Thread: Nature vs nurture in real time

Little update on my own journey of discovery.
Wife and I invested in the 23andMe dna kits after Black Friday, as the kits were 1/2 priced.
Similar to the ancestry.com kits, but more medical information, traits, and genetic marker info than the ancestry kits.
Just got the results this week, and wow.
Uncanny how much of our own predisposition is in our dna gents.
Tests for Parkinson markers, Alzheimer markers, cancer etc, all came back negative happily.
Found there are over 1000 folks already in their database with enough similar strands to indicate they are third cousins or greater. Folks in USA, Canada, Poland, UK etc.
Found out that I’m not just a little Jewish, I’m a specific type, from a specific path through Europe.
Also just learning that that line seems to end abruptly in 1940s Germany, or almost ends.
That part of my family was seemingly dessimated in the concentration camps of WW2.
This is all on the mothers side mind you. The fathers side was safely developing in Ireland.
Fascinating stuff men.

Oh, I also found out I’m related to Benjamin Franklin. Also on the mothers side, pre WW anything.
If you are considering the dna stuff, and having done both now, I’d recommend the 23andMe program over the ancestry one from a depth of information perspective. The ancestry one is stronger for people searching, if that’s more your goal.
Anyway, it’s all just information and history. Nothing more than that.
The most important thing is be comfortable in your own skin. Knowing where it comes from is purely tertiary.
Happy new year men!

Interesting stuff Mike. I somehow missed your OP the first time so this is new and very interesting information. Thanks for sharing.

That's really cool they can figure that all out with alittle DNA.
Thanks for sharing Mike

My uncle ( fathers brother ) has done a lot of research into our family name and genealogy. I've never got into a in depth talk on it, but he has followed it back to the age of, we are of Anglo Saxon, decent. Related to princess Di. And the first Hoskins that came to America was hung for horse thievery. I myself found that Alan Clayton Hoskins, is a relative as well. For those that don't recognize the name, he was known as Farina, from the little rascals. What I don't know, is if his family name wasn't from his decents that were inslaved, by mine. Or is he biologically connected.

Family history is so cool, you get a feeling and understanding of where u come from, and some of the feelings you've grown up with, that u never understood.

For example. I'm of Anglo Saxon decent, on my father's side, my mother was Scottish or Irish. ( Mc Cune )

Growing up as a kid, I always hated any movie that had to do with old English ways. Kings, lords, ect.ect. and what they did to people in the name of god and king.

A very deep rage would amass inside of me, with all intent to great harm. Never understood why, till I got older. Still to this day, I trust no government, and no respect for the Catholic Church. I find them both to be tyrannical, and liers to the people. Odd.? Maybe not.

I'm also very late to finding this thread - that's a pretty amazing journey of discovery Mike!

For anyone who is interesting in this genealogy thing, I'd whole-heartedly endorse Ancestry as a great place to start. I think they have free trials on offer from time to time if you're hesitant to lay your money down to try it out.

Through it, I've been able to trace my Mom's Dad's family back to (I think) the 17th century in the highlands of Scotland, and my Dad's Mom's family back to... well, thanks to an unexpected link discovered in the 15th century, as far back as European genealogies go. My Mom's Mom's family is tricky thanks to an abundance of Germans named Johann Meier in the 19th century (no idea which one is the right one) and my Dad's Dad's line comes to an end a few generations back as protestant records in Ireland didn't fare too well through the struggle for independence and subsequent troubles. However, the surviving records did let me know that my great-great grandfather was a saddle maker in Dublin, which I thought was pretty cool. Dad and I come by a love for working with our hands naturally I guess.

But through Ancestry, I've discovered I have Welsh and French roots I didn't know about, I know that I have ancestors from the wonderfully named "Blubberhouses" in Yorkshire that I really must visit one day, I discovered I am a distant cousin to an old friend from Newfoundland whose ancestors came from the same bit of Scotland as mine, and I know I am *very* distantly related to the guy who was the subject of my PhD thesis.

One warning though: it can turn into a *serious* time sink if you hit a run of results.

I did not go so deep as to look for relatives or my family tree.
I knew that my genetic make up was eleven shades of beige. I wanted to know what roots this old mutt has. My mother’s side all claimed to be from the UK. My father’s side all claimed to be from Eastern Europe. My father’s side is mostly from Eastern Europe, with a little Southern European thrown in for good luck. My mother’s side how ever. . .
Not the majority is from the UK. Scandinavian descendants. They may have arrived here from the UK but they were not originally from the UK.

Originally Posted by RezDog

Not the majority is from the UK. Scandinavian descendants. They may have arrived here from the UK but they were not originally from the UK.

Well, the Scandinavians made their presence known in the year 793 with a stunning debut at Lindisfarne, and then went on to occupy, settle, and rule quite a chunk of the UK, particularly the north-east of England (the "Danelaw"), Orkney, Shetland, bits of Ireland, the Isle of Man, etc. As a result, LOADS of folks from the UK have Scandinavian roots. And that's without even taking more recent migrations, etc., into account. So your ancestors may have come from Scandinavia, but they may also have founded York.

Lots of rape n pillaging going on during those days of conquest.

As for B52, the vikings made shore in N.America, first.
Could be the reason for the 25%.