I've been with Ancestry for a few years now and it has been very interesting. My father was an only child so there weren't any aunts or uncles on his side or cousins my age, just great uncles and aunts. The family is spread out all over the country so there were very few relatives that we could interact with. On Ancestry I was able to view public family trees of relatives and have spoken with them via e-mail, telephone and visiting them in person.
I have done the DNA thing and found more family through the results of the test. I'm not worried that much about my DNA results being used by the government to track me down as I've never been arrested or committed a crime any more serious than speeding in my car. I held a Top Secret security clearance for many years while in the Army and in a civilian job, so the government knows all about me through that and from my military medical. I'm not adopted as my DNA matches too many family member on both sides of my parent's families. No unknown children have been turned up thankfully.
I have spoken to a few DNA matches and have had some interesting conversations with the about their families. All in all it has been a positive experience for me.
An interesting fact came to light from my wife's DNA test, we found out she has family located in Minnesota and Wisconsin. My wife's mother's family was originally from Bohemia, now Czechoslovakia. Her family in Germany wasn't aware that a family member immigrated to the US many years ago and have no idea who it would have been. I've been able to figure out that they must have immigrated some time before WWI. We have contacted 2 family members about this but there are no family stories or knowledge of the original immigrants. So much gets lost when older family member pass on. Ancestry and similar sites will help to store this information so it won't be lost for future generations.
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