I am What?!?! & A Toast to Being Irish!

 If you ever do a DNA test to check on your ancestral origins I have found out that it will change as the pool of folks who also test on whatever company's website changes.

As more people are included in the genetic pool it will affect how your DNA is read and placed into certain ethnicities.

This past weekend for some reason I went and took another look at mine, my son's and my brother's DNA results again.  I initially had my DNA tested in 2013 and my son and brother's both tested in 2015.

Back then my results came back in a pie chart form........

My DNA was 98.86% Western European(they had a 1.44% margin of error back then so it "could" have been 100% Western Europe).

It also came back with a 100% makeup of Orcadian population.  This refers to the Orkney Islands off the coast of Scotland(which are part of modern day Scotland)so includes Scottish, English, Irish, and then Viking and other Scandinavian populations.

So when I went back recently to look this is how my DNA results have changed.

First my map(they highlight places on a map now instead of using a pie chart....

You'll notice I have 3 areas highlighted--Ireland, Finland and the areas around Greece.
And here is my % breakdown....

Europe 100%

Western Europe
Ireland 95%

Southern Europe
Greece & Balkans 4%

Finnish
Finland  <2%

GREEK?!  WTF and where the heck did that come from?!? lolz  Well I do like Greek food. ;-)
And now ALL my Western European DNA is Irish?

Now let's compare my DNA with my brother's(and yes, we are full siblings so nobody was adopted nor did one of our parents have an affair or something).........

Brother's map.......

Areas highlighted include Iceland, Sweden, Norway-Finland-United Kingdom-Ireland-Poland, Denmark, Germany, Austria and France.  And you'll notice how his areas overlap too, one with another.

But the glaring difference you'll notice is he has no Greek or Balkans like I do!

And his % breakdown.......

100%
Western Europe

Ireland 56%
Central Europe 36%
England, Wales, and Scotland 4%
Scandinavia 4%

Finnish
Finland <1%

Lastly, let's take a look at my son's map.  Note that half son's DNA comes from Hubs.  Hubs ancestry is 50% Italy from his father and his mother gave him Dutch, German mostly but a little bit of Irish and English.

Son's % breakdown......

Europe 100%

Western Europe
Ireland 43%
Central Europe 29%
England, Wales, and Scotland 7%

Southern Europe
Italian Peninsula 13%
Malta 5%
Greece & Balkans 3%

So if you take out the Southern Europe piece(Italian Peninsula and Malta which obviously isn't from my side)son's map looks mostly like my brother's map rather than mine!  Except son has that weird Greek thing like I do.

So my son on paper could be my brother's son rather than mine! lolz

Now if you combine mine and my brother's maps it makes sense to what the paper trail so far has been...well, except that Greece & Balkans thing.  And I suspect that something I've been pondering about my Y-DNA may be true and if so, it would have made my father happy.

More on that later.

For now let's raise a green beer or rather a good Irish beer(I'll take a Guiness Stout!)and celebrate our Irish heritage.

The Irish, much like the Jews, Africans who were enslaved in various countries and others have experienced a Diaspora of their people from their homeland over the last few centuries.

First the English tried to eradicate the Irish and take over Ireland itself by force, giving their lands away to Scottish peoples who emigrated to the Emerald Isle.  Then the English and the Ulster Scots used the 2 Potato Famines to starve out the Irish and the Irish natives began a mass exodus in the 1840's to the lands west-the US, Canada and Australia mostly.  Some Irish were also part of the "transportation" scheme whereas England got rid of any poor and/or criminal element by shipping them overseas to one of various English colonies. 
The Irish who fled to the US's eastern cities(especially New York and Boston)didn't find a hearty welcome.  Being new immigrants they were at the bottom of the food chain and there were "No Irish Need Apply" signs  everywhere. 
The only group that welcomed the Irish off the ships in the North was the US military if  a ship arrived after the start of the War Between the States(1861-1865).  Recruiters for the Union army met arriving ships at the harbors to sign newly arriving Irish emigrants up to fight in the war for the Yanks.  Not even citizens they were asked to die for this country in battle yet no business would give them a job thus many had no alternative but to muster in.
The Irish had a rough start in the US but over time and due to their ability to overcome oppression have survived and thrived here in America.

If you descend from the great Brian Boru or not(and if you have ancestors with the surname of O'Brien you  are)let's wish Sláinte to our tribe!

I post this song every St. Patty's Day....

Here are some more Irish bands or songs for your enjoyment.....

And lets close with this lovely traditional song......

Sluggy

Be Careful What You Wish For....

I know someone who decided to do a DNA test.  I had already done her family tree(the paper trail)for her and a distant ancestor on the tree is supposedly Native American.

The reason she wanted to do the DNA testing was to "find" her Native American ancestry.  She wanted to find that ancestry so she could apply to a tribe and be among the folks who could reap some sort of benefit(casino monies, health benefits, etc.).

First off, there is no record of this NA ancestor recorded in any tribal roles that anyone can find.  The fact that she "is" NA is only through family stories-both in this person's family and I have found it attached to other family trees that this ancestor is in. 

This direct ancestor is a 3 x great grandparent of the person who wants to know and she was born circa. 1810.  Having a lone NA ancestor stretching back 200 or so years ago means that chances of having any of their actual DNA recombining into what got handed down over 4 generations to her is a slim chance at best.

The only sure fire(easy)way to know you have NA ancestry is if it's your Y DNA line(your father's father's father's on back line)or your mitochondrial DNA line(your mother's mother's mother's on back line)puts you into a NA haplogroup.  If you are lucky enough, being male and your Y haplogroup is Q or C with certain mutations or being a female and your mtDNA haplogroup is X2 then you have proof easily of NA ancestry even if your ethnicity breakdown doesn't show any % of NA ancestry.
Ok this is getting too complicated but you get my drift(I hope).

We can narrow down(if this ancestor was indeed Native)potential tribes she could have belonged to according to where this family in question was from.  Ancestor in question was born in North Carolina so she could have been  Chowanoke, Croatoan, Hatteras, Moratoc, Secotan, Weapemeoc, Machapungo, Pamlico, Coree, Neuse river, Tuscarora, Meherrin, Cherokee, Cape Fear, Lumbee, Catawba, Shakori, Sissipahaw, Sugeree, Waccamaw, Waxhaw, Woccon, Cheraw, Eno, Keyauwee, Occaneechi, Saponi, or Tutelo Indians.  Some of these tribes are extinct and only 8 are recognized by the state of NC(and only Eastern Band of Cherokee in NC are recognized federally).

Not being found in a tribal role means there is no way to know which tribe she belonged to either so even if her DNA test came back and found any NA ancestry there is no way to know which NA tribe she should apply to.

The only way at that point to pinpoint the ancestors tribe would be if another person was a DNA match to my friend AND they had NA ancestry too(and the match was on that line of her family)AND documentation for that other person's NA ancestor was available.  Add in the fact that very few people with Eastern NA ancestry have DNA tested and it becomes a real big crap shoot to find any information that would help my friend in her NA search.

"Belonging" to a NA tribe nowadays is more cultural and not just genetic, according to your DNA markers.  This friend did NOT grow up in any NA culture or on a reservation(much like Elizabeth Warren did not)so really her applying to a tribe, if she could find which tribe, to reap some sort of monetary(or other)benefit is IMHO inappropriate.

Anyway this person took a DNA test for this reason without me knowing about it until after the fact.

So I am on the phone with this person, she is, for lack of a better term, "very white" and she opens her DNA result while on the phone with me, and there is no NA DNA(but then again, it's the Ancestry company test which isn't thought to be very accurate by professional genetic genealogists).

Crestfallen, she reads off her % of each ethnicity and at the bottom she comes to an ethnicity that is 2% Benin/Togo.

Um, WHAT?!?!  She didn't even know what that meant so I had to break it to her that Benin and Togo peoples are from Africa.

Yep, I don't think she believes it even now, months later.  She went looking for her inner "Indian Princess" and found out she's a "Soul Sistah".  ;-)

Just a warning that if you go digging into your DNA and/or Ancestry be careful what you wish for and be prepared for anything!

Sluggy