But, having been asked since the first Kincaid/James book why, as an American, I wanted to write about England, I was curious about my life-long Anglophilia. My mother's side of the family had names that might have been French variants (Dozier and Jordan) and I'd heard something vague over the years about being descended from settlers in Kentucky and Tennessee, so I thought perhaps there were French Protestants on that side of the family. But on my dad's side, I had no idea. Darden, my maiden name, is not a common English name, but neither is it French.
So a few months ago, I did an internet search, and found a Darden in Plymouth, England, in 1601. Curiosity in full gear now! Then I got a Facebook message from a man in British Columbia who was doing research on Ancestry.com and discovered that our grandmothers were cousins. When I looked at what he'd found, I traced the Dardens back to Alabama in the early 1800s, and the Doziers as far back as Normandy in the early 1600s. There the trail died out--at least so far.
I decided I wanted to do a DNA test, so Rick gave me 23andMe for Christmas. I spit in the test tube and sent it off! (It takes a LOT of spit, by the way.)
Last week I got my results and it's fascinating!
That British connection?
70% British and Irish
The French?
11% French and German
Then there's another 15% or so Broadly Northwestern European.
All very cool, if not hugely surprising. But--
It seems that sometime in the 1700s, I had ONE fifth-to-seventh great-grandparent who was 100% Scandinavian. Who knew?
And in the 1600s, a how-many-ever great-grandparent that was 100% West African. It shows up on my DNA map as a tiny red dot among all the blues. Now I want to know that story!
What I didn't find was Native American, although I'd always been told that there was some Cherokee on my mom's side of the family. But the results show 0%.
And then there were all the things I didn't expect to learn. Like that I have the gene for fast twitch muscles, like those Olympic skaters you've been watching. (I think I'm a total fail on that one...)
I have more Neanderthal variants than 96% percent of customers--which makes sense as that was central Germany.
My genes show I prefer salty to sweet (true), that I don't have cheek dimples or a cleft chin, that I have dark hair, pale skin, and blue eyes, that I can taste bitter things, and that my big toe is longer than the others. I don't have a unibrow or red hair. Isn't that just bizarre?
 |
| Those aren't dimples--just laugh lines! |
There are dozens of other interesting things, and especially having studied biology and genetics in college, I could easily fall down the research rabbit hole.
I know that these tests are not 100% accurate, and that the different testing companies can get slightly different results depending on their data bases. But the more people who are tested, the more accurate the data gets, and I LOVE following that genetic fingerprint..
What about you, REDS and readers? Do you find it creepy or fascinating? Have you done a DNA test, or would you like to? If you have, tell us something interesting you learned!
I think the tracing of family trees and ancestry is fascinating. I’d always known, courtesy of my maternal grandmother, that we were English and that Daniel Boone was a relative. The results weren’t particularly surprising: 72% English . . . . 15% Irish . . . 3% Greek or Italian . . . 3% Eastern European . . . 2% Western European . . . 2% Western Jewish . . . 2% Spanish or Portuguese . . . 1% Scandinavian. Beyond the English, I hadn’t had any idea, but I wish I knew how some of those came to be . . . .
ReplyDeleteone of my ancestors went to Kentucky ? with Squire Boone, one of the Boone brothers.
DeleteNow that you're telling me all this interesting stuff you've found out, I am more interested myself. I think my family on my dad's side is pretty much English/Scots/Irish, and I know half of my mother's family is English, but the other half is German. I've done a bit of genealogy, but never managed to trace anyone back to their European roots except through family lore. I think it's amazing that they can tell you don't have a sweet tooth, or what the odds are that you might develop various diseases and conditions. I'm also fascinated by the way they put all this stuff into a database so you can connect up to distant relatives you didn't know you had.
ReplyDeleteGigi, you're a winner of Leslie Wheeler's book. Please send me your email and I'll connect you two? lucyburdette at gmail dot com. yay!
DeleteHello Deborah, this is me just making sure that I can post something, never having blogged or commented in my life - you already know why! But the ancestry thing is very interesting. My son has done his - not that he was doubting his parentage - and the strong Scandinavian influence came up again. In fact, lots of people report this, which just goes to show how energetic and busy those Vikings were.
ReplyDeleteHi Peter! Yes, those Vikings got around, didn't they?
DeleteWhen I visited Edinburgh in Scotland, I noticed that many Scottish people looked Scandinavian. I remember that my father who is half Scottish looked very Scandinavian. A friend from Norway asked me if my father was Norwegian.
DeleteThis kind of DNA testing is just flat out creepy! (Testing and use for medical reasons are not) Who you are and who your family is are way more than DNA. You and your family are the bonds of shared stories, shared experiences, love, arguments, and bonds that make no sense at all to anyone but family. The creepiness for me is the exclusion of adopted children from what is “really family” , taints of racism and classism, and all those “blood will tell” lines in Victorian novels. Getting off my soap box now. Will be back another day.
ReplyDeleteSuch an interesting point of view--I think your points make lots of sense. I was just thinking after Gigi's comment that this could become a wonderful mystery--people from the past showing up and claiming to be relatives and so on.
DeleteThat's a clever idea, Lucy. Someone shows up with a copy of the test claiming to be a cousin...
DeleteI adopted one of my sons. No secret about how he joined the family. He loves that he has a higher % Irish DNA than either his dad or his wife. Thanks to the agency we used when we adopted him, we have always had information about his biological parents and a few years back I made contact with his bio mother. My son has met them and his bio brothers and sister.
DeleteMine didn't hold many surprises - 69% British Isles with most of it being Ireland/Scotland/Wales, plus another 14% Scandanavian (Vikings?). 6% of Finland/North Russia crept in, though, and five percent Iberian penninsula. Someone I'm close to did his, and was contacted by the birth son (given up for adoption 44 years ago)! I find it all fascinating, but agree with Elisabeth that family is really shared experiences, love, and bonds, not DNA.
ReplyDeleteI have not done a DNA test and don't plan to.
ReplyDeleteHowever, my mother was into doing genealogical research so I at least know (regardless of whether I wanted to or not) some of the various ancestors I'm related to. Of course, I always told her that unless there was money or a royal title involved I didn't really care much about genealogy.
Until she found out that we are somehow related to the first guy hung for murder in the colonies. You know I found that absurdly cool.
YOUR DNA test results are fascinating, Debs. My husband did a huge amount of ancestry research tracing his relatives (historically, not genetically) and has put together a pretty complete family tree, generations back in Belarus, which is where my family originated as well. I confess to not being at all curious about my own family tree. Maybe it's because I never knew any of my cousins or aunts or uncles. Our "family" was friends. My husband comes from a family that had only family for friends. Maybe that explains the difference.
ReplyDeleteAs an adopted child, I never knew anything about my 'birth' people and that has mostly been OK. I would have liked to known more about medical things, but those were the days when that info wasn't collected or given. My husband gave me the DNA test too and I was certain mine would be 100% Irish. It was not. My fair skin and freckles (and skin cancer from too much sunburn in my teens) were not totally from the British Isles. I had some from there and some from Germany/Netherlands and surprisingly, some from Spain. It was interesting.
ReplyDeleteAs to family, well, family is who you say it is. My mother was the best and she always told me that she chose me. She did. :-)
Your mother's words are so lovely Kay! must have meant all the world...
DeleteI haven't done any DNA testing, but I know that I'm a mix of Belgian ( Maternal Grandfather), Irish and Native American ( Maternal Grandmother), German (Paternal Grandfather) and ? ( Paternal Grandmother). I find the Belgian connection most interesting, so that's the identity I claim. Of course I'm Irish on March 17, and I do have green eyes. I've visited Belgium and met family there. I've got to say that Belgians know a few things about chocolates and beer...and waffles. My home state of WV has a rich mix of European ancestry, but the Belgians who settled there brought their glass-making skills, and their love of music and good food. My mother and I joined the Belgian-American Heritage Society when we lived there. So much fun, laughter, kinship...and great food.
ReplyDeleteMy son and I both did testing from Ancestry and our results were slightly different. A surprise for both of us was that we have a tiny bit of Scandinavian history. Don't know where that came from. My mother did genealogical research on our family and we can trace way back to 1500s which is fascinating. But we didn't get identification of traits like you did, Deborah. Maybe we shuld try a different test.
ReplyDeleteJudi, like you and Dens, I've read of quite a few cases where a white American discovers a tiny bit of Scandinavian unexpectedly. My theory is, then as in now, it's hard to resist a tall blond guy.
DeleteJulia, my thoughts exactly:-)
DeleteThe DNA aspect of genealogy is fascinating, isn't it? I did the Ancestry DNA test and it confirmed my research: my ancestors were from England and Ireland. I also have some DNA from places that invaded England and Ireland (Scandinavia and Western Europe). No Native American or African DNA. That surprised me since our family is from the south where mixing with those races was more likely.
ReplyDeleteYour traits results (like the fast twitch reflex) are really interesting!
So interesting! I have thought about doing it—Just out of curiosity and to see if there is anything other than Russian. But I wonder—what happens to all the DNA samples and records? Are all those on file somewhere?
ReplyDeleteand are they attached to your name and social security number...?
DeleteI've wondered about that, too.
DeleteCertainly not attached to your SS number. That didn't come up anywhere. Name? Possibly. They are identified with a barcode that must be identified at some point with name and email, otherwise how could you view results?
DeleteThat's my question, too, Hank. The mystery writer in me doesn't want my DNA being kept on file!
DeleteThere have been some articles about it. Evidently most companies aren't attaching your DNA to identifying information of selling it...yet. Most of them have no policies in place forbidding them to do so, though, and several claim ownership over your sample DNA. Which is why I haven't tried it yet.
Delete23andMe certainly makes a big deal about protecting your privacy. And, no, your information is not attached to you #SS.
DeleteHey Debs, you definitely received a more detailed report than I did. But oddly similar in one way: I believed I was half Irish and half Polish. Although my father once said that he thought we might have French blood way back yonder, it was only because Brogan was originally Bourgoyne. I've always been a Francophile and my results turned out that instead of half Irish, I was a quarter Irish and a quarter French/English. But meanwhile, my brothers DNA did not shake out the same way, he had no French/English so just because you didn't get results for Native American, doesn't mean it's not there.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI understand there is only a very small sample of Native American DNA in most registries. As more First Nations people type themselves, the registries will reflect the percentage of their gene pool more accurately.
DeleteJulia, in that case, maybe my Cherokee ancestor will show up one of these days. My grandmother, the one who said she had Cherokee blood, was very fair and heavily freckled. The freckling is apparently a known marker, like red hair or detached earlobes, because my test shows that I don't have it.
DeleteI did both Nat Geo's gene project years ago then the Ancestry test recently. Confirmed what I had uncovered during a two year Ancestry treasure hunt: mostly Irish. Genealogy was a rabbit hole I could easily get lost in. You take one crumb and follow the trail, finding new crumbs. You can find some fascinating stories too. I met some really cool distant relatives along the way. I had to cut it off at third cousins. :) I do wonder if there is something to "genetic memory."
ReplyDeleteDiana, years ago, I did a couple of "past life regressions." Not something I was really into, but a friend was, so I went along for fun. Basically these were guided meditations that put you in a trance-like state. Of course I know I would like to have thought I was British so was probably self-suggesting--but, the images that came up both times were bizarrely real and vivid. In both I was male, and in one I was absolutely certain I was English (and, no, I wasn't a king, just a farmer) and in the other I might have been Scottish. I had an incredibly detailed vision/experience of being on a horse on a high moor. The landscape looked like the Scottish borders.
DeleteI know all this was probably just my story-telling imagination working overtime, but it was still weird, and I still remember it. And it did make me really wonder about "genetic memory."
So fascinating! Thanks for sharing. All in all, the surprises don't mean much. A 6-generatioin back ancestor was not what is expected? So what? But it certainly gets the imagination going. There is no way to ever know the true story...so for some writer-type people, doesn't that mean making it up?
ReplyDeleteI know that my mother's family came, in large part, from England and Germany and that both of my father's parents came as young adults from Ireland to the US in the early 1900s. But I am curious about other influences (those Vikings) and really should do the tests. I wonder if anyone has had the tests run by more than one source (Ancestry, 23andMe, etc.) and gotten different results.
ReplyDeleteYes, I'd like to know that,too.
DeleteI saw a story about this on TV (so it must be true, right? ) where they had a set of twins, and sent their DNA in anonymously to three different places. All of the results came back exactly the same— with the same genealogy for each.
DeleteThe dna analysis should be the same but there’s always a statistical margin of error. I think that before any of you decide to contribute or not, you should read the Rutherford book. It’s very informative but with a bias toward contribution to the study.
DeleteI have never had a DNA test done, though I am still considering it. I share some of the earlier stated concerns about confidentiality, as well as about accuracy.
ReplyDeleteI get the argument that family is different than genetics. I just think those of us who missed out on a lot of family might be more inclined to explore our genetics. Both my parents were pretty closed-mouthed about their birth families. I know a little about my mom's -- my sister has done a little ancestry research there, and as Mom had told us, it seems to be about half French, 1/4 Irish and 1/4 Spanish. But my dad's family came out of the hills of West Virginia and he truly didn't know where their roots led. He loosely thought he had heard English, at least one Swedish forefather, and at least one Native American (possibly a fore-mother.) But he didn't know specifics and clearly never wanted to know.
Susan, that's how I felt, as if missing out on a lot of family lore left a piece of my history missing.
DeleteGenetics are fascinating to me---in a sense they tell the story of humanity. The migrations, populations/individuals mixing, the quirky physical traits retained. My brother volunteered to do a test and one day I will, to compare our results. I don't see it as exclusionary--it's simply one story of your life--not your whole life. What surprised me about my brother's results? The traces of Finland/Russia and European Jewish--otherwise nearly all ancestors lead back to England/Ireland/Scotland/Wales.No surprises there!
ReplyDeleteHow fun for you, Debs, to find such a deep connection to your passion.
ReplyDeleteI gave two DNA tests to my daughter and son-in-law for Christmas, two years ago, and they still have not had them done. My SIL is a lawyer, and he's also suspicious of how the information collected is used. Which is frustrating. Those tests cost real money, especially when I bought them. And I would really like to know if my oldest daughter really is 1/4 Cherokee, as her dad insists. (She has red hair and gold/green hazel eyes).
My family story has always held that my dad's side was 100% German, but when I went to Germany a couple of years ago I was told that my maiden name is actually Austrian, not German. It would be interesting to know about that, as well as newly discovered information that our maternal grandmother--who we had always thought was 100% Hungarian--also had Austrian parentage.
Whenever I hear about odd links popping up in DNA tests, it never surprises me. I mean, what family can say no one in their ancestral history ever had a child on the wrong side of the blanket? That's a theme as old as time, after all, Viking marauders included.
I had my DNA done by 23 and Me last fall, and I am still enjoying it, more information appearing almost daily as the data base expands. I sent them to all my kids and spouses plus Julie for Christmas. So far I haven't had one taker. I'm with you Karen, a total waste of money. I'd never do that again without asking.
ReplyDeleteI am an even mix of German/French, and UK, smidgen of Scandinavian as is everyone else who was born after the Dane Law. No native American, no African much after the Lucy connection that we all have. No Asian.
But I got a huge suprise! I found a child who was born outside of marriage to my first cousin and his college girlfriend! Absolutely no one in the family knew about this. I've been in regular contact with him, and lo and behold, he looks like all the rest of our family. As adopted children often do, he has an enormous interest in his biological heritage, and he has traced his family, half of which is mine more or less, back to the 17th century. He's put it all up on Ancestry.com. I have access, and I was able to go through and add some more information, like the details about my children and their father's families. What a project!
I go to 23 and Me several times a week, am quite devoted to adding to their data base. It isn't a matter of accuracy. There is always a margin of error in any big study. And a bigger one in a small study. One of the more fascinating parts are the health reports. Mine are extraordinarily good. I have only a couple of variants, which aren't enough to make my rish greater than the general population. They are for age related macular degeneration and hemochromatosis. You do have to understand that something NOT showing up doesnt mean you are not going to come up with the condition. It just means you are no more likely than anyone else. It's the same if you show up with two variants. For some good info all all this, read A BRIEF HISTORY OF EVERYONE WHO EVERY LIVED, by Adam Rutherford. It helped clear up a lot of things for me, also THE GENE: AN INTIMATE HISTORY, by Siddhartha Mukherjee. The latter is a more scholarly tome, but both are written for the lay reader.
Please contribute if you see your way clear. I think this work extends The Human Genome Project greatly, and the validity of the results depends on the numbers of subjects. This of the polio vaccine and how we might never have got it if not for the clinical trials on children back in the fifties. These sort of trials can't happen now, but the DNA studies harm no one and may be the reason we find cures and treatments for Tay-Sachs, breast cancer, Huntington's, ALS, Alzheimer's, all sorts of tragic conditions.
Stepping off soapbox with one last word: If you are having personal issues with being part of a database, that train left the station 30 years ago, when you got your first email address and your first online identity. Every bit of your financial status, health care, and even global positioning is recorded somewhere. You've been mined!
That's essentially what I told my son-in-law, too, Ann. He might be a teensy paranoid.
DeleteWhen I was diagnosed with essential tremors, the neurologist said to me, "It's hereditary. Who else in your family has it?" I have a huge family, and don't know of anyone who does, and I said so. Her response: "Well, maybe you're adopted." Then I started wondering, because I'm the only person in this group with green eyes, too.
So interesting about how the database is a living thing, expanding all the time. We sure live in interesting times, don't we?
Karen, YOU should do the test. How about asking for the kit back from one of your kiddos:-)
DeleteAnd I agree with Ann very much about adding to the database. The Human Genome Project is fascinating and has such potential for helping people.
What we must remember it that genetic mutations do occur Someone has to be the first to show up with essential tremors, for instance. And just because no one had it before, doesn’t mean you can’t get it now. Genes can be turned on an off, depending on the environment. Even identical twins can have variations.
DeleteKaren, I love your description of the "data base as a living thing." So true! My doctor did 23andMe a few years ago and didn't get a fraction of the information that I did.
DeleteThanks for the book recommendations, Ann. Going to look these up.
DeleteSeconded, Ann. They both sound like excellent resources.
DeleteI would love to ask for it back, but that was their Christmas gift, and it seems strange to do that.
DeleteI just wish they'd take the darn test.
Karen, both my daughter and son-in-law have said they'd like to take the test, so I may give it to them next Christmas. I'd be so interested to see how my daughter's profile differs, with her English/Scottish/German DNA from her dad.
DeleteDebs, did your test also list genetic odds for certain diseases? I would not want that kind of information, unless I could do something about it.
ReplyDeleteOh my...same here!
DeleteMary/Liz
It doesn’t list “odds”. It lists variants, one or two maybe. Remember, these are statistics, not anything else. For instance, if all you ancestors were above average in height, you have a very good chance of being tall. That doesn’t mean you will be.
DeleteIngrid, I didn't pay for the health report, but I still got a lot of health related information and I was glad I did. I have a couple of variants for things I'd been concerned about, but nothing to cause real concern. I also found out fun things like the fast twitch muscle variant, that I am not lactose intolerant, that I don't have celiac disease (not that I thought I did!), my body's genetic predisposition for weight, how my body handles saturated fat, etc.
DeleteDeb, think about opting for the health report. There is so much more information there
DeleteMy wife and I have talked about this a time or two but we haven't gotten around to it. It reminds me of a cute story about our granddaughter. When she was almost two or so, I explained to her that just as her dad was her daddy, I was his daddy. She looked at me skeptically and asked, "Are you sure?" She was surprised when everyone burst out laughing.
ReplyDeleteJim, that's a family story for the ages!
DeleteJim, so funny! She'll appreciate that story when she grows up!
DeleteJim, speaking of funny stories, my cousin's 5 year old is a living quote machine. This past week, his mother dropped some eggs on the ground as she brought in groceries. She said "Oh My God, S@@T, F***, Sonuvab***h!" The five year old looked at his sister and said, "Mom must really be mad...she said "Oh My God".
DeleteJay, that is hysterical! (And I had to dig you out of the spam folder, lol.)
DeleteJay, that is hysterical! And Jim, too. SO perfect.
DeleteI have not done a DNA test and I don't think I want to. "Think" being the operative word. I can't stop my writer brain from thinking "what if..." scenarios based on DNA testing.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I know FOR SURE in my DNA is that my maternal grandfather is from Croatia. Other than that, I wouldn't be surprised at a melange of Northern European, but I would have no expectations.
Mary/Liz
That is really cool! Good luck checking out the implications.
ReplyDeleteI have two grown children, one adopted from Korea and one from Peru. We thought it would be interesting to do a DNA screening on them. We were thinking about whether my Korean son has other Asian elements and if my Peruvian daughter is all native American.
The results came back and reflected the lack of an adequate DNA pool for Asia and native Americans. My son is "100% Asian" and my daughter is "100% native American." They included world maps with all of Asian circled for my son and all of America, north, central, south, circled.
I knew more about them before this testing. It was quite annoying. If they don't have the data bank, they should have told me that I'd get nothing useful but would be adding to the data.
Libby Dodd
Thing is, the data on native Americans or Asians can’t be expanded unless more Asians and native Americans participate.
DeleteLibby, it may not have been helpful, but the database will expand and you may get updates. What company did you use? 23andMe apparently send you new information regularly. And did your kids tests have any further information on their Asian or Native American ancestral DNA? I got a lot of information I didn't mention that has to do with the migration of ancestral populations--very interesting to me because I've studied the science.
DeleteMy eldest sister is into genealogy, so she's shared quite a bit of information on our shared parent's family, but I know less about my father's side of the family. I have no qualms about my DNA being on file somewhere. When I was active duty military, they didn't do DNA, but now all have DNA profile done for ID. I'm planning to try 23&Me when they have their next sale.
ReplyDeleteDiane, ask Deb to check for a deal. Sometimes members can get you a discount.
DeleteGreat idea, Ann.
DeleteHave been considering it. I am an Ancestry.com person and have enjoyed reading the Census pages and finding the ships. I am mostly Irish and German, with some British. But my father always said he was "Black Irish" and somehow related to the sinking of the Spanish Armada. He also said we had some French Canadian. I think I will check out the test Deborah did.
ReplyDeleteDenise, my hubby read lots of reviews before he bought it for me, and he thought 23andMe looked the best. I've certainly been impressed so far, and as Ann mentioned, the information keeps coming in.
DeleteOrdered one!
DeleteI think there were three main things prompting me to look into this; interest in the science, a desire to know if there was any ancestral/biological connection to my fascination with Britain, and because all of those people who show up on my DNA profile had STORIES.
ReplyDeleteI might consider doing it for the medical information. Although I'm in excellent health and have no diseases that I know of, relatives on both sides of my family (and both parents had lots of siblings) have had various sorts of auto-immune disorders, including my two youngest siblings. On my dad's side of the family there have been lots of spine problems, which I DID get, but these are nuisances compared to what some of my relatives have had to deal with.
ReplyDeleteThere are many colorful stories about my dad's relatives going back generations, and I'm not really sure how much I want to know!
My adult niece who was adopted from Korea told me that she thinks of herself as part Korean, part Italian.
DebRo
It is fascinating, Debs. Hub and I gave the FamilyTree DNA kits to each other for out 50th birthdays last year. So interesting. The biggest surprises were that he is Turkish and I am Israeli. Neither of us had a clue.
ReplyDeleteJenn, that is so interesting! How many generations back?
DeleteI find these DNA tests are fascinating, and I'm thinking of doing one soon. My sister-in-law gave my husband, her brother, one for Christmas, but he said I could use it, as he wasn't going to. I know lots about my family since my mother did so much research on my father's side, the Boone side, of the family. And, she didn't just send spit off in a tube. This was in the 60s and 70s, and she visited court houses and did the leg work. I already know that we come from the Daniel Boone Boones, directly through his brother Edward, and that they came from Stoke Canon, England, where two of my many times great grandparents are buried and the cemetery markers still standing. Stoke Canon is about five miles from Exeter. I am determined to get to England to see Stoke Canon. Also, there is Indian ancestry, as my father's grandmother supposedly had Daddy's mother with a Native American, which was considered a definite no-no at that time. He would never talk about it, but my older sister did some digging and thought she had the information right. There are certain physical traits of Native American ancestry that have come through our family. I know that my mother did so much research because of the Daniel Boone connection, but I do with I knew more about my ancestry on her side of the family. About all I know is that her father looks eerily similar to Edgar Allan Poe. My mother and what I can tell from pictures had lighter coloring than my father's side.
ReplyDeleteDebs, you sure had your British connection proved. I think the other lesser percentages are so interesting, too. That's one of the elements I'm interested in, since I already know where a large percent will come from. The more I think about it, I want my husband to do the testing, too, so our kids will know that side, too.
Kathy, you should definitely get your husband to do it, too, so that your kids will have their paternal DNA. I hope my brother will do it, as my dad is gone.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I took Ancestry tests a year ago, and I gave them to our children this past December. I was HOPING for Scottish/Irish/English, but no dice - 87% Eastern European Jewish; I did not know that Jewish was going to come back as an ancestry group, lol. My spouse IS Irish/Scottish/Northern European, which we knew, as his family has been traced back to the 1300's. or so
ReplyDeleteReading the detailed results of your test makes me want to try 23andme next!
Cara, that's so interesting. And what do you want to bet your hubby has a Viking in that Irish/Scottish/Northern European line somewhere?
DeleteI just ordered the Rutherford book that Ann Mason mentioned, and I would definitely recommend 23andMe.
Oh, I am sure you are right about the Viking; of course according to Bernard Cornwell, they were Danes in peace time and Vikings when looting!
ReplyDeleteI will look into that book; there is another interesting book I plan to read called 'It's All Relative: Adventures Up and Down the World's Family Tree' by A. J. Jacobs
I had mine tested through National Geographic Genome Project. As far as I knew, all my near ancestors were from Ireland, but I thought there might be some surprises. There weren't. I was 98% Irish, 2% other British Isles (this was near ancestry, 10,000 years down). But Nat Geo does mitochondrial DNA also. My earliest maternal ancestor (100,000 years down) came from the area north of Lake Victoria, near the present day Kenya. Maybe that is why I started reading about that area when I was in high school.
ReplyDeleteMy sister got hers done and no Native American popped in hers, either, even though I have genealogy records that show our grandmother's great grandma was half Cherokee. My hubs thought he was German and Hungarian, turns out he's neither..nearly half British.
ReplyDeleteDebs, I find DNA to be fascinating. I just signed up for 23andme DNA test for ancestry And health. It would be interesting to find out! Did your 23andme DNA test show why you like or dislike certain foods? I love cilantro and I know some people do not like cilantro. I did have the ancestry DNA test and national geographic geno project dna test. Through NatGeo, I found out that my haplogroup is L something. I need to look at my natgeo again. The ancestry DNA showed that I am 5 percent Dutch and 38 percent Great Britain. I have 2 percent Irish and 2 percent Iberian Peninsula. My mom had her DNA tested too and the most surprising thing was the 2 percent Irish. I remembered that my grandfather's grandfather looked like George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, even though my 2x great grandfather was born near the Black Sea!
ReplyDeleteAnd I looked at public family trees on ancestry. This has not been confirmed yet, though it looks like my immigrant ancestor, who shares my last name, came from Durham, England and his ancestor came to Yorkshire from Dundee, Scotland in 1375???
Besides the DNA, sometimes you can tell that there is a family connection through facial features. A member of JFK's cabinet was a cousin of my grandmother's. Though I talked to him once on the phone, I never met him. Now I wish I had. I found a photo of him and he looks like a nephew of my grandmother's. My grandmother's great granddaughter and the presidential advisor has the same eyebrows and the eyes are similar.
When I was at Malice Domestic in 2016, someone noticed that I had the same last name as one of the authors and asked if we were related. I said maybe 9th cousins? The author looked like my grandfather, though my grandfather was only 39 when he died.
Debs, your last name Crombie made me think of the actress Annette Crombie. She was in an episode of Midsomer Murders about a family that owned a relish factory.
My cousins inherited our grandfather's curly hair.
Great post!
Diana