My
husband and I bought Ancestry DNA kits for each other for Christmas. We wanted
to expand our family history.
What
the testing entails is spitting into a little test tube/spit cup. The resulting
saliva sample gets mailed to a test lab in either USA or Dublin for analysis.
The wait is around 6 to 8 weeks. The results are then reported under you
membership of the Ancestry DNA website.
I've
decided to do a series of blogs on DNA for beginners (the things I've learnt)
and believe me I'm just at (Introduction to ) DNA101 level.
Firstly
my results are reported as an Ethnicity Estimate which was as follows
British (English/Scottish) 58%
Irish 34%
Other- Europe East 4%, Iberian Peninsula
2%, Scandinavian 1% and Italy/ Greece and Europe West <1% each
Looking
at my tree six and seven generations back I have strong English lines and very strong
Irish lines which would account for my Irish %. Note my results show I have no
African Asian, Melanesian or native American. Neither do I have European Jewish.
One
line may have been Huguenot explaining my Western Europe/ Eastern Europe % and
my Irish great grandmother was very dark so that probably accounts for the
Portuguese/Iberian%
However
it is my husband who has turned up the interesting results. Having felt that he
was more Irish than English. His results are so strongly English that you can
definitely say “Fee fi fo fum..... I smell the blood of an English man”.
Having
said that, he actually has four likely Irish lines at 5th generation
stage. Although I had already dispelled the family myth that his grandfather
was Irish having proved that Sidney Ford and his siblings who were born in Ireland
were born of English parents stationed in Ireland with the Coastguard.
“Fee fi fo fum..... I smell the blood of an English man”.
His
results are
Irish 6%
Other-Europe West 2% and Scandinavian 1%
After reporting your Ethnicity, Ancestry tries to match up people with similar DNA characteristics by using your tree and other trees to show up similar names to project and predict relationships with others of similar DNA. They further suggest matches of characteristics through their DNA circles.
"you need to have an extensive and public tree"
To
make the whole project worthwhile you need to have an extensive and public tree
on this site to obtain any meaningful information. The site also indicates the strength
of matches which are recorded as fourth cousins or closer with “high” or “good”
confidence ratings. For each match where there is a public tree shared names
are also listed. Most of mine were Smith or Murphy! With shared surnames of
direct ancestors on my tree is possible also to find distant cousins in the
fifth to eighth cousin ranges.
Purpose
of doing a DNA test is to find potential new ancestors. Finding a match from
the test would allow me to find traces of people, who came before me with the
opportunity to explore my family more widely, share stories, compare trees and
increase the richness of my family identity .
It's still relatively early days in the DNA story-results are being added to as more people come on board. Many more do the test and are under prepared with no trees to add to the site or perhaps they fear the unknown and don't wish to share information by locking their trees. I was in the later category until I realised I would get no results.
It's still relatively early days in the DNA story-results are being added to as more people come on board. Many more do the test and are under prepared with no trees to add to the site or perhaps they fear the unknown and don't wish to share information by locking their trees. I was in the later category until I realised I would get no results.
I
was hoping that DNA would expand my genealogical research finding relatives stuck
behind brick walls. Quite possibly that will come but overcoming obstacles is
easier said than done with a DNA test. I’m jealous of a relative who has been
to Ireland visiting her new cousins already.
With
nothing jumping out at us I need to build both my husband’s and my trees
further both wider and deeper to take into account marriages and therefore surname
changes of children and childrens’ children into the 18th, 19, 20th
and 21st Centuries.
So
it is back to the drawing board to pursue some lines where the English, Irish
and Scottish relatives dispersed into other areas immigrating into the new
frontiers of USA, Canada, NZ and Australia. Basically I need to follow up those
have disappeared possibly to parts unknown and those previously under pursued.
Only then will I see better results from these tests. As they say in the
advertisements. “Come find me”
DNA
101..... To be continued
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