Me in the BBC and the difficulties of tracing African-American family trees behind the walls of slavery

So here's something interesting that had happened...

One on of my Facebook genealogy groups, a journalist from the BBC wrote that she was working on a news article. She said,

"In the light of Georgetown University's decision to give 'the edge' in the applications process to descendants of slaves, we are looking at how easy or difficult it is to trace slave ancestry, and what the challenges and emotions involved are.

Have you recently found out about ancestors who were slaves? Would you be interested in talking to the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) about it?" 

Now, I personally know nothing about being related to the Georgetown descendants. However, I am having the hardest, darndest time figuring out my family tree past the 1850's on most sides. (I haven't had a chance to even touch writing about the family tree stuff yet on this blog. The DNA stuff is a lot!)

Plus, I figured what the hey? I could submit something and if nothing came of it then no love lost. However, if I was included, it might provide some credibility to family members and others that may be able to help me but do not understand why I am working on this journey. I'm not much of a creative writer after working in business for so long, so I replied in bullet format/ memo style:

My experiences as an African-American in the deep south researching her heritage are:

(1) It is really difficult. 

(2)The records are hard to sift through. I am one of few in my family to hold a master's degree from university, and this is much more difficult than obtaining that. My degree is even in information systems, and it's still difficult. I feel as if I need degrees in history, anthropology, genetics, etc. to understand the mounds of disconnected information.

(3) Many of my family members and friends do not understand why I am trying to do this. For that reason, I have little support. The support that I have been given though has been amazing, and I think that it is because those individuals recognize how difficult the task is because they have attempted it to some degree before.

(4) Our elder family members did not discuss the past very much, and now many of them have passed on. I figure that to them, it might have been painful or shameful or both, but I do not know for sure.

(5) DNA tests are really expensive. So far I have spent over $1000 in 2016, and I need to spend at least $1000 more to get various other family members tested to try to unravel the history and relationships. Again, because I am the only one in my family that sees this as that important, I must foot the bill for these tests myself.

(6) I have DNA from all over the world, and many locations are those that I would never expect like Haiti, Jamaica, and Barbados. I have a small amount of Native American heritage that is not uncommon, but intriguingly it is from South America. I expected lots of West African, but I did not expect to see East, Central, or North African. I also did not expect to see some South Asian or Middle East. I expected to see European countries like Britain, Spain, France, but not Sweden, Finland, or Russian. My blood truly representative of the term "melting pot."

(7) I have lots of matches in South Carolina, Virginia, and North Carolina, but I have no idea who the common ancestors are. I hit the wall of slavery big time both in my search for genealogy records and relationships with DNA matches.

Oh, and I want to add that I think it is appalling that slave descendants are not given these test for free after all that has been taken from us for free in this country.

Apparently getting straight to the point works pretty well...LOL. She sent me an email asking for a telephone interview on Labor Day. I was glad that I noticed the email. We chatted about 30 minutes. I wasn't sure what would happen after that, but she told me she would keep me updated on the progress of the article.

Guess what? I was chosen to be in the article! As far as I know, no other close family members have tested yet (except two that I found out about when they popped up as a match, but we had not discussed testing among each other.) I'm not giving up hope. I plan to one day find all of my ancestors that got off the boat(s) in this thang.

...until next time...

Slave Haven: Underground Railroad Museum

I went on an impromptu visit to the Slave Haven museum yesterday. Hubby and I needed to get out of the house, and we'd been saying we were going to go every since we first heard that there was such a thing. We had no idea that the underground railroad existed this far down south. It makes sense though. I can imagine the enslaved in this place wanting to leave very badly. I feel the same way today with way less harsh conditions.

The museum was an awesome place. No pictures were allowed inside. We were given a tour by very knowledgeable people so we weren't left alone to read a bunch of walls or guess what we thought stuff was or meant. It was also my very first time seeing a crawl space in person (used to hide under the floor or in the walls). It really brought home the idea that slavery had to be an awful thing to want to get away from it that bad. The space was very small...maybe 2-3 feet deep. We were told that it was probably one of the larger ones that was used. It looked as if crawling in that thing meant nose to the dirt, snake crawling.

Anyhow, there is much awesomeness to see and learn, so if you have an opportunity I encourage you to stop by. I won't talk about it too much and spoil it for you. There is a big tour that you can take that includes about 30 related sites throughout the area. We will be going back for that.

I will say this about it...people are tripping. I've been studying the plight of my Ancestors on my own for years - as far back as high school. Much of what was real life for them is NOT taught in school. With much of their blood in the ocean, rivers, trees, and soil...I will not be going back after death saying that I did not try to do anything to make a difference and support others that are making a difference. Instead I sat back and wasted my life away. I refuse.

My 23andme Experience

In June, I decided to test at 23andme because I found some discounts. This was before they offered the Ancestry only test for $99 like they do now. At this time all of their tests were $199 and included the health info. I found some discounts that allowed me to get tests for myself and my mom for $129 and $159.

I wanted the tests so that I could have an opportunity to find some 100% African matches to help in the search for our roots. I have heard of some people finding African matches on 23andme because a few years ago they were giving free tests to Indigenous Africans. I'm also just addicted to testing at this point, but my pockets are ready to take a chance on withdrawal.

23andme Results

Because my mom tested, they were able to compare our results and show what I inherited from her and my father (deduced I guess since they don't have his DNA). That's a pretty neat feature. It looks like I got good amounts of African from both sides...although I got more from my father. I received more European from my mother, and more East Asian/ Native American from my father...and so on.

DNA inherited from Father vs. Mother

My 23andme report also included health information. Basically, my mother and I are not a carriers for anything. I guess that's good news, although I feel like I paid extra for nothing. At least now I know for sure! They add new conditions that they test for often, so it's something to watch out for every now and again.

Oh, and I found my first African cousin. She's not related to my mother, so I think we may be related on my father's side. Her parents were both born in Nigeria and are Igbo, and she did not expect to have cousins in the United States. Surprise to both of us! I would have expected a Yoruban match to show up first since it seems that I'm carrying quite a bit of Yoruban DNA, but I guess not. Also, I've read that Yorubans, Igbos, and Ghanaians share quite a bit of DNA...so it may be difficult to determine from DNA alone. I'm sure that as more matches come forward and reveal their own cultural identities, it will paint a clearer picture for me.

Uploading your Raw DNA Data to Gedmatch

I've been meaning to write about this one for the longest because it is VERY IMPORTANT! Gedmatch is a tool that you can upload your raw data from Ancestry, 23andme, and/or familytreedna...and a few others. The reason that this is important is because you can find family matches from all of them regardless of which one you chose to test with.

So, for example, if I tested with Ancestry.com then on their website I can only find matches with other people that tested with them. However, if I upload my raw DNA data to gedmatch, I can now find matches that tested with 23andme and Family Tree...and I can do this for FREE.

(PLEASE NOTE: Even though Gedmatch is a free site I do recommend becoming a Tier 1 subscriber for $10 whenever you can so that you can help the site continue to run since as we all know, nothing is free. Everything costs somebody something and there are great volunteers behind the scenes that make this all possible. Each $10 gives you access to additional helpful tools for a month at a time.)

Gedmatch Login screen

To get started, you want to go to gedmatch.com and register. There are some videos on YouTube that explain how to use gedmatch if you need help. Its pretty simple. If you have any trouble, please comment below and I will try to assist you.

In a nutshell, PLEASE UPLOAD TO GEDMATCH!!!

...until next time...

My DNA Tribes experience

Another place that I took my raw Ancestry.com data to was to the DNA Tribes SNP analysis. (Hey, with so many iffy results, I wanted to clear up the muddy water some in my mind.) DNA Tribes boasts checking your DNA against 560,000 individuals from 1,200+ populations around the world, including 950+ indigenous populations. Compared to Ancestry.com's 3000 or so people (and I think only about 400 of them are African...and you can easily see why I might want a DNA Tribes checkup.

To be clear, DNA Tribes offers a stand alone product where they will test your saliva like other DNA testing companies. That is NOT what I purchased. I repeat, that is NOT what I purchased. I purchased the SNP product that will process the raw DNA from a test that you have already taken (Ancestry.com in my case).

DNA Tribes SNP analysis costs $40 if you let them know where all 4 of your immediate grandparents were born. No need to be too specific I don't think. I wrote USA for all of them. Otherwise the test costs $50.

I sent my raw Ancestry.com DNA data by email. In the email, I told them that all four of my grandparents were born in the US (as mentioned above). The results arrived in my email about an hour later. There were no matches to relatives - just results.

DNA Tribes SNP: Admixture Analysis - 8 Continental Cores

DNA Tribes SNP: Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS) - 8 Continental Cores

 So wow, right? According to this, I am 88% African which is significantly higher than the 77% that Ancestry.com gave me. I am also 2.5 % American Indian, which is also higher than the less than 1% that Ancestry gave me.

DNA Tribes SNP: Admixture Analysis - 53 Regional Clusters

DNA Tribes SNP: Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS) - 53 Regional Clusters

Like wow, right? Ok, so I need to find a new word. But still - check out the East and Central African. There is even some Nilotic and Madagascar. Didn't see those coming.

DNA Tribes SNP: Population Admixture - Native and Jewish Populations

Since I'm not Jewish, this particular report shows my connection to native populations. That Luhya is like BAM...I'm here! I wasn't too surprised by these because they also showed up in some of my gedmatch reports. More on that later.

DNA Tribes SNP: Iterative Population Admixture- Native and Jewish Populations

DNA Tribes SNP: Multi-Dimensional Scaling (MDS) - Native and Jewish Populations

These charts correspond to the chart before. Luhya, Yoruban, and Dogon feature strongly with no divergence. That's far from the iffiness of Ancestry.com.

DNA Tribes SNP: World Genetic Grid

 This was a pretty picture. I think it's interesting that the Native American portion of my DNA shows up in South America. Things that make you go hmmm...

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - Diasporic Populations p.1

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - Diasporic Populations p.2

This part tripped me out. It basically says that if they pretended that I was indigenous to an area without being mixed with anything else (which I know is most likely not true because I am an African in America with known European DNA)...but if they pretended that I was 100% of something...then this is a ranking of how close my DNA ranks to being like that of a particular people. So I expected to see African-American, right? (Since it is one of the options.) Check out what my number one ranking is. Also check out ranks for numbers three, four, and five.

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - African Populations p. 1

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - African Populations p.2

My number two ranking was unexpected too. I am aware that I am at least a third Nigerian. However I did not expect to rank higher as Yoruba Nigerian than African-American. Am I really even African-American? Yeah, it finally shows up ranked as number FIVE (say what?!) Also check out ranks 6 - 14. How awesome is that? Isn't that quite a level of detail compared to just writing "West Africa"?

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - European Populations p. 1

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - European Populations p.2

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - European Populations p.3

Basically, the rest of my rankings alternate between these two categories (Diaspora and African) until I get to number 74. Then the European rankings begin.

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - Native American Populations

My closest Native American ranking shows up in Ecuador. Huh? Well alrighty then.

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - Middle Eastern Populations p. 1

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - Middle Eastern Populations p.2

Next comes the Middle Eastern stuff.

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - North Asian Populations p.1

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - North Asian Populations p.2

And then the North Asian stuff.

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - Caucasus Mountains Population

And then the Caucasus Mountains stuff...which by the way has nothing to do with Europeans. So why in the world are they called Caucasians? I read an interesting article about the whole ordeal. I will try to find it and add it one day. Long story short, study for yourself. We have all been told or misled to believe a great many untruths about the world.

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - South Asian Populations p.1

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - South Asian Populations p.2

And then the South Asian stuff...

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - East Asian Populations p.1

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - East Asian Populations p.2

And then the East Asian stuff...

DNA Tribes SNP: Total Ancestral Fit - Oceanian and South Malay Archipelago Populations

And finally, the Oceanian (and Polynesian?) stuff. It's interesting to see how low it ranks for me because it appears in my Ancestry.com results as less than 1%. I never believed it to be anything more than statistical noise, and I believe I am correct. This validates my hypothesis anyway.

ETA: I came back to say that someone in my facebook group hipped me to the fact that many from Madagascar have the Oceanian/ Polynesian DNA, so that's probably why it keeps showing up in my results (on Ancestry.com and 23andme - which I haven't written about yet.) I learn something new everyday!

Until next time...

My DNA Land Experience

Another place that I uploaded my raw DNA data to (for free) was dna.land. This site is small, but it was interesting to see how they categorize my ethnicities based on the samples that they compare my DNA to in their database.

DNA.Land Results

DNA.Land Map

DNA.Land Ethnicity Details

I found it interesting to see the Mende singled out. It relates to what my African Ancestry report stated about my mother's line originating from them.

Until next time...

My Advice on where and how to begin your DNA / Geneaology journey

My plain and simple advice is to begin your DNA testing journey with Ancestry.com. For most people (especially African-Americans) this is the best place to start. It's less expensive than other tests, and it comes with the ability to add a family tree and to peruse the family trees of your matches to help find a common ancestor that you might not have known about. Also, it is a bit more specific on your ethnicity(s) than some of the other tests (i.e. Nigeria, Benin/Togo, Ivory Coast/Ghana, etc. vs. West Africa or Subsaharan Africa -- who says that anyway?) If you decide you care no more about the whole ordeal than that, then you are only out of $80 - $100 bucks depending on if you had a discount code or not.

If you have a very specific reason for wanting a test, this DNA test options page by DNA Tested African Descendants may be helpful to you.

Wherever you decide to test, please upload your raw DNA to gedmatch so we can find out if we are related! Here's a helpful video if you need it.

Also, if you are of African descent and having trouble researching your family tree or understanding DNA (yes, I know this ish ain't easy), join the very helpful Facebook group: DNA Tested African Descendants. I have learned soooo much very quickly that has helped me in my journey. There are other helpful groups dealing with DNA testing and Genealogy research too, so be sure to search out those. I belong to too many to list them all today.

Until next time...

Uploading my raw DNA data from Ancestry to Family Tree DNA

Another place that i took my raw DNA data from Ancestry.com  to was Family Tree DNA. They will process it for about $40. However, I am a member of a private Facebook group that has several posts on how to get the test for free (DNA tested African Descendants). They also constantly post useful and helpful info. I am thankful for everyone in that group because they have taught me a lot.

Back to our discussion at hand, I uploaded my data because each vendor has it's own slightly different way of processing your data. For instance, Ancestry only processes some of your data- and the parts that they choose may not all be the same as another vendor might look at. So it's good to see what the various vendors come up with.

Of course, some of it you take with a grain of salt. This is because depending upon the populations that your DNA is compared to will depend on what your analysis will say. This will be easier to see and discuss when I do a post about other vendors such as DNA Tribes and Gedmatch in the future.

When your results are processed from Family Tree, you will login and see a dashboard that looks something like this:

You want to select the button that is labeled "myOrigins" in the "Family Finder" section. That will take you to the results of your admixture processed from your raw Ancestry.com DNA.

As you can see, my percentages changed slightly as did the names of the ethnicity categories. You can see the differences between Family Tree and Ancestry better when they are side beside like I have them below. Ancestry.com is much more detailed in its breakdowns and descriptions / locations.

...until next time

Downloading Raw Data from Ancestry.com

One thing that I did to help me discover more potential matches (and hopefully fill in unknown gaps in my family tree) was to upload my raw DNA data from Ancestry.com to gedmatch.com. The reason is because gedmatch will match you to people that took their DNA test at other companies. For example, I can see matches to my DNA that tested with 23andme.com or Family Tree DNA and so on.

To download your raw DNA data from Ancestry.com, here's what you do:

Login to dna.ancestry.com. Select the settings button on the right side of the page (see the red arrow above).

On the right side of the page, select the dark gray button to download your raw data.

And that's it. You will receive an email from Ancestry that has a link in it. When you receive the email, save the file and remember where you saved it. This is what you will send or upload to other vendors for processing (should you choose to do so).

...until next time

My Promethease experience

One of the first places that I took my raw DNA download from Ancestry.com was to a company named Promethease.com. My coworker had previously hipped me to this company when he explained to me that 23andme.com had stopped providing medical info (they have since started back).

For $5, I was able to see what conditions I am most and least at risk for. They even say something about being able to smell asparagus in urine (not sure what that is about), some reactions i might have to certain medications, and more.

It is a very detailed report, and some things in it may contradict others. For instance i had several factors that put me at risk for a condition, but i would also have positive factors that would lower my risk for that same condition.

What i took away from it is to start exercising and eating healthier because I can die from just about everything. However, if I take care of myself virtually nothing (in my genes) will do me harm, and I have the potential of living to see a very old age.

This is one of those reports that you will need to save because they only keep your raw DNA for a very limited time (45 days) before they delete it from their system. After that you will need to pay again.

I do not recommend this report if you have a tendancy to act "extra", are a hypochondriac, a drama king/queen, etc. This report does NOT diagnose you with any conditions. It may be helpful if you are working in conjunction with physicians and having symptoms that are difficult to diagnose or are having complications with medication. Again, I said it MAY help. I have not used this report in that way so I do NOT know. It may actually be no help to you at all.

DNA Privacy Concerns

While waiting on my DNA tests to come in, I did a bit of research and found that I could upload my raw DNA from Ancestry (or other vendors) to other companies and get more processing done (depending on what the company specializes in).

With this, there are a few things to keep in mind:

(1) With many of these tests, you are giving up your rights to how your DNA may be used now and in the future. Please be mindful of this and check each company's privacy rules before you hand your DNA over to them if you are at all concerned about this.

(2) Each company processes your DNA differently. There are many variables in play, and it is important to keep that in mind so that you know what you are looking at. For example, at Ancestry, I was told that I have 29% Nigerian, but at another company I was given 38%.

From what I understand, the differences exist in what the company uses to determine your ethnicity. For example, Ancestry will compare your DNA to 3000 individuals known to be indigenous to their lands. While Ancestry has 2,000,000 people to compare you with to determine if you are related, only the 3000 preset individuals are used to determine your ethnicity. I think that only 400 of them are African...so basically there is a lot of room for improvement. This is one reason why I wanted to download my raw DNA data to be processed at other companies. Some other companies compare your DNA to more indigenous people, some check your DNA for other things such as medical information, etc.

(3) Genetic testing is relatively new. As more people get tested and more information is learned about DNA, the results will get more and more detailed in the future. Some companies have more detailed info than others right now, so you may receive results that are a bit more detailed from one company compared to the other. However, if the results do not resemble each other at all, you probably need to call the company and get that straightened out. Ha, ha. Real talk.

...until next time...

My AfricanAncestry.com Experience

Here lately it's been a DNA/genealogy whirlwind. This stuff has really become a big part of my life in a good way. However, I do need to take a break from it- which I will do very soon. In the meantime, I'll try to fill in my thoughts on the additional DNA tests that I have taken with various vendors.

Today, I'll talk about my AfricanAncestry.com experience. First I will say that these tests are very expensive. Unless you specifically know the reason why you want these test, I wouldn't recommend you begin testing with this company. I took both the matriclan and the patriclan tests. To give a bit of background, the matriclan test analyzes the mitochondrial dna (mtDNA) that is passed mother to child for the last 500-2000 years. Men and women are able to take this test. The patriclan test analyzes the Y chromosome that is passed to men from father to son. Women cannot take this test because we do not have the Y chromosome. Since my brother and I share the same biological parents, I had him to take the patriclan test.

Back to what I was saying about having a specific reason for taking these tests...there are many other tests that will provide information about the countries that your ancestors are from, haplogroups, etc. and do so for much cheaper. African Ancestry actually tells you the people/ethnicity that your ancestors come from. In my mind...the matriclan and patriclan test results symbolize my connection with two of my ancestors that were most likely forced from Africa into America. These ancestors (and many of my other ancestors) endured many unspeakable hardships and are the reason that I have life today. While these tests are expensive, when compared to all that has been done on my behalf so that I could have life this very day - the costs of these tests are just pennies! While I do think that the government should provide these tests to African descendants of the enslaved since this country profited immeasurably off the "welfare" system built on the backs of our Ancestors, I won't hold my breath. I have am blessed with life and health today, and I think it is a small sacrifice to be able to know as much about my Ancestors as possible. Long story short, I had a very specific reason for wanting these tests!

These tests are a bit different from the ones at Ancestry.com. Instead of spitting in a tube, you use cotton swabs (q-tips) to collect DNA from your cheeks. When the results are processed, you are sent a packet by snail mail (postal service) that contains a letter with a few details in it and a certificate. Here are mine (and my brother's since our results are the same).

The African Ancestry results came in a thin booklet. This is what the cover looks like.

This is the letter that came with the African Ancestry matriclan test results. My mtDNA traces back to the Mende people of Sierra Leone in Africa.

This is the certificate that came with the African Ancestry matriclan test results.

This is the letter that came with the African Ancestry patriclan test results. My (brother's) yDNA traces back to the Fang people of Gabon in Africa.

This is the certificate that came with the African Ancestry patriclan test results.

And there you have it folks. I must tell you that these results give me great pride. My Ancestors were NOT slaves. They were enslaved. It is not our shame. It is the shame of the enslavers. As a descendant, I feel great honor in now knowing the cultures of the people that started the journey of me being here on American soil today. Separated, yes. But the broken circle is being pieced back together again.

My Ancestry.com Experience

So the first DNA test that I ordered was from dna.ancestry.com. They often run sales and most recently ran one for $79, but at the time that I ordered, I didn't know that. I paid $99 but googled an online discount code for free shipping that worked.

Timing (i.e. the wait) 

I ordered the test on Wednesday, March 9, 2016. The test kit arrived on Monday, March 15, 2016. I spit in the tube and mailed it back. I could see in my online account that the test began processing on March 18, 2016. I signed up to receive weekly emails regarding the status of my tests, however they only sent me two emails: one to let me know that my test kit had shipped out to me on March 10, 2016 and one to let me know that they were still processing my results on April 6, 2016.  I received an email that my results were ready on May 3, 2016. So for me, from start to finish, the process took 55 days. The time that they processed them was about 46 days (a little over 6 weeks).

Again, I watched many youtube videos from other people who had gone through the process, and many of them reported receiving their results in about three weeks. So I figured either they were really busy or my results were really mixed up. Both may have been correct, because these results are a bit of a head scratcher.

The Results

So I won't make you wait to see the results. Here they are, and I'll write more about my thoughts afterwards.

The first screen you come to looks like this. It shows you an overview of your DNA results. It also shows you a few "matches" that you have. These are other people with DNA that match yours. They may be related to you (but there is a chance that they may not be related to you. More on that in a later post.)

I clicked the green button in the left column that said "SEE FULL ETHNICITY ESTIMATE", and it took me to the next screen with my results. The word "ESTIMATE" is really key here, and my results are a prime example of that.

So here you can see that I'm 77% African and 23% a lot of other stuff. I call it "a lot of other stuff" because it is apparently not clear what that other stuff is. In all of the videos that I've watched, I haven't run across another result set like this with ALL trace regions (outside of the African portion). For example, usually under European, for other people there would be listed at least one or more confident results and then the trace regions. However, in mine, as you can see, ALL of the results outside of the African ones listed first, there are trace regions. From the explanation, they mean "iffy" to me.

Trace Regions

So here's the explanation provided about what trace regions are:

My Thoughts

Overall, I'm glad I took the test. Although I came away with more questions than answers, going into this, I figured that I would. However, I didn't realize how unclear my results would be. I'm not upset or anything about it though. I know that genetics is a science that is developing right before our very eyes. Over time, as more people get tested, my results will become clearer. I'm already planning to have more members of my family get tested in the near future.

Also, I think that my trace regions come from the European ancestor(s). I'm pretty sure that nobody was from Asia or Polynesia in the recent past. I think that whatever ancestor(s) I inherited these DNA segments from already had DNA in them from these regions- although I could be wrong. I am a complete novice at this.

I chose to test with Ancestry.com for several reasons:

(1) I knew that they are more specific about what regions in Africa you match to. Many of the others (23andme.com, familytreedna.com, etc.) tend to group Africans in large vague categories like West African or Subsaharan African. We already know that much, and I'd rather spend these coins of mine on something more specific.

(2) I knew that Ancestry.com would provide me with a list of people that match to my DNA. Others do too, no doubt. But I have the whole family tree set up on Ancestry, and my DNA test correlated well with that.

Here are some more detailed photos of my results (including the specific Trace Regions):

Africa

Europe

America

Asia

Pacific Islander

West Asia

So there you have it. Basically, my ancestors had babies by everyone who was invited to dinner. Just kidding! It's just jokes.

Until next time...