(All photos are screen shots from the Ancestry.com mobile app)
Last week Ancestry.com gave us a brand new update to AncestryDNA called AncestryDNA Genetic Communities. I'm still learning about it, so this blog post is about my casual observations comparing myself with my parents, siblings, aunt, and maternal grandparents.
When you take a DNA test through Ancestry there are 26 Ethnicity's that can appear in your results, taking the last 1000 years or so into account. There are over 300 DNA Communities which shows what is happening in your linage in the last few hundred years, showing migrations.
There's a considerable amount of communities all over the world and in the United States. There's five Genetic Communities in "Settlers of Colonial New England" alone.
I love this new update because my ethnicity DNA doesn't get into my American Heritage, showing I'm mainly Great Britain (Scots and Welsh included), Irish, and Scandinavia. And even though this is cool, showing what regional DNA I've inherited, it doesn't get into my deep American roots, which I'm also interested in learning.
When you sign into DNA and get into the communities there's a video you can watch, which is also found on Youtube: Introducing AncestryDNA Genetic Communities. It's only a couple minutes. There's another helpful video from AncestryUK called Understanding Your Genetic Communities, which is around six minutes.
My Communities:
I'm only in two genetic communities: Settlers of the Missouri Ozarks & East Tennessee; Early Settlers of Eastern Kentucky & Northeast Tennessee.
Am I in total shock? Nope. This is all on my Dad's side of the family.
Just look at the Hugh Patrick genetic circle I belong to. Crazy strong.
He was born in Virginia and migrated to Kentucky with his family.
I am interested in knowing more about my Missouri roots, but there's a major brick wall with my paternal great-great grandfather. My great grandfather Norman Rhoades was born in Bolivar, Poke, Missouri in 1909, but here's the kicker, Rhoades is his mother's maiden name. She died never telling my great grandfather who his biological father was. Lula Rhoades married Harvey Kelley, and they later moved to Ventura CA. My only clue over Norman's father is, according to my Dad, Lula worked as a maid for some major family in Missouri, and something might have happened then. Who knows? It just might remain a permanent mystery. But it appears I do have some deep Missouri roots.
What I like about these communities is that there's historical information by date, events that may have affected ancestors and caused them to move or whatnot.
Click on a time period and all this cool information pops up. The map changes while showing different information as you change from one historical event to another.
Before I get into more detail, it was interesting comparing what communities I was in verses other members of my family. There were a few different communities.
Steven and Robbie's Community:
Sadly my brothers Steven and Robbie are only in one community, and it's the very same community: Settlers of the Missouri Ozarks & East Tennessee.
Michael's Community:
My brother Michael got a community no one else in my family got:
Settlers of Western Ohio, Indiana, Illinois & Southern Iowa.
This is the only community he got.
Here's what's funny, Michael was called to serve a mission in the South Chicago mission, which also included parts of Illinois and Indiana.
We have super strong Iowa roots.
And apparently there's a small museum in Toledo Iowa that has a good amount of information about my Emerson ancestors.
Man I would love to visit.
My Dad's Communities:
My Dad belongs to three communities:
Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest & Virginia; Early Settlers of Eastern Kentucky & Northeast Tennessee; Settlers of Southwest Virginia & Eastern Kentucky.
My Mom's Communities:
My Mom belongs to three: Irish in Kerry, English Newfoundlanders, and Settlers of Rhode Island & Southeastern Massachusetts.
It's interesting that on my Mom's map, even though she's only apart of the Irish in Kerry, it also brings up Munster Irish. The Kerry ancestors, I believe, are from my Grandpa's side, whereas I found an ancestor on my Grandma's side born in Dublin.
We're just very southern Irish.
My Aunt's (Mom's Sister) Communities:
She actually belongs to a total of four communities: Irish in Kerry; English Newfoundlanders; Settlers of New England & the Eastern Great Lakes; Settlers of Colonial New England.
My Maternal Grandpa's Communities:
My maternal Grandfathers communities: English Newfloundlanders and Irish in Kerry.
It's been this huge mystery tracing back my Grandfather's Grandmother's roots, Mary Hallisey. There's two Mary Hallisey's with parents named John and Ellen born around the same time, one in Kerry and one in Cork. When I ask my Grandpa where Ma immigrated from he says Kerry, so this gives some validation.
My Maternal Grandma's Community:
And my Grandma's community: Settlers of Rhode Island & Southeastern Massachusetts.
The "very likely" shows how confident Ancestry is in my Grandmother belonging to this community, whereas my Mom is only Possible, and it doesn't show up in my communities at all. It's all in the name of inherited DNA. Amazing how much can disappear in just three generations.
As you click through the history in each community it will bring up your ancestors that were in the area during the time mentioned.
And a lot of cool graphics on the map pops up.
Giant dots represents those in the community.
Little pointers with numbers are ancestors in your tree.
(See how important it is to add a family tree with your DNA?)
And with David Davis Eby we're also apart of his DNA circle.
Genetic Communities are very interesting, and I like the path of migration and historical information provided. Of course, the accuracy of this information also depends on the accuracy of family trees along with records and so forth. There's a lot of inaccurate genealogy research, which is frustrating, and I'm guilty. Still, this is a cool update in which I still have a lot to explore.
So in total my family belongs to:
Settlers of the Missouri Ozarks & East Tennessee
Early Settlers of Eastern Kentucky & Northeast Tennessee
Settlers of Western Ohio, Indiana, Illinois & Southern Iowa
Early Settlers of the Lower Midwest & Virginia
Settlers of Southwest
Virginia & Eastern Kentucky
Irish in Kerry
English Newfoundlanders
Settlers of Rhode Island & Southeastern Massachusetts
Settlers of New England & the Eastern Great Lakes
Settlers of Colonial New England
So even though I belong to two, there are a total of 10 my family belongs to.
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