Wednesday, April 23, 2014

My AncestryDNA Results Are In ~ Some Surprises

I received my AncestryDNA test results the other day. They arrived a lot earlier than I was expecting, which was awesome. And, they revealed a couple of surprises too.

AncestryDNA  Test Results

The AncestryDNA test results provide some very interesting and helpful tools and charts. Here's my Ethnicity Estimate Chart.




In case the chart above is difficult to read, this is the percentage breakdown for my Ethnicity Estimate Chart:

North Africa – 5%
Native American – 10%
Scandinavia – 34%
Europe West – 20%
Great Britain – 9%
Ireland – 8%
Iberian Peninsula – 7%

I didn't include the Trace Regions. According to AncestryDNA, they may or may not actually be part of my ancestry.

A Really Cool Feature

This is what happened when I clicked on Scandinavia. A bar graph shows up and on the right side of the screen some interesting information about Scandinavia appears. I've blurred the map because of copyright issues. You can also see that they've included a bar graph that  shows how my average ethnicity percentage compares with a typical native Scandinavian.

This is a screen shot of the top portion of the page. As I scrolled down the page, additional information such as genetic diversity and population history can be found. You can see portions of those sections in the next two screenshots.







No Surprises

I'm not surprised by the Native American result. Last year I took the Family Finder (autosomal) DNA test with FamilyTreeDNA. I shared those results here on my blog. It was quite exciting to see these results because they showed that I have Native American ancestry, specifically Mayan ancestry. This verified something that my mom's stepmother had told her a long time ago. She said my mom had Mayan ancestry, and she was right. My maternal great-grandmother, Esther Matus Villatoro, was born in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico. The Mayan people inhabited parts of Chiapas and other areas, so this could explain the Native American result.


Esther Matus Villatoro
Esther Matus Villatoro

I'm not at all surprised by the Scandinavian result. My father, Jan Albert Iverson, was Swedish and Norwegian. His maternal grandparents, Carl Albert Gillberg and Hilda Maria Carlsson, emigrated from Sweden to the United States in the early 1900's and his paternal great-grandfather, Iver Iverson, emigrated from Norway to the United States shortly before the U.S. Civil War.


Jan Albert Iverson
Jan Albert Iverson
Carl Albert Gillberg and Hilda Maria (Carlsson) Gillberg
Carl Albert Gillberg and
Hilda Maria (Carlsson) Gillber
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The Family Finder DNA test I took last year didn't include Scandinavia in my results. But, it did include North Africa. My maternal grandmother, Sarah Vasques Madeira, was Portuguese. Some of her ancestors came from the Azores and the Island of Madeira. I'm wondering if this accounts for the North Africa ethnicity result. The Island of Madeira is quite close to Morocco, which is in North Africa.


Sarah Vasques Madeira
Sarah Vasques Madeira 

The Great Britain and Iberian Peninsula results also don't surprise me. My Webster and Waterman ancestors are originally from England. And the Iberian Peninsula includes Spain and Portugal. As I already mentioned, my maternal grandmother, Sarah Vasques Madeira, was Portuguese. So, this could account for the Iberian Peninsula result.

Surprises

The ethnicity results that surprised me were the Ireland and Europe West results. They did not show up in my Family Finder DNA test results.  And I don't have know of anyone in my family tree from Ireland or the countries represented in the Europe West region.

Matches

The Member Matches feature of the AncestryDNA test is really awesome. I have lots of matches. At the top of the list is my 1st cousin one time removed. She and I had already been in touch with each other. There are some great features included in the Member Matches including lists of shared surnames, a map showing birth locations that appear in both your family tree and your potential cousin's family tree, and even a shared ancestor hint feature.

Conclusion

I'm really glad that I took the AncestryDNA test in addition to the FamilyTreeDNA tests I've taken. I also took the mtDNAPlus test with Family Tree DNA. But, I haven't shared those results on my blog yet.

I love the Member Matches feature on AncestryDNA. I have a long list of matches to look through. And hopefully, I will be able to make new cousin connections soon.

Thanks for reading!

Jana

© 2014 Copyright by Jana Last, All Rights Reserved

22 comments:

  1. Fascinating results, Jana. Looks like you have some sleuthing to do with those surprise Irish and Western European results!

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    1. Hi Linda,

      Thanks! And yes. It really does look like I have some research to do with those Irish and Western European results. I'm wondering if the Irish ancestry ties in to my English ancestry somehow. Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. I got similar results, with the Scandinavian being the biggest surprise (for me). But I've yet to find any connections with the 4th Cousins matched with... :(

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    1. I hope you're able to ultimately make some cousin connections. Maybe they just haven't taken the AncestryDNA test yet. =)

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  3. Thanks for posting your results, Jana. It's fun to see the genetic diversity that people have in their DNA. I just received my mtDNA test kit from Family Tree DNA, so I'm looking forward to trying it out and getting the results.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Yvonne! It's awesome that you took the mtDNA test too. My haplogroup results weren't really surprising, actually. In fact, they went right along with what I know about my family history. =)

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  4. This is fantastic Jana. I really like how you tied your results to your family. Thank you for sharing your results. How exciting this must be for you.

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    1. Hi Bernita,

      Yes, this is quite exciting. And thank you for your kind words. =)

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  5. So fun! I just got some results back and haven't blogged about them yet. Your post has motivated me to get on it soon!

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    1. Very cool Cheri! Let us know when you've published your DNA results! =)

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  6. My goodness Jana. You have a very interesting genetic background! Marvellous to be able to attach specific people to some of the items. Enjoy your sleuthing.

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    1. Thank you Celia! Yes, I it looks like I have quite a bit of sleuthing to do in order to find out how the Irish and Europe West results fit in my family tree. Thanks for stopping by! =)

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  7. Look at you Jana! Those are quite the numbers. It's what makes YOU! I'm in love with your Grandmother Esther....WoW she is so beautiful and all her features. I hope you share some more information on her. Love how you showed the pictures with your Breakdowns. Great Post! Congratulations and Enjoy!

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    1. Thank you True! Regarding Esther, oh yes, I do plan on sharing more information about her. And I love that photo of her. And how fun was that hat she was wearing? Thanks for stopping by! =)

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  8. Jana, I predict you will have good results reaching out to people with shared ancestors. My results have been wonderful. Two have turned into good friends and research collaborators. Others were extremely helpful with their side of the family. Don't skip over those with private trees. All of mine with shared ancestors opened up their trees to me and we were able to help each other a lot. Best of luck to you as you continue to find out about your ancestors using DNA.

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    1. Thank you for your wonderful advice! It's awesome that you've had such great success with cousin connections, Thanks for stopping by! =)

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  9. Wow! What a great melting pot can be found in you! I bet you will find many new connections on Ancestry. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Oh yes. I'm definitely a melting pot, for sure! =) I have several pages of Member Matches on Ancestry. And I'm planning on sharing a post about the Member Matches feature on AncestryDNA. It's really pretty awesome. Thanks for stopping by!

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  10. Now you've done it -- now I need to take a DNA test myself.

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    1. Yay Wendy! Let us know if you decide to take a DNA test too! =)

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  11. Isn't it great to find some interesting and unexpected results. I have not found time to blog mine yet however Irish was second on my list - a surprise to me as I have not found Irish ancestors yet.

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    1. Oh. Ireland was a surprise result for you too, huh? Interesting and very cool! Thanks so much for stopping by! =)

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