After watching the PBS series "African American Lives" that was shown on TV in February (Black History month), I decided to submit my Y DNA for testing to see what it would tell me about:

1. My recent ancestral origins by comparing my DNA against a large database of other men tested around the world. Your results are displayed by the number of matches by country. If you are of European ancestry, but are living in a country like the U.S., Canada, Australia, etc., then you go by your most distant known ancestor, if known.

2. My ancient ancestry by determining what my Haplotype is. There is an article on Haplogroups here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haplogroup

3. My BioGeographical Ancestry. By scanning your entire human chromosone, the test determines your genetic heritage among the four anthropological groups: Indo-European, Native American, Sub-Saharan African, and East Asian heritage.

I found that I had a perfect 37 out 37 marker DNA match with four (4) other men living in the U.S. with my last name. I learned through contacting them that I was a direct descendant of a man who immigrated from England to the Plymouth colony in 1635. This man was born in 1600 in Bideford, England, and died in 1664. His descendants were among the original settlers of Cape Cod, where a large number still live today. My family had really no idea who our immigrant ancestor was, so this was very satisfying to finally know. I was able to piece together our missing links connecting our last known ancestor, who was living in Putnam County, NY in the 1740's to my immigrant ancestor in Cape Cod. We were only missing 3 generations to fill in the gaps.

I learned that my Haplotype is R1b1b2g, which means that approximately 2,000-3,000 years ago, my English ancestor was living amongst one of the Germanic tribes in Europe. There is a "hot spot" of men with this haplotype living in modern day Austria, Northern Switzerland, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, and Southwestern Sweden. By looking at the breakdown of the 67 markers on the Y DNA of men within this haplotype, mine is most similar to men in Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. So, by looking at the history of England, my ancestor was likely one of the invader populations of the Angles, Saxons, or Danish / Swedish Viking groups that invaded England.

Saturday, I got the results of the Ancestry by DNA test, and it showed that I am 94% European and 6% Native American. The results proves our oral family history that our great great grandmother was full blooded Blackfoot Indian...not the Blackfoot Indians of the Algonquin tribe in Montana, but the Blackfoot Sioux Indians of the Lakota nation.

Has anyone considered having their DNA tested to discover your paternal or maternal origins?

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".