Revised DNA Results

I submitted my DNA (by spitting in a tube) to ancestry.com back in February of 2016. I reported on the results in *1. I thought it was a pretty good confirmation of the ancestral research I had done at that point. A summary of my results was:

·       Ireland – 22%

·       European Jew – 20%

·       Great Britain – 19%

·       Europe West – 14%

·       Scandinavia – 14%

·       Other regions such as Iberian Peninsula, Finland, Europe East, Caucasus, Middle East – total of 11%

But ancestry.com doesn’t just give you this breakdown and let it stand forever. As they collect more and more results they are able to refine that breakdown. Recently I received my updated breakdown which was as follows:

·       England, Wales & Northwestern Europe – 76%

·       European Jewish – 16 %

·       Ireland and Scotland – 5%

·       Sweden – 3%

·       There were no other trace amounts

Not only have the percentages changed, but the names of the regions have been updated. These updated results are much closer to the percentages I would have expected based on my genealogical research. Let me look at them in reverse order.

·       Sweden (a refinement of Scandinavia) both of my parent’s surnames (Russell & Pierpont) originated in Normandy. But Normandy was conquered by the Vikings about 1000 years ago, so there being a small here is expected.

·       Ireland and Scotland – I have two ancestors from this area, my great-great-grandmother, Anna Soan, from Ireland and the great*6 grandfather, Robert Russell, from Scotland. The combination of these two would account for about 3-4%, so a result of 5% is within the margin of error.

·       European Jew – my great-grandfather, Maurice Levy, had all Jewish ancestors. The expected 12.5% compared to 16% is also with the margin of error.

·       The former regions of England and Europe West have been combined into tis new region. Since all my other ancestors were from this part of Europe, the 76% is a much better match than the former breakdown into multiple, often trace, regions.

I am very pleased with these new results.

Of course, I also got an updated breakdown for my wife. I had reported on her original results earlier this year (*2). They were:

·          Europe West – 44%

·          Great Britain – 30%

·          Europe East – 17%

·          Ireland/Scotland/Wales – 3%

·          Europe South – 3%

·          Caucasus – 1%

·          Scandinavia – <1%

·          European Jewish – <1%

The same sort of combining and refining of regions was also true for her with the following revised results:

·          England, Wales, Northwestern Europe – 50%

·          Germanic Europe – 21%

·          Ireland and Scotland – 12%

·          Eastern Europe and Russia – 9%

·          France – 8%

From the top down this time:

·           England, etc. – this reflects the combination of her maternal grandfather as well as many individuals who married into her father’s family

·           Germanic Europe – this reflects her maternal grandmother and within the margin of error for an expected 25%, but see also Eastern Europe below

·           Ireland and Scotland – I thought that the percentages in the original breakdown were too small, so the increase here is what I would have hoped for

·           Eastern Europe and Russia – the Cincush family were from the part of Germany that is now Poland, so it’s not unexpected that some of their DNA reflects this Eastern Europe part of the continent

·           France – this region has a lot of overlap with both the England and Germanic Europe regions.

Again, I am pleased with the results, especially as the “trace regions” have now been eliminated and the percentages are closer to what my genealogical research would have expected.

*1 – http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2016/03/dna-testing-lots-of-confirmation-and.html

*2 – http://ramblinrussells.blogspot.com/2018/03/dna-validation-for-my-wife.html