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i am not of a scientific bent so please don't belabor the point with lots of scientific phraseology! But I have a simple question:
Can we have fairly close ancestors and simply not inherit their DNA? In other words, can we have, for example, native American ancestry but it simply doesn't show up in our DNA?
I ask because of this:
My maiden name is very clearly German. I know I have some German ancestry via my family's extensive genealogical records. I also know I have mostly English and Scottish ancestry with some French (and a French surname) within about four generations. The German surname goes back well into the 1500s and they migrated to North America in the early 1600s.
In the mid 1800s, I have a GGGgrandfather who supposedly married a woman who was Native American. We think however that she was perhaps half Native American and half of English ancestry. Not a smidgen of Native American DNA showed up.
MY 23andme results show nearly completely northern European ancestry, with about 7 percent being German/French and 2 percent being simply "European." Not necessarily northern or southern - just "European." There was a lot of Scandinavian influence in my northern European results. That's it. I'm cool with that. We know that our English ancestors were from northern England (Northumbria in fact), and the Scottish lowlands along the border. I figure they had "Viking" DNA for sure.
In fact, I'd say it doesn't surprise me. Now, some people may believe this or not believe it, but I think there may be something to it - I've always been an Anglophile, even as a small child. I am just drawn to anything English or Scottish. I have been like this as long as I can remember. And I have an "English" look to me - I look like my grandmother's side of the family and they were English and Irish as far back as we can trace (to the 1500s).
My brother relates to all things German. He loves German history, German food, German everything. You could transplant him to Germany and he'd fit right in. He has that Germanic look to him as well. He and I do not look very much alike. It's like he took after my dad and his dad's side of the family entirely and I took after my mom and my grandmother's side of the family entirely. People have remarked on this many times over the decades.
It got me wondering - could my brother have inherited a lot more of the German DNA than I did? I'm really just curious. I wish he'd get tested but so far no luck.
i am not of a scientific bent so please don't belabor the point with lots of scientific phraseology! But I have a simple question:
Can we have fairly close ancestors and simply not inherit their DNA? In other words, can we have, for example, native American ancestry but it simply doesn't show up in our DNA?
Depends how close the ancestor in question is.
Quote:
I ask because of this:
My maiden name is very clearly German. I know I have some German ancestry via my family's extensive genealogical records. I also know I have mostly English and Scottish ancestry with some French (and a French surname) within about four generations. The German surname goes back well into the 1500s and they migrated to North America in the early 1600s.
In the mid 1800s, I have a GGGgrandfather who supposedly married a woman who was Native American. We think however that she was perhaps half Native American and half of English ancestry. Not a smidgen of Native American DNA showed up.
That far back, and she was not even 100% Native American herself, yes, it's possible you didn't inherit enough of her DNA for it to show up on a DNA result. On paper, you would inherit about 3% from each 3rd great grandparent and if she was half Native American, then it was your 4th great grandparent who was fully Native America, and so now you're down 1.5%. Due to recombination, we do not inherit the exact same amount from each ancestor of the same generation though, so it is possible you inherited less than 1.5% from that ancestor, even none at all.
It's also possible her origins were just a myth, which is also a common occurrence. If she was alive in the mid 1800s, she should be recorded on a census that would mention her race. What does it say? If you have no documentation of her being Native American, and your DNA results give no indication of it, I'd probably chalk it up to myth.
Quote:
MY 23andme results show nearly completely northern European ancestry, with about 7 percent being German/French and 2 percent being simply "European." Not necessarily northern or southern - just "European." There was a lot of Scandinavian influence in my northern European results. That's it. I'm cool with that. We know that our English ancestors were from northern England (Northumbria in fact), and the Scottish lowlands along the border. I figure they had "Viking" DNA for sure.
In fact, I'd say it doesn't surprise me. Now, some people may believe this or not believe it, but I think there may be something to it - I've always been an Anglophile, even as a small child. I am just drawn to anything English or Scottish. I have been like this as long as I can remember. And I have an "English" look to me - I look like my grandmother's side of the family and they were English and Irish as far back as we can trace (to the 1500s).
My brother relates to all things German. He loves German history, German food, German everything. You could transplant him to Germany and he'd fit right in. He has that Germanic look to him as well. He and I do not look very much alike. It's like he took after my dad and his dad's side of the family entirely and I took after my mom and my grandmother's side of the family entirely. People have remarked on this many times over the decades.
It got me wondering - could my brother have inherited a lot more of the German DNA than I did? I'm really just curious. I wish he'd get tested but so far no luck.
Keep in mind the ethnicity percentages are very much an estimate, and they don't so much tell you how much German/British/etc DNA you have as they tell you how much of your DNA matched their sample groups for that region. There is NO DNA which is totally unique to one area of Europe though, there's a lot of overlap between regions, and the DNA from Britain and Germany are often very similar (because the British are heavily Anglo-Saxon, a Germanic tribe). For some, it can be impossible to accurately tell them apart. At Ancestry.com, I am 55% British and 5% German whereas at FTDNA I am 0% British and 26% German - at 23andMe, I'm 17.2% British and 17.9% German with 23.4% of my DNA "Broadly Northwest European" because they admit they can't narrow down this large portion of my DNA anymore than this. (Of course the category that includes Germany is a bigger region than that but knowing my ancestry, I know it's German). What it means is that my British and German DNA is probably too similar to tell apart.
Is it possible your brother inherited more DNA from your German ancestors whereas you inherited more from your British ancestors? Yes, but the ethnicity results won't necessarily tell you that. If you're looking for some kind of genetic imprint that influences our interest in certain cultures, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense if genetically, there's little difference between British and German.
I have always felt that I was meant to live near a body of water, I crave it and feel at peace near it (which is the one reason I hate living in Colorado, it's practically a desert). My mom always says this is because some of grandfather's family were Norwegian sailors, but both 23andMe and Ancestry.com put my Scandinavian percentage at less than 5% so I don't know how much sense that makes.
I can tell my family that the stories of "Indian maidens" and French explorers aren't necessarily false! LOL
Depending on where your 3x grandfather married his Native American wife, it may be possible to find out her ancestry. I have a couple of those French Canadian ancestors. I believe all of French Can fur trade industry men were Catholic & the Catholics kept & retained excellent records.
Depending on where your 3x grandfather married his Native American wife, it may be possible to find out her ancestry. I have a couple of those French Canadian ancestors. I believe all of French Can fur trade industry men were Catholic & the Catholics kept & retained excellent records.
It was in Louisiana. In fact, it was a GGGgrandfather and his brother, who supposedly married two "Indian maidens" named Tabitha and Talitha. Who knows? Family legend is that they were Creek Indians. Based on their names, I'd say they were at most half Native American.
Some of those Cajun bloodlines can get pretty hard to unravel.
Regardless, apparently I didn't inherit a smidgen of NA DNA. And not much German, in spite of my very German maiden name.
For Louisiana Catholic records Genealogy - Archdiocese of New Orleans Office of the Archives
Also in my family the old Frenchmen & their families were buried in consecrated ground regardless of how far it was from their home. Marriages, baptisms, deaths were all recorded & kept in dioceses archives.
they another deal too, not all true native american have so called native dna. confusing, but some native came across the ice age bridge from siberia which is the same area that "european came from" so some natives have the same dna has european but it was back 15,000 years ago
since the native dna database is not that large, there could be true native dna in your tree but just cant be located yet.
what im saying some native are R1a which is same as european, but its not mix, it just broke off the same tree 15,000 years ago
(because the British are heavily Anglo-Saxon, a Germanic tribe).
found this couple days ago British are not heavy anglo saxon, its less than 10%, they are still heavy in the german tribe but they are mostly heavy in those that arrive during the ice age, even the viking and celts are very low.
found this couple days ago British are not heavy anglo saxon, its less than 10%, they are still heavy in the german tribe but they are mostly heavy in those that arrive during the ice age, even the viking and celts are very low.
I thought the same think too.
And where did you see this?
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