Littlelissa
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Finding your roots? show and family genealogy
- Thread starter Gaze
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I predict you find you have descended from kings and queens.Finally went ahead and did the AncestryDNA kit. They received it and just waiting on the results. I've wanted to do this for so long that I decided to finally go for it. (check one thing off my bucket list)
Gaze
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I'm quite a novice at this stuff but from what I've gathered so far, I have ancestors from Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, and possibly Denmark or some other Scandinavian country. The Scottish side (sur name Stuart/Stewart) claims to be related somehow to Mary, Queen of Scots (I have no idea how factual that actually is). There are possibly a couple of English Earls in there, as well. Also, there was one line that I know of which lived in or near Salem during the witch trials and were somewhat involved in some of the accusations. I got a lot of my information from family members who are far more experienced than I am, so I think the info I've received from them is pretty accurate, especially up through the 1800s, when most of them came over to the US. It gets a little sketchy after that with some of the lineage. Luckily, I can pretty positively say that none of my ancestors owned slaves in the US, so there's that.
For the last 6 months or so I have been helping a lady whose mother was adopted. Her mother matched at a 3rd to 4th cousin range to my FIL. She assigned me admin to her kit so I could figure out how we relate. She had probably 15 or more 3rd to 4th cousins. So I would group these matches and build out their trees. I figured out who her common ancestor was to all these matches, but each time I would drawn them down in descendancy I would come up empty. The other thing that was difficult with the family is that it was as we now say "endogamous." 4 main families and their children all intermarrying (not incest), which causes an over saturation in the matching. I knew in looking at her matches that she didn't have anyone in her ancestry who married a cousin (some of her matches did.) A week ago or so FINALLY a first cousin match showed up and I knew exactly who were the common grandparents. I told her to message her. This woman was very surprised to learn about an adoption in the family, but was willing to ask. She found the answer and today the 1/2 aunt of this lady contacted her. We found the mom! You have no idea how exciting and energizing this is! This 1/2 aunt has lived her whole life thinking she was an only child, so it is overwhelming. She agreed to take a DNA test to verify the relationship. She went from knowing nothing to having a full ancestry on one side of the family. How neat is that!!?
So now on to picking apart her paternal side of the family. I have a set of known great-grandparents, and have done quite a bit of work on them. I've learned in this process to never assume you are right. There were so many possibilities on her maternal side, at one point I felt I was chasing my tail and told her I needed to take a break from it. It's funny how maybe a week later after this "break" her first cousin match shows up.
I said once I figure this out, I don't know if I would do it again. Well, it appears my husband has employed me to look at his best buddy's dna b/c he was adopted. lol It's A LOT OF WORK (but oooooh sooo rewarding!!)
So now on to picking apart her paternal side of the family. I have a set of known great-grandparents, and have done quite a bit of work on them. I've learned in this process to never assume you are right. There were so many possibilities on her maternal side, at one point I felt I was chasing my tail and told her I needed to take a break from it. It's funny how maybe a week later after this "break" her first cousin match shows up.
I said once I figure this out, I don't know if I would do it again. Well, it appears my husband has employed me to look at his best buddy's dna b/c he was adopted. lol It's A LOT OF WORK (but oooooh sooo rewarding!!)
Gaze
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That's pretty cool @Sriracha. She's probably pretty stoked about finding her family. Great use of DNA testing.
My sample finally got sent to lab for processing last week after a three week wait, so I'm on pins and needles waiting for the final results. Though I'm fearful that the results won't be as surprising or outstanding as I imagined. Still trying to make sense of what the overall significance will be.
My sample finally got sent to lab for processing last week after a three week wait, so I'm on pins and needles waiting for the final results. Though I'm fearful that the results won't be as surprising or outstanding as I imagined. Still trying to make sense of what the overall significance will be.
My personal results are not that interesting (nor my brother.) It hinted on strong Norwegian side ... and no German? Where is the German? Well ... there is an answer. Might need to check the validity of this, but I heard that it was against the law in Germany to put bodily fluids in the mail so they have not been able to build a homogenous sample group until just recently. I honestly don't care too much about the ethnicity portion on my ancestry ... my tree is pretty extensive (except for the Polish side which has only been in the USA since 1907), and I've been able to begin speculation that one of my great-great grandmothers was adopted. For me, DNA has been more about verifying kinship. It creates so much work for me when people who have taken the test have not either attached their DNA to their tree or built a tree at all. You have no idea how many of these people do not know that there are folks like me who have already studied their ancestry past 5 generations just to locate the common ancestor!
I'm not surprised to see black people show up in my matches, as I have four or five known slave owners. Sort of awkward to reach out to them if they are interested in taking their lines back further with this information, but at least it would point them in the right direction of the area where they need to research. I have no "feeling" on the matter, I just look at it as a fact.
I would love for everyone to take a test. Even if you don't think your results are surprising, it really can help others who are researching their roots ... especially all these adoptees/children born out of wedlock to unknown fathers looking for their heritage (time frame too, it may not be significant now but may be significant sometime in the future as others continue to test.) I keep saying that the DNA is like a box of chocolates.
If you have any questions when you get your results shoot me a PM.
Gaze
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@Sriracha. Finally got the results. Only two things were really surprising. Although I knew I had strong African ancestry, it was much higher than I realized (mid 70s). I have about 20% European. Some third cousins took the test as well, and are listed on ancestry dna. But I did the test more for the ethnicity makeup. My mom is thinking of doing it, which is cool, because it would help to answer where the different percentages come from.
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