Exploring AncestryDNA Genetic Communities; Comparing Different Family Members

 (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.

1911 Vintage Postcards from Utah, Boston, New York, and Iowa

 A couple years ago I started collecting vintage postcards.  I don't have a lot, but a few special ones that I've picked out while visiting antique stores.

While visiting Arroyo Grande CA last Autumn, I stepped into Something Different, where, hidden away, I found a box of postcards from 1911, a dollar each.  I would have bought so much more, but I paid with cash, and was determined to only spend what I brought with me.  A lot of the postcards were the correspondence between a George to a Miss Emma in New York, each postcard with a little message. 

 The Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.

Of course I bought all the Utah postcards.  I love seeing what Utah used to look like.

 Snow covered Wasatch Mountains; Park City is just over those peaks.

 Utah Hotel, Salt Lake City.

I believe my Grandparents stayed here back in the day.  Now it's the Joseph Smith building which holds a nice cafe, a couple nice restaurants, genealogy center, and the Legacy theater, which is now showing Meet the Mormons for free.

 I picked up some Boston postcards, because that's where my Grandpa R. grew up.  I've been meaning to show them to him and ask if any of these buildings were familiar, or if they triggered any memories.  I've sat down with him a couple times to record some stories, but haven't for awhile.  I should do that today.

Two postcards showing Franklin Park in Boston.

 Massachusetts General Hospital.

 Hotel Brunswick, Copley Square, Boston.

 Mechanics Building, Boston.

Even though my Grandpa wasn't alive in 1911, my great-grandma Agatha Mahoney was born in Boston, and I believe my great-great grandfather Joseph Mahoney was an Engineer of sorts--I need to get more information--so I wonder if members of my family went into this Mechanics building.

 Fanueil Hall, Boston.

 My only ties to New York state is from the 17 hundreds, but I couldn't resist this 1911 postcard from 5th Avenue.  Really neat.

My Grandma A was born in Iowa.  I have deep farming roots from that side of the family.  Men and women of high integrity.  I have a couple books printed in Des Moines from when my Granny married my Gramps, one in which is a cook book.  And when I was in Iowa last year going to the Worlds OotM comp., we drove by the Iowa State Capitol.  It's stunning.  I wish I could have visited.

I love these Snap Shots from the past.