So today is the day you've all been waiting for. Well, maybe not ALL of you. OK, the day tens of you have been waiting for. (That seems more probable.)
If you'll remember, about a month ago I purchased a DNA testing kit from Ancestry.com. For $99, you purchase the kit, spit into a tube (GROSS but necessary) and then mail it back to them in the packaging they provide. It takes about 4-6 weeks for your results to be tested and then you get an email when your results are available.
On Friday night, I checked my email and saw this gloriousness:
Praise the Lord! I couldn't wait to log in and see my results. I love this stuff; I'm super into history and genealogy and never missed an episode of that show "Who Do You Think You Are." I felt like I had a pretty good grasp of my heritage and so wondered if I would be at all surprised by my results.
Brief background of my family: My maternal grandfather always said he was Welsh / English, and my maternal grandmother was German, 100%. (Germans marrying Germans for YEARS.) On my father's side, Irish all day long. (When you have a grandma whose maiden name was O'Meara, and she married an O'Hara, you're pretty darn sure of your lineage.)
I figured there might be some other European stuff scattered about but my guess was a pretty even split between English, German and Irish.
Then I got the email and had to pick up my jaw off the keyboard.
Y'all.
I am SHOCKED.
So I'll first give you the visual of my background / DNA history, the breakdown of percentages of each part, and then my commentary and thoughts. Here goes....
So let's break this on down, shall we?
In your breakdown, they give you a possible range for the percentage of your DNA and then give you an average. (There is a WHOLE LOT of technical information on there about how they calculate the data and if science is your jam, you'd be ALL IN, my friend.)
Did I think I would be over 1/3rd from the UK? And a possible range on that number as high as 60%?! No ma'am, I did NOT. Not even a little bit.
Like I said, my maternal grandpa always said he was Welsh and English but that is a LOT, folks.
So basically, I am going to contact the Royal Family and tell them I must be some sort of distant relative and am probably 2,547th person in line for the throne. And it also explains my deep and abiding love for all things UK including Prince George, BBC television shows and Tom Hiddleston.
[By the way - did you know that Tom's birthday is just ONE DAY before mine, and only one year earlier? If that is not a sign from the heavens I do not know what is.]
* Ireland - 24%
This was probably the least surprising part, as I figured that would probably be a fairly high percentage due to my paternal side.
* Europe East and Europe West - combined 15%
Um say WHAT?!
As I said above, from what I knew about my maternal grandmother's side was ALL German. Germans marrying other Germans for YEARS. But apparently not, right?!
I talked to my brother this weekend (he is also really into this sort of thing) and he was talking about how our "German" background from my grandma's side is probably as much Polish and Prussian as German. I do know we have Prussian heritage; Prussia is a country that no longer exists but I did know that, and in fact I have a vase that's been passed down in our family for years, that came from Prussia.
What bowled me over about this whole set of data is I thought my German number would be at least 20-25%, if not higher.
* Finland/NW Russia and Scandinavian - combined 14%
Only ONE losey percentage point different from the German / Prussian heritage I thought I knew all about. WILD.
* Native American - 4%
Hey! I am not as white as I thought! ;) I do remember hearing about having Native American heritage on my paternal side, but what shocks me the most is this percentage is VERY close to my Europe West percentage. For someone who thought she was really German, I am as much German as Native American.
Who knew?!
The other super-cool feature of the DNA testing on Ancestry is the ability to be matched with other AncestryDNA users who are your cousins and relatives. When I took the test, I agreed to have my matches shown and for my DNA to be used in the larger database. What you then get are PAGES and PAGES of other people who have also taken the test who are your probably 1st, 2nd, 4th, etc cousins. I have a list of 135 pages of possible relatives. Unreal. You can then reach out to them if you'd like and get more information about their side of your family tree.
Folks, if you can swing $99 this is SO MUCH FUN and I encourage you to do it. It was so interesting and really opened up a whole new world of information for me. Now I'm even MORE motivated to learn about my family's history and to try and piece together all parts of my heritage.
If you take the test - please let me know if you are willing to share your results!
Do you feel like you've got a good handle on YOUR family heritage?
Thanks again for reading - have a great evening!
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