Anyone that really knows me knows how much I love genealogy.
I love the family stories. I love finding where my ancestors lived and where
they are buried. I love finding royalty and other famous individuals in my
family tree. I love submitting names to the temple and seeing them be sealed to
their families. I love it all! So I was way excited when a year or so ago, Ancestry.com
came out with a new DNA test that was affordable and would be added to as
the years went on and technology improved.
I ordered the test, got over the grossness of having to see
saliva in a tube, and sent the test off to be analyzed. A few short weeks later, I was notified
that my results were in and posted online. I felt like a kid on Christmas
morning as I went to the website to view my results. I was impressed, yet also
puzzled. My results were:
I understood my 9% Southern European (Italy, Spain, and
Portugal) ethnicity. My great-grandmother, Lucia “Lucy” Souza was the daughter
of Portuguese immigrants. Her father, Manuel Ignacio Souza Sr., came from the
Azores Islands and her mother, Maria Caldeira, came from the Madeira Islands. The
Azores and Madeira Islands were settled by the Portuguese in the 1400s. It made
perfect sense.
I somewhat understood my 9% Eastern European ethnicity (this
included the countries of Greece, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Ukraine, etc.) I
knew that my great-grandfather, Carl Otholt, was the son of German immigrants. While
Germany was not part of the Eastern European group, I figured hundreds of years
ago, when people moved all over the European continent, it was very possible
that my German ancestors were really from a little bit further east. This made
sense too.
But then the 82% Scandinavian really threw me off! Nowhere
in my family tree (that I have been able to trace), has anyone come from
Norway, Sweden, or Denmark. Needless to say, I was confused! I knew that I had ancestors that
came from England. These were all documented. I also knew that my
great-great-great-grandfather, Michael Crosson, came from Ireland. I also knew
that my great-great-grandmother, Jennie Agnes Welsh, came from Ireland. This was also well documented. It was
also rumored in my family that the Crosson’s were Irish with black hair, not
red hair. Red hair was a sure sign of Scandinavian influence, while the black
hair signified a truer Irish lineage. My grandfather was very proud of his
Irish heritage… his own father was ¾ Irish (and ¼ Native American). So then I
thought… maybe we were wrong? Maybe hundreds of years ago our Irish ancestors
really did come from Scandinavia. And perhaps my English ancestors did too. I’ve
had a year to digest this information, and today I received a notification that
I have been chosen to preview the NEW AncestryDNA Ethnicity Estimate 2.0. And
as it turned out, it was a preview of my own DNA sample, and not just a random
one for everyone to see. YES!!!!!
I quickly looked over my “new” results:
96% European… okay… I knew that. I’m as white as they come.
Translucent even. Out of that 96%? 67% Great Britain! 16% Ireland! 6% Europe
West (Germany, France, etc.)! It’s finally making sense again!
7% "Trace Regions"??? Huh? Time to investigate:
4% Europe East… okay, we had this one last time. 2%
Italy/Greece… hmm... okay. <1% Scandinavia... well, that’s a bit more
accurate and in sync with my family tree. <1% Iberian Peninsula (Spain/Portugal)…
BOOO!!! Where’d my Portuguese ethnicity go? *sigh* I guess I do look more
English than I do Portuguese. Although I still wish I could have that darker
skin back in my DNA to give me some sort of hope for a tan.
<1% Africa? Wait… this could get interesting. North
Africa? Hey! I know where this might have come from! Not too long ago I
discovered on my dad’s side that my 10 X great-grandmother was the daughter of
a Moroccan sultan. She married a pirate from the Netherlands that had converted
to Islam and their son (Anthony Janszoon Van Salee) went on to be possibly the
first Muslim in America and owned a large portion of Long Island/New York City
in the 1600s.
As for the other <1% ethnicities, I have no clear explanation,
but only additional theories going on in my mind.
My official thoughts on this new
AncestryDNA Ethnicity Estimate 2.0? I like it. There’s always room for improvement
and I think that it will only get better. I’m even more motivated to trace my
family tree as far back as it can go (accurately, of course). Happy researching!
