My African Roots are Back

You may remember that back in 2017, Dave and I both did Ancestry DNA tests. We thought it would be fun to see what our DNA revealed about our roots and how accurate the tests were. Since then, Ancestry has sent me occasional updates as they test more and more DNA from other people and refine the results.

Above is my latest update, showing basically the same results as before -- with one curious exception. My initial DNA report indicated a tiny sliver of DNA from West Africa. They weren't specific about it, and called it a "low confidence" result. A later update pinpointed it to Mali, and then it disappeared altogether from a subsequent report. I figured it was just an error that had been refined out of the results by greater sample sizes from more and more people.

But no! My latest results show that sliver of African DNA once again -- from Ivory Coast or Ghana. I am completely perplexed about this. There are no stories in my family (as far as I'm aware) that would explain any African connections. (Nor Scandinavian ones, come to think of it, though I suppose that DNA could come from Viking invaders in England.)

If any of my relatives were canoodling with slaves, and I was somehow descended from such a union, I think my percentage of African DNA would be much, much higher. What if, on the other hand, I had an ancestor who visited that part of the world (on a slaving ship, for example) and canoodled there, leaving behind some DNA that became incorporated into that local population? Could one person affect the DNA profile of a whole region? Seems doubtful.

It's a mystery.

Ancestry has a new feature that shows your DNA contributions by parent. Unfortunately, they don't tell you which parent is which! So as we can see, in my case, the African DNA (as well as my Scandinavian and Welsh contributions) came from Parent 1. The other parent is relatively boring -- British Isles all the way.

I would love to know which parent is No. 1. You'd think they could figure that out somehow. I really haven't a clue.

Still interesting are my DNA "communities," where people most genetically linked to me live. My maternal grandmother's family comes from North Carolina; my dad's from Arkansas. So this is pretty accurate. (Mysteriously absent is any community related to my maternal grandfather, who was from Pennsylvania -- maybe there's been too much population shift and dispersal in those areas?)

In fact, Ancestry can pinpoint the specific towns in North Carolina where I have close genetic relatives. My grandmother was born in Lumber Bridge, near Fayetteville -- so this is correct.

And although my dad grew up in California, his parents came from the area around Imboden, Arkansas, which is just north of that little lake shown on the right side of the orange blob above. So, again, this is accurate. (I do not have a genetic "community" in California, even though many of my relatives on his side lived there. They were probably mixed in with too many other migrants from different places and dispersed over too wide an area. In fact, many of them don't live in California anymore.)

Dave's results, meanwhile, are still all about Europe. (His ancestors immigrated to the United States much more recently than mine did.) In his case, it's easy to tell which parent is which. His mom's family is from the Czech Republic, and his dad's is from Germany. Mom is obviously Parent 2.

His DNA "communities," where he shares common DNA with other residents, are in Central Germany, Eastern Czechia and Western Slovakia.

He also shares DNA with people in northern Ohio and Indiana. He was born in southern Michigan, so that makes sense too.

All this is very interesting and I continue to be amazed at the accuracy. I'm mystified by that African result, though!