When in doubt, TEST. Especially the elderly family members.

I would send them each a kit from Ancestry AND from FTDNA, but you should first have Ancestry's kits sent to yourself so you can record the kit # and register their kit on Ancestry for them. They won't know how to do that. Then I'd mail their kit one at a time, so the kits aren't mixed up when they return them.

If you can help them in person of course, you can skip that advice. You can be there to help them through the process.

Ancestry's test is a spit test; FTDNA's is a cheek swab and they have to scrub a bit hard to get those cells the way the lab wants them. But it isn't that bad.

The upside to FTDNA is that they are very scientific, they share the numbers with you, you can upgrade or add more tests once they have the one sample, and they keep the tests for up to 25 years with most purchases. Another upside: they record the kit # at the time of purchase, so you can mail it directly to the recipient.

The upside to Ancestry is the wonderful way it links to trees. Of course, not everyone links their own test to a tree. My results have about 80 percent matches that say "NO TREE." Highly annoying.

I'd really do both. I'd skip 23andme, not my favorite, and that was before they partnered with Big Pharma.

Your choice in the end.

Good luck.