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Polish/Ukranian Ancestry § French/German Ancestry § DNA Relatives § Ancestry Timeline § Neanderthal DNA
Polish/Ukranian Ancestry
In 2018 I obtained a DNA analysis from 23andMe. The results correspond to what the Ancestry.com documents and family trees suggest: the Billick-Jackson family is mostly of Polish-Ukrainian-German extraction.
French / German Ancestry
23andMe provides an indication of the geographic distribution of ancestors. Here is the German & French map. There are several families linked specifically to the Baden-Württemberg, most obviously the Clinks and Krotzers as well as Mueller/Miller, Schöllhammer, and others.
“DNA Relatives”
23andMe also surveys other individuals who have submitted DNA samples and identifies possible genetic relatives. In my case, the site found some 1,344 people with whom I share some DNA segments. Most of these are scant relatives with less than 1% common DNA. Only 7 are second or third cousin relatives… which means we likely have a great-grandparents or 2nd-great-grandparents in common. A list of the birth countries for this individuals also supports the heritage suggested by Ancestry.com family trees:
Ancestry Timeline
23andMe provides a timeline showing when each genetic population entered the family’s DNA pool. There are no surprises here, either. Most of the ancestors identified in Ancestry.com genealogy data are Eastern European and German over the past 200 years and British and Balkan in the 18th-century. French genes may be a vestige of 15th-century marriages of the Noyes family with the Plantagenet line, or, more likely, derive from the 17th-centurty Huguenot roots of the Fay family.
This chart deserves some additional explanation. The French & German bar means I most likely had a great-grandparent, second-great-grandparent, or third-great-grandparent who was 100% French & German, likely born between 1800 and 1860.
The Balkan bar suggests I most likely had a great-grandparent, second-great-grandparent, or third-great-grandparent who was 100% French & German, likely born between 1800 and 1860. For the German connection, Caleb Clink and the Brunthaver and Krotzer families fall into this category. The French genes might come from the Brunthavers; Adam Brunthaver, Sr. (1748-1834), was born in Strasborg.
The Iberian bar means I most likely had a third-great-grandparent, fourth-great-grandparent, fifth-great-grandparent, or sixth-great-grandparent who was 100% Iberian, who was born between 1710 and 1800. So far, I haven’t discovered any individuals is the Ancestor.com trees with Spanish lineage. Nor does any Ancestry.com documentation suggests ancestors of Italian or Scandinavian roots.
Neanderthal DNA
Finally, 23andMe gene analysis indicates how much of one’s DNA can be traced back to Neanderthals–30,000 to 40,000 years ago. For me, it’s about 4%. Not very much but in the top 25% of 23andMe customers.
{last update: 11-Mar-2020}