Three generations of FTDNA MyOrigins 2.0 results from Family Tree DNA

In April this year Family Tree DNA rolled out a new version of their myOrigins report. I've tested three generations of my family at FTDNA so I thought it would be interesting to do a multi-generation comparison. I did this exercise with the first version of the myOrigins test, and you can read about our previous results here.

I've provided below a summary of the genealogical ancestry for each family member tested together with a screenshot of their results. Click on the images to enlarge them.

Debbie's dad

• Four grandparents born in England: Bristol, Gloucestershire, London (x2).
• Eight great-grandparents born in England: Bristol (x2), Devon, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire, London (x2).
• Fifteen great-great grandparents born in England: Devon (x2), Bristol, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hertfordshire (x 2), London. One great-great grandparent born in Scotland (location not known). The birthplace of seven of his English great-great-grandparents is unknown. Four were probably born in Bristol or in a nearby county. Three were Londoners who could have moved to London from anywhere in England.

Debbie's mum

• Four grandparents born in England: London (x2), Hampshire (x2).
• Eight great-grandparents born in England: Berkshire, Hampshire, London (x3), Somerset, Wiltshire. The birthplace of one great-grandparent is not known but he was probably born in London.
• Fifteen great-great-grandparents born in England: Bedfordshire, Berkshire (x2), Gloucestershire, Hampshire (x2), Hertfordshire, London (x2), Somerset (x2), Wiltshire. One great-great-grandparent born in Ireland: County Kerry. The birthplace of three of her English great-great-grandparents is unknown. One was probably born in Hampshire. The other two were probably Londoners who could have come from anywhere in the country.

Debbie

• Four grandparents born in England: Bristol, London (x3).
• Eight great-grandparents born in England: Bristol, Gloucestershire, Hampshire (x2), London (4).
• Sixteen great-great-grandparents born in England: Berkshire, Bristol (2), Devon, Essex, Gloucestershire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, London (x 5), Somerset and Wiltshire. The one great-great-grandparent with an unknown birth location was probably born in London.
• Twenty-four great-great-great grandparents born in England: Berkshire (x2), Bristol, Devon (x2), Essex, Gloucestershire (x2), Hampshire (x2), Hertfordshire (x3), London (x5), Somerset (x2), Wiltshire. One great-great-great grandparent born in Ireland: County Kerry. One great-great-great grandparent born in Scotland (location not known). The birthplace of the remaining eight English great-great-great-grandparents is unknown but they were probably born in Bristol, London and Hampshire.

Debbie's husband

• Four grandparents born in England: Cambridgeshire (x2), Cumberland, Devon.
• Eight great-grandparents born in England: Cambridgeshire (x3), Devon (x2), Dorset, Somerset, Surrey.
• Sixteen great-great grandparents born in England: Cambridgeshire (x3), Devon (x4), Hampshire, Herefordshire, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire (x2), Somerset (x2), Surrey (x2).
• Twenty-six great-great-great grandparents born in England: Cambridgeshire (6), Devon (x8), Hampshire, Herefordshire (x2), Huntingdonshire, Somerset (x4), Surrey (x3), Sussex. The birthplace of the remaining six English great-great-great-grandparents is unknown. Three were probably born in Cambridgeshire, two in Hertfordshire and one in Surrey.

Debbie's eldest son

Discussion

It's interesting that four out of five of my family have now come out as 100% British Isles with myOrigins 2.0. This does correspond with our known genealogical ancestry in the last few hundred years. However, it's somewhat surprising that my husband, who also has an all-British genealogy, is now dramatically less "British" than he was before.

I've compiled a table showing our percentages of "British Isles" DNA with the old and new myOrigins test:

Tester	myOrigins 1.0	MyOrigins 2.0
Debbie's dad	40%	99%
Debbie's mum	7%	100%
Debbie	57%	100%
Debbie's husband	38%	15%
Debbie's son	75%	100%

With the new results both my dad and my husband have tiny percentages of what Family Tree DNA call trace percentages. My dad has <2% South Central Asia. My husband has <1% Oceania. FTDNA advise that "a trace percentage indicates a very small amount of shared DNA in common with the corresponding population. In some cases this minor percentage could be attributed to background noise."

I've seen mixed reports for the updated myOrigins reports. Some people say that their results are much better and others say that their results are a lot worse. For the results I've seen for people in the UK in my various projects at FTDNA I've noticed that the percentages of British Isles in general now appear to be much higher than before, but my husband's results show that this is not always the case. I would continue to urge caution when interpreting admixture results.

Further reading

• myOrigins 2.0 update FamilyTreeDNA Learning Centre article dated 4 April 2017.
• Population clusters in myOrigins Family Tree DNA Learning Center article (undated).
• myOrigins White Paper FamilyTree DNA Learning Center article updated with list of new reference populations but no sample sizes
• myOrigins White Paper Original version of the White Paper retrieved from the Internet Archive which includes sample sizes for the populations used.