“The man who has nothing to boast of but his illustrious ancestry is like the potato – the best part under ground” – Thomas Overbury
A little while ago I blogged about doing my ancestry DNA test. Well, today I got the results.
It turns out that I am 74% British (and predominantly Southern British), 23% Western European, and 3% Unknown but possibly with a bit of Scandinavian or Celtic thrown in.
I’m not sure what I have learnt from this, apart from that my ancestry is not as interesting or exotic as I would have hoped. Also that the rumors about our family heritage (which include Romany descent and Italian descent), and inaccurate.
For me, I suppose there is something interesting and also reassuring to know where my ancestors may have originated. I believe that while our actions today and what we do in the future defines us, our past shapes us. Even the pasts of those who died long before we were born.
The decisions that my ancestors made – possibly travelling from Scandinavia or France to Britain – shaped who I am as a person today, and I wonder what the implications for my emigration to New Zealand will have for my future?
