Like many people, I grew up with stories about where my family came from. As a kid, I didn’t really question the fact that the stories I knew didn’t go far back at all and I *did* question the part Cherokee being true. I was constantly asked about my name and would confidently tell the story of being named after my great-grandmother, whose family immigrated to the States from France. She was born on the British ship Albion, and they named her after it. As many of you know, I didn’t marry an American, so family history is now a regular topic of conversation. I recently took the plunge with an AncestryDNA test to see just what my ethnicity makeup really was, and I have to say that I was almost completely surprised. I hope that my story will help inspire you to discover your ethnicity with AncestryDNA.
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The AncestryDNA test is super easy. I had this idea in my head that it was going to require me to send off some of my blood, which is why I put it off so long. I couldn’t have been more wrong! With just a bit of saliva in a tube, you’re good to go! I was a bit worried because I had had a fruit drink earlier without thinking about it, but the results came back just fine and I’m not part berry. I got them sooner than the given estimate, too.
The overview of my ethnicity estimate was so much fun to look at, but I especially loved that I could click on each one for more details. I could see exactly what area of the world each estimate came from along with lots and lots of specific information.
My dad’s family is Ukranian, so finding out that I am 51% Eastern European came as no surprise. I have the maiden name and nose to go along with it! What completely caught me off guard was my next highest estimate being Scandinavian! At no point in my life ever has that possibility come up. It is absolutely fascinating to me and I’m looking forward to exploring it more.
It is possibly that the 13% Iberian Peninsula estimate could be where my great-grandmother’s story came from. As you may have guessed, the story that I grew up telling wasn’t accurate, so while I was indeed named after her, her family was already in the States.
Another big surprise was Ireland! Every St. Patrick’s Day I laughingly tell everyone about my crazy love for corned beef even though I don’t have a lick of Irish in me. I was wrong! Green beer all around this year!
What is really extra cool, though, is that your results are constantly updated as they are get more results and are able to refine yours. My latest results look a bit different than my original.
I’m really excited to delve deeper into my family tree. Taking the AncestryDNA test got me started and now my curiosity is really taking over. We’re going to have Scott take the test next so that we can have a complete picture of our girls’ ethnicity history. While we wait for that, though, I will be digging into Ancestry itself to get more details about where I come from. Are there any skeletons waiting to come out or amazing adventure stories?? I’ll let you know! In the meantime, if you decide to discover your ethnicity with AncestryDNA, I would love to hear all about what you find out!
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