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This forum is for people interested in genealogy. For us, every small genetic fragment does mean something. We take our ancestors as we find them, and finding the ancestors who provided that 1 or 2 or 3% is just part of the challenge of the hunt, whether that small percentage is African, Native American, or east Asian.
I don't know, its like trying to identify one freckle on a face full of them. In ten generations (like 250-300 years) you've got 1,000 ancestors. Mostly people you'll never know of and have no bearing on your life other than a tiny bit of DNA. Plus you share them with hundreds of thousands of other people who really are "not" related to you in any real sense after all that time. Its just seems to be trying to make a mountain out of a molehill (which of course you're welcome to do!).
I took the National Geographic Geno 2.0 test and it showed my as 97% European with the paternal haplo group mostly centered in the British Isles and maternal all over Europe. I was like "gee, tell me something I don't already know". My family is from the South and has been here at least 300 years, so that unassigned 3% could be African or Native American. Thing is, with the Geno 2.0 Project they don't list anything less than 2% because they can't be sure of its significance. Basically the whole thing was a big "meh" save for the Neanderthal/Denisovan percentage (which was kind of cool). I'm a light brown-haired, blue eyed, fair-skinned white boy who's frequently been asked if I'm Irish, Norwegian or Polish based on my height and looks. Testing doesn't change the perception by others.
I don't know, its like trying to identify one freckle on a face full of them. In ten generations (like 250-300 years) you've got 1,000 ancestors. Mostly people you'll never know of and have no bearing on your life other than a tiny bit of DNA. Plus you share them with hundreds of thousands of other people who really are "not" related to you in any real sense after all that time. Its just seems to be trying to make a mountain out of a molehill (which of course you're welcome to do!).
I wouldn't describe it in that way lol you obviously aren't into genetic genealogy, for quite a few people it's a fun hobby some people acutually really enjoy getting into the nitty gritty of it and seeing where the trail leads.
I wouldn't describe it in that way lol you obviously aren't into genetic genealogy, for quite a few people it's a fun hobby some people acutually really enjoy getting into the nitty gritty of it and seeing where the trail leads.
Not just genetic genealogy but all of genealogy. The entire process of genealogy is to focus one one ancestor out of thousands at a time and to learn as much as you can about them, to give them significance.
Different people will take away different things from their DNA results. Some people get no surprises at all, and only confirm what they already knew. Other people, though, definitely do get surprises that are interesting to them, and that can lead them on a journey into the past where they learn about things they may not have thought about before.
I am European-American with no tradition of anything else, so I was surprised to find 1.5% African and 1.4% Native American DNA. I was able to trace back to the ancestors that most of these segments came from (after a lot of work). This inspired me to learn more about the history of race in the South, something I never gave much thought to. As a Northerner who identifies as Yankee through and through, I became fascinated by my "Southern genes" and have communicated with distant relatives (both white and African American) as a result of my DNA tests who I would never have encountered otherwise, and that has been a great experience for me, I have learned much from them. I don't think it is "making a mountain out of a molehill."
One thing I've learned is that I am more closely related to African Americans than to Europeans in Europe. Some of my closest DNA matches I would discover are descendants of a slave who was biologically the son of one of my known ancestors. I was floored that my own DNA could be used to prove this connection at first, and since then several other relatives have been tested, confirming it. I was elated to know that these African American cousins were thrilled to know a piece of the truth about their past.
Genetic genealogy is a team sport. If you go into it only looking to get information for yourself, and are not willing to collaborate with others, then you won't get much out of it. Unfortunately too many people take one look at their results, throw up their hands, and never learn anything from them.
Different people will take away different things from their DNA results. Some people get no surprises at all, and only confirm what they already knew. Other people, though, definitely do get surprises that are interesting to them, and that can lead them on a journey into the past where they learn about things they may not have thought about before.
I am European-American with no tradition of anything else, so I was surprised to find 1.5% African and 1.4% Native American DNA. I was able to trace back to the ancestors that most of these segments came from (after a lot of work). This inspired me to learn more about the history of race in the South, something I never gave much thought to. As a Northerner who identifies as Yankee through and through, I became fascinated by my "Southern genes" and have communicated with distant relatives (both white and African American) as a result of my DNA tests who I would never have encountered otherwise, and that has been a great experience for me, I have learned much from them. I don't think it is "making a mountain out of a molehill."
One thing I've learned is that I am more closely related to African Americans than to Europeans in Europe. Some of my closest DNA matches I would discover are descendants of a slave who was biologically the son of one of my known ancestors. I was floored that my own DNA could be used to prove this connection at first, and since then several other relatives have been tested, confirming it. I was elated to know that these African American cousins were thrilled to know a piece of the truth about their past.
Genetic genealogy is a team sport. If you go into it only looking to get information for yourself, and are not willing to collaborate with others, then you won't get much out of it. Unfortunately too many people take one look at their results, throw up their hands, and never learn anything from them.
Great post!
I am a white girl, but I have very dark eyes and dark, coarse, curly hair. There has always been family lore about Native American wives, Jewish ancestors, possibly Greeks - and there is a very "dark" gene that crops up in our family even though most of our family is very light skinned with hazel or blue eyes and light brown or blonde hair. I got that gene. So I was curious about "who was lurking" in the DNA.
And I got my answer. NO ONE BUT BRITISH, IRISH, SCANDINAVIANS AND GERMANS. LOL No Native American blood. No Greek blood. No Spanish blood. No African blood. Nothing but Vikings and Celts! So that was a surprise. And so was the Neanderthal stuff (3 percent), which I just didn't know anything about prior to the DNA testing.
The person who said so, implied that it should be a goal. Not that the USA had reached there, or even in 2015, has reached there.
Many will be judged by assumptions made of their ancestry and will have to defend themselves against that. Unfortunately often many use the MLK quote to pretend as if this nation's racist history exists only in the past. While life is clearly better than it was, the USA still hasn't reached that point where race is irrelevant.
I am a white girl, but I have very dark eyes and dark, coarse, curly hair. There has always been family lore about Native American wives, Jewish ancestors, possibly Greeks - and there is a very "dark" gene that crops up in our family even though most of our family is very light skinned with hazel or blue eyes and light brown or blonde hair. I got that gene. So I was curious about "who was lurking" in the DNA.
And I got my answer. NO ONE BUT BRITISH, IRISH, SCANDINAVIANS AND GERMANS. LOL No Native American blood. No Greek blood. No Spanish blood. No African blood. Nothing but Vikings and Celts! So that was a surprise. And so was the Neanderthal stuff (3 percent), which I just didn't know anything about prior to the DNA testing.
You know that you could have a grandparent who by random chance gave you no DNA at all? Your family tree could be full of Indian wives and it is possible that you got either none of their DNA, or none of the part that's distinctive.
You know that you could have a grandparent who by random chance gave you no DNA at all? Your family tree could be full of Indian wives and it is possible that you got either none of their DNA, or none of the part that's distinctive.
I do think though that African DNA can show in physical appearance even below 10%. My great aunt should be around 6-8% Sub-Saharan in DNA (the rest being Portuguese) and in some photos of her when she was a child, you can tell there is something in her that is "off" even for a Southern European. In old age though she does look fully Portuguese.
I do think though that African DNA can show in physical appearance even below 10%. My great aunt should be around 6-8% Sub-Saharan in DNA (the rest being Portuguese) and in some photos of her when she was a child, you can tell there is something in her that is "off" even for a Southern European. In old age though she does look fully Portuguese.
I know of one woman from my village of birth in the Azores that has that "off" look very distantly related to me at the 5th cousin level she is the only one in her family with that look it's a very large extended family. It's the hair slightly frizzy and she just doesn't appear fully white no non-paternity issue going on there impossible to keep things like that secret in very small communities it always gets out eventually. Her two daughters are blonde blue eyed and look like stereotypical central Europeans.
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