Aunt Pat's rather 'Asian'-looking school picture. Yes! I have finally gotten the colorful DNA results that I've always sought! I finally had my father's parents' DNA tested for ancestral heritage. The limitations of the test still exist, of course--due to the fact that they only test the two alleles of 15 markers or so, things can easily be missed. Therefore, my own DNA analysis suggested fairly clear Scotch-Irish heritage. While perfectly fine, this did not tickle my romantic fancies in particular. Also, I had not realized that the East coast Native American populations were not included in the test (still not sure why--perhaps no pure samples?). Anyhow...back to the excitement.
Grandaddy, it turns out, has quite the Native American roots! While of course he had some European connections, the current-day world populations that he matched best with were the Hispanic and Mestizo populations in America. This makes sense, as they are typically a mix of European and Native American, and sometimes African, though there was no hint of African roots in either of my grandparents (which I do think would have been quite cool, by the way).
After all this time of searching, it is wonderful to see this 'proof'! His grandmother Reppie looked Asian in her older pictures (the only ones I have), even though she wasn't full-blood Native American, and my dad and 2 of his 3 siblings all have rather "squinty", Asian-looking eyes. The childhood photos of my Aunt Pat have always been quite the evidence of those roots to me!
It's so very nice to be validated. Those photos were the only 'proof' I had for the longest time, as the family denied it generally in the past. I also performed a test in physics class which matched my hair width more closely with Asian folks than Europeans, which I took to support my Native American suspicions. It's nice to see how people actually can change, though, as the residual shame associated with having Native American heritage seems to have evaporated in the more recent years. My father openly admits what he denied when I was 20!
So, these results don't mean Grandaddy is full-on Comanche or anything. I was also excited to see quite the strong link to Toulouse, France. This area in the SW of France has a very interesting history and is the 'center' of the Occitan culture, as it is called. I only became aware of the colorful history of this region through reading the history-rich novel Labyrinth by Kate Moss. It was initially a bit dull in the political and historical details, but I gradually became aware of my ignorance regarding some very important history. I'm still fairly ignorant, but at least I'm aware of it now! As soon as I finally finished the long book, in which I'd been attentive mainly to the sensational novel aspects, I realized that the history I'd been introduced to was quite amazing and that I should go back and re-read the book with attention to it, after I had some hooks established from the first reading. Now that I see Grandaddy and Granny both had Toulouse, France pop up on their Native Population matches, I will have even more enthusiasm for re-reading the book, so's I can learn about some of my French heritage. :)
No, it's not strange that they both had Toulouse pop up. They both have old roots in the same region of South Carolina, and I'm completely convinced (and have reason to be convinced) that some of the ancestral lines match up a few times.
Granny also had a hint of the Hispanic/mestizo match in her, though it was much weaker. The most interesting surprise in her native population matches was a medium link with Romania, which Michael translated to Gypsies! I'm totally thrilled with that! Michael started singing Hilary Duff's Gypsy Woman song to make me laugh (it's my music, that he's tolerantly put up with!), and I can't wait to watch Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame with the kids again. Puts together the gypsies and the French, actually!
Of course, both of my grandparents had significant ties to Ireland and Britain, with those Norse blips to signify those terrorizing Vikings who invaded and settled the British coast! Seeing all those links really does add to my interest and appreciation of the history associated with those regions, especially if I can see them in a romantic light, which is fairly easy when so many brilliant folks have written great books and movies and songs about them!
I actually do have fictional books and/or movies that I associate to each of these heritage links. The strong Portuguese element in Michael's results left me at a complete loss, and I've actually put a couple of videos about Portugal on hold at the library. I'm totally out of my element with that, but I've got the French, Brits, Scots, Norse, Native American and gypsy stories covered!
Grandaddy, it turns out, has quite the Native American roots! While of course he had some European connections, the current-day world populations that he matched best with were the Hispanic and Mestizo populations in America. This makes sense, as they are typically a mix of European and Native American, and sometimes African, though there was no hint of African roots in either of my grandparents (which I do think would have been quite cool, by the way).
After all this time of searching, it is wonderful to see this 'proof'! His grandmother Reppie looked Asian in her older pictures (the only ones I have), even though she wasn't full-blood Native American, and my dad and 2 of his 3 siblings all have rather "squinty", Asian-looking eyes. The childhood photos of my Aunt Pat have always been quite the evidence of those roots to me!
It's so very nice to be validated. Those photos were the only 'proof' I had for the longest time, as the family denied it generally in the past. I also performed a test in physics class which matched my hair width more closely with Asian folks than Europeans, which I took to support my Native American suspicions. It's nice to see how people actually can change, though, as the residual shame associated with having Native American heritage seems to have evaporated in the more recent years. My father openly admits what he denied when I was 20!
So, these results don't mean Grandaddy is full-on Comanche or anything. I was also excited to see quite the strong link to Toulouse, France. This area in the SW of France has a very interesting history and is the 'center' of the Occitan culture, as it is called. I only became aware of the colorful history of this region through reading the history-rich novel Labyrinth by Kate Moss. It was initially a bit dull in the political and historical details, but I gradually became aware of my ignorance regarding some very important history. I'm still fairly ignorant, but at least I'm aware of it now! As soon as I finally finished the long book, in which I'd been attentive mainly to the sensational novel aspects, I realized that the history I'd been introduced to was quite amazing and that I should go back and re-read the book with attention to it, after I had some hooks established from the first reading. Now that I see Grandaddy and Granny both had Toulouse, France pop up on their Native Population matches, I will have even more enthusiasm for re-reading the book, so's I can learn about some of my French heritage. :)
No, it's not strange that they both had Toulouse pop up. They both have old roots in the same region of South Carolina, and I'm completely convinced (and have reason to be convinced) that some of the ancestral lines match up a few times.
Granny also had a hint of the Hispanic/mestizo match in her, though it was much weaker. The most interesting surprise in her native population matches was a medium link with Romania, which Michael translated to Gypsies! I'm totally thrilled with that! Michael started singing Hilary Duff's Gypsy Woman song to make me laugh (it's my music, that he's tolerantly put up with!), and I can't wait to watch Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame with the kids again. Puts together the gypsies and the French, actually!
Of course, both of my grandparents had significant ties to Ireland and Britain, with those Norse blips to signify those terrorizing Vikings who invaded and settled the British coast! Seeing all those links really does add to my interest and appreciation of the history associated with those regions, especially if I can see them in a romantic light, which is fairly easy when so many brilliant folks have written great books and movies and songs about them!
I actually do have fictional books and/or movies that I associate to each of these heritage links. The strong Portuguese element in Michael's results left me at a complete loss, and I've actually put a couple of videos about Portugal on hold at the library. I'm totally out of my element with that, but I've got the French, Brits, Scots, Norse, Native American and gypsy stories covered!
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