Twas A Surprise In Her DNA

Lil Sis had her DNA analyzed.  Yay, this could be interesting, and it was!

As we sat in the Subway booth she started out saying there was a surprise in her DNA results.  (That means my DNA holds a thrill, too, you know.) What could this surprise possibly be?   For one thing, we’d always heard that our great-great grandmother thought we had some Blackfoot Indian blood.  Then there’s always a chance, because of U.S. history, that there might be some African-American blood in us as well, so wonder what could be the surprise. 

Whenever you get your DNA tested at Ancestry.com they keep a record and match it to various other applicants’ markers so they can offer up possible relatives.  If other applicants used a pseudonym you couldn’t tell, but if they used their real name, Voila!  You could tell.  Sure enough there were some.

She scrolled through the list bringing up a name of a woman that we’d always been told was a distant cousin.   She scrolled on down to where there was another and this time it was a playmate!  Our cousin, mom’s sister’s daughter, was right there with married surname and correct middle initial.  We, Lil Sis, Middle Sis, and I, seated around the table concluded that this analysis must be reliable ‘cause right in her hands was the proof from 3 corners of the world.

Dad had traced our paternal ancestry to Ireland many years ago, so this we knew.  Mom’s last name was unmistakably German.

Being inquisitive I asked, “Do we have African-American blood?”  Nope.

Okay, “Do we have American-Indian blood?”  Nope.  Whoa.  That was a surprise.

“Was that the surprise?”  Nope.  Something else she asserted.

So the results came back:

41% Britain/Ireland  (“Scotch Irish” of Northern Ireland)

28% Scandinavia – Viking era stuff that would have been precursors to Scottish and German people

19% Western Europe (German)

8% Iberian Peninsula (Spanish/Portuguese)

3% European unidentified

1% unidentified

The surprise?  The 8% Iberian Peninsula!  Spain!

One sis pondered, “Maybe that’s why the Spanish language comes easy to us.” 

Interestingly, Middle Sis has very dark hair and high cheekbones; she must be a bit of a Spaniard.

Finally, sitting nearby, my husband chimed in,  “But your Dad called her “Frenchy”.

Chuckling, I countered,  “He was one nation off!”