I’m not a DNA expert and would never hold myself out to know more than the basics. But, like many people, I’ve spit into a tube, sent my DNA in and received results about my ethnicity, learned of over 400 potential relatives, and even been in contact with some. Today, I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned from doing my DNA.
Even with my limited science background and interest, I know that I receive half of my DNA from each parent. Each of my siblings also receive half from each parent. But, unless I am an identical twin, the mix we children receive from each parent is not the same.
We don’t look identical, don’t have the same eye color or nose shape, or height. But we have some of the same characteristics. You can tell we are siblings. We just received a different mix of that 50% from each parent.
My two brothers and I each took an Ancestry DNA test. One of our parents is from Swedish descent; the other from Bohemian descent. Neither, of course, is 100% Swedish OR 100% Bohemian, but pretty close! And what they passed on to us is also not exactly 50% of our makeup.
I’m 43% Swedish; one of my brothers is also 43% Swedish; the other brother is 64% Swedish. Yet, we are full-blooded siblings. It’s important to recognize that the mix of DNA received will not be identical.
I recently attended a Zoom genealogy meeting on DNA and learned that, within 5 generations, we probably have errors in our family trees, based on the paper research we have done. Even the best of researchers cannot help but have errors. That’s because we don’t really know what was going on in the lives of our ancestors. Was a direct-line descendant born out of wedlock, yet raised by the people that we see on all paper records as the parents? Was one of our ancestors raised by a neighbor after a tragedy struck leading us to believe through the paper trail that the parents are the biological parents? Were mistakes made by the census taker or the local minister? There are so many reasons why the paper records might be incorrect. Thus, the reason for DNA testing.
My reason for doing DNA testing was to break through a couple of brick walls. For example, my third great-grandfather, Carl Johan Lundblad, father to Catherine Lundblad Linn, was born out of wedlock in 1793 to Ingeborg Ingedotter. Our tree on Carl’s father’s line, stops at Carl and his mother. I have no way through paper records to definitively find his father. Going back 3-4 generations through my DNA test is not likely to show results because I would only receive about 6.25% of my DNA from Carl Johan Lundblad. Do you see the problems? Carl’s biological father, the person I’m trying to find, would only be responsible for 3.12% of my total DNA. But still, it has been my best hope for breaking through that brick wall.
Last summer, I was back in Iowa and was so very fortunate to have time to visit with Uncle Merlyn and Aunt Shari at their 60th wedding anniversary celebration, see cousins I hadn’t seen in decades; Uncle Ivan who took me as his “date” to the celebration; Myron and I also visited with Veryl Olofson.
I had purchased two more Ancestry DNA kits with the hope that I might get a generation older, closer to Carl Johan Lundblad, to test. And Ivan immediately said yes. Veryl also did the same to help with the Olofson line, being a generation farther up our tree on that side.
In Ivan’s case, Carl Johan Lundblad would be his second great-grandfather, and Ivan would have inherited 12.5% of his DNA from Carl, 6.25% from Carl’s biological father. This can make a difference, assuming the right people also test their DNA. I’m still hopeful that another descendant of Carl Johan Lundblad’s biological father will test and will lead us to a breakthrough on this tree line.
Through Veryl’s DNA matches, I’ve communicated with cousins I’d never met and enjoyed sharing stories and a few photos.
It's always important to remember when doing your own DNA test or having other members of the family take DNA tests that surprising results can happen. You know what I mean. So, it’s important to tell people that they should be prepared, even if they are CERTAIN there will be no surprises, that there could be a surprise. I have seen so many of these “events” in my genealogy groups, a couple of parent or sibling surprises with my friends, and even was contacted by someone from Ancestry who did match our family and had been adopted as a baby.
I manage five DNA tests and can also view 2 others on Ancestry. I’ve also uploaded my husband’s DNA results to another online site, FamilyTreeDNA, because we are working on a Scottish “event” in his family line, and that site has more results for him as a Scot than Ancestry does.
My Ancestry results show that I’m 43% Swedish, 24% Czech, 11% Norwegian (yes we Swedes got around!), 6% Baltic, 6% Germanic (probably related to my Czech), 5% Finnish (probably Bertil Monsieur I wrote about in the 2018 blog), 3% Wales and 2% England and Northwestern Europe (no idea how those got in there!).
An additional thing I have learned is that some of the low percentages might not be/probably aren’t related to people in our tree. They could be from characteristics that are attributed to a geographical area. As more and more people test, my mix of percentages changes a bit. For now, I feel comfortable saying I’m about half and half Swedish and Czech.
If you are interested in doing your DNA and you post it on
Ancestry, I’d be happy to be another pair of eyes to look at matches. The more
people who test, the better chance we have of finding our way through brick
walls. After all, our mixes are not identical. You may hold the key.
