Today is Canada Day, the birthday of a nation that, geographically speaking, is second only to Russia as the largest in the world (and for a while, during the time of the USSR, we were technically the biggest).
I’ve always felt a strong kinship to Canada Day and to the history of the land into which I was born. A history that stretches back substantially farther than 1867, when the Canadian Confederation unified various Eastern parts of the country to create the backbone of a nation that would, in less than a century encompass, the entirety of the landmass that we know today as Canada.
In a few days my own birthday will transpire once again. Another year – a truly unforgettable year in terms of what befell the earth and its people – of experiencing the unparalleled magnificence of existence, with all of its highs, lows, smiles, tears, and magickal happenings will be added to timeline of my existence.
The proximity of the two days – Canada Day and my birthday – has always delighted me. And as I grew up and began to research my genealogy with great vigour and intensity, I found it was a chapter of the year that often brought forth an abundance of thoughts about, and connections to, my ancestors.
For without them, I – like each of us and our respective lineages – would not be here today.
I was born in Canada, as we both of my parents and three of my four grandparents (my maternal grandfather was born in a part of what was then German Russia called Bessarabia; today this area is comprised by areas of Moldova and Ukraine).
If we start digging further back in time, fewer and fewer of my ancestors were born, let alone lived for any portion of their life, in Canada, though some certainly were and did.
The oldest bloodline that I can lay claim to in this country is that of the French Canadian ancestry, which comes by way of my maternal grandmother’s parents and stretches back to at least the 1600s.
Like all non-First Nations Peoples of this country, however, my Canadian lineage is relatively new when viewed through the lens of human history.
Ultimately, if we go far enough back in time, all modern humans share the same ancestor – a Mitochondrial Eve – as she is often referred to in scientific circles.
In the approximately 100,000 – 200,000 years since then, our DNA has branched out further, creating something rather akin to a genetic fingerprint that both differentiates us from, and concurrently connects us to, one other as a global species.
While it is commonly believed that in the 1950s, biologist James Watson and physicist Francis Crick discovered DNA, they were not, in fact, the first to do so. Though their discoveries and advancements in the field of DNA research were ground-breaking and have impacted the world in innumerable ways since then.
This distinction does to Friedrich Miescher, a Swiss chemist, who in 1869 – just two years, incidentally, after Canada officially became a nation – first identified what would later go on to be called deoxyribonucleic acid, commonly called DNA, inside the nuclei of white blood cells.
In the nearly a century between this extraordinary discovery and the Watson and Crick’s 1953 finding that DNA molecules exist in three-dimensional double helix form, a number of other scientists focused on the study of DNA before they even fully knew what it was or to just what extent it shaped life as we know it on this planet.
The discoveries these pioneering genetic scientists and all those who continue to follow in their footsteps has truly revolutionized our world.
From helping to solve crimes to aiding in a better understanding of human evolution to allowing us to test for a litany of different medical conditions, the importance of the discovery and subsequent advancements in the understanding of DNA cannot be overstated.
In today’s post, we’re going to look at ancestral DNA testing in a different light than it is generally viewed.
We’ll explore some of the ways in which DNA testing can help you to better understand yourself and your ancestors and how that knowledge can be applied to your life as a witch, Wiccan and/or Pagan in the 21st century.
What is ancestral DNA testing?
Genetic ancestry testing, ancestral DNA testing, or genetic genealogy, as it is sometimes called, is a scientific way for us to discover more about our ancestors than historical facts and records, photos and family lore (important as these thing all are!) could ever tell us.
When one’s DNA is tested for genetic ancestry, we can usually discover more about where they came from and what population(s) their ancestors belonged to. Generally speaking, the more closely related two people, families or populations are, the more likely they are to share various DNA markers.
There are three type of genetic testing that are commonly used for ancestral and genealogical related purposes. They are as follows:
-Y Chromosome testing: As Y chromosomes are passed down exclusively from fathers to sons, this form of genetic testing is not available to woman (because females do not possess a Y chromosome). If you wish to know more about this type of genetic testing as it pertains to your own family, your best bet is to get a close biological male relative, such as a brother or your father, to take an ancestral DNA test and share his results with you.
-Mitochondrial DNA testing: Unlike Y chromosomes, mitochondrial DNA is passed down from mother to child and is present in both males and females, thus providing valuable information about a person’s direct female ancestral line.
-Single nucleotide polymorphism testing: This form of genetic testing looks at a person’s entire genome, commonly comparing it to those who have taken the same types of tests to help provide a clear(er) picture of a person’s ethnic background. While not foolproof in this respect, of course, again, it can help to provide a good deal of information regarding whereabouts in the world a person’s ancestors may have come from.
Whereas mitochondrial and Y chromosome testing can tell us about our direct ancestral lines, they do not paint as broad a picture of one’s full ethnic background, which is where single nucleotide polymorphism testing shines.
It is important to keep in mind that throughout human history, countless populations have migrated, mingled, and mated.
This often means that genetic DNA testing can lead to some surprising results – or, conversely, that it may confirm things that were either stated as gospel loudly and proudly or said in hushed whispers within families or communities for many a year.
Where can I get ancestral DNA testing?
These days, most ancestral DNA testing is done via paid online services such as 23andMe, Circle DNA, Ancestry DNA, Cri Genetics, National Geographic’s Geno 2.0, and Living DNA.
Other consumer genetic testing services exist, some catering to specific areas such as medical data, and chances are more will emerge as time goes on and further advances and discoveries are made in the fascinating field of genetics.
The cost varies from ancestral genetic testing service to service, as does the data reports that you’re presented with.
Several years ago now, when it was relatively new to the world, my husband and I availed of a sale 23andMe.com was holding so as to test our respective DNA.
As an avid hobbyist genealogist (and someone for whom science, health and history are all immense passions as well), I couldn’t jump at the chance to do so quickly enough!
While some of the medical aspects that the testing indicated I may or may be prone to developing/having hit the mark and others were way off base, the more concrete ancestral data was of little surprise to me and helped to further confirm many years of my own genealogical research.
The fact that 23andMe continues to provide users with additional data as time goes on and additional tests are included in their offerings has only further helped to make the cost of this service more than worth it for me personally. (This post is not sponsored by 23andMe or any other website or company.)
If you’re looking to avail of genetic ancestral testing yourself and want to score a good deal, too, I suggest waiting for sales. Many of these reputable testing websites hold sales each year, especially around (very logically) Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, as well as Christmastime.
However, prices have, generally speaking, either dropped or stayed fairly stable over the years and most online ancestral DNA testing services are not inordinately pricey.
I would be remiss if I did not address the fact that, obviously, in order to receive this kind of testing, you must submit your own DNA (usually in the form of saliva).
As such, technically, your DNA is housed in a database and while there is (and I cannot stress this point highly enough) no reason to believe that any of these companies are using that information for unethical or otherwise nefarious purposes, at the end of the day, we have a right to know who has access to our DNA and what it could, no matter how hypothetically, be used for.
For a wide range of highly understandable reasons, not all individuals or group of people are comfortable with scientists having their genetic material – a point that the Atlantic highlighted in a piece regarding Genetic Testing and Tribal Identity, for example.
If you’re down with genetic DNA testing, as many of us are, then you’re likely in for a delightful world of information that has been encoded in your cells your whole life, but which you might never have known about were it not for this astonishing branch of science.
5 Reasons why ancestral DNA testing can benefit your witchcraft
There is almost no limit to why genetic testing appeals to various people, what it can tell us about ourselves and our ancestors, and why it matters for the collective whole of humanity.
If you identify as a witch, Wiccan and/or Pagan of any sort, have you ever stopped to ask yourself how genetic testing might be able to deepen, enhance and even better your spiritual journey?
What about, if applicable, your witchcraft? How about the patron deities or the pantheon that you may work with? The types of foods you leave as offerings or utilize when holding a dumb supper? What you place on your altar in relation to your ancestors?
Could it come into play for you in regards to things like hedgeriding, visualizations, shadow work, healing generational trauma, strengthening your psychic abilities, kitchen or green witchery, or the divination methods you use?
Yes to all of the above and plenty, more including the five different ways that genealogical testing can help your witchery that we’ll explore in greater detail below.
1. It may be able to help you find the witchy path that is best for you: While there are more ways to witch than there will ever be witches themselves, for those who feel the need to belong follow a specific type of witchy/Wiccan path or who wish to do so in the ways that are truest to their generic ancestry, DNA testing can help point you in the right direction.
I do not personally believe that one must only work, as some are quick to state, with the systems of Paganism, gods and goddesses or cultural traditions of their own direct ancestors and/or culture.
That said, for a lot of us, the desire to do comes naturally or develops as we continue along our journey through life as witches/Pagans.
The clearer and more accurate a picture we have of where our ancestors stemmed from, the better able we are to research, engage with and build a spiritual practice that involves elements of the cultures and peoples that comprise our genetic makeup.
It is worth pointing out that, true as this can be, there are definitely some cultures for whom we presently know much more about their earlier beliefs, customs and traditions than others.
Simply knowing what area(s) of the world we have genetic ties to, however, can be a stepping stone to connecting with the culture – both past and present – of those locations and in turn finding ways to incorporate these important things into our daily spiritual walk.
2. Knowing where your ancestors originated from can lead to incredible travel experiences: If one feels so inclined, and has both the means and health required to do so, visiting one or more countries (if they differ from where you currently live) that you have ancestral ties to can be a profoundly poignant, potentially even life-changing, experience.
You could choose, for example, research and try to visit specific parts of the country, including graveyards or other burial sites, where your ancestors may have lived, worshiped, or been laid to rest.
Or you might opt to visit spiritually significant locations, sample national cuisines, perhaps, walk in locations that your ancestors may have trod with their very own feet, watch the sun set on the same horizon that they once gazed upon, connect with the Elements as they exist in that area (likewise for the genius loci), study traditional clothing and jewelry, and otherwise connect with the lands that helped in their own way to propel your ancestral line ever forward to the eventuality of your own existence.
There is no shortage of ways that travel can help to foster and bolster your spiritual path, your connection with your ancestors, and your understanding of human history – both that of your own family tree and the world at large.
3. It helps you to better know and understand who your ancestors were: Genetic DNA testing might not be able to give you precise names or put faces to those names, but it can very effectively paint a detailed picture of what ethnic groups we may have ancestral ties to.
This is important for a wide wealth of reasons and may, at least in part, help to explain why you’re instinctively drawn to certain cultures and/or the belief systems of such.
Many witches and Pagans honour, celebrate, and work with our ancestors in a myriad of different, highly personal ways. The more we know about the people we were descended from, the more specifically we can venerate and communicate – and/or feel a close bond with – those whose existences ultimately lead to our own.
As well, and this is a point whose importance cannot be overstated, ancestral DNA testing is not dependant on who our parents were. This means that if a person was adopted or little is known about who their parents were for whatever reason, genetic DNA testing helps to part some of the dark clouds of mystery surrounding your ancestors. Giving you a better and more accurate picture of whereabouts in the world your relatives called home.
Knowing this can be of great comfort and support (including offering a sense of kinship with others from the same areas of the world) to each of us, but potentially all the more so for who were adopted or had direct relatives who were adopted or whose family histories are largely unknown.
4. Provides more information about your ancestral female line: While some of us feel a stronger connection to male or female energy and/or deities, and some prefer not to assign or identify with gendered energy or aspects of the divine (or ourselves), here on earth we are all the product of countless generations of males and females engaging in the reproductive act.
Unfortunately, historically, less information was, in some times and places at least, recorded for our female ancestors. Names, birth and death dates, specifics about their lives and interests, and much more has frequently been lost to history. And the same is certainly true for many males, too, of course.
Ancestral DNA testing alone won’t likely be able to say what your great-great-great-great grandma’s favourite colour or dessert was. Nor can it, in and of itself, tell you her name. What it can do, however, is to help paint a better and broader picture of the female ancestral line from which you are both descended.
Everyone, regardless of gender, can benefit from honouring and connecting with the females in their family tree, some of whom, I’d be willing to bet, you both look like and may have much in common with.
In short, genetic DNA testing can help to give women a stronger presence in history, even if the particulars of their lives have sadly been lost.
It reminds us that they were just about everywhere that males populated the world for any length of time, while also reinforcing the goddess-like quality inherent to the act of giving life.
5. No one can take your ancestry away from you. Despite the atrocious, heartbreaking attempts to annihilate various populations or smaller communities of people (to say nothing of specific individuals) throughout the course of our collective history, those of us who are alive today carry in our very DNA proof of all those who came before us.
The importance of claiming and celebrating our ancestral autonomy, of knowing where we come from, and being able to connect (be it literally or in spirit) with various populations around the globe is a highly meaningful act. And to my mind, it is also a basic human right.
No matter how long you live, what you do in your life, the relationships you engage in, your job, your beliefs, or anything else, your DNA is your DNA and your ancestry is your ancestry. It cannot be stripped from you, for your DNA is quite literally what you are made of on a cellular level.
There is such an uplifting sense of strength, positive power, and inspiration to be found in this fact. Which you can apply to your witchery in a multitude of different ways, from having greater inner confidence to learning more about the peoples you are descended from to actively making elements of their cultures a part of your spiritual path.
Ancestral DNA testing is its own form of modern-day magic
Is ancestral DNA necessary in order to live your witchiest life? Definitely not. But that doesn’t mean that availing of an ancestral genetic testing service can’t be of meaningful, perhaps even substantial, benefit to you as a witch and/or Pagan.
It is important to note that if you wish to research if you’re descended from an accused witch or if you come from a family lineage that included people who practiced witchcraft (or were cunning folk, shamans, etc), genealogical research usually will need to be employed as well.
And even then, scant to little direct evidence may be found in many instances. For a multitude of understandable reasons, it wasn’t always the safest thing to flaunt one’s witchiness far and wide in various times and places past.
Though, conversely, sometimes it was the fact that someone was a healer, cunning woman, local witch, etc that helped the stories of their lives and abilities carry forth through the generations to the present day (this may be especially true in families with a long history of hereditary witchcraft).
While some of us, myself included, are firm believers in past lives, at the end of the day, we are each currently living our life in the here and now.
The physical body that our soul/spirit presently resides in is connected to the entirety of humanity as it has existed from the days of our collective mitochondrial mama.
Genetic DNA testing is a miracle of scientific discovery and understanding. Imagine, even just a few short generations ago, having the ability to look back in time across the span of human history care of a wee vile of our salvia?
It’s remarkable that we’re able to know and learn so much about ourselves and our ancestors via this incredible technology.
If you have the chance to use a genetic testing service, I highly recommend doing so. And if you’ve already availed of this kind of service, consider reflecting further on how the results you received about your ancestry can be of benefit to you from a spiritual standpoint.
While my ancestry composition tells me that I’m 99.7% European, that number is further broken down in the report I received and its results both back up and expand on where my genelogical research informs me that my ancestors hailed from.
The fact that I’m comprised of fair number of different European ancestries, most of which stem from Northern and Central Europe, helps me to feel that my natural inclination to associate with the Pagan traditions of these areas is exactly the spiritual path I’m meant to be on.
They echo down through the ages and are a part of both my genetic memory and my literal genetic sequencing. As it’s pretty safe to assume that if we go far enough back in time, plenty of my German, Scandinavian, Russian, French, Irish, British, etc ancestors would have been straight up Pagans.
I like to think that it might also be part of the reason why, at the end of the day, I’m an eclectic witch who cannot spend enough time in the woods, feels instinctively at home around people who speak certain European language that I know scarcely a word of, and why my heart is called to so fiercely by various parts of the world.
The connections you develop, already have and may deepen, or what surprises come your way via genetic DNA testing and how it corresponds to your own witchery will vary from mine. They will help to strengthen your life’s story along with the voices of your ancestors, whoever they were and wherever in the world they called home.
We grow as people the more we learn about ourselves and our ancestors. Doing so reminds us of the fact the entirety of humanity is interconnected and that for all of our differences – be they real or perceived – at the end of the day, we have far more in common with one another than points that set us apart.
Yet true as that is, we each have our own wonderfully unique origin stories as well. Ancestral DNA testing allows us to explore branches in our families trees that might never have been accessible to us were it not for this extraordinary technology.
If that is scientific magic in action, I don’t know what is! 😊
Have you used an ancestral DNA testing service before? If so, how did what you discovered (or had confirmed) influence your witchery or Pagan practice?
PS: Happiest Canada Day wishes to all of my fellow Canadians who are toasting our nation’s birthday today. 🍁
Happy Canada Day and have a wonderful birthday Autumn!
Thank you immensely, sweet Donna! My b-day took place yesterday (July 10th) and while certainly an understated and low-key event this year, was still highly meaningful, happy and enjoyable.
The morning began with a gloriously thick layer of fog that melted into a picture perfect blue sky, the latter of which stuck around the whole day and felt like an apt metaphor for the year that I hope lies ahead of me during my 36th year of life.
Immense hugs & joyful July blessings coming your way,
♥ Autumn
Firstly and most importantly – happy birthday, Autumn! I hope you have (or had) a wonderful day!
Secondly, thank you so much for the list of Canadian scrapbooking companies in your last post, which I will definitely be checking out later tonight as I make a very long list of things I’d like to purchase in future.
This post really is very timely for me right now! Last Xmas, I finally signed up for a limited version of Ancestry to try and figure out where exactly I come from. Turns out, I’m 40% Eastern European which probably explains why I’m so attracted to that part of the world, and that knowledge has actually inspired me to read more on Slavic and Eastern European witchcraft. The book wishlist is longer than the scrapbooking supply wishlist though – I definitely need to win a lotto. Hah.
In 2000, I tried to get access to my adoption records, but was only able to get non-identifying information at that time. After signing up with Ancestry, it became quite obvious that in order to get any real information, I needed to know my birth name. Turns out, the rules were changed in Alberta in 2004 (unbeknownst to me!) and I have just sent in my forms to finally – at the ripe old age of 64 – discover who my birth parents were! And I understand I have a few siblings who were also given up for adoption. I’ll admit to having a few butterflies these days … on the one hand, I’m anxiously awaiting the mail to see what it brings, and yet there’s a part of me that isn’t sure I really want to know. I guess we shall see whether I open it or just leave it in a drawer for the kids to find after I’m gone. 😉
Hello wonderfully lovely Lynne, thank you so much for your lovely comment and for sharing so much with me about your own genealogical history. I sincerely appreciate it.
You are very welcome for the list of Canadian scrapbooking websites. Again, that’s not an exhaustively though list, but it does include some of the biggest and, arguably, best sites that I’m aware on this side of the 49th.
Unfortuntely, we don’t have anything up here quite as extensive as, say, Scrapbook.com, Simon Says Stamp, or A Cherry on Top (to name but three of the mega online US scrapbook retailers), but one can still find a fairly decent range of products across the various Canadian sites (and a handful of bricks and mortar paper crafting shops that still exist). There are also some absolutely wonderful UK sources – many of which stock a wide range of brand that rarely if ever seen on this side of the pond. To date, I don’t have much experience shopping from them though, so can’t recommend too many firsthand (yet).
Sooo true about the giant wishlist of scrapbook supplies. I have some of those myself, too – both housed on various online shop’s websites, in a private Pinterest board, on a private Amazon list, and one on good ol’ paper as well.
I hope that you’re able to find many of the items you’re seeking. If anything is proving elusive, please don’t hesitate to let me know and I’ll happily help you try to track it down online.
Sooo true as well about the size of one’s reading wishlist. Mine probably runs into the tens of thousands of titles at this point. I’d need a hundred lifetimes spent doing little more than reading for their entirety to ever get through even a fraction of it. That isn’t possible, of course, but thankfully I (we) can pick some of the ones that leap out at us the most and, hopefully, delight in their pages.
What an extraordinary and meaningful act regarding seeking out more information about your birth name and family. I’m not adopted myself, so will not claim for a nanosecond to know or to have felt what doing so is like. I can fully imagine, though, how incredibly impactable and life-changing it must be. Just as I can understand your desire to (potentially) not immediately open the information when it reaches you.
Please know that there is truly no right or wrong approach here. Follow your heart and intuition, and give yourself ample time to process each step of this unparalleled experience.
Whatever information it houses, you are forever the you that you know and exist as today. What that info may provide you with is alike to (having) more roots to support the gorgeous tree (so to speak) that is yourself and the life you’ve created over the past 64 years. Either way though, that tree stands tall, is an incredible being, and is truly wonderful exactly as it (you!) is/are today, tomorrow and always.
Sending huge hugs & the happiest of July blessings your way,
♥ Autumn
Happy Canada Day And may You have the best of birthdays so far! You are lovely light in the world and you’re artistic soul has Already added to my rules. I agree that were drawn to what is in our DNA and ancestry to a degree as well. I’ve looked into a few ancestor sites before but the paranoid part of me hasn’t gone through it yet but I would like to. This is a comprehensive amazing post! I do know a lot about my ancestors dating back to the 1600s on multiple sides. I have aboriginal, Spanish, Romanian, danish and German as the main lines – oddly I’m the most drawn to Greek myths and goddesses and mix that with native spirituality and general gypsy ways with a large dose of my German fairytale ironic pragmatism 😉 it’s baffling 😉
I love your post – and yes those roots definitely suit you!
My radiantly beautiful friend, thank you for the heart-touching blessing of your kindness, your sweetness and your immense support.
I’m moved to know that this post resonated with me. The idea for it sprung forth – as many of my post concepts do – like a bolt from above and the words could not spill forth from my fingertips fast enough. The fact that it came to me shortly before Canada Day was quite a lovely spot of serendipity.
As someone whose own ancestry, while essentially all European (and more recently, North America), is fairly diverse, I can relate in part to your own feelings – very much including being pulled towards a multitude of sources and influences, including some that do not necessarily have direct ties to your ancestry.
It’s important to remember that ancestry alone does not influence what we’re drawn towards, though it can – and often does – play a roll there for sure. Some passions are seeded in this lifetime, others in past lives. Some come down through our DNA, others are borne of this existence and may in turn continue on to the generations that we bear (if applicable) or that otherwise follow in your family tree.
One of the most incredible aspects of being alive today is that we have so much information and so many resources available to us to study and be inspired by when it comes to the paths that beckon our name. I think it’s awesome that ancient Greece and its truly iconic pantheon is one of the sources that leaps out at you. While I do not work a great deal with it in a direct way at present, I find it immensely fascinating, too, and have shared a powerful connection with the goddess Selene ever since learning about her in grade school. 🌙
Thank you again deeply for everything. You are a special, awesome soul and a true pleasure to chat with on any topic.
Huge hugs & the loveliest of July blessings,
♥ Autumn
I meant you’ve added to my world 🙂 when I do voice text i don’t always catch the multiple MiSs translations… 😊😂❤️
Zero worries at all, dear heart. I use voice text at times, too, and completely understand regarding how it can have quite the mind of its own some days (much like autocorrect!).
Thank you again wholeheartedly for your comment.
♥ Autumn
Great, informative post about ancestral genetic testing.
I’m in the camp that doesn’t trust Big Brother not to misuse / abuse DNA information it has, so I won’t have the test done. Governments now use Secret authorizations to force companies to give the Government access to their data, and those companies are forbidden from revealing that fact to the public, so if they’re doing it with the phone companies, email providers, etc., there is nothing to stop them from doing it with ancestral DNA companies, etc.
Thank you very much for your comment, Anne. I can sincerely understand your feelings and viewpoints. There is absolutely no right or wrong approach here at present, just what each person is currently comfortable with.
And, thankfully, there is still a lot of information that can potentially discover about their ancestry without involving a single speck of (their own) DNA into the research process.
Please don’t hesitate to let me know if you’d be interested in a future post here about some of the genealogical research websites that I’ve found most beneficial throughout my many years now of actively working on my own family history. I’d be delighted to share more on that topic here as well.
I hope that your month is off to a positive start and that you have a safe, beautiful July every step of the way.
♥ Autumn
Happy Canada Day and Happy Birthday, dearest Autumn! It has indeed been quite a year and the only thing we can do is to remain hopeful that things will get better. I have never been the genealogy way, but I do agree that knowing who your ancestors were will help getting to know and understand yourself better. I think ancestral DNA testing could throw up a few surprises in some cases, especially in a part of the world with a migration tradition. But even here, in quiet little Belgium. I know one or two people who had this done, and both were quite surprised about the diversity of the ethnic mix. xxx
Thank you SO very much, wonderfully dear Ann. You are such a sweet soul and a treasured friend.
I completely agree. It would be naive to think that things will blossom into sunshine and roses overnight anytime soon, but I’m too much of a born optimist to believe that things won’t gradually (at least) begin to turn around on some fronts eventually. Hope is like oxygen to the soul and I plan to keep on drawing in that air for as long as my heart is beating on this planet.
How right you are about the major surprises that ancestral DNA testing can unearth for some individuals. I’ve read quite a few tales of such and spoken personally with a few people that received some shocking results themselves. In some instances, these tests have even revealed that a person was adopted or didn’t have the father/mother that they’d been raised to believe was their biological parent.
That said, for many (if not most) of us, the results are not likely to be quite that big of a surprise and (they) may help add credence to oral family histories and legends/lore passed down through the generations. I also just find it wildly fascinating to know about one’s past as you realistically can.
If you should ever opt to give ancestral DNA testing a go yourself and would like to chat about your results, I’d be all ears. I can happily talk about genealogy all day and night.
Thank you again deeply. May you have a sunny, beautiful weekend!
♥ Autumn
While I have not taken advantage of DNA testing, I’m fascinated by the reasons you list for doing so.
My mother completed genealogy research on our family ancestry years ago- and included it in a book that she wrote for us.
Thank you for your most informative and interesting post.
I hope that your Canada Day was a fabulous one!! And that your birthday will be as well. Debi
What an incredible gift of love and knowledge your mom created for your family, both present members and for generations to come. While not a great number of people on either side of my family have a passion for this subject, back in the 1990s (if I’m not mistaken) a few distant relatives on one paternal branch created a book with a lot of information about that branch. Very few physical copies were produced, but thankfully my paternal grandparents were able to obtain a copy back then and it has been an incredibly useful and valuable source of information for me (and interesting, my name, along with those of my biological parents, appear in it).
You’re so sweet and kind. Thank you very much for the lovely Canada Day and b-day wishes. My birthday took place yesterday on a gorgeous sunny July day. It was quite the understated event this time around, but that sincerely suits me this year and feels both right and respectful (to me personally) in the face of all that 2020 has thrown at the world so far this year.
Many hugs & warm, beautiful summertime blessings,
♥ Autumn
Happy Birthday, I hope you have a wonderful day! Fantastic post today and I love all of the old photographs and information you provided. Also, thanks so much for the sweet comment on my ‘Time Flies’ post. I hope you and your husband do follow in our footsteps and see your 30th anniversary too!
Hugs, Tammy
Thank you deeply, sweet Tammy. What a heart-touchingly beautiful wish. I second it completely and really do hope that we can join you and your beloved in reaching three wonderful decades (and counting!) of life together.
With my birthday now past (it was yesterday), our anniversary in October is one of the main events that I’m happily looking forward to in the remaining few months of 2020. Much like my b-day, I doubt it will be the most lavish or action-packed event, but for a born introvert like me who favours low-key celebrations as a general rule to begin with, that is 100% okay.
A very big thank you again for everything. I hope that your month is off to a lovely, safe and very happy start.
Scores of hugs,
♥ Autumn
Be heart my scientist’s heart. It brought me such joy that you talked about DNA and our mitochondrial Eve and Watson and Crick. If you ever get the chance you should read their one-page article in Nature on DNA. That was it. One page. Ignore the science and look for the back-handed remarks. They were pretty salty toward some other scientists. I laugh every time I would read it to my biology students.
I really love this post. My parents did 23andMe last year which is how we figured out my dad’s side of the family as Viking blood. He also has African and Native American genes, but we both know that is due to slavery and colonization. My mother’s side of the family is whiter than white can be. They are fairly new in the United States. But, both of my parents come from the same Scottish group/tribe, the McClains. We also found French royalty on both sides of the Family. It was fascinating to look at their maps, and I can’t wait to see how much I got from both of them. It has deeply impacted by practice, but confirmed many of my suspicion about my family’s ancestry.
I hope you have a wonderful birthday!
Thank you greatly, dear Willow. I hugely appreciate your input on this subject, especially as someone who works in STEM professionally. I just Googled and bookmarked the article that you very thoughtfully suggested, and will be reading it this weekend.
Likewise, I’m touched that you shared about your family’s own ancestry. What fascinating information DNA testing helped to bring to light for you and your relatives.
There’s an old running joke in the genealogy world that all French people are related sooner or later (and in my experience, if you branch out the tree far enough, this is usually true), so I cannot help but wonder if we perhaps you and I share a common French (or other) ancestor at some point. How cool would that be!
Really, thank you again very much for your wonderful comment and the touching birthday wishes it housed.
May you have a sunny, terrific weekend,
♥ Autumn