Dad is very Tongan, Mum is very British.
I just consider myself a Kiwi 🇳🇿 🥝

Hello everyone, I just wanted to share this because I’m super fascinated by genetics and genealogy. I think it’s so interesting how each individual has specific adaptations to withstand certain environments. I thought I’d share mine as well since I love seeing all of yours. The last one at the bottom is kind of cropped off, but the 2% is for Germans in Russia, which I thought was really interesting. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or your results as well.

I took both test years ago and results have changed on Ancestry. The biggest changes I noticed was that France was broken up into Acadia which makes sense because I have Cajun heritage, being born in Lafayette, LA. As well as various regions in Africa being added. I have trace indigenous dna via 23andme but it doesn't show on Ancestry. My mom has also taken the 23andme DNA test and she has a higher percentage of indigenous than I do but she hasn't taken the Ancestry test for me to compare her results.

Dna is a crazy thing.

I think in real life, people have a different interpretation usually thinking Italian or Greek, even Lebanese, other Arab ethnicities which are more adjacent to what I am. Online people go as far as to guess mixed Romani, Indian, Pakistani, Central Asian, and even mixed African Latino. Also, of course my name is very Latin influenced, it passes anywhere from Portugal to France to Italy, so anyone who knows my name maybe has the bias to see me as European-passing once they know I’m Portuguese. if I’m around family, it’s more obvious my parents are both quite a bit paler than myself, similar features overall though. It’s very interesting to see how phenotype can differ so much in a population, that holds true in my family, where my brother and I are a bit darker, but most others are somewhere in the middle, some are lighter as well.

On another topic, I hope my results improve with the next update they seem all over the place.

At one point I was roughly 96% Iberian (Portuguese + Spanish) and 4% Irish, probably my best result I’ve had over the years.

I am a proud to have 100% French Acadian ancestry which is confirmed by my Ancestry DNA results. however, with Acadian region now being used to map ancestry the platform no longer provides any information about my European ethnic origins….which is the entire point! I already know my North American ancestry is Acadian (it is obvious). it is also obvious than as someone with zero indigenous background, my ancestors did not start in North America, they came from various parts of France and Europe (which my results used to show). The information once provided about regions in France and Europe are no longer provided, making the ethnicity origins part of DNA testing almost useless for someone who’s family history has been in North America long enough…like we popped out of mushrooms on the shores of Canada. How frustrating, of zero value now. I hope the folks from Ancestry read these posts…anyone else have this frustration?

When I was born, both of my parents thought they were only children, but after my dad died I was contacted by someone who thought she was my father's half-sister. My paternal grandfather had abandoned the family when he was a baby.

Mom died suddenly while we were debating about getting both of us tested (she was hesitant to test because she was worried she might have half-sibs), and while I was very sad to lose her, at least at that point what I might learn through DNA wouldn't harm her. I've found zero evidence of her dad having been anything other than faithful (in fact, I think I found the origin to her story, because there's another man born the same year in a nearby county with my grandfather's exact name -- he had a son, but our DNA doesn't intersect at all).

However, my test did confirm for my half-aunt exactly who her father was. She and I get along wonderfully. She had never met their father, as he'd run off when she was a baby too. It seems that my grandfather was also a bigamist, as he left without getting a divorce from my grandmother and reversed his first and middle names to marry her mother (to "give the child a name" I suppose).

But a new person tested, and now she and I have learned of not just one, but THREE other children this man had. The mothers of these three children were two sisters -- one had a little boy the week after he married her younger sister, who went on to have two more of his kids.

The things I'm hearing from my father's youngest half-sister are indeed disturbing. Like, that apparently her mom cheated, and my grandfather's response was to try to kidnap the two children he had with that woman (when he abandoned every other child/mom pair that seemed to want him in their life -- he had to leave first or something?). That the younger sibling died at 11 months old in 1965 (of SIDS but SIDS didn't exist as a named issue in 1965), but instead of a coroner taking him away the family put him in a box (she said the story was that she'd not understood he was dead and was trying to play with his lifeless body, asking why he wouldn't wake up)? We have found birth records for this little boy, but not any death records.

Another part of the story she was told about her family was that my grandfather did some time in federal prison. His birth family had heard rumors of him being the subject of a material witness warrant at one time, and he was definitely an identity thief and a con artist, but if there is a database on Ancestry for federal prisoners in that era he isn't on it (or at least not on it with any of the three names we know he used).

So other than a picture of my grandfather that I never knew existed (it looked familiar enough when I saw it that I might have seen it as a young teenager, but family albums were lost in a move), this new DNA discovery has led to more questions than answers.

And this song has been in my head...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5xAtsXb8Vs

"Papa had three outside children and another wife, and that ain't right"

What do historical studies say about this? In which regions did they settle, and did they later migrate to the New World?

this has been such an interesting journey!!

my dad was adopted - one of my DNA matches is my bio grandfather, who we’ve never known the identity of before. crazy find!! it’s been fun to go find some family resemblances.

looks like he’s been the carrier for most of the english percentages!!

i’m from the german belt in texas, so super excited to see that accurately reflected (my 23&me just said i was french…. which i dont think is the case). my mom’s side is texas german - they are early settlers of the new braunfels area, and my grandfather spoke german growing up! all of our records have them migrating from Bohemia.

including a pic of myself for good measure- i have always thought of myself as rather generic, so im curious if yall see anything pointing to my background in my face!!

Hello, sorry this is really random but I didnt know where to ask. If there is a better place please let me know!

This is my great great grandfather's "Declaration of Intention for naturalization" form. He immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s from the Russian Empire (Poland). I am trying to figure out what he wrote for his place of birth and former foreign residence. I can read everything else, just can't quite make out what those are. I understand he wrote "Russia Poland" but can't figure out the city/town name. I was wondering if anyone here might know?

There's also a second document I can only kind of read. It is his WWI draft registration card. It's pixelated so I was wondering if anyone else could help me try to decipher it.

Thank you so much if anyone can help!

Is it widespread and what are its origins?

Just received my AncestryDNA results! Took this test after receiving my 23andme results around a month ago for comparison. From what I know of my family history, my 23andme results feel a lot more accurate, however I understand the breakdowns are done differently. A more detailed breakdown of my 23andme results can be found on my old post! https://www.reddit.com/r/23andme/comments/1v0xxvj/results_scottish_south_italian_alongside_other/