Ancestry DNA – DNA Story

One of the kits I manage, I’ll call “JS,” has received his Ethnicity Estimate and he now knows he is 88% descended from England, Wales, and Northwestern Europe, 10% from Ireland and Scotland, and two percent from Germanic Europe. Pretty cool.

Ancestry also provides some pretty maps indicating a person’s ethnicity. In his case, the three ethnicity areas overlap.

Ancestry also provides connections to “Additional Communities.” In his case, there are:

• “Lower Midwest & Virginia Settlers,” which includes Illinois, Indiana, and Tennessee.
• “Mississippi & Louisiana Settlers”, (Mississippi & Louisiana)
• “Tennessee & Southern States Settlers”

From my research, I’ve learned that JS’s great-grandparents were as follows.

• Great-grandfather was from Illinois/Indiana[i].
• Great-grandmother was from Indiana/Michigan.
• Great-grandfather was from North Dakota/Michigan.
• Great-grandmother was from Michigan/Minnesota.
• Great-grandfather was from Tennessee.[ii]
• Great-grandmother was from Tennessee.
• Great-grandfather was from Tennessee.
• Great-grandmother was from Tennessee.

Six of his eight great-grandparents are from the area identified by Ancestry which is as expected. However, the Mississippi & Louisiana settlers is somewhat of a surprise, and not seeing northern Midwestern ancestors was also unexpected. But although the Ethnicity Estimates and Communities are fun and interesting to see, there has to be more. For $99 (regular price) there has to be more, and there is. DNA Matches is the next big part of the process and in my next blog, I’ll describe what to do with them.

Endnotes

[i] Ancestors with two states listed were born in the first state and died in the second state listed.

[ii] The ancestors born in Tennessee also died in Tennessee.