DNA results

Mom's DNA test results came in yesterday.  It was like Christmas!  I can't wait to dive into her DNA matches and Shared Ancestors.

At first look, there is perplexing information in her test results.  Her ethnicity estimate was much different from mine. Hers came in at 14% Italian or Greek... I had none of that ethnicity in my own results.  I had Iberian Peninsula (Spain) in my results, but she showed none at all.  She has ancestors in Eastern Europe; I have ancestors in Western Europe.  I have no Scandinavian ancestry in my DNA. Why is our ethnicity so different?  Our DNA results prove that we have a parent/child relationship.

I spent some time last night looking through her DNA matches to see what common ancestors popped up.  While examining the first 3 pages of 7 pages of matches, I found many Allen ancestors from Virginia, but there were also many Allen ancestors from New England (NY, CT, MA).  There were many Hickox matches (no surprise there). I will have to revise my findings after I review all 7 pages of DNA matches.

I may have to open my mind to going in a different direction with my research.  I thought I had it all neatly wrapped up with proper documentation, but I realize there may be some false assumptions.  Stay tuned.

Mexico?

The oddest thing that has come out of my DNA matches is a link to several family trees that are almost entirely in Mexico.  And these are not distant cousins!  They are 4th cousins with a "very high" degree of confidence!

I cannot explain it.  One of those trees is also linked to the Allen ancestors, which is even more mystifying, though Augustus Allen lived closer to Mexico than anyone else in the family.

If you look at my DNA Ethnicity report, it shows that 10% of my genes come from the Iberian peninsula. That could explain any Spanish blood, but it would have been much further back than 4th cousins.  

Wondering... (I do a lot of wondering)....

The Results are In

Up until now, all of my research had been through various written sources, most of which has the potential to be misleading and laden with human error. 

Today, I got the results of my DNA test which will prove (or disprove) my research ABSOLUTELY and SCIENTIFICALLY.  I am nervous to open it.  I am overwhelmed at the thought of what I might find.  I wonder if I even have the capacity to comprehend it all.  I am afraid that I will be opening a can of worms that will take over my life.


The first part of the DNA results is easy to understand.  The Ethnicity estimate holds no surprises...99% European. Here is the more detailed breakdown:

The second part of the results is the overwhelming part. I have hundreds of new cousins with whom I share a significant amount of DNA. I can click on each of these new cousins to find out what surnames are common with my family tree, and which ones have common ancestors. I can even contact the cousin to share information.

I decided to click on each cousin's record to briefly scan over the surnames looking for the ones that are familiar to me. I barely even started going through the list when I came across the names that I was hoping to find, proving a biological connection to my maternal grandmother's parents. I think I will stop there for now.