Ancestry

Late last year I received an invitation from Ancestry.com to participate in their DNA experiment. They are doing some ground breaking work in using DNA from volunteers to track human migration patterns and shifts and loads of other interesting trends. Plus the neat bonus of finding out where your ancestors hailed from and if you have any living relatives in their database. First, here is the graph they created from my DNA testing:


This tracks pretty well with what my parents were told about my ancestry when I was adopted. English, German, Swiss and Dutch. I wonder what the mystery 2% is. Heh. Alien, most likely. Being mostly of UK origin sure explains a lot. My love of Dr Who and many other quality BBC programs, for instance. Plus the infrequent urge to eat bubble 'n squeak or bangers 'n mash.

The other really interesting thing the testing has uncovered is a whole boatload of 4th to 6th cousins. Neat! But now I have a problem. Being adopted, my current family tree is not my "biological" tree. I know who my birth parents are, but my birth mom is keeping me a secret from her kids and my bio-dad doesn't know about me at all. I don't feel comfortable linking their names to my tree. So I guess all those 4th-6th cousins will just have to be left wondering. I'll check on Ancestry to see if there is a way to add branches to the tree privately.

Still, it's nice to have a sort of tangible link to my ancestry, even if my DNA is rather vanilla.

Comments

Donna H. said…
It's awfully good of you to "keep" her secret. It's a sad loss for the rest of her family and your cousins...they are missing out on a wonderful relationship with an awesome lady! <3

Popular Posts