I grew up with a general idea of family history on my dad’s side, but a vague idea for my mother’s. All I really knew about my ancestry was that there was a decent amount of Swedish on both sides. Research has always been something I enjoyed, so it was only a matter of time before I began researching my own family.
What I Knew – Maternal Ancestry
My maternal grandmother’s family came to the United States and shortly after, my grandmother was born. Then her mother died, and her father couldn’t afford to stay in the United States and take care of his children by himself. He also couldn’t afford to take everyone back to Sweden at once, so my grandmother was left in an orphanage. By the time he sent for her, she had already been adopted.
My maternal grandfather’s side is also a mystery because family history wasn’t something they really passed down, and there was no one we could ask. Research was difficult because they had very common names (almost John Smith-levels of common).
What I Knew – Paternal Ancestry
I knew there was more Swedish on my dad’s side, and I even knew the who and when for immigration. I also had a vague idea that there was some German ancestry somewhere, since a (multiple) great uncle (of some historical importance) is known to have German ancestry. Other than that, I didn’t know much about my dad’s side.
Trying the DNA test
I wanted to know more, so I jumped on the opportunity when I saw there was a sale on DNA test kits. The test arrived quickly, and it was really simple to do. I submitted my kit outside of a peak season, so my results came within about 4-6 weeks.
My results were unexpected.
Based on what I knew about my family, I expected my results would be mostly Swedish. I’m still a little over 30% Scandinavian, but that is broken up almost evenly between Sweden and Norway. After that, I’m almost 40% “England, Wales and Northern Europe”—whatever that means.
The result that surprised me the most is that I’m 29% Irish/Scottish. That result explains so much, like why I tan like a stereotypical Irish person. I was surprised because I didn’t have any idea this result was possible, and yet it accounted for nearly a third of my DNA.
I started tracing my family history.
After I received my results, I decided to trace my family history. I assumed the Irish would be from my paternal grandfather, since we knew absolutely nothing about his side. I was very surprised to find Irish ancestors on my father’s side, instead. I also found some German ancestors dating back further than the foundation of the United States, accounting for a small percentage of German DNA.
I have been able to find ancestors from Scandinavia, Germany and Ireland. What I haven’t been able to find is where the “England, Wales and Northern Europe” result comes from.
My mom took the test, too.
My mom eventually became curious about her own results, since she knows so little about her own family. We assumed she’d be 50% Scandinavian at the most, and everything else would be a hodgepodge of European results.
Again… wrong. My mom’s results showed she is almost 80% Scandinavian, which makes my maternal grandfather’s side even more interesting. After that, she’s mostly that weird “England, Wales and Northern Europe” classification (I have a larger percentage of that result than she does).
My overall take on DNA tests for Genealogy
I’m really glad I took the test. The results were not what I expected, and I have learned more about my family since then. For example, I have a (multiple great) grandmother who was born on a ship while her family was immigrating! (Can you imagine!?)
Take it from me – even if you think you know where your family comes from, you could easily be wrong.