If you know me, you know I am proud of the fact that I am an Irish girl (from a couple of generations back). I naturally have light colored hair, blue eyes, fair skin and freckles. All typical, Celtic attributes both from Ireland, Scotland (to a point) and Scandinavia. Until recently, all I knew is that I was a descendant of Irish, English and German ancestors.
Climbing the Family Tree
Well, all because of a show set in 18th Century Scotland (ahem, Outlander) I became obsessed with my ancestry and desperately yearned to take a trip to Scotland (and Ireland by default). Hopefully the trip will happen sooner rather than later! VisitScotland, I am willing to take a free trip with my hubby in exchange for a review! 😉 But seriously, first, I signed up for Ancestry.com account to be able to further research my family tree. I also logged onto FamilySearch.org which if you know anything about genealogy- this is run by the LDS church and they have extensive documents and information about immigrants and ancestors who came to our country many years ago!
This all started back in late July 2017, and boy have a learned and found out sooo much! Although, sadly, I am still at a road block with my Crawford side (which I am assuming is from Fife, Scotland per information I found, but need more substantial verification) and my Condran side (maternal grandfather’s side) which I found out through a document for a marriage license my three times great grandfather was born in Donegal, Ireland. Update-my mom and I have since found two portraits of what I learned is most likely my GGG Grandmother and Grandfather Condran. I am also at a road block with my Campbell side (maternal grandmother’s side). I am assuming they are from Scotland too but not sure how in the world (see what I did there!) they came over here. I was told my grandmother’s cousin is doing research on that side and I hope to hear more information soon! Further more, I have found more Irish (Collins) on her side, so that’s exciting!
For the Love of Scotland
Why am I so into the Scotland you may ask? The culture just intrigues me and pulls at my heartstrings. The same thing I felt for Ireland since I was little. Whenever bagpipes are played it pulls at my heart. My Pap Condran felt the same thing too and I happened to find out his side has Scots Irish ancestry. I can not wait until I can take a trip over there and see it for myself!
Choosing a DNA Company
After all that, I had been toying with the idea of getting an Ancestry DNA test. I was interested in seeing truly, how much Scottish and Irish DNA I had coursing through my body. My husband and I decided that that would be my birthday present from him and I waited around until November. Here’s a tip- Black Friday weekend has historically been the best deal all year from Ancestry DNA ($49+S&H) and Family Tree DNA ($39+ S&H)
So I did my research and decided that since I had my family tree on Ancestry and they had the biggest database for DNA, I would get my test through them. My kit arrived the being of December and I wasted no time getting it back out the door. It was a Saturday afternoon and I had just returned from a day of home decor shopping with my mom. The boys were napping (a first for awhile with the oldest!) and I was able to concentrate. I must say, it was a lot of spitting into a vial! However, it went quickly until the end! That seemed to take forever! I sent it off that Monday and waited patiently for the email with my results! Christmas Eve morning I got it! Merry Christmas to me!
WOW! I was kind of shocked!
31% Scandinavian??? Ok now I had a feeling I would have some Scandinavian in me. A couple of my family members who had tested before me did. I just didn’t think it would be the largest percentage. However, I am tall, fair haired and blue eyed! With more research since I tested, I realized you could combine Great Britain and Ireland/Scotland/Wales, so I could be more of that than Scandinavian. I also read that a lot of people in Great Britain and Scotland have Scandinavian in them than native Scandinavians, hmm interesting! Since then, Ancestry DNA did an update (which they do as more and more people test and they have a broader range of variables). Since I took my test, Ancestry DNA has updated.
Here are my updated results…
After, I got these results I created at Gedmatch.com account and uploaded my information there. That was fun as you can go more in depth with your results. There are a lot of YouTube videos to help guide you if that is something you want to check it out. Then I uploaded my raw dna to Myheritage.com . Needless to say, I was not too thrilled with my results.
However, their database is one of the smallest, so these numbers will hopefully change overtime, as more people test.
I also uploaded to Family Tree DNA I almost bought my kit through them, but decided to go through Ancestry because I had my family tree started with them and was able to link my results to it. I knew I could take my raw data and upload to other sites.
Here is my Family Tree DNA results…
See what I mean about just combining the Great Britain, Wales, Ireland and Scotland with Ancestry DNA? If I combine them on Ancestry it would equal 60%, so close to my Family Tree DNA total.
On World Wide DNA Day in April 2018, 23 and Me was offering FREE DNA data transfer. I decided to take advantage and check out what my results were there. Now keep in mind 23 and Me has the health aspect to it. I was not that interested in that.
Pretty diverse right? Kind of similar to my results with My Heritage but much more diverse. It’s interesting however, that they have more regions now, which is pretty cool and confirms a lot of my research.
I hope this was helpful. I did this mostly for fun, curiosity and to help with some brick walls in my family tree and also to confirm my research thus far. Also, to help connect me with DNA matches. If you have any questions, I’d like to do a follow up post with questions answered. So don’t hesitate ask away!
Also, I am an Ancestry Affiliate, if you would like to use my link, I would greatly appreciate it! And if you enjoy my content, please consider subscribing to my blog so you don’t miss any of my posts 🙂
Good Luck,
