Reese Withouterspoon
Outstanding Member
I may have mentioned previously that I'm a keen amateur genealogist and have been working on my own family research for the best part of 2 decades now. A couple of years ago I finally decided to take an Ancestry DNA test, after swearing blind that I never would. It didn't throw up anything very exciting - and nor has it opened the door to finding hundreds of distant cousins either but it was interesting to see that, as expected, I am not very exotic and the regions from where my ethnic origins arise tally very accurately with what I have been able to establish from documentary research of my own. i.e. all of my ethnicity percentages come from regions in the British Isles PLUS Norway. Ancestry has apparently now been refining some of its ethnicity estimates and it now provides a breakdown of the ethnicity percentages from each parent... and it's interesting to see that this more refined breakdown of ethnicity also tallies with my own research.
I have 89% ethnicity arising from the region of Scotland, with 4% Norway, 3% Wales, 2% England & NW Europe and 2% Ireland and indeed based upon what I know already, my 2% ethnicity estimate from England & NW Europe is from my Mum's side only - presumably via my 2 English great-grandmothers. On my Dad's side, that's where my 2% Irish ethnicity arises and my 4% Norwegian ethnicity presumably comes from my Shetland ancestors - also on my Dad's side.
The 3% Welsh ethnicity is more of a mystery but my Irish 2x great-grandfather was a Jones... so perhaps there's a Welsh connection via him.
I know these ethnicities are not nationalities and I also know they are estimates but it's been quite gratifying to know that my own documentary research bears out these findings and that I haven't veered off on completely the wrong track and that I'm only now discovering that I'm actually descended from Turks or Russians!
I have 89% ethnicity arising from the region of Scotland, with 4% Norway, 3% Wales, 2% England & NW Europe and 2% Ireland and indeed based upon what I know already, my 2% ethnicity estimate from England & NW Europe is from my Mum's side only - presumably via my 2 English great-grandmothers. On my Dad's side, that's where my 2% Irish ethnicity arises and my 4% Norwegian ethnicity presumably comes from my Shetland ancestors - also on my Dad's side.
The 3% Welsh ethnicity is more of a mystery but my Irish 2x great-grandfather was a Jones... so perhaps there's a Welsh connection via him.
I know these ethnicities are not nationalities and I also know they are estimates but it's been quite gratifying to know that my own documentary research bears out these findings and that I haven't veered off on completely the wrong track and that I'm only now discovering that I'm actually descended from Turks or Russians!