My DNA results are back!

I'm very excited to report that my DNA results came back from 23andMe last week. It was a busy week so I didn't get to examine them in much detail at the time. Now I'm digging into them and have high hopes for what they might yield in terms of family connections.

The 23andMe DNA test focuses quite extensively on health issues but I won't go into any of that. Of far more interest to readers of this blog is what the test reveals about my ancestry. In this post i will focus on what I've learnt about my connection to population groups around the world, and in future posts i will delve into my DNA relatives. At this point I scarcely know what the process of identifying DNA relatives entails so no promises about imminent genetic breakthroughs!

To recap the story thus far, my daughters bought me a DNA test kit for my birthday in January. While on holiday in England I supplied the requisite amount of saliva and sent off my sample. The sample made its way to the laboratory and was processed. Finally, I received an email containing a link to my results and all the detailed reports.

I learnt that my ancestry is 100% European, composed of the following:

59,4% British and Irish 18,1% French and German 3,2% Scandinavian

With reference to British and Irish ancestry, the evidence suggests that, in the last 200 years, my ancestors probably lived in greater London, greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, County Durham, Warwickshire, Derbyshire, Cornwall, North Yorkshire and Stoke-on-Trent. Guernsey and Ireland did not feature at all in terms of recent ancestry.

The French and German part of my ancestry relates to people descended from ancient Celtic and Germanic populations which spread from the Netherlands to Austria. My DNA test results suggest that, in the last 200 years, my ancestors were most likely to have lived in the Netherlands with Germany coming in as a "possible match". The researchers were unable to detect enough evidence of recent ancestry from Austria, Belgium, France, Luxembourg or Switzerland.

The portion of my ancestry connected to the Scandinavian countries of Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland is relatively small. My DNA report from 23andMe was unable to provide a detailed breakdown of where my relatives may have lived in the last 200 years. I guess this is because findings are based on matches in the data base and there are presently no matches, or perhaps too few matches to say anything for certain.

As for the rest of my ancestry composition, I have apparently inherited 0,6% of my DNA from Spanish and Portuguese populations, 18,5% from "Broadly North-Western European" populations, and 0,2% from "Broadly Southern European" populations. These last 2 categories exist because DNA is common to several specific populations dotted across a large area, reflecting the migration of people groups way back in history. There is also the possibility, not stated in the report, that this blended DNA could be linkked to royal lineages since the royal families of Europe are known to have intermarried for centuries. I shall make enquiries and bring you the answer when I have it!

Photo credit: "Map of England, Undated" by Nathan Hughes Hamilton.