The results are back but not what I expected. I knew most of my ancestors were from Ireland, England, Scotland, with a sprinkling from France and Germany. The results showed just that. What I didn’t expect was that there would just be one category of English/Irish. Logically, it makes sense as the countries are so close people have traveled back and forth between the two islands for centuries. But politically, there sure have been big differences.
I selected the option to “share” my DNA results with my DNA relations (total strangers) – people who have used the service and have some matching DNA. The closest relatives that have used the same service as I have are predicted to be 4th cousins. You can also see your DNA relative’s list of ancestor surnames. One woman who shares several DNA segments with me listed ancestors with the same last names of two of my ancestors – a great grandmother and a great-grea- great-grandmother – but maybe it is someone else altogether. Maybe it’s the Scot.
You can send messages, via the company, to your DNA relatives so I was thinking I might hear from one of the English or Irish or Scottish folks that make up over 80% of my DNA. Nope. I got a message from a young Frenchman, living in France. I only know of one relative from France – she was a French Huguenot who fled to Scotland and married a Scot. One of my first cousins is her namesake. It must be that relative….but you never know. I’ll let you know what I learn.