Always thought I was German.

didimauw · Mar 19, 2017

But turns out I'm mostly Scandinavian! My dad was adopted, and never wanted to know his biological parents. Well since he's passed now and I have a daughter, I figured I should try to find out more about my background.
My father in law got me a DNA test from ancestry.com and I got my results today. I'm of viking heritage! (Well kind of, you know)
My Stanwell is already my favorite pipe, but is only 3 years old so I don't think it's from Denmark. But now I'm looking into Nos Stanwells.
Anyone else do the Ancestry DNA kit?

jerry · Mar 19, 2017

My wife and I did MeAnd23. No surprises for me, but my wife, who was adopted, and knew nothing about her biological parents, not only found out her ancestry ... but found a half-brother (same birth father) who is also in that database and was open to connecting with previously unknown relatives. Amazing!

tuold · Mar 19, 2017

Now that you have your DNA results tie them to a family tree you create at Ancestry.com. You may find more surprises and make some interesting connections like jerry mentions.
I did my wife's tree and found out a lot of information about her grandfather who was born in Spain, immigrated to Cuba to fight the Americans in the Spanish/American war, lost, but resettled in Puerto Rico. He never became an American citizen so my wife is eligible for duel US/Spain citizenship. (Which is just a curiosity. She's not planning on doing that)
My wife made a trip the small town in Northern Spain where her grandfather was born and had a very good meeting the mayor and local residents.She was able to get a copy of her grandfather's birth certificate there, so we were able to add the information found on that document to her family tree and the Ancestry.com data base.
I could go on about all the cool stuff at Ancestry.com and what a huge, enjoyable time sink a membership can be, but I'll let you find that out yourself :D

didimauw · Mar 19, 2017

Yes I found a possible first cousin I never knew about, and tried to contact her. We will see.

didimauw · Mar 19, 2017

And yes I started Tree, but don't have the funds to take it anywhere. I will bee purchasing a subscription soon! My wifes grandma traced their fault ask the way back to the Salem witch trials! (Really explains a lot...Haha)

mso489 · Mar 19, 2017

Certainly due some serious consideration by anyone. Families tend to affiliate with one particular ethnic or national background, but often a family is much more complex than that. Family politics will exaggerate one aspect and downplay another that may be predominant. People are a lot more interesting and complex than they think.

conlejm · Mar 19, 2017

We did the AncestyDNA last year. I was always told I was German, Dutch, and English. Turns out I am German, Dutch, and IRISH, with a bit of Scandanavian and Iberian Penninsula. Not English! St. Patrick's Day was festive this year indeed!
This stuff is fascinating. You can upload your raw data to sites like Promethease and find out your health concerns and benefits; e.g. proclivity for various cancers and other medical conditions.

zitotczito · Mar 19, 2017

For all those inclined, enjoy.
For me no way, I have had my personnel OPM records hacked, security screening, finger prints and my DNA and possibly retina scan are the only things left that are not compromised. So no way is my DNA profile getting into any data base for any reason.

mso489 · Mar 19, 2017

zito', a salient point. I knew there was some reason I've been dragging my feet.

deathmetal · Mar 19, 2017

Always read the contract. Who owns the information? The 23andme contract definitely bears further scrutiny.
http://www.ethnicelebs.com/
Another great way to waste time on a fascinating pursuit.
In my experience, people tend to marry people who are like them.

anthonyrosenthal74 · Mar 19, 2017

So did you trade in your lederhosen for a bunad? :D

warren · Mar 19, 2017

Now see, I married a lady much better educated than I, from a big city (Chicago, very whimsical and analytical. She was the complete opposite of me and my upbringing. Thirty-six years we lasted, would have been much longer but, she up and died on me.
Marrying "up" was the absolute best thing to happen to me. Every man should strive to do the same. For most of us it shouldn't be hard to do.

rigmedic1 · Mar 19, 2017

I don't know that I would want to have a DNA test for heritage purposes. Traced my family back to 1780. I was raised believing I was Irish and French descent, though I also know that I have a Hispanic great grandfather and English great great grandmother. I enjoyed the Irish tradition on my Fathers side, and the Cajun on my mom's. I always figured I was more French than Irish though. Would be a shock to find out that I was genetically something else. Besides, is it that important? Would it effect my happiness? I don't know. There is a lot of everything in all of us, but I am a product of the melting pot of America. Go back far enough, and we all come from a fish that grew legs and crawled up on land, or we all came from somewhere in the Middle East after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. I am good with it. Inside, we are all all pretty much the same.

wyfbane · Mar 19, 2017

I am Irish, German/French, Scandinavian, and Italian (in that order). All great pipe making countries. lol

tuold · Mar 20, 2017

conlejm wrote:

You can upload your raw data to sites like Promethease and find out your health concerns and benefits;

I did the same thing. It's amazing how they are able to build a physically accurate profile of who you are from your DNA sample.
I found out a few things I brought up with my doctor at my last annual exam. It is useful information, but there is so much of it that you have to take some time and look at the whole picture.
As far as the security/privacy concerns go, it would definitely be a concern at some point for a young person in case somebody decided to use negative information to deny you employment, insurance or possibly use it for some sort of blackmail. I'm at the age where I'm beyond those concerns. For me, having the information has more benefits than drawbacks. My kids will benefit from it too.

deathmetal · Mar 20, 2017

Inside, we are all all pretty much the same.

I am not a number; I am a free man!

mso489 · Mar 20, 2017

National and ethnic identity is an interesting phenomenon. My dad's family always played up their English ancestry, but my grandma was Scotch-Irish. When I finally went to UK in my 30's, I saw the family name on a plaque in Westminster Abbey (honoring a choir director, hmmm). But in terms of family traits, the English seemed much more relaxed and less uptight than they seem on TV, though the class lines and resulting frustrations can be painful. But when I crossed into Scotland, the cultural traits were all my dad -- hearty, solicitous toward children, a little brusque. Even the body language was much more recognizably familial. If I found out there was other ethnicity in my DNA, it would be interesting to discover if I had any impulse to reclaim that, or if it would just be of interest but not impelling. I think I would feel foolish trying to act out some newly discovered culture at this point in my life, but I could be surprised.

kanaia · Mar 20, 2017

My wife was told she had some American Indian blood. Test comes back and she has more Neanderthal 3% to Indian 0%. Thought it was pretty funny.

indianafrank · Mar 20, 2017

I'm afraid of doing a DNA test.
I've been Italian for so long that if the results came back that I was something else I'm afraid I couldn't handle it. It'd be like I've been living a lie all these years.
My entire life revolves around pizza, pepperoni, homemade pasta, spaghetti sauce, meatballs, homemade dago wine, fontenella cheese, linguini, canolies...and a 5 course meal at Xmas time.

didimauw · Mar 21, 2017

Kanaia... Neanderthal?? Is this a joke? Care to elaborate?

Always thought I was German.

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