Happy St. Patrick’s Day! I never felt much of a connection to March 17 until I had my DNA tested through Ancestry DNA. Then I discovered in that test that I’m 38% Irish. (That’s my pie chart in the picture.) I knew that Ireland was in my family tree, but I haven’t researched much that far back to realize that it was an important part of my heritage.
Growing up, Irish roots were never mentioned. All that came up was vague mention of England, though in reality our heritage wasn’t much discussed. That’s probably because there were no immigrants recent enough for my parents or grandparents’ to have known them. We always just felt American.
When I had my DNA tested, it was in an effort to meet cousins and further my genealogical research. (Understanding those results is an ongoing project.) The ethnicity component of didn’t even enter my mind. But today, St. Patrick’s Day, it feels nice to have a kinship with my Irish forebears, though I’m still learning about who they were.
If you’ve had your DNA tested were you surprised by the ethnicity results?
Janine,
I can only confirm on your Brown side, 3rd Great Grandparents James Brown and his wife Martha Simpson were both born in Ireland.
Jerry
Thanks, cousin. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
I also had my DNA tested. I was so surprised to find that I am 7% Irish and 3% Scandinavian. I fully expected to be about 75% Native American and ended up only being 51%. Still, very exciting and fun!
That’s very interesting, Maria. I agree it’s exciting and fun!
Interesting. My Ancestry DNA didn’t say ‘Irish’ specifically like yours, but I assumed (yes, I know what that means) that my 55% Great Britain included that. Until I saw yours and now wonder why it doesn’t. I then went to my 23 and Me site which did say Irish specifically. Things that me me go – hmm. But I’ve always known I was a German, Irish, Swede!
So 23andme said Irish and Ancestry DNA didn’t? That’s very interesting!
Yes.
Ancestry – 55% Great Britain, 25% Europe West (I’m assuming Germany), 12% Scandinavia, 3% Ireland (I did find it), and 3% Iberian Peninsula.
23&Me – 41% British/Irish, 12.2% German, 11.2% Scandinavian, 33.3% Northwestern European (not sure what that means) and 0.8% Iberian Peninsula.
Really the only thing between the 2 tests that is pretty much the same is the Scandinavia.
Very interesting!
I had my DNA tested twice and was surprised to find I had Scandinavian, Turkish, and Indian (from India) as well as Spanish, Italian and Syrian from both tests. I knew about the thirteen other roots from Eastern and Central Europe, but the “new” roots were quite a surprise!
That’s fun, isn’t it? Thanks for commenting.