Saturday 5 August 2017

DNA for the Ward & Hart side

DNA for the Ward and Hart side of me.... 

Well after having my DNA tested at Christmas - it came back not quite as expected. My grandparents are the Ward family - mostly from Shropshire and Yorkshire. The Hart family that were from Birmingham and Ireland. The Hands family that seemed only to have lived in Birmingham. And lastly the Feege family that are a bit of a mystery coming from London and originally Germany/Poland.

Now with this ancestry, I would have thought lots of British DNA with a smattering of European and Irish ...Not what I have!!

61% European West.
16% Ireland
8% Great Britain
8% Finland/Northwest Russia
4% Iberian Peninsula
3% European East.

My husband came back with 42 % Irish and 37% European West. Not what he expected at all. 

Ancestry Links.

Now I have had a subscription to Ancestry for years. Now looking at the DNA matches has been very interesting. I know that some of the cousins showing are correct. Which means that the ones that have no tree links; are also distant relatives and could have some family links that would enhance my understandings of my families heritage. ..

Is it worth doing?

Definitively yes. But it needs to be done with researching your family history. Because as a stand alone test, it does not mean anything significant. Also linking with Ancestry or other family history websites, gives a wider and growing range of contacts and much "food for thought".
I have a 4th cousin that appears to be Italian! Now with no family history for this person showing, I can not check as to why?
But to me this is very interesting and in the past had such a link come up in my family history research. I would have dismissed it .. but now not likely.


With another generation now growing up. I want to leave a legacy of our family. As the links and memories get lost in time. I wish that I could remember what my grandad told me about his early life now. I also wish that I could talk to my dad and ask him more about his family.