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I'm African American and like most of us African Americans I'm not 100% African but more like 80%. That's the genetic equivalent of having a white grandparent as DNA from grandparent is not passed down evenly no surprise there.
Well it seems I have 78 cousins in the UK. Now that was odd because these were as close as second cousins and most of my white ancestors came to the Americas in the 16 and 1700's so cousins in the UK would be more distant so I got curious and it turned out all my UK cousins that were closer than 3rd had small amounts of African DNA mostly between 8-13%. I talked to many of them and they mostly had no idea they had any African descended ancestors. One lady a 3rd cousin I talked to for 3 hours(she was a blast) she was a blue eyed blond who had no idea and she has 11% African DNA and she couldn't wait to buy kits for her parents(she is married to a black guy and her parent took issue with it so she thinks it's funny that one of her parents may have more than her lol.
Any way I found who I think the common ancestor may be, a 2nd great grandfather who was in the UK during WW1, I found his army orders sending him there, he was listed as mullato and pictures I found he could pass for an south Italian or southern Greek, I'm guessing he had fun over there, but he was not that far back it's possible he could have been alive in my lifetime if he made it to his 90's how would nobody there know about him or Rumers of him?
Last edited by in_newengland; 02-10-2021 at 09:15 AM..
Reason: punctuation & paragraphs to make it more readable
Statistically, it's not likely for white people in the US to have unknown African ancestry, in a study, only about 1.4% of people who identified as "European American" had 2+% African ancestry: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4289685/
People in the UK are probably even less likely to have unknown African ancestry than this, because only about 3% of the population is black (in comparison to the US where about 13-14% of the population is black). So the surprise makes sense, it's just unlikely and not the norm.
Although the UK suffered less from the racial issues the US dealt/deals with, and therefore there would be less motive to hide a black ancestor in the UK, if your theory is correct about your 2nd great grandfather leaving babies behind while he was stationed there during WWI, we are probably talking about unwed mothers who might have put them up for adoption. You say he was light skinned, so his children with white women probably would have easily passed as white, and with an adoption, knowledge of the ancestry was likely lost. Back then, people often didn't talk about adoption, so the whole thing may have been kept quiet - his child(ren) might not have even known they were adopted, let alone that they had a biological father of mixed race. Alternatively, he might have had affairs with married women who were able to pass the baby off as white/their husband's, hence the need for secrecy.
You say most of your white ancestors came to the Americas during colonial times, but what about the others? And how much DNA exactly do you share with these white estimated 2nd and 3rd cousins?
I'm not sure why Europeans living in a country that had virtually no black people before living memory would *not* be surprised by having African ancestry especially if they have no family story or any physical characteristics like darker skin to hint at anything unusual.
One thing I have noticed in those Youtube reaction videos to DNA test results is that a lot of American blacks are quite surprised when they find out they have significant European ancestry.
We simply fool ourselves, or our family does, into thinking one way or another and then a DNA test shatters the myth. I don't think any one racial group has cornered the market on the mythology of pure or mixed ancestry. I'm German/Pomeranian, Ukrainian, Irish, and colonial English/Dutch and that is a lot to sort through. I have Black DNA cousins at some genetic distance and a bit curious how that came about but there are too many branches on both sides to find a match.
One of the most bizarre angles to this is the many people who are upset that they have no Indian ancestry. The story that great-great-grandma was a Cherokee Princess is a myth? How could that be? (How many Cherokee Princesses were there?)
I'm not sure why Europeans living in a country that had virtually no black people before living memory would *not* be surprised by having African ancestry especially if they have no family story or any physical characteristics like darker skin to hint at anything unusual.
One thing I have noticed in those Youtube reaction videos to DNA test results is that a lot of American blacks are quite surprised when they find out they have significant European ancestry.
I think a lot of people (not only African Americans) don't realize just how prevalent slave rape was. I think we all know it happened, and maybe we even assume it probably happened at least once in the ancestry of most African Americans descended from slavery. But when one's parents, grandparents, and great grandparents are all black, people probably just assume it was so far back that it wouldn't be a significant amount, or maybe even not enough to show up on a DNA test at all. The fact that the average African American is about 24% European, even among people who have traced their ancestry back to slavery and there's no more recent white ancestor found, only proves just how common it was. It's pretty disturbing when you think about how common it must have been for this to be the case.
We simply fool ourselves, or our family does, into thinking one way or another and then a DNA test shatters the myth. I don't think any one racial group has cornered the market on the mythology of pure or mixed ancestry. I'm German/Pomeranian, Ukrainian, Irish, and colonial English/Dutch and that is a lot to sort through. I have Black DNA cousins at some genetic distance and a bit curious how that came about but there are too many branches on both sides to find a match.
One of the most bizarre angles to this is the many people who are upset that they have no Indian ancestry. The story that great-great-grandma was a Cherokee Princess is a myth? How could that be? (How many Cherokee Princesses were there?)
Technically, there were no Cherokee Princesses at all. There may have been a lot of daughters of Cherokee chiefs, because there were a lot of chiefs (there were multiple chiefs within a tribe), or there may have been a lot of female chiefs/leaders, either of which could have been confused with, mistranslated as, or romanticized as "princess" by white people - but it's a misnomer.
I have not done my dna, but several relatives have. I've been told that various people have >1-8% African ancestry. My brother results showed less than 2% African at one time I think. I think the last time I saw it, it was >1% Congo. Since the others also have Congo, I'm dismissing it even if it is a small number.
I'm not exactly sure where this comes in, but I do know it's most likely on my dad's side since we know that at least one of the descendants of the slave/slaveholder family married back into the main family.
As kids, my parents never discussed our ancestry from my father's side in detail. Only when one of my brothers had learned the "n" word from some kids, then later said the word to another kid, did my mother slip up and tell us we had a black great grandparent. We were living in a very racist town at the time so my parents were afraid to let us know the whole story as to what was in our backgrounds.
My mother later realized that in her anger over what my brothers did, she let the cat out of the bag. I was 8 years old at the time. The next day I asked her about the great grandparent. Her response was to lie and say she never said such a thing. I knew better than to argue so I didn't bring it up again.
My father wasn't close to his extended family but reconnected with them when I was a teen. Seeing them and meeting them told me a lot about my background. Finally, when we were adults, did my parents admit to it.
So...when I got my DNA test done, it showed what I fully expected it to show --- I'm 1/8 black. I also have some Amerindian blood, too.
Times have changed. Our daughter learned quite young as to what was in her background. We never kept the facts from her.
Thus, I can understand how many people, after having done a DNA test, are very surprised as to what it reveals.
As kids, my parents never discussed our ancestry from my father's side in detail. Only when one of my brothers had learned the "n" word from some kids, then later said the word to another kid, did my mother slip up and tell us we had a black great grandparent. We were living in a very racist town at the time so my parents were afraid to let us know the whole story as to what was in our backgrounds.
My mother later realized that in her anger over what my brothers did, she let the cat out of the bag. I was 8 years old at the time. The next day I asked her about the great grandparent. Her response was to lie and say she never said such a thing. I knew better than to argue so I didn't bring it up again.
My father wasn't close to his extended family but reconnected with them when I was a teen. Seeing them and meeting them told me a lot about my background. Finally, when we were adults, did my parents admit to it.
So...when I got my DNA test done, it showed what I fully expected it to show --- I'm 1/8 black. I also have some Amerindian blood, too.
Times have changed. Our daughter learned quite young as to what was in her background. We never kept the facts from her.
Thus, I can understand how many people, after having done a DNA test, are very surprised as to what it reveals.
Did you ever learn the name and details about your black great grandfather? Or the circumstances with your great grandmother? As a genealogist, that's fascinating stuff, I would be digging as deeply as I could.
I'm a South Carolinian and my family goes back generations there. On my father's side, white Germans.
I would not be surprised at all to have African roots on my mother's side.
My husband's family goes back generations in North Carolina. I'm almost positive he has some Native American blood.
No biggie either way.
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