Ancestry.com started a new DNA testing program that is open by invitation only while it is in Beta testing. Because I've been a customer for quite awhile, I received an email invitation to take part in this program and they were offering a significant discount to those who accepted. Having seen the testing done on Finding Your Roots, the PBS show about celebrity genealogy, I was intrigued to find out what my DNA would say about my ancestors. My own research has shown that most of my ancestors from both my father's and my mother's families came from the British Isles to the American colonies in the early 1600s. While I figured I would have predominantly British ancestry, I was still surprised when the results came back as
100% British Isles. No traces of intermingling genes with marauding Vikings or Barbarians, no evidence of dalliances with Frenchmen, Germans, or Italians...I seem to be about as white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant as it is possible for one to be. A bit boring to some but it does make tracing ancestors a bit easier.
It does seem to explain my love for the British Isles. And why it is that I felt so comfortable and at home whenever I've visited England or Scotland. So I'll continue to embrace my ancestors and the culture I love. I'll find diversity in friends to make up for the lack of diversity in my genes. I had a great time last year helping my students trace their family trees to Italy, Scandinavia, and Germany.
