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| My great grandparents. While I'm not sure if they had Irish heritage, I can tell you that they produced several red-headed grandchildren. |
Yesterday was St. Patrick's Day which reminded us of all things Irish whether you celebrated it as a religious holiday or just a fun day to wear green. My red hair suggests Irish ancestors and my DNA results says that is correct with a 48% match for Irish. The DNA results also found a new grandfather for me (with bright red hair) and a new set of cousins I never new I had. And my great grandmother who was born in Ireland, turned out not to be in my gene pool after all. But that's another story.
What I am grateful for are my Irish ancestors and all the others who took a chance on an unknown land and came to America to find a better life for themselves and their children and their children's children. I have benefited greatly from their sacrifices and the long voyage they took across the ocean to settle here. And for that, I am thankful.
Now I want to hear the rest of the story!
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, it's not my story to tell at this point although I wish I could. Maybe I'll figure out a way to tell more details and still respect the other peoples' privacy who are involved.
DeleteOh, me, too! I, sometimes, watch Finding Your Roots show on PBS and I am often amazed by what they find out about people's ancestors! I am glad that you are thankful for your immigrant ancestors, Live and Learn. I hope that, one day, my grandchildren and great-grandchildren will feel the same way about me!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think many of us take for granted how lucky we were to be born here. I try to remember that a lot of sacrifices were made for me to have the privileges I have. Your relatives will appreciate your sacrifices, too. I know your daughter does and she will pass that on and so on...
DeleteI wanna hear more about your DNA testing! I've been curious about it. I know what my heritage is supposed to be, but I bet there are surprises in there. Wondering about the new set of relatives you have found! Sounds like a "D is for DNA" topic for A-Z month to me .... is that a blatant hint, or what???
ReplyDeleteWe have redheads in our family (grandfather, cousins) but that's supposedly from a Scottish side. I know we are supposed to have a touch of Irish in us, too ... and that part of the world is relatively geographically close ...
I've always thought there are probably many book-worthy stories about people's ancestors out there.
As I told Anne, much of the story is not mine to tell at this point in time, but I will try to figure out what I can tell. Let's just say that it was a big shock, but at the same time explained a lot of things.
DeleteAs far as DNA ancestry tests go, it was interesting that my sisters were mostly British, but I ended up being 4%. There are many way those genes can combine. I find the whole subject fascinating.
I guess I don't really understand much about it. You don't have to talk about the personal aspect--I'd like to hear about the process itself. And the "dummy" version of why genes can combine differently.
DeleteI'll see what I can do on the subject. Look for something in the near or distant future.
DeleteWow, that would be fun, to find out ancestry. Irish, eh?
ReplyDeleteIrish and Scandinavian are the two main components. That might give you an idea that I have red hair and fair skin.
DeleteI've known a few redheads. I have fair skin too. I have heard it is from Welsh ancestry.
DeleteA lot of the northern latitude countries have fair skinned people. Too cold and too many clothes to build up much melanin from the sun.
DeleteGood-morning, L! Thanks for paying me a visit yesterday to learn about my A2Z Theme Reveal. I shall look forward to your random mewsings next month through the alphabet. I'm sure whatever subject you cover each day will be loads of fun and isn't that what it's all about anyhow? I have some Irish DNA. It's more apparent with my mom. She has auburn hair and blue eyes. One of her younger brothers has red hair. The interesting thing is neither of my grandparents had red hair. I guess the genes come from someplace further down the ancestry line. DD#2 did the DNA test and she should have the results before long. I'm anxious to see what she gets back. Of course, it won't tell me a lot about myself but it'll be fun all the same. You're so right about your kin making a huge sacrifice to come to this great land. At least you see the value and appreciate all they did. That speaks volumes in my book. We celebrated St. Patty's Day. I made home-made potato soup and corn-beef sandwiches (Reuben). That's sort of traditional for us for the past several years. Here's to the Irish and this Irish Blessing is for you! ;)
ReplyDeleteMay the road always rise up to meet you
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
May God hold you in the palm of His hands.
The Scot-Irish were big settlers in WV so it's not surprising that a lot of us from there have Irish in our background. Thanks for the Irish Blessing. It's always been one of my favorites.
DeleteThe Ancestry DNA results are pretty interesting. My sister and I had very interesting differences: We had equal Western European ancestry, 36% for me and 37% for her, but I was 23% Great Britain while she was 5%. For Ireland/Scotland/Wales I was 22% and she was 27%. Also, she was 21% Scandinavian but I was only 10%. The results did clearly show that we were siblings, though (mom rolled her eyes at that).
ReplyDeleteMy sisters and mother were around 40-50% Great Britain, while I was only 4%. That was a noticeable difference. I don't remember the other details, but I think the differences were in the teens or lower. We got kits for our kids for Christmas, but they haven't sent them in yet. I guess I'm more interested in it than they are.
DeleteMy sisters used to tease me and say I was adopted. Well, they can't say that any more because, like you and your sister, we are definitely siblings.