Tuesday 29 September 2015

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 3rd great grandparents for this analysis because this generation was the most recent & ‘purest’ in terms of ethnicity; of my 32 3rd 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.

3rd 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 3rd great grandparents were Irish.  Although I guess approximately 62% of my 3rd 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 3rd 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 3rd great grandparents were English.  All of my 3rd GG on my maternal grandfather’s side were English & ¾ of my 3rd 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.

Monday 14 September 2015

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?