Not who I thought I was!

[Arifriekinel]

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Originally Posted by kyounge1956 I'm also African American and have done genealogy as a hobby off & on for many years. I've hit a "brick wall" at the great-grandparents on several lines, but on another can get back to the early 19th century, and on another (my English great-grandmother) can probably trace back further still although I haven't done it yet. One of my goals is to get genetic testing to find out where in Africa my ancestors came from. I've been told I look like an Ethiopian (although I myself don't see the resemblance). There are also a number of unusual surnames in my family tree I'd like to see if I can track down. There is obviously a good deal of European ancestry in my mom's family, and at least one European-American family with the same surname as her maiden name, but DNA is probably the only way to know with certainty whether there is any common ancestry between them. You might enjoy watching (if you haven't already seen them) the programs that professor Henry Gates did for PBS. These started with African American Lives I & II, and then progressed into more programs with prominent Americans of other ethnicities. For each person profiled, the genealogists get as far as they can with documentary evidence, and then DNA is used to find out even more. Many African Americans also have family stories about Native American ancestry, but most of us don't have as much as we think, and many of us have none at all.

I'm only half, with my mom's side being almost entirely Irish, so that is much easier to trace than my dad's. I haven't put too much into researching yet though, so hopefully I'll get lucky

I've never heard of them, I'll definitely check it out!

[JOHNNIE36]

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Originally Posted by W2R How interesting! I thought about doing the "23 and me" testing, but I am not as brave as you are. Who knows what I might discover? If I have any genetic health problems, at this age (almost 65) I don't want to know about it. It might provide an answer to the enigma of my (adopted) grandmother's ancestors, though. She had beautiful thick red hair, and she was told that her biological parents were Dutch. But often, I wonder if perhaps they were German and she just said they were Dutch, because of the stigma some German-Americans suffered around World War I. Here is a photo of her with my mother, in 1909.

W2R, I think that is a wonderful photo of your mother as a baby. I have a similar photo of my mother as a baby in my grandmother's arms. As one gets older, those are the things you cherish.

[Marita40]

Well I suppose if you asked, a German would say "Ich komme aus Deutschland" as an Austrian would say "Ich komme aus Osterreich." Both speak German, of course. I've also heard Germans state "Ich bin Deutsch," although that may be an Americanization. Funny, I just finished an autobiography of a Czech man who kept calling Germans "deutschers".

[GrayHare]

According to a study published last year, all blue-eyed people share a common ancestor who lived near the Black Sea sometime within the past 6000 to 10000 years. As with INTJ, it would not surprise me if blue eyes are more common among FIRE types than in the human population as a whole.

[Arifriekinel]

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Originally Posted by GrayHare According to a study published last year, all blue-eyed people share a common ancestor who lived near the Black Sea sometime within the past 6000 to 10000 years. As with INTJ, it would not surprise me if blue eyes are more common among FIRE types than in the human population as a whole.

That's interesting. I'm curious why you'd expect that to be the case as far as eye color?

[GrayHare]

Many people in this thread have already mentioned being of Northern European descent, and that's where the highest concentration of blue eyes are found. In northern Europe one must prepare and save for the long winters.

[Janet H]

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Originally Posted by Lisa99 On a funny note, both DH and I are distantly related to Jimmie Buffett...which I guess means DH and I are distantly related!

Interesting..

A good friend told me recently that he too had this same testing done and was distantly related to Jimmie Buffett. Very curious - I guess Jimmies ancestors were prolific ?