23andme.com -- Fun family project

Our family has gotten interested in our DNA ancestry. We ordered some kits of 23andme.com and got some results that we thought we'd share. The kits are $99 each. After you mail them back, the results take 2 or 3 weeks.

Looks are deceiving and DNA doesn't lie. :) I would have bet you a bunch of money that Bobcat had a Turkish ancestor, but the results don't show that. I've got the palest skin on the planet (kids used to call me Casper when I was a kid :), a lot of red in my hair and green eyes. It makes a lot of sense as my results show over 55% British and Irish. We heard the family stories of Native American and African, and the results show that they are (ever so slightly) there. But, had no clue of the South Asian -- and that's even more prevalent in the DNA.

Anyway, here are our results. They have started a wonderful family conversation and your family might enjoy participating as well.

Here's Bobcat: 99.80% European

Northern European
11.50% British & Irish
9.20% French & German
1.20% Scandinavian
26.70% Broadly Northern European
26.80% Eastern European

Southern European
6.70% Balkan
0.20% Iberian
0.10% Sardinian
4.90% Broadly Southern European
2.00% Ashkenazi (Jewish)
10.60% Broadly European
0.20% Unassigned


Here's me: 99.40% European

Northern European
55.30% British & Irish
4.60% French & German
3.00% Scandinavian
33.10% Broadly Northern European

Southern European
0.70% Italian
0.60% Broadly Southern European
2.20% Broadly European

0.20% South Asian
0.10% East Asian & Native American
0.10% Middle Eastern & North African
0.10% Broadly Middle Eastern & North African
0.20% Unassigned

Hee hee - or, in other words, 100% American mutt! :) As am I, seeing as my Swedish ancestors were the ones with black hair, and my French Canadian ones were the blondes - exact opposite of stereotypes!

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Originally Posted by Karen

Hee hee - or, in other words, 100% American mutt! :)

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Totally -- and proud of it. :) Instead of Caspar, I think I'll go by Heinz 57 from now. :)

That's pretty neat, so glad you did the tests! What fun.

Not much point in me doing it, as I've already done lots of family tree research. Dad's side is Sicilian from way way back. Mum, her father was English back to the Saxons. Her mother was . . . well, her folks (Mum's grands on both sides) were born in Britain, but the next gneration back were Italian! LOL. My Mum did not know this, and having grown up in England during the Blitz, she was VERY British. When I learned this, I thought Mum was going to scream or faint, she was just so shocked, ha haaa. She did speak with one of her older sisters about it, who'd heard stories (before WW II started) and could confirm.

Wow, that is so interesting! I'm digging into ancestry, this time on my mother's side. I have info as far back back as 1737 when my mother's ancestor came to Denmark from Germany. Would really like to trace him further back.

My father's family I have traced back to 1809 on the male side of the family. Most of my father's uncles emigrated to the US. Have only found one of those families, though.

Please understand that I'm not casting aspersions on anyone else's family, but we have found that not everything documented or recorded in the family bible is the whole truth. That's why we wanted to do the DNA test.

There are siblings in our family that love each other very much but always wondered why they were so different. Their DNA showed that they have different ancestry. Their parents are gone now, so whether the father that raised them knew or not -- or cared, they do not know.

Julie, a friend who is adopted, does not have any intention of looking for her birth parents, but she is anxiously awaiting her results. I hope she shares them with me as I've always wondered where she got her pale, pale skin, coal black hair, and unique golden/bronze/whiskey colored eyes.

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Originally Posted by kuhio98

Julie, a friend who is adopted, does not have any intention of looking for her birth parents, but she is anxiously awaiting her results. I hope she shares them with me as I've always wondered where she got her pale, pale skin, coal black hair, and unique golden/bronze/whiskey colored eyes.

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That sounds like my Dad - coal black hair that started turning silver by the time he was in his mid-twenties, and what we call in our family the "funny-colored hazel eyes. They seem to change color depending on the weather or anything else, and Dad's Army papers showed three different eye colors - one for each time he "re-upped" = brown (they were never dark enough to be brown, but maybe it was a dark room) and then blue, then on the last one, they finally admitted hazel was an option. Dad's eyes were any range of color from khaki (I swear - one day he put on an old aArmy cap and it matched his eyes) to gold to bronze with greenish flecks (big brother, eldest niece, etc. have the same eyes) but they were never blue. I questioned him, and his answer was, "Maybe it was a really bright day, and the guy filling out the forms was color blind!"