Genetics / genealogy

[T'Bonz]

We've done the testing - my dad's side is in the I Haplogroup, which is in high concentrations in Scandinavia and the Balkans. His side goes all the way back to the 1600s in Bavaria, not far from the Austrian border. But given my dad and his dad and his grandfather were blond with blue eyes, I lean towards Scandinavian roots way back in time (not something I'll ever be able to prove).

Mom's side is J1B1, which supposedly routes out of Britain. My furthest back ancestor on that side is from Gloucestershire born around 1810, so that fits. I've not figured out her family to go back further in England - poor people didn't leave a lot of records. :/

I've recently discovered that in addition to my English, Welsh, Scottish, Irish (both kinds), German and Hungarian ancestry, that I also have Swiss and Austrian ancestry. I wouldn't be surprised to see French pop up at some point.

 

[Gryffindorian]

Gryffindorian, my maternal haplogroup wasn't very earthshattering either. I'm really only trying to go back far enough to figure out where that 25% Ashkenazi came from. My haplogroup isn't one of the ones that's almost always Ashkenazic, but it sometimes is Ashkenazic. So it doesn't help at all.

For me, it's quite interesting to meet people of mixed blood. Most Asians like myself have such a homogeneous background, as reflected by my DNA testing results.

I remember growing up in the old country, and whenever my parents helped me fill out an application (for school, immigration, etc.), it always asked for my race/ethnicity. Most people in my country would write down "MAL," and back then I thought it meant Malaysian. But it actually meant Malay or Malayo-Polynesian, which is part of the Austronesian subroup.

Now here in the U.S., the racial classifications are much different: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, Native American, etc. Sometimes there's even a separate category for Filipino, Japanese, or Korean, as though we weren't considered Asians. I suppose in a way, I could be a Pacific Islander.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

And then there's the confusion caused by the term caucasian. I was once helping a few refugees from the former USSR fill out some form that asked for race, and when I told them to check caucasian, they got all indignant. "I wasn't born in the Caucasus!" Took a bit of explaining.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Except for the census, I don't think I have ever had to identify my race on a form. Most forms do ask if you identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander but Aboriginals don't have to tick yes if they don't want to. THere is also usually also a question asking if your first language in something other than English.

Even on the census, if I remember correctly the question is about your place of origin. For example a black American would only identify himself as American not as black.

 

[Mary Ann]

I have a highly unusual maiden name. My family is mostly from the Netherlands (a great-great grandfather came from Switzerland, which is why my maternal grandmother had a German surname), but my maiden name is not Germanic. We think it has French origins, and one of my aunts tried to trace the name's origins. This was a good 30 years ago, and she got back to the 1700s, but there was still no sign of the name's origins. It's something I'd like to pursue some day.

Fun fact: my maiden name contains a silent letter thanks to a misspelling on the birth certificate of my great-grandfather. Every once in a while I come across a stranger with my maiden name, but as I know of every relative who has the same misspelling I know these strangers are not related to me, or if they are, they go way, way back.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

... I can trace back to my great-great-great grandparents, at least on my mom's side.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I played around for free on Ancesty.com a while back and traced various family lines back to Britain and Ireland (no surprise) and Switzerland (a surprise). Not sure how accurate it was.

 

[SmoothieX]

I have not had genetic testing performed. However, my aunt did a full genealogy years ago B.C. [Before Computers]. On my mother's side we go back to the Mayflower through Captain Miles Standish.

For stuffing!!

As for my background - my family line started in the very cradle of life, Long Island.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

they'd have been in Turkey during the Liberation War (after the Greek occupation in 1919). It's not very likely that documents survived. On the other hand it's not completely impossible. How about writing to the authorities in Istanbul?

I contacted the Turkish Embassy. As we expected, there are no records from that time period. Their suggestion was that I go to Turkey and hire a private investigator. Just a bit beyond my budget. Moving right along...

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Auntiehill, I have some genealogy-obsessed in-laws, and it sounds like what your relatives have discovered isn't all that big a difference anyway, so I know where you're coming from, not being very interested. (Oops, no pun intended, honest.)

I got a pretty big surprise, though. My father's side of the family is as Italian as I'd expected. On the other side, I knew that my grandparents were born in Russian and Ukraine. Both were Russian Orthodox and raised my mother in that church. But... it turns out that one of them was genetically Ashkenazi Jewish. Now that was unexpected! It's most likely my grandmother (too tired to explain why her right now). Maybe she was adopted. Maybe her parents converted, either by choice or force, and kept it a secret from her. Or maybe she knew and just never told my mother or even my grandfather. Or maybe ancestors a generation or two back converted and then married within a community of other converts. Maybe..........

BTW, another possibility is that both grandparents had an Ashkenazi parent, but I've already tentatively ruled that out because it was so uncommon for Ashkenazim to marry gentiles, it seems unlikely that I'd have two ancestors who did it. Also, just because it's the most complicated possibility.

I love a good mystery!

If your mother's mother was Jewish, that makes you Jewish.

Ahem...welcome to the tribe!

Meetings are on Wednesdays. Newest members provide the snacks.

^ Thank you, ma'am. Snacks will be provided... after I confirm that it really is her family, not my grandfather's.

I still need to find a paper trail to prove that these people really are who I think they are, but…

I'm pretty sure I found a bunch of ancestors online. And since they'd be my mother's mother's mother and her parents and siblings, and they include names like Moisei and Rachel and Isaac, and I found them on The Family Tree of the Jewish People (JewishGen)...

I'll bring the snacks this Wednesday.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

congratulations! =)

 

[propita]

So you find out there’s tribesmen in your family line...and I find out I’m 1/4 Irish-Catholic!!

LOL!!

 

[thestrangequark]

My mom and sister actually had their DNA tested for fun a couple months ago. My younger sister did it, and she's my only full sibling, which is great because that basically gives me my results. Some of it was expected, but some was surprising! Apparently I am: 32% Scandinavian, 32% American Indian, 18% British Isles, an unexpected 12% Spanish/Italian/Portuguese, and 6% 'unknown.'

 

[iguana_tonante]

6% 'unknown.'

That's alien DNA, right?

 

[Gov Kodos]

6% 'unknown.'

That's alien DNA, right?

The whole strange thing is coming into focus now.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Well, "there is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion". Coincidence? I think not.

Part alien. Definitively.

 

[Thestral]

"Truth and wisdom," so it must be so.

Neat thread topic. For me I've never had any sort of genetic testing done, and it's been awhile since the family did any sort of genealogical research. Mom's side of the family is pretty homogenous - Pennsylvania Dutch (German) back to the 17th/18th century settlers, though I'm sure if we looked closely it'd be a little more complicated. Dad's side is more "mutt" - all of the British Isles, with French and possibly Dutch as well. We have the common story about a Cherokee woman marrying my great-great grandfather, though always just a regular person rather than a chief's daughter/princess.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Rhubarbodendron, thanks.

So you find out there’s tribesmen in your family line...and I find out I’m 1/4 Irish-Catholic!!

LOL!!

That's funny! It isn't your maternal grandmother, is it?

6% 'unknown.'

That's alien DNA, right?

Of course! I've got 3.3% "unassigned". I'm assuming it will be properly assigned when they get some full Vulcans to compare me to.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I thought it would be 1.65% Bajoran and 1.65% Cardassian.

 

[thestrangequark]

6% 'unknown.'

That's alien DNA, right?

Absolutely.

I am 4% Crystalline Entity and 2% Q.