All the talk about Native American heritage, got me to thinking. Growing up I was told I had Native American genes and I felt very proud of it. I had ancestors that fought with Washington but felt greater pride that I might have ancestors living here before the Europeans invaded the place. So when a half sister said that I should do the 23 and me and find out about my ancestors I reluctantly agreed.
To my shock my blue-eyed, blond wife has Native American ancestry and I do not. I do have some African ancestry along with all the main countries in Europe. Found out I have Scandinavian ancestry which should not be surprising knowing that the Vikings invaded the British Isles and lots of other parts of Europe. We also found out we have a new 1st cousin that is 69 years old. Got to talking to some folks at Costco and one lady said her father found out about a half brother he did not know about.
Just wondering if anybody else would like to share any revelations?
Great post. Yes, interesting results. Both my parents are from Mexico. My dad’s family is much more “native” than my moms family. Her side of the family has roots back to Spain to about 1850. We were also told my moms family from spain goes back to the middle east. It all made sense with the Moors in Spain.
Well, my results were not what I expected. First off, I am 52% European. Only 33% native american from Mexico. Almost no middle eastern roots, I think my African roots were bigger. It was kind of stunning/fascinating. It totally disjointed the stories of my ancestry we (cousins) were told growing up. Our family is mostly from what is now Portugal.
I still identify as mexican American…but I have added Portugal as my 4th favorite team for WC soccer…lol…USA, Mex, Spain and Portugal.
I have some Iberian peninsula myself, but I am 69% Scotch and Irish. An ancestor brought the first border collie to West Texas, which if from a newspaper article not the genetic test.
My mom’s family is Irish so all I knew for certain growing up was the Scotch Irish,The rest was unknown. French, German, Scandinavian, et.al. Surprising facts I learned were that a lot of folks from the South don’t know they have some African ancestry. A lot of folks have dads they didn’t know they had. Those two facts not necessarily being related.
This is why I haven’t and won’t do the DNA testing. I have researched my family tree fairly extensively over the past 35 years and I know where my people come from. As far as the DNA thing goes, we’re all mutts in that regard. And, at the end of the day, we call come from the same common ancestor.
You don’t have to see who you are related to. And nobody can find you if you do not want. I haven’t myself. My sister did and that is how I found out about my new cousin.
I did find out where my ancestors came from (to find out my mutt make up) and my medical genetic predisposition.
According to a PBS documentary native Americans from Alaska to the tip of Argentina have basically the same DNA unique to them (Eskimos to Sioux to Incas) and difficult to trace back to anyone in eastern Asia … the closest are the tribes in northern Siberia.
I did an Ancestry test two years ago … and my ancestors have been around the ancestry block LITERALLY many times over … that and Ancestry is constantly refining my results … the latest
Native American … 25% … my grandmother claimed to have been a daughter of a famous chieftain … however, according to my cousins when she was alive she was invited as a princess to the yearly native American tribal gathering in Oklahoma.
Spain/Portugal … 32%
Morocco area (Africa) … 3%
Basque … 5%
Western European Jewish/Israeli … 9% … apparently, they left before the infamous purge in the '30s
Wow, you really are a Heinz 57! I am always confused about the Jewish label. I grew up thinking Jewish was a religious affiliation but it seems it is used more as a racial term. Anyway, it seems weird that DNA can tell scientists that a Jewish person came from Western Europe as opposed o Eastern Europe or the Middle East, etc.
Mine came back 98.7% European. Not a huge shock there, but was surprised that there was zero Native American ancestry. Like most Americans, I had heard we have Native American blood. Seems like everybody is Indian…until you get the DNA test.
One surprise was that I am 1.2% “Senegambian and Guinean” (West Africa). 23 and Me predicts it was my 4th - 7th great grandparent that was 100% West African and likely born between 1700-1790. No huge surprise there, but an interesting twist that no one in the family was aware of.
The rest is relatively plain ol’ white boy:
45% British & Irish (specifically Greater London & County Donegal Ireland)
25.1% German
2.4% Scandinavian (???)
16.2% “Broadly Northwestern European”
4.7% “Eastern European”
1.4% Spanish & Portugese (???)
0.7% Italian (???)
0.3% Greek & Balkan (???)
The rest is “Broadly European”.
Maybe I had distant ancestors that vacationed in the Mediterranean?
I did Ancestry years ago and tried it again with 23 and Me. Trying to catch an error. Not a prayer. It’s like somebody pulled up to the Sunbeam Bakery and a loaf of white bread fell out. Very uninteresting. Welsh is the most exotic my English/Scottish and Irish mix can come up with. And I wanted 10 years in between DNA samples. The Welsh changed spelling on their name for postal reasons. There’s a castle/b&b in Scotland home to the original clan. Dang. I was really hoping for a touch of Neanderthal or maybe even Chinese. I did find I have relatives in Arkansas. That’s pretty weird. (I’ve been wondering if they wear shoes).
I don’t bother with all of this. My grandmother gave my mother the best advice ever given to anyone on geneology and family history. “Leave those dead people alone.” My dad is 100% Swedish. Both parents had parents who were swedish. So 50% swedish and my mohter’s parents were english and german. She wanted to claim indian and other roorts but from all of her work it just seemed pointless to me. A person is who they are and it is not dependent upon their ancestry.
