View Full Version : Ethnicity question
My Ancestry DNA came back and the new update has only very slightly changed it, but I still have a question.
I have East England, Essex 46%.
Scotland and Ireland 44%
Germany 6%
Norway 3%
Baltic 1%
I’m fine with all of those except the England one.
One great grandfather was from an Essex family.
One great grandmother from Germany to way back.
One great grandmother from Ireland
One great grandfather from Ireland
One great grandmother from Cornwall
All the others are Australian back at least a couple of generations, although my paternal grandmother’s family is mostly all Scottish Highlands.
My question is why East England only the English percentage? What happened to Cornwall?
kiterunner
08-04-20, 22:52
Just because it isn't very accurate yet, I should think.
ElizabethHerts
09-04-20, 12:15
Cornwall doesn't appear in my ethnicity at all, Libby, but I'm roughly 1/8th from the West Country, predominantly Cornwall.
Interesting. I know the family were there for many generations.
I don't have a percentage, but Devon & Cornwall are listed as sub-areas under my 83% England, Wales & North Western Europe. I have a Cornish line leading up to my great-grandmother Emma who moved to London.
Olde Crone
09-04-20, 22:18
Although the Cornish like to think they are a race apart, in fact they are genetically "English" and do not generally have any distinguishing dna!
(I'll probably be asked to leave Cornwall now).
OC
I have East England, with an asterisk on Essex as my only English bit. Strange because I know the Cornwall lot, but also my ggg grandfather was from Warwickshire. According to the British Museum, he was there since his Viking ancestors arrived.
Although the Cornish like to think they are a race apart, in fact they are genetically "English" and do not generally have any distinguishing dna!
(I'll probably be asked to leave Cornwall now).
OC
For some reason I thought Cornwall belonged with the Celts, might be with my 44% Irish and Scottish.
Olde Crone
10-04-20, 08:37
The Cornish do have some Celtic, but have much more dna in common with the rest of England. I was surprised too!
OC
If my Cornish DNA is the same as my English DNA why is it listed as a subgroup? How would they know where in England my English DNA is from if they can't tell by DNA? Are they just making up percentages based on info from my tree? Because they are spot on with where my ancestors come from in England.
kiterunner
10-04-20, 11:29
They don't use your tree for the ethnicity estimate.
My sons DNA says only 61% Scotland and Ireland down from 79% the previous time.
Given that all his fathers ancestors are Scottish except far back in 1700’s who was born in Ireland. My birth father’s family are all far western Irish and b.mother had an Irish grandmother the rest being English I think the 79% is more accurate.
I just wonder how they make their assessments
So although I am "English" there must be DNA differences between my Cornish, Warwickshire & Norfolk rellies or they wouldn't be able to break it down.
Just looked and they've lumped Northern England, Lowlands of Scotland including Edinburgh and part of Northern Ireland as England - which explains it.
I have only two sub groups under England, Wales and Northwestern Europe. They are East if England and Essex.
I do have a great grandfather born in Essex from Essex families.
Then further back I have Sussex, Cornwall, Warwickshire and ‘probably’ Somerset.
I have been taking the ethnicity estimates with a large pinch of salt, although I have to say Ancestry estimates have been largely accurate.
Our family here in Australia is a mixed pot of English, Welsh, Scottish and Irish ancestry - anything else is back beyond the advent of parish registers. Which part of Ireland is mainly still under investigation.
I looked at the Ancestry reference panel, which is apparently just over 40,000 individuals. By knowing I can trace most of our family back through the various parish registers, I can work out that only about 25% of the ref. panel would have any common DNA with ours, so the pool of referees is quite small. I think FTDNA works with a much small panel.
So, on Ancestry, we have my Dad at 92% English, Welsh, Nor-West Europe and 8% Swedish. His only sub-group is South East England. If you look at his family tree, his ancestors came to Australia from Somerset, Shropshire, Warwickshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, Norfolk, Surrey and Sussex, so no surprises there.
Mum is 55% E,W and NWE, 41% Scottish and Irish and 4% Swedish - her only sub-group is NW - Lancashire - this is probably because her father was born in Lancashire, so you would expect this to be her largest group of Ancestors. Based on her family tree, this too, is pretty accurate. (Lancashire, Ireland, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Warwickshire, Lanarkshire, Dumfries-shire)
My two daughters are 80 and 82% E W and NWE, 15 and 16% Scottish and Irish, but one is 3% Swedish and the other 4% Norwegian. Their fathers ancestors have pretty much the same spread as their mothers - Scotland (Perthshire, Ayrshire), Ireland, Wales, Somerset, Sussex, Kent, Middlesex, Rutland, Yorkshire. Both have the sub-groups SE England, Surrey and Sussex and Central Southern England - one also has this further designated Hampshire and Isle of Wight.
Their father's sisters are 67 and 70% E W and NWE, 31 and 26% Scottish and Irish, one is 2% Norwegian and the other 0% anything else.
I am coming to the conclusion that DNA is totally random and even though siblings share a percentage of DNA, their ethnicity can be very different. I would love to get my other children to test and see how different they really are.
I take little notice of my FTDNA ethnicity which says 57% West and Cent Europe, 29% Scandinavian, 9% British isles and 5% South and Eastern Europe. Compared with the Ancestry results (and paper trail), it makes no sense at all. I think I need to transfer (or do a new test) my DNA to Ancestry, although family tree wise, it will not add much in the way of matches.
Di
I'm not surprised that my husband is 100% England/Wales/NW Europe, his subcategories are Surrey/Sussex but the curved ball is Cornwall. Paper trails confirm Surrey/Sussex and Oxfordshire, Northants & Cheshire. Just wondering if there was bit of infidelity going on somewhere in the past!
From one of the accounts I manage
"Your ethnicity estimate is 10%, but it can range from 0—33%"
That is rather a large variation.
Di. My gggg grandmother came on the first fleet, her husband on the second fleet and their future son in law in 1790s. Then the all but one of the rest by 1840s. The last was 1860s. Plenty of mix in there.
Di. My gggg grandmother came on the first fleet, her husband on the second fleet and their future son in law in 1790s. Then the all but one of the rest by 1840s. The last was 1860s. Plenty of mix in there.
None of mine came as early as that - except the Brazills who arrived in 1838, none of them were convicts though.
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