaaaaaaand a percentage of SubSaharan Africa too. I'm Black! On my listing of relatives there are black faces among my cousins.

I know my health risks and effects which I recommend to anyone. My new internist loved all that info as we made risk management decisions and choices. When the FDA gives up on restricting the health info I highly recommend getting it.

I emailed with several cousins who were adopted and seeking both bio family, identification of parents and sibs, and health info.

Thank you so much for all the info! How amazing! I'm pretty excited to do that now.

Also thanks Missy