My family tree is short. When I mean, short, I mean that I have never met my maternal grandfather nor do I know his name or anything at all about him-including his ethnicity.
For the longest time, I knew I was about a quarter Asian and the rest"primarily Caucasian," but I wanted to find out my TRUE proportions and from which countries my ethnicities stemmed. Unfortunately, my grandma passed away from cancer before I really took interest in her side of the family tree and my blood lines.
My sister-in-law Emily had told my husband and I last summer of doing a DNA test that could tell your ethnicity with a simple spit test. I thought, "how cool would that be?"
As time went on, that idea stuck with me. I really wanted to be able to tell my son what his nationalities were-especially for when he gets older! So, in February, I decided to do DNA testing and I chose to go through Ancestry.com.
I received my kit in the mail a few days later-at a price of $99 which included the kit and the lab processing of the test-and of course, those final results!
The test kit somes with a little informational booklet, a tube, and a collection baggy.
To test, all I had to do was break open the tubing, spit up to the wavy line, and press down on the cap to allow the solution to fall into the spit sample for preservation-easy, simple, quick! Though, it did take me several spits.. guess I need to drink more water!
I made the spit sample in with the pre-paid postage and package that was included and waited for a total of 8 weeks for my results.
Lo & behold, yesterday, I received an email stating that my results were in! I was super excited and surprised, as I was in the middle of making dinner. I waiting for my husband to wake up so we could view the results together. I could not describe this feeling-I was finally going to know what ethnicities I was!!!
I logged into my Ancestry.com account and there they were.
My ethnicities along with the percentages read as the following:
4% Africa
- 2% African North
- 1% African Southeastern Bantu
- <1% Mali
22% Asia
- 19% East Asia
- 3% Central Asia
- 46% Western Europe (Germany, France)
- 9% Ireland
- 7% Great Britain
- 5% Scandinavia
- 2% Italy/Greece
- 1% Finland/Northwest Russia
- <1% Europe East
- <1% Iberian Peninsula
2% Pacific Islander
- 2% Polynesia
They even provide a map for you based on your results!
WOW. Just WOW. I was a little taken back, since I have always been told that my maternal grandfather could have been Italian or Hispanic-there are no Latino countries listed so I am deinitely NOT latina.
I wanted to learn more from the side of the family tree that I CAN trace and so I called my dad last night to confirm some of the results. Sure enough, my grandmother was German. This explains the heavy percentage from West Germany.
I had a high percentage in Ireland and that was from my father's side as well. I was so excited about how truly accurate my test results were!
And of course, I already knew I was part Korean so the big shaded blue area did not surprise me. Now, 4% African is super high. I can only imagine whom or where that must have come from, but it is super cool to know!
Thankfully, Ancestry.com matches you to your family members on their website. I have already found a few family members on my dad's side! I called him to run some names by him and, sure enough, he knew them so this meant that the test results were in fact legitimate.
Now, I can finally tell my son what his ethnicities are! However, my husband is thinking about getting tested, as well, to find out his geneology. I am very excited to see what his results might be!
If you are questioning your ethnicity, are adopted, have a small family tree, or just want to know for the sake of telling your children (or just wanted to find out for yourself), then I highly encourage you to try DNA testing from Ancestry.com. It is authentic and highly fun to do.
Head on over to Ancestry.com and get your kit sent to you for just $99!
Disclaimer: I was give a test kit at no cost. All opinions are my own.
I wanted to learn more from the side of the family tree that I CAN trace and so I called my dad last night to confirm some of the results. Sure enough, my grandmother was German. This explains the heavy percentage from West Germany.
Pictured here with my dad and maternal grandmother.
I had a high percentage in Ireland and that was from my father's side as well. I was so excited about how truly accurate my test results were!
And of course, I already knew I was part Korean so the big shaded blue area did not surprise me. Now, 4% African is super high. I can only imagine whom or where that must have come from, but it is super cool to know!
Thankfully, Ancestry.com matches you to your family members on their website. I have already found a few family members on my dad's side! I called him to run some names by him and, sure enough, he knew them so this meant that the test results were in fact legitimate.
Now, I can finally tell my son what his ethnicities are! However, my husband is thinking about getting tested, as well, to find out his geneology. I am very excited to see what his results might be!
If you are questioning your ethnicity, are adopted, have a small family tree, or just want to know for the sake of telling your children (or just wanted to find out for yourself), then I highly encourage you to try DNA testing from Ancestry.com. It is authentic and highly fun to do.
Head on over to Ancestry.com and get your kit sent to you for just $99!
Disclaimer: I was give a test kit at no cost. All opinions are my own.