What if I have already had my DNA tested for ancestry ?

Do I still need a family tree paper trail ?

​

Case N°1: You were adopted or abandoned as a child or born to an unknown
father or to a donor. 

In those specific cases DNA testing is absolutely necessary to solve a filial relationship mystery.

​

Warning : Ancestry DNA testing is illegal in some countries. 

You won’t be able to test your DNA for genealogical purposes if you live in France for instance. Elsewhere, in the USA , Canada etc. and in some other European countries (UK, Denmark, Switerland, Spain ...) the number of people testing is growing and DNA testing is becoming more and more popular.

​

Case N°2 : for other people ... autosomal DNA testing is really useful to genealogists but it won’t do all the job and give you all the answers. 

You will get cousin matches and ethnicity estimates, you will learn more about your very distant paternal or maternal lines. If your project is to get to learn how you connect to your different matches and potential common ancestors though ... you will need to have a paper trail to find this out..

​

Having both already (a family paper trail and one’s DNA tested for ancestry) is a real benefit.  

​

Check the links to American, Canadian or Brazilian genetic genealogists who could guide you through ancestry DNA testing and interpret your DNA results.