And if so did you find anything surprising ? I was told by my parents that my ancestry was 50% English and 50% Scottish. But when I did my genealogy I found that I was actually 70% Irish 19% Scottish 10% English and 1% Cree Indian. It amazes me how clueless my parents were about their ancestors.
I've always wanted too. Grandfather on my mom's side is a part of The Mayflower Society.
Dads side of the family is from Sicily.
Grandfather on my mom's side is a part of The Mayflower Society.
I did, nothing interesting or surprising.
I wonder if those DNA tests are reliable, not the science but the companies themselves. Seems everyone I know that ordered one got results that are different than their genealogy would suggest. Or maybe there is just a lot of hanky panky in those families.
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First I did the tracing through old records, birth certificates, marriage certificates, death certificates and historical passenger lists etc. I am Australian by the way. Then after I had done that I did the DNA test, mostly to try and verify the Cree Indian ancestry showing up in the records. I found that the DNA test lined up almost exactly with my research. I ran my DNA raw data through various GEDMATCH modules and picked up the 1% Cree Indian trace as well.
One of my buddies had an Ancestry test done last year, and he came back almost 80% Italian and the rest spread around the Med, which is what he figured since all four of his grandparents came from Italy in the early 1900s.
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My aunt got very into genealogy and did our family tree decades ago. I found it fascinating. Still have the big binder all of it's in. Haven't done a DNA test.
How did that 1% Cree happen?
How did that 1% Cree happen?
That was quite a story and it took me a lot of work to unravel it! The Cree Indian ancestry came in through my Scottish ancestors who lived in the Orkney Islands. The Orkney Isalnds were a big recruiting ground for the Hudsons Bay Company (HBC) that was heavily involved in fur trading with the native Indians in Canada (before it was called Canada). One of my 4XGreat Grandfathers went to work over in 'Canada' in the early 1800's for the HBC after the death of his first wife and he soon took up with a local woman whose mother was a Cree Indian.
The HBC had a rule that no European women were allowed in their territory so if the men wanted a relationship they had to take up with a native Indian woman or a descendant of one so that is how it happened.
And I am guessing she was a Cree because the particular area my 4XGreat Grandfather was working in was Cree territory.
How did you piece all that together?? Great story.
shareOh boy! Well the main stumbling block was that I didn't know about the Hudsons Bay Company connection, in fact I'd never heard of the HBC.
So I had traced my 4X Great Grandfather's daughter Mary my 3X Great Grandmother who emigrated to Australia from the Orkney Islands with her husband and children in the mid 1800's. But I couldn't find any record of her birth. The 1841 Scotland census had her living on the main island and listed her birth place as 'Hudsons Bay'. Well I searched for a place in the Orkney Islands called Hudsons Bay and came up with nothing. All I got was some references to the Hudsons Bay Company which meant nothing to me.
It wasn't until I searched 'Hudsons Bay Company Orkney Islands' that I stumbled on the connection between the two and the penny dropped. So then I started researching the Hudsons Bay Company archives looking for the surname of my 4X Great Grandfather and found a likely candidate. Then when I put his name into my family tree at Ancestry.com I got a number of matches with other family trees from Canada which gave me the Canada side of the story.
One of the Hudson Bay Company record archives I looked at stated that my 4X Great Grandfather was living in a connubial relationship with a native woman so that was pretty conclusive. At the time there were no ministers of religion about so they couldn't marry until 1840!
Fascinating, and great detective work! How wonderful that the Hudson Bay Company has records that not only go back that far, but are detailed enough to give you the info about your great grandmother and grandfather.
I wonder why Mary & family emigrated from Canada to Australia. Must have thought there were opportunities for a better life, but it would be interesting to know the details.
I wonder why Mary & family emigrated from Canada to Australia?
They didn't. First they went back to the Orkney Islands where they stayed for around 15 years before then emigrating to Australia (with quite a large family by then). At the time Australia was offering financially assisted passage for emigrants so that might have been the clincher. Otherwise you would have thought that Canada or even America would have been more tempting, not to mention a lot closer.
I'm getting a genealogy-induced headache trying to follow this! 😂
What was your grandfather 4X's relationship to Mary? That's where I got tangled up.
Yes, you'd think they'd have gone to Canada, especially with the existing family tie there.
4XGreat Grandfather James was 3XGreat Grandmother Mary's father. So she was born in 'Canada'. Mary's husband Andrew was an Orkney Islander who was also working in 'Canada' at the time for the HBC so that's how they got together.
There was a piece of information on a Family Tree at Ancestry.com that said that Andrew's father died in China around 1841. Now Andrew and Mary returned to the Orkney Islands before the 1841 Scotland Census so it may be they went back to look after the family farm while Andrew's father went off to China.
What on earth was his father doing in China?? Maybe a missionary?
It would make sense if they went back to take care of his father's farm. Then, since they'd already lived in "Canada," and presumably weren't all that wild about it, decided to take up Australia on its offer.
I found (well, a friend did) the ship's ledger of my grandparents' and great aunt's coming over to the US from England. It was eerie looking at the entries.
They came over separately. First my grandfather to Canada (which really was Canada then) to "make his fortune," as a lot of young British men did. That didn't work out so well for him, so he moved to a northern state in the US, and sent for my grandmother. I found the census report of both of them, and their newborn child (my mom) in the States.
My great aunt came over later. She and her brother were originally booked on the Titanic! Had to cancel because her brother got sick 😓. Within the year they'd booked another passage and he died on the way over. My poor little great aunt, all alone on a ship, with her beloved brother dead! (Had to be buried at sea.) I saw photos of the Ellis Island terminal around the time she arrived. People were packed in long lines, like cattle. I can only imagine what a horrible experience it all was for her. Good thing my grandparents were at Ellis Island to meet her and take her home with them.
What on earth was his father doing in China?? Maybe a missionary?
That would be my guess. Mary and Andrew's children at first were baptised in the Church of England and then they changed to baptising them in the Wesleyan Church. So I guess they were caught up in the beginnings of the Wesleyan Church at that time.
[My poor little great aunt, all alone on a ship, with her beloved brother dead!]
This is probably the biggest thing you learn from doing your genealogy was how tough people's lives were back then. Not only the physically demanding hard work they had to do but how many of them died prematurely. It's no wonder that religious belief was much stronger in those days, they needed it so much more. We are a bunch of cream puffs these days by comparison!
It's no wonder that religious belief was much stronger in those days, they needed it so much more. We are a bunch of cream puffs these days by comparison!
A very interesting and telling comment within the context of the strong anti-God sentiment on this site.
People who dismiss religion out of hand are making a mistake in my opinion. Christianity underpins the ethos that played a major part in making Western Civilisation such a success.
If Christianity is abandoned it is like removing some of the foundation stones on which Western Civilisation rests. You don't have to be actively religious to understand its significance and importance or be worried by its denigration.
Fascinating. Had to look up the Wesleyan Church. The timing is right, and since it started in Utica, NY, that makes sense too. Did his father live in 'Canada'? Is that where Andrew was born as well? It would seem so, otherwise how would his father have known of, let alone converted to (if that's the right word) the Wesleyan Church.
God yes, the lives of our ancestors were *hard*! I can't even imagine what it was truly like for, for instance, the pioneers who crossed the States in wagons, knowing little about where they were going, because few people knew.
I had a friend whose grandmother was sent from Russia to the US as a very small child. All by herself with just a note pinned onto her dress! I assume some relatives where here and would meet her, but imagine how frightening that trip would be for a 5-year-old!
For me the main appeal is the personal history -- how their lives fit into the big tapestry of history, breathing life into it for us now.
Well it wasn't called the Wesleyan Church in the baptism records but had some funny name I can't remember but when they got to Australia they were being buried in the Wesleyan section of the Melbourne General Cemetery. So I'm guessing that their new local Church on the Orkney Islands was a version of the early Wesleyan Church.
No Andrew was born in the Orkney Islands but worked in 'Canada' for many years with the HBC as a young man. Apparently at one time a third of the men of working age from Stromness on the main Orkney island were employed by the Hudsons Bay Company so the connection between the two was substantial.
Poor little girl ! Pitchforked into the unknown.
Yes as you say it connects your family story with real events in history that makes it come alive somehow.
Then Andrew's father was most likely a missionary for another church, probably Church of England, and Mary and Andrew converted later. That's my guess.
I know, that little girl, what an experience. Her parents were Russian Jews, living in a small and poor village. I'm sure scraping together her fare to get her to safety was a hardship, but how do you explain that to a little child?
Not only my family's story, I find all of them fascinating, including yours!
Not only my family's story, I find all of them fascinating, including yours!
Me too, here's to genealogy!
Yes! 🍻
I wish others would post about what they know of their family's history.
My grandparents were persecuted by the Nazis for refusing to "Sieg Heil" to Hitler. My mother was a refugee. I had an uncle who died at Normandy. That's all I'm going to reveal.
shareReally? Wow, that took a hell of a lot of courage. Were they both German? What happened to them? Did they manage to escape and come here with your mother?
shareI grew up with stories by my mother of surviving only on potato peelings as a refugee.
Fyi, the Mormons have the largest cache of genealogical records on the planet.
Yes I did. According to an Ancestry.com DNA Test that my DNA is:
33% Scandinavia
22% Europe South (Italy / Greece)
20% Great Britain
13% Europe West
10% Ireland, Scotland, Wales
< 1% Iberian Peninsula
< 1% Europe East
< 1% West Asia
< 1% Caucasus
I'm apparently from all over the place. The biggest surprise is that I'm
a bloody Viking, with a heavy dose of the UK! Go figure.
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My grandmother was a war refugee,i'm half russian.
shareNo. I think they just send random results. They just want your money.
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