Granddaughter's DNA

I am a firm believer in Genetic Genealogy..yes with capital letters. I am am member of ISOGG and have been testing someone or other's DNA in my family since 2005.Faunt.Carrow.Ulmer.Morrison and extended family.

I have tested two of my sons and now one of their children each, my granddaughters. The girls were enthusiastic about the idea although I am sure the genealogy involved is not a teen age pastime.
One of my grandsons has also tested but his is not back from the lab yet.

The company I prefer is 23andme.com for a variety of reasons that are meaningful to me.One of them is displayed on this blog. The geographic analysis or Ancestry Composition as they now call it is superb. Many fine and well know geographic genetic analysts think highly of it.It was a long time in the making. I actually was a Beta Tester more than three years ago when they first promoted their Relative Finder to the world.

The database they possess is large and varied and this "universe" of testers is very high on my list of "must haves". Most if not all of us have ancestors and relatives from many countries.This is important to me.

Less important but still a draw is the health portion of the test, included in the price. Over the years they have explored having just genealogy or just health in the test but there is value in both. Financially it is essential as a large potion of their business is the health industry. Other companies test health but as an offshoot test.

The visuals they present for their product I feel is the very best of any company currently out there.
I do have two of my family in Family Finder at Family Tree DNA but their software pales in comparison, at least for this autosomal "cousin test". Family Tree DNA does hold the edge in Y  testing overall, using strs as well as snps. These are  large and small segments of DNA both necessary for analyzing genetic distance. Ancestryby DNA has a new product which I have used but not tested at. I feel that one is anemic in many ways, sort of "dumbed down" and basic. My opinion is that it lacks accuracy and depth. A Genographic 2 is out there also but the jury still seems to be out on that one, cousin matches not yet working and the geographic array of populations is said to be not quite there yet.

The graphics I have on this blog is perhaps the best reason for using this particular test. 23andme utilizes  " phasing" to show which side of  the family traits and ethnic composition are received from.It is neccessary for at least one parent to have tested. I guess that is why I am writing today as I am so very excited about what we now know in my family.