Ancestry DNA Ethnicity Results Vs Expected Ethnicity Results

I received my Ancestry DNA results a few days ago.  Some of the ethnicity results were surprising, especially in light of the information I have on my constructed family tree & the countries of origin of my ancestors.  I decided to compare my ancestors’ countries of origin to my Ancestry DNA ethnicity results.  I chose to look at my 3^rd great grandparents for this analysis because this generation was the most recent & ‘purest’ in terms of ethnicity; of my 32 3^rd great grandparents, 31 were of a single ethnicity, e.g. Irish, English, Prussian. Only one ancestor was mixed, the son of a Welsh father & and English mother.

3^rd Great Grandparents – Ethnicity / Country of Origin (based on constructed family tree)

Paternal Grandfather’s Side
Ahnentafel No.	Ancestor Surname	Country of Origin
32	CURRAN	IRE
33	McCANN	IRE
34	WHITELOCK	ENG
35	CARROLL	IRE
36	JONES	WLS / ENG
37	TELFORD	SCT
38	SWEENEY	IRE
39	McQUEEN/McQUAIN	IRE
Paternal Grandmother’s Side
40	RAE	IRE
41	ROBERTSON	SCT
42	GUYATT	ENG
43	BARTHOLOMEW	ENG
44	FERNANCE	ENG
45	JURD	ENG
46	BAILEY	ENG
47	FERNANCE	ENG
Maternal Grandfather’s Side
48	BARNES	ENG
49	HODGKINSON	ENG
50	WASS	ENG
51	BEECROFT	ENG
52	PHILP	ENG
53	HARVEY	ENG
54	BLANCH	ENG
55	BALCOMB	ENG
Maternal Grandmother’s Side
56	TREVILLIAN	ENG
57	WOOLCOCK	ENG
58	LUHRS	PRU
59	JOPPICH	PRU
60	LUHRS	PRU
61	JOPPICH	PRU
62	KALMS	PRU
63	VONTHEIN	PRU

Ethnicity Results - Ancestry DNA Vs Documented Country of Origins

Expected Ethnicity Results based on Constructed Family Tree:

Irish – 19%

European West – 19%

Great Britain (England) – 55%

Great Britain (including Scotland & Wales) – 62%

Ancestry DNA Ethnicity Results:

European – 98%

Ireland – 38%

Scandanavian – 26%

Europe West – 24%

Trace Regions

Europe East – 4%

Great Britain – 2%

The Irish portion of my DNA is easily explained.  However, I was surprised at the percentage, given that about 18% of my 3^rd great grandparents were Irish.  Although I guess approximately 62% of my 3^rd great grandparents on my paternal grandfather’s side were Irish.

European West would cover my Prussian / German heritage.  Almost half of my mother’s ancestry is Prussian, & ¾ of my 3^rd great grandparents on my maternal grandmother’s side are Prussian.

The Scandanavian section of my DNA was surprising, but early Scandanavians migrated to modern-day eastern Germany & Poland (which overlaps with European West).  Vikings also inhabited parts of Ireland in later centuries.

What surprised me even more was that only 2% of my DNA is from Great Britain.  More than 50% of my 3^rd great grandparents were English.  All of my 3^rd GG on my maternal grandfather’s side were English & ¾ of my 3^rd GG on my paternal grandmother’s side were English.

So, what conclusions can I draw from these results?  Overall the majority of the DNA passed on to me by my father was Irish, while at least half of the DNA passed on to me by my mother was western European (Prussian / German).  The next largest chunk of ethnicity is Scandanavian, which really could have originated from either side through Irish / Prussian descendancy.  Very little of their English DNA was passed down to me.

After reading Sharon Muffett’s post about her Ancestry DNA results on her blog gathering dust, & how she has converted these results to Family Tree DNA, my next step is to transfer my results to FTDNA & compare the ethnicity results from Ancestry DNA & Family Tree DNA.

Then, maybe, just maybe, I might be able to convince some relatives to have their DNA tested.

Mary McQuain - Founders & Survivors: Storylines / Mugshots Website

While researching Michael Sweeney on the TAHO website I came across the Founders & Survivors: Storylines website.  I didn't find much information on Michael Sweeney, but I did find a lot about his wife, Mary McQuain, who is my 3rd great grandmother.  One of the best parts of this website is the option to 'Make a Face', which allows you to create a face for your convict.  It works much like a police Indenti-kit,  It begins with a randomly-generated image, but has a series of options that lets you alter the features of the face to match the description listed on their convict indent (Tasmanian convict indents have detailed descriptions).  I had trouble saving my created face but I used a screen-capture program to save the image.

Thanks to the Mugshots section of this website I have been able to create the image below as well as access 'locations' for Mary - a timeline of where she was at certain points & who she was assigned to :)

Could this be what Mary McQuain looked like?