I’ve been meaning to blog about my DNA test because I recently came across some new information.

These tests are only as accurate as the pool of DNA they have to compare it against. For example, I have documented French Huguenot ancestry, but DNA testing is outlawed in France, so there is no comparative DNA.

I found the West Asian DNA surprising, although you just never know for sure. But I was open to the idea, even though there is no family lore about it.

But I recently read about a man with documented Cherokee ancestry who had West Asian ancestry show up in his DNA test, but no Native American ancestry. The article went further to say that often people descended from Eastern tribes like Cherokee, Choctaw, and Creek will show up as West Asian, because that is their original and closest descent, while Western tribes will show up as East Asian/ Polynesian. This made sense because we have undocumented Choctaw ancestry according to family lore. There probably won’t be any way to verify this until more First Nations people choose to have their DNA tested.

ETA: I’ve done a little more research and it sounds like this West Asian – Native American connection is a bunch of hooey. Live and learn!

I suspect the Baltic comes from my maternal Grandmother’s Vance line.

Also, you might have ancestry that doesn’t show up in your DNA test because you didn’t get those genes.

Still killing time at the BMV…