Finding Me: with My Heritage DNA

Having been lucky enough to travel around world, experiencing different people, places and cultures, I have always been fascinated by the way that our origins and family can influence who we become as a person.

Personally, I feel that that origins and cultures I have experienced from travelling have had some influence on adult life, but I am also proud of the culture that I grew up in. My families origins, as I am currently aware, are a small combination of heritages. My mothers side of the family - Attwood and McVickers - are a mixture of English, Irish and Italian descent with a Christian religion. On my fathers side of the family - Goodman and Marshall - they are English with a Jewish religion.

Growing up, we were (and still are) a close family with strong values of love, support and respect for our life choices - especially as all of my grandparents are divorced and remarried. We became a ‘modern family’ in time where divorce in older generations wasn’t as common as it is today.

However, the older I become, the more fascinated am I in  finding our even more about my families heritage and DNA beyond my great grandparents. For months I had been talking to my friends and family about this and after hearing about My Heritage DNA*, I decided to order myself a kit. 

When my kit arrived, I was a little overwhelmed by all the parts that come with it and essentially where to start. Here's a few Q&As which you'll hopefully find helpful. 

What is My Heritage DNA? 

If you've looked into tracing your family tree through data and certificates that you have, MyHeritage DNA works through taking samples of DNA from inside your mouth. This will enable you to discover your ethnic origins and find potential relatives from around the world who also share your DNA.

How much does it cost? 

A DNA kit currently costs £45 (until end 23rd November), after this you can pick up a kit at £75. I appreciate that this is a lot of money to invest in your family history, but this is something that I have wanted to do for a while and had read good reviews about this particular service. 

What’s in a DNA kit?

The DNA kit has all the information that you need, as well as a step by step process of what to do with everything. Within a pack you receive two swabs, viles and protective packing to send back to the labs for testing. 

How long does it take? 

To run the test you firstly need to activate your kit online, then run your two swab tests on either side of your mouth and put them into viles. This probably takes about an 15 minutes to do from start to finish. The test results take four to six weeks to come back and give you your heritage DNA. 

So what’s next? Stay tuned, as I rather excitedly mailed my kit back off today, I’ll share another blog post with you in a few weeks to show you my results!