I got my results from my 23 and Me DNA test and I am actually a bit shocked. I had a heads-up because my daughter had her DNA tested previously and hers didn’t show something I was definitely expecting. My Ancestry DNA test says that it will be about 2-4 more weeks until I get the results. I sent them both on the same day.

What About Our Native American Ancestors?

Although, I knew that many people discover that they don’t actually have Native American DNA, I was sure that we would have some. I was always told that we had two full-blooded great-great-grandmas who were full-blooded Native American (one Cherokee and one Choctaw) and then someone else more distantly related (Shoshone). With what we know about my great-great-grandma on my grandma’s maternal side, she definitely appears to be Cherokee (considering the stories, the fact that she lived on the reservation for at least two time periods, and had her daughter… and maybe more children on the reservation at Claremore, Oklahoma). She left the reservation when she was 16 (after her father died) and went to a school for the blind in St. Louis, Missouri.

So, either the 100% was a few generations further back (and only this one grandma) or we have been told incorrect stories. It can be like the game of telephone. A bit gets skewed more and more as the generations go. I honestly believe that we do have Native American and that our 100% ancestor is a bit further back. Our stories and the other details on paper would seem to back this up. How do I explain the darker skin tone of some of our family (my mom included)if we are not Native American after all? I’m not sure. I would absolutely LOVE if more of our family would take the tests, so we can get a more complete picture of our heritage since we all receive a random sampling of our parents’ DNA.

What Surprised Me the Most?

I was also surprised by the fact that I have some Iberian DNA. Not sure where that comes in. Right now, I am guessing from my bio father’s side. I knew about the Scandinavian and the rest. I really would like to know more about what the “Broadly Northwestern Europe” includes for my family.

As you can see above, I am 100% European. I was always told that we are most definitely “Heinz 57″… a little bit of everything.  I was told as a child/teen/etc that I was Native American, English, German, Welch, Dutch, Swedish, and lots more. Lately, I have found some things that make it look like some of our family lived in France for at least awhile, but is that where they were from? I don’t know. They later moved for religious freedom, so did they go to France for religious freedom originally? Who knows. I don’t know any of France’s history regarding this, at least yet.

I was also told that I most definitely did NOT have ANY Irish in me. The way my mom was SO extremely adamant about this (and the fact that I could easily pass as at least a bit Irish, especially when I was younger) hinted to the fact that my mom very likely at least thought that my bio father was Irish. When she did it this way, she was hiding a huge lie. She only did it a few times, but it was a telltale sign with her. I much later discovered that she described my bio father to others as looking Irish.

What About My Biological Father

So what have I discovered about my biological father and his family so far (in this last 24 hours)? I apparently have several second and third cousins on 23andme and one first cousin (and many more distant cousins). So far I have had communication with two of them: a third cousin and just a bit ago the first cousin. I don’t know how much the first cousin knows, but we should share a set of grandparents (the parents of my bio father). The third cousin has been able to already narrow it down to our common ancestor being my likely 3rd great-grandmother with the surname of Fancher. He can see this since he knows how some of our mutual DNA matches are also related to him. Pretty clever! He is planning to send me more information soon. I cannot wait.

I will keep you all posted as I discover more about my ancestors!

Update: Check out my DNA Results for Ancestry here!