I find myself wishing that there were some way for me to be employed as a genealogist... but not in the way that you think. I'd like to be paid to research my own genealogy. I mean, I'm not above helping someone else with their research, and in fact, I've sort of inspired some friends to look into the hobby as well. But to have the time to freely research, among the many other things that make demands on my time, would be pretty stinking awesome. And maybe, as a result, you'd hear a little bit more from me on this blog. Alternatively, I could just call you about once a week and fill you in on any progress I've made, Dad. You who are likely my only faithful reader. ;-)
In the time that has passed since I shared the results from my AncestryDNA test, Ancestry has updated the program. This was exciting news for me, since, I confess, that 7% "Uncertain" was haunting the genealogical corners of my brain. You just can't see "7% Uncertain" and not question your existence.
Who am I?
In particular, I couldn't help wondering if the elusive "pure-blooded Cherokee" relative was in there somewhere. And what about that humongous percentage of "British Isles?" There are 4 different countries included in there, you know...
Well a little more of the mystery has been revealed, and once again, the results were unexpected.
(Click for a larger image).
The "British Isles" has been split up and that's where my first shocking piece of information came from: I had no idea that I had so much Irish blood! I mean, 30% isn't huge, but when you consider that it's almost a third of my DNA, I still call it pretty significant! Now what I'd really like to know is if my results can be further pared down to indicate the amount of Scottish vs. English.
And let's talk about Germany for a minute. What in the world??? This update is pretty significant in how it shows those "Central European" areas differently than before. Where it was once a collective 13%, that figure has completely changed. Germany is now considered part of "Europe West," which makes up a mere 3% of my total ethnicity. This has been a pretty big deal to me, because I know that I have German ancestors. I am still working on proving all of that information for myself, but I feel sort of excited to know that I've only scratched the surface of my origins by knowing about potentially less than 3% of my lineage originated in Germany! It motivates me to find some of that 30% Irish and that 31% British!
Now I had just started getting familiar with the "cousin matches" that are part of the DNA program. Based on your own DNA and that of others who have taken the test, they can share with you who has similar results and potentially similar ancestors, estimated within a certain generational range and percentage of confidence. Also, if you both have family trees on Ancestry.com, they can show you the common surnames and/or common people in your family tree, (if the other person's tree is public). Of course you are also given a way to contact the person to request further information. I haven't had any revolutionary breakthroughs with this system (yet), but there have been some interesting matches. Now that things have been upgraded, I haven't had an opportunity yet to check it out and see if the cousin matching has had an upgrade also. I'm excited to check that out as well. Maybe this will eventually lead to clues for that unknown 1/4 of my tree.
