Looking Backwards – DNA Results!
Several months ago I bought myself a DNA Ancestor kit and sent a seeming bucketful of spit to a lab in Ireland for analysis. The results were due next week but dropped early. Interestingly the results were mundane, surprising and a little disappointing.
Rather unsurprisingly my results came out as 59% Irish. On
my father’s side of things I’ve only managed to go back around 100 years but I’m
confident, once I break through the deadlock, that they go back as far as
records allow – and no doubt much further – on the Irish East coast. So 59% is
no great surprise. Knowing now that my mother’s side of the family are, by and
large, English (or at least born & bred in England) the 59% seems reasonable.
There’s a blip of Irish blood back in the 18th century – most likely
from one of the periodic famines – that shows up in the Midlands (no doubt in
the early-ish stages of the Industrial Revolution) which probably explains the
additional 9%. So far, so mundane.
The surprise, at least to me, in the next big chunk of DNA
in each of my cells – 36% Scottish. Now certainly on my Mother’s side (the only
lineage I’ve managed to track back to any great depth) I’ve thought several
times that there is a notable ABSENCE of Scots. As mentioned above most of my
maternal ancestors are English with an Irish blip and a handful of Welsh back
in the 16th century. The vast majority of my maternal ancestors are
either from the Midlands or points SOUTH. I could understand a bleed-over
effect from ancestors near the Scottish borders but it surprises me a great
deal to see Scottish genes so heavily represented here. I’m obviously missing
some information. The only things I can think of is either some SERIOUS mixing
of Scottish DNA into my English ancestors prior to Tudor times (I know that
several serious raids into the Midlands and the South happened over the last
1000 years but nothing that resulted in long term occupation) or, and probably
more likely, the Scottish DNA comes from migrations from Scotland into Ireland
from VERY early days. As always more research (AKA books!) is required.
Of course what this does mean is that I’m 95% Celtic – which
is COOL in itself and something I had long believed myself to be. It seems that
I do indeed have an INDENTITY that I can back up with science & stuff. I
am, as you might expect, more than happy with that result. I’m a CELT – deal with
it [lol]. This, of course, also requires much more reading! [grin]
So, what of the other 5%? Well, the DNA results said that I’m
3% English or North European. Again that’s interesting. It would suggest that
the Irish side of the family didn’t have any noticeable influx of other DNA
lines and that the ‘English’ side of things – presumably from Irish and
(somehow) Scottish ancestors - didn’t mix much with the locals. I wonder if
that was due to their Catholic faith. I’m guessing that the local English (with
majority ‘English’ DNA) were Protestants so were outside the acceptable breeding
range of the ‘Irish’/’Scottish’ DNA lines. That might explain any mate
selection process that would, as a consequence, exclude ‘English’ DNA from the available
gene pool. At least that’s a working theory!
The remaining 2% was, rather oddly, Swedish. This is both
funny (in a way) and more than a little disappointing. The ‘funny’ part is that
I expect that a LOT of European DNA, including the UK and Ireland, have around
2-5% Scandinavian in its code structure. Those guys got around a LOT over the
years. The disappointing part is that it destroys a personal myth I kind of
toyed with about having Viking ancestors. After all the area where my father’s
family comes from was periodically settled by Vikings. I guess they didn’t mix
very much…. So, my first impulse was to be rather underwhelmed by the whole
thing but thinking about it more deeply my mind is starting to run down
interesting rabbits as they bob and weave away from me. One of the interesting takeaways
from the results is how incredibly LOCAL my DNA is. Despite the UK in general
being a real mixing pot over the millennia my DNA line managed to stay fairly
cohesive. That in itself is something to ponder on….. Oh, and one more thing
that popped into my head. The DNA trail seems to suggest that NONE of my
ancestors came over with the Normans in 1066 and after. Interesting!
8 comments:
I am supremely jealous of how Scottish you are. My mom and I love Scotland so much. I am interested to do this myself - I know much of my mom's side of the family, as I've told you I helped my Grandpa with his 23andMe account. But I know of my biological father and that is perfectly fine with me...except who knows what I have from him. Part of me does not care, because he is not relevant in my life by his own choice, but I so very much want to be Scottish. Although, I'm sure it's just more German and Scandinavian from his side as well.
@ Sarah: Oddly I have ZERO idea where the Scottish connection comes from. It certainly doesn't show up in my maternal line going back 500 years so.... Either its in my paternal line or it came in before around 1530. Strange!
There's always a risk which this sort of thing that you might find things out that you never really wanted to know - unknown siblings etc... You hear stories of people finding out that they're adopted and all kinds of family secrets come out of the genetic woodwork. For me though its been pretty much boring in that regard.
Interesting about the Scottish DNA. My mind immediately went to illegitimacy, because that happened in my family. My DNA results match what I found in the records but Ancestry.com keeps updating my heritage as more people submit DNA to their database. I find all this so fascinating.
@ V V: The Scottish angle does baffle me ATM. Illegitimacy never even crossed my mind to be honest. For one thing there's simply too many obvious genetic links with my siblings - plus the fact that I see my father every time I look in the mirror! [lol] I imagine its somewhere in my father's ancestor records or is WAY back in time before accurate records were available.....
I share at least some Scottish DNA with you as my Great Grandfather emigrated from Scotland to Canada. My grandfather, one of his sons from his second marriage, emigrated to Wisconsin in the United States in the 1890s. I've not done a DNA test so I don't know much about the rest of my DNA background although there must be a sizable portion of German DNA as my Grandmother who married the Canadian immigrant was born in Germany.
@ James: It's certainly an interesting little hobby I've stumbled into. I've wondered (and honestly assumed) about my family history for years before taking the plunge. What I found is nothing like what I expected but I'm far from disappointed in that regard. Until very recently I had no 'real' past to look back on. Now I know I have people directly involved in the English Civil War or the Tudor monarchy as well as those uprooted by famine in Ireland who made new homes for themselves among the new industries shaping Britain's future. It's still taking some getting used to that I have *deep* roots (which was obvious really!) in the history of this country I call home. I definitely feel more grounded than ever before. It's a good feeling to know where you come from I think.
Scotland and Canada definitely have a LONG history together! They are much alike in many ways - although I've only visited both places once (briefly).
Post a Comment