23andme DNA: Before The Results
I’ve been seeing the 23andme DNA kits everywhere, so I sent one off and wanted to talk about my thoughts before the results come back.
What Interested Me In Genealogy
I’ve always loved looking at old photographs. Being able to go back through records to trace the path of the people before you. TV shows like Who Do You Think You Are? and Long Lost Family are among favourites of mine. It’s not surprising they started me on my own journey.
My Thoughts On How We Learn
In my opinion, the way we view family history has changed significantly in the past 20-25 years. With social media, online archives and services offering Ancestry DNA tests. You can break down the composition of yourself and your family better than before.
When I was growing up, people would say they were “half this and half that”. Or “I’m 1/3 this, 1/3 that”…etc. But now you can pinpoint your percentages better and actually learn a lot about when different nationalities came into play. For example, if you have a percentage of French & German ancestry. It could say it was more likely to come from a grandparent, great grandparent or great great grandparent. And even say it was between this year to this year.
For many, family history is passed down by parents. Who have had it passed from their parents and so on. But, that only gives you a generalised idea and with these Ancestry DNA kits it’s been interesting watching people react to their percentages. Seeing so many conflicting emotions. Still wanting to identify with who they are from what their parents have told them.
Purchasing The Kit
Over the past two years I started to put my tree together. Then, hit a bit of a wall. I have wanted to do 23andme for a while. I went with this service as opposed to others because they have a better following. Also, from comparison videos, it seems to have more data banks to break down the ancestry better than others. With Fathers Day coming round and it also being my dad’s birthday, 23andme had an offer. So, I ordered one for myself and my mum bought one for my dad. He was interested too.
The Kit
The kit came, I followed the instructions, spit in the tube and sent it off. I didn’t take any pictures of that. I was counting down the 30 minutes when you couldn’t eat or drink before doing it. So, I didn’t take any photos of the kit itself. But here is one I found on the website.
It will take up to 6-8 weeks for the results to come back. Here I am eagerly awaiting but I wanted to write up this post beforehand.
My Maternal Side
As I mentioned, I hit a wall with my family history. It was mainly with my mother’s side of the family. I believe the majority of my mother’s ancestry will be British & Irish. But my granddad was a private man. He didn’t speak about his family much. Unfortunately, he passed away before I was born. My grandmother would always say there was talk about his family coming from a traveller’s background.
I’m unsure if she meant an Irish Traveller background or an East European traveller background. It was speculated to be an Eastern European. From what I know, they originated from the pan-Indian continent and migrated into Europe over 1000 years ago. If true, and it was passed down to me, then I’d say I am more likely to have Southern or Eastern European DNA in my ancestry composite.
My Paternal Side
Dad’s side of the family is a whole other story. My dad identifies as Welsh, having been born there, but his father was born in England. There is talk that when going back through his family there is Scandinavian ancestry too. So, I’d expect to see Northern European in my ancestry composite if it’s true.
With my dad’s side of the family, it again re-installs the notion that growing up we could identify as being “half this and half that”. But, we can also identify our background because of where we were born. When I was in my primary school years I would always say I was Half English and Half Welsh. But classmates would say that I was English because I was born in England. It again goes to show just how far we have come on this subject.
My Thoughts On The Results
Looking at the migration of people and our world’s history. There would be some ancestry I wouldn’t be surprised to have. Being very pale, and knowing William the Conqueror came from Normandy. Wouldn’t be a surprise. But there are others that I’d find conflicting. I say this because there are many moments in history that we are not proud of, to put lightly.
With the example of the slave trade between the 15th and 19th centuries. I’ve seen people who expect to be 100% European have small percentages of Sub Saharan African ancestry. And it became part of their ancestry during that time period.
Historically, my family could have partook in the slave trade in some way. But, of course, it’s something you wouldn’t want your family to have done.
From the pictures above you can see that I grew up with very dark brown eyes. My hair got darker as I got older too. This leads me to suspect the rumours on my mothers side more than the rumours on my dads side. But, at the end of the day, I expect to be near, if not 100% European.
I mention near because some markers can be “unassigned”. Which is when they cannot pinpoint any area/region. I’ve seen many people have between 0.1% – 0.4% unassigned before.
If I was to give percentages and go with what my family have said. I would lay it out that I was around 80% British and Irish. Around 10% Broadly Northwestern European. And then the last 10% would be Eastern and/or Southern European.
Have you done 23andme or any other Ancestry DNA test? If not, would it be something you’d like to do? Comment below I’d love to know.
As always, thanks for reading…
