2024 Week 2 - Origins

          Where is the family from?  Wow!  What a question!  I knew my Dad’s family was from Germany & Wales and Mom considered herself a “Heinz 57” (German, English, Scotch-Irish, and French).

         Research did prove the German on my Dad’s side and I have found the English, Scottish, & Irish as well as the French on my Mom’s.  DNA ethnicity has proven some of this and indicated new.  I took the test through Ancestry.  Have downloaded the raw data and uploaded it to other sites.  Here are the results from the various sites.

         FTDNA shows the following:

·       71% England, Wales, & Scotland

·       20% Ireland

·       6% Greece & Balkans

LivingDNA:

·       100% Great Britain & Ireland

o   29% East Anglia

o   26% Southeast England

o   10% South Central England

o   6% Northern Ireland & Southwest Scotland

o   5% Northumbria

o   5% Aberdeenshire

o   5% Northwest England

o   4% Cumbria

o   3% Ireland

o   3% South England

o   2% Central England

o   2% North Wales

·       Viking index is 40% (Eastern Europe)

MyHeritage:

·       59% Irish, Scottish & Welsh

·       26% English

·       9% Balkan

·       4% Scandinavian

·       2% Greek & South Italian

AncestryDNA:

·       51% Germanic Europe

·       23% Scotland

·       20% England & Northwestern Europe

·       3% Sweden & Denmark

·       2% Ireland

·       1% Baltics (Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania)

Maternal –

·       18% Germanic Europe

·       23% Scotland

·       7% England & Northwestern Europe

·       2% Ireland

Paternal –

·       33% Germanic Europe

·       13% England & Northwestern Europe

·       3% Sweden & Denmark

·       1% Baltics

So, it will be interesting to see where the highlighted ethnicities come into play in my family tree.

         We always thought Dad to be 75% German and 25% Welsh, so these results are interesting.  I have traced some of his ancestry to Mecklenburg-Schwerin (KLUDT & AHRENDT) and Bavaria (REISSNER & HAUEISEN) with the families immigrating to the United States around 1850.  This makes up 50% of his German Ancestry (all on his dad’s side of the family).  His mother’s side has surnames like Swinehart, Davis, Secor & Morgan.  The Swinehart’s did come from Hannover between 1776 and 1811.  The rest of the surnames have not been researched and appear to be early settlers in the USA.

         Mom’s family is a different story.  They all appear to be early settlers with many of the ancestors living in Virginia.  I know that some originated from England (STOVALL, PORTER, WALKER, ALLEINE, HATCHER, BELCHER), Ireland (DENNIS, BEVINS, NOBLET), Scotland (FRAZIER/FRAZER, FOSTER, SIMPSON, WALKER, MCNIGHT, RUTHERFORD), Germany (SHOCKEY/SCHACKE/JAGGI) and France (NOBLET, FUGATE).  These are just some of the surnames.  Some of the families went from England to Scotland to Ireland before coming to the United States (or The Colonies).

         I’m slowly re-working my family tree, reviewing research  notes and seeing if I have the documents to prove the information.  I’m currently working on my paternal grandfather’s side of the family (KLUDT, REISSNER, AHRENDT, & HAUEISEN).