52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2019 Week 15 Prompt DNA

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

2019

Week 15

Prompt – DNA

DNA is still not my forte. I have done the Ancestry DNA kit. I have got back my results and have downloaded it to my Ancestry tree. What does it all mean? I still don't know. However it is a plan to keep at it until I figure out what it is telling me.

My ethnicity story according to Ancestry is 54% Germanic Europe. 46% England, Wales and Northwestern Europe. That is no surprise to me. Well maybe I expected some Irish from my paternal grandfather, Robert W. Sullivan. On the other hand so much of what I know of him has been less than forthcoming. Does DNA lie?

My DNA and Ancestry Family Tree have found 1000 + 4^th Cousins or closer. Also I have 114 shared ancestors hints. I believe that means I have 114 individuals in ancestry who share my DNA or vice versa.

My closest matches are 1^st and 2^nd cousins that I know about.

The following example is a match that I am presently trying to sort out. 

H.P. Is the name of the tree which is run by James Peters. He has 1334 people in his tree. Our match is estimated to be 3^rd to 4^th cousins based on our shared DNA. It is 127 cM across 7 segments. A centimorgan (cM) is a unit used to determine the length of the DNA. The higher the number the higher the confidence and in general the closer the relationship. In this case their confidence is extremely high that this is a 3^rd or 4^th cousin.

Ancestry then shows the comparison of our ethnicity as follows. 

H.P. Has a higher Germanic European ethnicity than me. I have almost twice as much England, Wales I& NW European than H.P. Also H.P. has Swedish and Norwegian ethnicity. 

Ancestry then shows me the common ancestor and how H.P. Is related to me. It is our 2 times great grandfather, Jacob Peters born in 1810 at Kronsweide, Chortitza Colony, South Russia. I can now look at his tree and look at his sources as a guide to further study of our 2^nd great-grandfather.

It seems like a very helpful tool. Considering I have a 1000 plus matches in DNA alone, I could be very busy trying to follow up on them. I plan to learn more about DNA genealogy and how it will help me in future.

Wendy