DNA Test results! WHOA.

I'm so excited to share more about my DNA test results!! I took a test with Ancestry.com., the same site I've been using to log my findings and family tree thus far for my project. I did get the results a few weeks ago, but honestly it's been a lot to take in and process, and now I'm ready to share these results with you.

First, I will dive into the ethnicity percentages found in my DNA test. Which to me, was very shocking!!! This is what the percentages page looks like when I got my results:

Here is a pie chart of percentages, which really helps visualize how much of each ethnicity I am genetically. It's a little small, but you get the idea.

So first off,

I'm over 1/3 Eastern European?! 37%

I mean I knew I was Polish & Hungarian for sure, but I had no idea that I carried these genes more than anything else, and so significantly. But now that I've had time to think about it, it makes more sense. Out of 8 great-grandparents, I know for a fact 3 immigrated from this location, and maybe 4 if this would include Germany (which looks like it doesn't, but I'd say it's close enough). My mother's dad is completely Polish, his father and mother's parents immigrating both from Poland (from what I've found, my grandpa's dad has been a bit of a struggle to verify my findings). My mother's mom is half German and half Hungarian, which I believe could easily be mixed into this percentage.

After these findings, I can't help but joke that I'm actually a white girl trapped in a Mexican girls body!! All of my life I have been visually recognized as Latina, but in all actuality, I'm not even 1/4 Latinx! That I will explain more later... but all in all looks I've carried mostly my mother's Eastern European genetic traits. So exciting to find this out, and it really changes my sense of identity in myself, even with only this first find.

I guess I'm English?!

And not even just a little bit, but about 1/4 English or Northwestern European! So basically I'm over 1/2 European descent, if you're including the whole continent. But the interesting part about this portion of myself, is it's not from my mother's side of the family - but my dads! My dad is half Mexican and half Danish from the best of my knowledge, which I believe is where this percentage comes from. I should also note, that the brighter colored area, the more likely your family is from that area, according to ancestry. This fact makes this chart even more interesting, because although Denmark is highlighted, it is darker than England. I had no idea I had English descent. And in fact, I haven't found a documentation from my dad's mom's side of the family that leads to England, but now I know that I should be looking more into English documents.

I know that this is from my dad's side of the family because my cousin Sydney Ladwig also has this common percentage, and she is my cousin on my father's side. I know that this comes from my grandma Carol Church (Hansen), my dad's mother. She passed in 2012, I wish I could talk to her about it! But luckily her mother Elsie Hansen is still alive and I was able to talk to my great-grandma Elsie about my results over Xmas break.

I'm 12% Mexican

And I really thought this whole time this would be my largest portion - wrong!! Looks like these genes are just strong, but not prominent in my DNA. I've also discovered that I'm mostly from the Northeastern Mexico/South Texas region of North America, which makes sense because many of my ancestors/relatives are from/live in Corpus Christi and Yorktown, Texas area. Interested to dive into this more, but still, I'm shocked to see this percentage so small in my DNA!

And there are more surprises:

I'm 9% Irish/Scottish. (I'm thinking Scottish)

I'm 8% Norwegian. (WHAT.)

And other random percentages.

I'm 2% African?! 1% European Jewish (Dang, missed Hanukkah for the 23rd year in a row, oops) and other random percentages. I realize these are really small estimates, but it's still crazy to see these geographic locations listed in my DNA.

All these findings have been a triumph to (re)discover. Next step with the DNA testing, using the information I found (mostly the regions) to try to look for documents in these areas from my family line.

I'm also excited to share that more of my family members have agreed to taking their own DNA tests!! My mother, twin sister (will hers be just like mine?), and grandma (mother's mother) will be taking tests. And also fun, my sister's boyfriend and my boyfriend will take one too. It's great to see my project already inspiring other's to take the jump and discover their own genealogy too. And of course - my family member's results will be super helpful when comparing with mine!

Quite the update, thanks for reading.

- Manda V.