Layout:
Home > My DNA Results

My DNA Results

August 31st, 2016 at 02:52 pm


A hard day's night, and working like a dog.

I joined Ancestry.com a few months ago and after doing some family research and some road trips with dad, I decided to plunk down $99 for a DNA test that could further enrich my discoveries.

So to begin, my 2 paternal grandparents were born in Ireland and Germany, while my maternal grandfather was born in Austria. My maternal grandmother was born in the US, but her parents were born in Czechoslovakia.

So you would expect to see in my DNA roughly 25% representing each of the 4 ethnicities.

But my results showed instead that i am about 50% Eastern European, 20%, more or less, Irish, 7% Scandinavian, 6% European Jewish, Western European 6% and 4% or less Iberian Peninsula, Great Britain, Italy/Greece.

Due to intermarriage, migration and war, Ancestry does not list most countries individually; they list regions instead. Ireland is one exception because it is relatively isolated by the seas.

So put another way, I am 96% of European descent. But where's the German part? That was a surprise, however, I know my German grandfather's family was from a little town called Reichenbach which is in southeastern Germany, very close to the Czech border. So it could be possible if I went back a few generations in his family that I might discover they also came from Czechoslovakia. I really don't know, but this is a guess looking at the map.

Another thing to remember is that just because something like my German lineage didn't register much, it doesn't mean I'm not German; it just means I didn't happen to inherit many German genes. Also to keep in mind that Ancestry. com gives you a range as well as an average, based on multiple DNA checks. So while my "average" Irish lineage is estimated at 20%, the range of possibility is 7% to 33%.

When you get the DNA test done, Ancestry.com automatically checks their vast database of other subscribers, and it came up with 29 individuals who were "extremely high," "high" or a "good" chance of being related to me as a 2nd, 4th, 5th or 6th cousin. Looking at some of their family trees, I get all twisted up when i try to figure out how exactly we might be related, and not everyone makes their family tree public. I did write to 3 people inquiring about it. There was only 1 person whose tree had a name shared by someone in my tree, on the Irish leg of my tree, so I did write to them. It's all very interesting.

It could be very helpful to have my dad do his DNA test, because if there are any shared matches with other people between us, that makes a much stronger case we are related to that person.

I have learned so much about my family since deciding to research my family tree, and I really haven't gone further back then 3 or 4 generations. There is just so much to learn and one thing leads to another, from the road trips with dad to his childhood hometown to the DVD I bought that we still plan to watch that has footage of a German-American bund camp in New Jersey that he attended. Reading up on these bund camps and their role before and during WWII was very interesting and all new to me.

Conversations with dad and going through my mother's old childhood photos also led to new insights.

Last night I did the mock jury duty focus group. I can't talk about the case now but it was a very sad case involving a lawsuit against several doctors and a hospital. We all agreed they were negligent but differed in how much and how much $$ should be awarded, to the tune of about $7 million. I would think the hospital would want to settle out of court becus it inspired a lot of sympathy for the plaintiff.
They fed us a very nice hot, catered meal and paid us in a single $100 bill as we left.

Several of us were annoyed because when we arrived in the parking lot, we saw you had to pay to park and the people running the focus group mentioned nothing about that. When we inquired, they seemed unsure if the meter maids came around after 5 pm or not. Since they're in the business of running focus groups, you would think this was something they would know, but they didn't. So a few of us had to go back outside and pay $5 to ensure our cars would still be there when we left the focus group.

Today I'm meeting a friend for lunch, someone else who got laid off.

Yesterday I made a decent dent in cutting back some incredibly invasive brambles growing in my pachysandra (also invasive) and threatening to encroach on my lawn on the north side of my house. I cut the brambles wearing some leather work gloves, the only gloves I've ever found that allow me to pull out brambles without getting stuck. I cut the brambles about a foot high and then sprayed the cut ends with a vinegar/salt/dish soap solution to inhibit regrowth if not kill it. I hope to continue this work this afternoon after my lunch.

2 Responses to “My DNA Results”

  1. rob62521 Says:
    1472678863

    Your case sounds like some of the commercials for the testing...some surprises there.

  2. FrugalTexan75 Says:
    1472934755

    Your test results sound really interesting.

    That's too bad the mock jury place didn't offer to validate your parking. Although it does make sense that after 5, parking would be free. It is in my city's downtown.

Leave a Reply

(Note: If you were logged in, we could automatically fill in these fields for you.)
*
Will not be published.
   

* Please spell out the number 4.  [ Why? ]

vB Code: You can use these tags: [b] [i] [u] [url] [email]