As I sat on my couch, wondering what wonderful words of
wisdom I could share with you this Thanksgiving week (ha!), an ad for
AcestryDNA.com came on the TV. You know – where you send them a sample of your
DNA, they analyze it and send you back
your “real” heritage.
What a fun topic for Thanksgiving, I thought – the American
holiday where we commemorate the English settlers’ survival in The New World
back in 1600-something. Since then, our nation has become a true melting pot of
many nationalities and backgrounds, which I think is one of its greatest
strength.
In the commercial, the woman said she’s always thought she
was 100 percent Hispanic, only to discover that she’s “everything.” And that’s the point of the commercial – that you
never really know exactly what your make-up is, unless you undergo DNA testing,
of course.
Let’s take my son, as an example. He sent his spit off in a
plastic vial a few years back, and he did get a few interesting results.
But first, some background:
My husband loves studying genealogy and has traced his
ancestors’ roots to Germany (50 percent), Ireland (25 percent) and Wales (25
percent). As an odd side note, he
considers himself more Welsh than Irish, despite the identical percentages. And
he’s an accountant. Go figure.
I, on the other hand, am a mutt. Or at least I think I am.
My mother was adopted, although back then the records weren’t sealed. Her adoptive
parents told her she was from the Prussian part of Germany – which I found
quite romantic. I’m not German. I’m PRUSSIAN. The knowledge spawned many fantasies of discovering myself
to be long-lost royalty from some tiny Germanic principality. My father’s side
isn’t much better. He left when I was about four, so we know little about his
background, but Mom always said he was all German. Years later, we found out his mother’s side
was from Eastern Europe – either Poland or Lithuania...something like that. So
I’m German, Prussian and some sort of Eastern European. I’ve always guestimated myself as 75 percent German and 25 percent
Eastern European.
So if I do the math, my children would be:
12.5 percent Irish
12.5 percent Welsh
62.5 percent(ish) German
12.5 percent Eastern European
12.5 percent Welsh
62.5 percent(ish) German
12.5 percent Eastern European
If there are mathematicians/statisticians out there, please
don’t grade me on this. It’s been decades since I cracked a book on genetics,
and I’m sure my methodology has a few holes in it. :-)
Anyway, take a look at the report my son got back
His heritage is 99 percent
European. Makes sense. But if we drill down, we see that some of the percentages
are a little off. More from Ireland than Great Britain? Interesting. One of
those Welsh ancestors must have come from Ireland!
Thirty-two percent from Western Europe, 22 percent from Eastern –
those I can buy. But 11 percent from the Iberian Peninsula?
According to AcestrDNA.com, “People in this DNA ethnicity
group may identify as: Spanish, Portuguese, Hispanic.”
Now there’s a mystery!
This result prompted hubby to order his own spit kit from
the company. Alas, even after two attempts, the samples he sent weren’t enough
to generate results – very disappointing.
My sister, when she saw the report, implored me to send my
own sample off for testing, figuring the “Iberians” must be from our side, and
she didn’t feel like spitting in a cup. I promptly declined. I don’t want my DNA floating around out there,
stored in some lab! Some crook could get
hold of it and do who-knows-what with it!
Although maybe I should, just in case some obscure Germanic
principality is seeking descendants of its royal line....
Nah. In truth, I’m happy to be a mutt. I’m happy to be American.
So as I celebrate Thanksgiving with my husband
and two grown sons, I’ll thank the fates that landed me in this country of
freedoms, in a family that hasn’t been rich in money but has been so rich in
love. I’ll give a prayer of thanks for our collective health, for our jobs, for
the joy of story-telling and for those who love reading.
Wishing you and yours a joyous and safe Thanksgiving.
26 comments:
I loved your post, Leah. My paternal side came from Frammersheim, Germany in 1773. My eighth-great grandfather fought in the Revolutionary War. My maternal side was from Germany, too, I think. I love hearing stories like this. Of our histories. Gee, maybe I'll spit in a bottle. LOL Now, off to the madness of book release day.
That's so cool, Vonnie, that you can trace your family back that far. Every so often I get the urge to hunt down my mother's adoption records, but I never have. Happy book release day!!
Funny that you should write on this topic. Yesterday, one of my cousins asked about our history because I'm the only one who's done any genealogy. I just wrote him back right before reading your post. Our family legend was that we are related to Anneke Jans (a real person who came to the US in 1630) who was the daughter of the king of the Netherlands and was disinherited for 7 generations. My grandmother's generation was the 7th so her cousins hired a professional to research. I think my grandfather was right about the pro just wanting money. Anyway, the upshot is there was no Netherlands in the 1600s-it was part of Norway so no king, no inheritance. But it is a good story. LOL I've used the info from the pro to trace back that far and make the connection. It's a lot of work (which I haven't done in a while because I'm too busy writing) but interesting to know your roots. Like you, I'm a mutt. Dutch on both sides (along with lots more). Ironic that I now live in Holland (Michigan).
Happy Thanksgiving to all the Roses. Safe travels.
Leah, I enjoyed your post. I keep hearing about these surprises (I wonder if some spit examiner is having fun by mixing up the saliva). What amazes me is how our ancestors got around without cars. I know land bridges helped, but these fellas roamed the world...versions of Johnny and the appleseed.
Different seed :-) I'm happy we're all mutts...makes it easier to avoid the 'pure' race poppycock. Happy Thanksgiving!
Genealogy is extremely time-consuming, Diane. My husband has spent hours searching ship records, cemetery records, and things like that to get as far as he got with his family. While I find it interesting, I don't have the same drive he does. Maybe because with an adopted mother, I've grown used to having a void in my genetic information. That must have been a bit of a blow, though, to find out your family legend is fiction! (I'm imagining your ancestors sitting around a campfire, spinning tales, when one of the kids hears and takes it for fact, and a legend is born!) :-) That is really neat that you can go so far back, either way.
See, that's what I'm talking about, Rolynn--lab rats mixing up spit and seeing what fun/havoc they can create! I'm happy with my decision to steer clear! :-)
Leah, I've done the spit test for Ancestry--only one surprise. I knew my father's family came from Austria and Romania and my mother's from Russia but, despite having lived in the UK for years, I never knew that we also had English! My daughter is the true mutt; she has all that but her father is Scots-Irish and English. Now she is marrying a Colombian whose father's family came from France and his mother's from Spain, so my grandchildren should be very interesting!!
But whatever your ancestry, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Loved your post. I'm dying to do this but won't let go of the money yet. FDW likes to say he's British Isles but mostly Welsh. He refuses to acknowledge the bit of German his mother found when she did the family tree years ago. A friend had this done and totally blew his mind. He'd always KNOWN he had Native American blood but found out there's not a drop. Pretty funny.
I did a ton of genealogy research back before writing became a full-time occupation. It really is fascinating. I'm a quarter Swedish from my dad with a hint of French and German and Danish from my maternal grandma, but the vast majority is English from everyone else, I'd guess close to 65%, but I've never been tested. My maternal grandma's ancestors came here way back in the early 1600's. Not the Mayflower, but darn close, about 10 generations ago. Once you get back to colonial times, there's a lot of info because you share the same gene pool with so many others who have done the research! Great topic, Leah, and happy turkey day to you!
I'll bet that was a fun discovery, Andi! I have a feeling each generation becomes more and more mixed, especially in the more modern cultures where there's a lot of movement of people, and it will be rare to find people whose ancestries are purely from one area or another.
Too funny, Brenda, about your friend who KNEW he had Native American ancestry! I hope he wasn't too crushed! I'm with you on the cost of the test being a drawback. I couldn't believe it when my husband went for it (especially since he never got anything back!).
That's so neat about your great-great-(etc.)-grandma being one of the early settlers, Jannine. That would be the one reason I'd want to do research on my family, to find out where they lived during which periods of history. That, to me, would be fascinating.
Love this--especially in light of recent election where school kids, in great sad numbers, worry about being deported or losing their families because they are not American. So, so sad. We are all mutts and should be welcoming of other human mixtures. Thankful for those who agree. Nice post!
What a cute post, Leah!
I imagine my children's percentages would be as varied...we have German, French and Native American in our blood LOL!
Hope your (and everyone's) Thanksgiving is Blessed.
PamT
What a great post! I've thought about getting something like this as a gift for christmas.
Thanks, Susan, for stopping by. I think most Americans are proud of the complexity of our national make-up, and with each generation, we see more and more "mixing." My husband's first serious girlfriend broke up with him because of religion, compelled by her parents who didn't like the brand of Christianity his family followed, versus theirs (both mainstream denominations). My father-in-law used to tell me not to "admit to" being Polish! So as much as we have room to grow, I think we've come a long way. I'm hopeful for our future.
Hi, Pam and Maureen - It is fun to see what we're made of, isn't it?? :-)
Genealogy is so fascinating! My sister spent hours and hours doing one for our family that went back centuries. I strongly doubt the accuracy of some of those alleged medieval ancestors, but I was interested to learn that one side of the family has been on this side of the pond since the 1600's. OG has never known much about his family because their accounts were so confused, so last year I did the same for him. He now understands all the true connections and was also surprised to find he had some colonial ancestors. I've wondered about doing the DNA test, but I have a pretty good idea of what I'd get--a hodgepodge of northern Europeans, mostly German, English, and Swedish.
Unofficially, I'm English and German with a little French thrown in. My husband is Dutch, Finnish and, maybe, a little American Indian. My grandson is the family member who's big into genealogical research. Some of things he's found are fascinating. Apparently, we do date back to the Mayflower on my father's side. Somewhere in there I've been told a something, something grandfather was the Mayor of Munich. As I said, unofficial, all of it, but fun to consider.
Very interesting post. My mother says her ancestors came from the UK but has no real documentation. My paternal grandparents immigrated from Czechoslovakia, when there was such a country. I'm with you on not having my DNA floating around in some lab. Who knows what could happen?
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Very cool, Alison and Margo, that you can trace your family back so far. I don't have any of those neat family stories, but that must be fun to think of them!
Right, Marisa?! I mean, think of all the DNA swapping that could be going on for all sorts of nefarious reasons!! :-)
Great post, Leah. Have a happy Thanksgiving with your mostly-Welsh-mutt crew!
I've though about being tested and hesitate for the same reason. I know I'm not royalty so what's tha point. Interesting ost
Ha, very interesting. I've always wanted to do this. I have am at least 1/16 Cherokee, and maybe more. I think I am also part Black Dutch. Great post...thanks for sharing!
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