Not the DNA results I expected

[LillFilly]

I was curious and did an AncestryDNA test and just got my results. I had been told that I was Scottish, Irish, German and French (in that order; Scottish and German from Dad, Irish and French from Mom) and that my Great Grandmother was Blackfoot Indian. I always embraced what I thought was my Native American Heritage.

The results were surprising. The highest percentage was Great Britain, followed by Scandinavia, East Europe (specifically Greek and Italian), Ireland, West Europe (that would be the French and German) and (Drum roll) the Middle East.

I suspected that my Fathers' Mother had Scandinavian because she told stories about being teased for her 'China Man' eyes as a kid; she has the eyefolds that I read is not just Asian, but results in cultures living in harsh cold climates - this ancestry seemed more likely to me than Asian.

I didn't expect Middle Eastern at all; not sure which side of the family that came from. My housemates said they could see the influence in the face and nose; I have a very prominent and straight 'aquiline' nose; I got that from my Dad, but his Parents have bulbous noses. I could see that heritage coming from my Mom's side; Mom is almost olive-skinned.

I'm disappointed though that I 'lost' a heritage I thought I had. Mom swears that Great Grandma was Blackfoot though, because she and her siblings remember her telling stories and smoking her pipe in the house. Great Grandma was supposed to be from a group of families that migrated from the Montana area, up into Canada, and down into the Champlain Valley (Vermont). The history of the local Abenaki and Algonquin people even reference the arrival of the Blackfoot. I am wondering if Great Grandma was perhaps a person of European Descent who lived with an identified with the tribe, explaining the lack of Native American DNA.

Taking that test has been an interesting experience. Although, it is neat to find out that I'm pretty much a Viking! Guess I should take up raiding

[Aethian]

A lot of these AncesteryDNA's are still building their sites and information. Take the same test in as little as five years and you'll get noticeably different results with either additions, subtractions, or clarifications.

[Jester]

Taking that test has been an interesting experience. Although, it is neat to find out that I'm pretty much a Viking! Guess I should take up raiding

Just remember the number one rule of being a Viking: pillage first, THEN burn.

[Seshat]

I tell them again and yet again,
*** the women, kill the men.
Don't you think that they would learn?
First you pillage, then you burn!

[Dreamstalker]

There's always been speculation that my mom's side of the family had Native American (likely one of the eastern nations) in; at the time my grandfather's family came over there was known Irish interbreeding with the area tribes. Unfortunately my DNA test (NatGeo Genographic Project) didn't bear that out. But who knows? When I was living in NM, I actually got asked a few times what nation I was; I've been told that I have some similar facial features. That sort of research requires far more skill and time than I have right now, so it seems destined to be one of the many family mysteries...

[Kal]

From a family tree one of my uncles put together, I'm solid Welsh from the 1700's on my dad's side. Mum's side is less certain, but her family's been around Lancashire since it first existed, so I doubt I'd have any interesting results myself.
Mind you, they do say that if you want to find the original English stock, head to Wales. It's very mountainous with few natural resources - the ideal hiding place for thousands of years.

[Aethian]

I'm wondering if some DNA Ancestries are hiding within others. Only a few traits coming up that hundreds share.

[Jester]

I doubt there would be much interesting or surprising for me if I took one of these DNA tests. From a paternity perspective, there would be no shocking smoking gun: if you see a picture of either of my parents, there is no denying the striking similarity I and both of my sisters bear to them, as well as each other. As for the ancestral stuff, again, I doubt there would be many, if any, surprises. I've often said that if you want to find my ancestors, all you have to do is get a map of Eastern Europe and start throwing darts. And our family tree is pretty well delineated.

That being said....I can't get over the striking similarity I bear to my mother and father, and even my father's sister, and how little of any of that I see in pictures of my paternal grandfather, for whom I was named. I can't see any resemblance between myself and him, or between my father and him. Granted, I've only ever seen a very small number of pictures of my grandfather, and he died five years before I was even born, so there very well may be a resemblance I'm not seeing. Or perhaps my father got all his looks from his mother. I don't really see much resemblance there, either, but maybe Dad looked a lot like his maternal grandfather. Or even his paternal grandfather. Who knows? Then again, I don't see much resemblance between myself, my sisters, and my mother when compared to my maternal grandparents, either. Or the few pictures I've seen of our ancestors. Weird.

[mathnerd]

I'm pretty much a giant mutt. Just going by looks, the Irish and German background is evident. There's also British and Scottish in there somewhere. Even though my skin color is pasty white, there has to be some African in there somewhere, and it has to come from more than one person, as one of my uncles had sickle cell anemia. My maternal grandfather's background is a huge unknown. He was raised by an unrelated couple from the time he was three and wound up using their last name, even though they never legally adopted him. We know very little about where he came from before that. There was a trust fund established for his care, that was to be passed down to the oldest son (and the oldest son of that person and so on and so forth) that is still active to this day, but it was set up in such a manner that the bank that holds the trust cannot disclose the name of the person who funded it. My maternal grandmother's maiden name was changed when her grandparents came through Ellis Island. It was a very Spanish name and was changed to a direct English translation. She looked pretty typically Irish though, with fireball red hair that never went grey. Also from my mother's side there looks to be some sort of Eastern European descent, looking at a few of my aunts, uncles and cousins physical features (redheads who tan...an interesting phenomenon).

My father's family is a little more straight forward than that. There's definite British and German stock, though there's a claim that one of his grandmothers (I forget which one now) was Cherokee. Dad's family has been in the US since prior to the Revolutionary War, so there's been plenty of time to get a good mix of all sorts of backgrounds. To my knowledge, however, there's no big mystery in his family like there is on my mom's side with her father.

[Jester]

Even though my skin color is pasty white, there has to be some African in there somewhere, and it has to come from more than one person, as one of my uncles had sickle cell anemia.

Not necessarily. While sickle cell anemia is far more common in the African American community in the USA, it is not unique to them. So the presence of the disease in your family is not an automatic indication of African ancestry. I was relatively certain of this, but did a little online research, and just about everything I found concurred with my belief. As one source put it, "Sickle cell anemia is a hereditary disorder that mostly affects people of African ancestry, but also occurs in other ethnic groups, including people who are of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern descent."

[Teysa]

I doubt there would be much in the way of surprises for me either. Dad's side of the family is East European Jewish by way of Austria-Hungary or Czechoslovakia depending on if there were born before or after WWI. Now the town his family came from is part of Ukraine. I've always wondered if I had any distant cousins over there but the odds are actually pretty slim. From what I've read, pretty much the entire Jewish population was sent to Auschwitz.

I might get some more surprises with Mom's side of the family. I know there's some Scottish on her mother's side of the family. Her dad was adopted by his stepfather and other than her dad's birth father's last name, she doesn't know much about that part of the family.

[mathnerd]

Not necessarily. While sickle cell anemia is far more common in the African American community in the USA, it is not unique to them. So the presence of the disease in your family is not an automatic indication of African ancestry. I was relatively certain of this, but did a little online research, and just about everything I found concurred with my belief. As one source put it, "Sickle cell anemia is a hereditary disorder that mostly affects people of African ancestry, but also occurs in other ethnic groups, including people who are of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern descent."

True, but there's other evidence to indicate African, not the least of which is a complete absence of evidence for Middle Eastern or Mediterranean ancestry. Another indication is the texture of hair in several family members. My middle son, one aunt and two uncles on my mother's side all have hair texture that's a lot closer to African type than Caucasian type. There are also multiple maternal family members with nose and lip shapes reminiscent of traditional African features.

That said, I'd really be interested in DNA testing if I had the spare funds to do it.

[TheSHAD0W]

My families harken from Eastern Europe, the Slavic areas. Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia (not sure what region exactly, with all the sovereignty changes). I usually tell people I'm a blank Czech.

[Jester]

That said, I'd really be interested in DNA testing if I had the spare funds to do it.

Hey, once you get settled in at a new job, that can be one of your first luxury purchases.

As for your family, that is some strong evidence, but remember, with your son, the African indicators could be from his father's side as well.

[AccountingDrone]

There's always been speculation that my mom's side of the family had Native American (likely one of the eastern nations) in; at the time my grandfather's family came over there was known Irish interbreeding with the area tribes. Unfortunately my DNA test (NatGeo Genographic Project) didn't bear that out. But who knows? When I was living in NM, I actually got asked a few times what nation I was; I've been told that I have some similar facial features. That sort of research requires far more skill and time than I have right now, so it seems destined to be one of the many family mysteries...

Do you have the shovel teeth?

Not necessarily. While sickle cell anemia is far more common in the African American community in the USA, it is not unique to them. So the presence of the disease in your family is not an automatic indication of African ancestry. I was relatively certain of this, but did a little online research, and just about everything I found concurred with my belief. As one source put it, "Sickle cell anemia is a hereditary disorder that mostly affects people of African ancestry, but also occurs in other ethnic groups, including people who are of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern descent."

Actually, thanks to the Roman Legion Auxilliaries there is a lovely mixup of genetics thanks to both casual bastardy [voluntary or rape] and the practice of settling in the area of your legion's duty station upon retirement [part of your retirement could involve issues of land for farming officially, or more casually retiring and buying property with your savings.] That is why I love pointing out to redneck rebel types that there is an excellent chance of more than a drop of black blood in them already so it sucks to be them ...

Even though I am Welsh, Manx and Scots, English, French, German, Dutch and that is only the known influences back to the late 1100s [for any further I would have to go haunt burial grounds and parish records myself, or be able to afford a researcher to go and rummage for me ...] I have no doubt that you could probably find black, eastern steppes and perhaps even American Indian lurking in my woodpile. Rob no shit knows he has NY state Mohegan in him - one of his ancestors married a son off to a local indian female as part of an 'alliance' deal, and at the reception more or less killed off her relatives.