Ancestry DNA isn't just about "your family", as in 3rd, 4th or 7th cousins, etc. It tells you where your 'heritage' came from even hundreds of years ago. They send it to you online in charts and graphs and maps that are very easy to read, down to even 1% of your DNA. You also receive lists of probability matches of people currently living who may be related to you up to a few generations....like 4th/5th cousins. But it's the distant past information that makes your DNA intriguing.
For instance, I knew I was of English extraction; my direct antecedents on Daddy's side trace to the Jamestown Colony in the early-mid 1600s and I have that written genealogy. But, unlike my blood daughter, I am MUCH more Scot mixed in with my Great Britain, where she is more Irish/Great Britain. We are both Scandinavian as well, with a smaller percentage western Europe, but very little else, surprisingly. Guess we're Vikings to the core! They raided all the western Europen area "back in the day," LOL!
Her dad is of direct Irish/German descent, but that one link is unlikely to have caused the difference between our charts.
That's what makes this DNA study so fascinating! Family members will have likely slightly differing DNA charts depending on which part of past DNA strands were received by whom in their distant past. I can not tell you how many people I know who seem to have none of that "Native American" blood their parents insisted their great-grandmother/grandfather/Aunt/Uncle/cousin-twice-removed had!
Ancestry recently -- for Christmas, I believe -- had a good reduced price on the test. If you're interested, watch for another discount; it's really easy and so informative to do. I hope more members share their experience here.
Jan in VA