Apparently I'm 3/4th British

[Distinct Lunatic]

 

I took the ancestry test around 2 years or so ago, and originally it said I was between 50-60% England and Wales, and around 30 something percent german. But then last year my results were updated, apparently as time goes on the communities they get samples from increases which allows them to refine and update results.

The last time my results updated I went up to 63% england and wales, and the germanic went down to like 14%, and then Ireland & Scotland rose to 14%. And then just yesterday my results updated again, to where the german part is gone completely, and I have mostly English/Welsh blood now.

I do think this is more accurate considering the last names of all 4 of my biological grandparents. On my dad's side their last name comes from England and also Wales, with his mom's last name it comes from England & Scotland. On my mom's side, she was adopted but her dad's last name is Sevier and is English, also interesting story about that, I was matched up on the site with a lady that's my mom's 1st cousin, her giving me the story on the family, and apparently we're related to the first governor of Tennessee. As for her mom though, her last name is Nordic I believe, so that explains the Swedish and Finland part.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Dread Pirate Roberts

[HardcoreHunter]

I know mine is German, English, Scots/Irish, French. Pretty much related to a bunch of royalty King James, Marry Queen of Scots, Henry the VIII, Robert the Bruce, Robert of France etc. Then the Graham line which eventually came to america in the 1700s. The german side of my family started with some doctor who came over and was a surgeon in the civil war. His grandchild ends up moving to Pittsburgh, becomes mayor, creates the cure for lock jaw (that shot that you get every 5 years) Then his grandson who'd have been my grandfather married my Grandmother who was in the Graham line which lead to my dad and eventually my brother and I. 

Really don't know if I should be proud to have a deep long ancestry, or depressed that all those years of nobility, and innovators led to "this". 

[tsar4]

Yeah, they've been refining things apparently.  Sweden had been on my list previously, then it dropped off for awhile, now it has reappeared.

[Distinct Lunatic]

32 minutes ago, HardcoreHunter said:

I know mine is German, English, Scots/Irish, French. Pretty much related to a bunch of royalty King James, Marry Queen of Scots, Henry the VIII, Robert the Bruce, Robert of France etc. Then the Graham line which eventually came to america in the 1700s. The german side of my family started with some doctor who came over and was a surgeon in the civil war. His grandchild ends up moving to Pittsburgh, becomes mayor, creates the cure for lock jaw (that shot that you get every 5 years) Then his grandson who'd have been my grandfather married my Grandmother who was in the Graham line which lead to my dad and eventually my brother and I. 

Really don't know if I should be proud to have a deep long ancestry, or depressed that all those years of nobility, and innovators led to "this". 

I feel the same with mine. Like, shit, here's these folks that went out and did things and here I am sitting in front of a computer screen shitposting and playing video games.

[HardcoreHunter]

1 hour ago, Dread Pirate Roberts said:

I feel the same with mine. Like, shit, here's these folks that went out and did things and here I am sitting in front of a computer screen shitposting and playing video games.

Yeah it does get a little polarizing the more you know about your ancestors. Even just going back a handful of generations and ignoring the royal linieage; because really I think there's a large majority of people who are descendant from the English nobility, Scottish clans, and descendants of Charlemagne. There were relatives in the Civil War, WWI, WWII, Korean War, my earlier relatives pretty much built the town I live in; my great grandma who lived to be 100 used to be the teacher of a one roomed school house the road it was on was named after her, and there's a park that was named after that side of the family. The german ancestors that came and were in the civil war had started a doctor, barber, butcher, leather and saddle store, then a large hotel that president Grant lived at for a time. My grandpa started the first fire hall and gas station in town when he was younger than me and had already had 2 of his 3 kids and a farm.

The family was rather aristocratic still till the 1960s. From what I know of that was my great grandfather died. He divided up the farm and assets across 8 descendants. The money was something like $550k which would be like $4.5 million in today's money not counting the worth of the farm land. So everyone pretty much got $68k little over a half million in today's money and some acres of land. A lot of them sold their land for next to nothing to Kaufman who was their attorney, my grandma dumbly sold a small chunk of our land to a church at a steep discount. Today the land in our town is about $100k an acre.  Either way My grandfather dies shortly after that my Grandfather dies from breaking his arm on a crank start to the tractor, an infection sets in from the break. He put a lot of that money into the facilities he built for the town. My grandmother was now raising 3 kids and working a farm and took on multiple jobs as a nurse, tax auditor, and waitress all at the same time, and my dad and his brothers were selling produce grown in the fields at the side of the road.  
 

So even not going back far it can be an eye opener at the accomplishments and hardships people in your family had gone through that led to your existence. Still it can get rather depressing if you try and compare it to where you are in your life.  

[HardcoreHunter]

2 hours ago, tsar4 said:

Yeah, they've been refining things apparently.  Sweden had been on my list previously, then it dropped off for awhile, now it has reappeared.

I never had the DNA test done. From what I understand the % of DNA is highly variable. Like triplets have done the tests who should have the exact same DNA. The results came up with the regions all being the same, but each region had different percentages which shouldn't be the case for identical twins that all came from the same egg. So I think the tests are good for finding countries your from, but the % of your DNA that is from those countries isn't set in stone. Really if you have any European mainland DNA, then you'd almost 100% have DNA from every other surrounding country. Like if you're german, you should also have Polish, Czech, Norwegian, English and French in your DNA. Not to mention national boarders have changed a lot over time. There was a point where the Germanic Kingdom was all of northern and western Europe, and a time when the Roman Empire stretched all the way into the United Kingdom.  The positive though I think of the DNA tests is that they now tell you genetic disposition to illnesses. Really only useful if you rarely see your doctor, or don't know how common heart issues and cancer are in your family. 

[Distinct Lunatic]

8 hours ago, HardcoreHunter said:

I never had the DNA test done. From what I understand the % of DNA is highly variable. Like triplets have done the tests who should have the exact same DNA. The results came up with the regions all being the same, but each region had different percentages which shouldn't be the case for identical twins that all came from the same egg. So I think the tests are good for finding countries your from, but the % of your DNA that is from those countries isn't set in stone. Really if you have any European mainland DNA, then you'd almost 100% have DNA from every other surrounding country. Like if you're german, you should also have Polish, Czech, Norwegian, English and French in your DNA. Not to mention national boarders have changed a lot over time. There was a point where the Germanic Kingdom was all of northern and western Europe, and a time when the Roman Empire stretched all the way into the United Kingdom.  The positive though I think of the DNA tests is that they now tell you genetic disposition to illnesses. Really only useful if you rarely see your doctor, or don't know how common heart issues and cancer are in your family. 

I want to do the 23andme thing at some point, at the same time though I worry about finding out that I'm prone to something bad. I mean, technically it'd be good to know since I could take measures to avoid it, at the same time though I know how my mind works, and I'd be more worried about my mind making me think I'm experiencing it due to obsessive thinking about it.

I don't know any medical shit on my mom's side since she was adopted, but when it comes to my dad's side. My grandpa has it pretty damn bad, he has Parkinson's and diabetes, and possibly Alzheimer's. For many years now we've been told that he has Alzheimer's, though we're starting to doubt that one, cause it's been around a decade at least since we heard he had it, and Alzheimer's is the kind of thing that's supposed to get worse as time goes on, and yet he's still able to drive, and I only see him a couple times a year at best, but he still recognizes me and knows who I am. That said though, his wife my grandma is the type of old lady nobody wants to be around cause she guilt talks and tries to manipulate you all the time, and is very petty, also really racist even by my standards. She's the kind of old lady that's been saying that she's dying, her saying that for like the past 10 years. So for all we know her saying he has Alzheimer's could just be bs. I've talked to people I work with and one of the teachers here at my school was telling me about a relative of hers that had Parkinson's, and she told me it could be the medication for diabetes and Parkinson's that's having an effect that makes it seem like he has Alzheimer's. I'm most worried about the Parkinson's part, I've always had shaky hands, that being a pretty common thing from what I hear, but for the past year it's been standing out more. The only medical thing I know about my grandma is apparently bad teeth run in her family. Her, my dad, and my sis all have dentures / implants. For me though I don't smoke or drink, which I think definitely goes a long way. I still have all mine and aside from some cavities there's nothing serious going on.

Edited November 20, 2019 by Dread Pirate Roberts