Ancestry DNA

[HenningWalker]

I recently took an Ancestry DNA test and I was surprised to find an ethnicity estimate which included a range of 23-43% Europe East. As expected, I am around half English and the remaining quarter, German. This has been an interesting discovery as the only possible explanation is that my paternal grandfather for whom I have barely any information, was in fact Eastern European! Given that my Grandmother was German and lived in Hamburg when my father was born in 1948, this prompted me in to thinking that my Grandfather may have emigrated from Poland to Germany following the war.

I have several matches with cousins from Poland and despite spending hours searching locations and surnames and trawling through public trees, I am struggling to find anything that may help me to find out who he really is... Is there anything more that I can be doing with the information on Ancestry to pinpoint a more accurate match between cousins who are shared matches?

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Henning

[davecapps]

Hi
Need more info to be able to help
Names
Places
Daten

Etc

Dave

[emmygee]

Hi Henning,
It seems to me that the ethnicity estimate are at best informed guesses, given the small amount of data that they are based on. No doubt the estimates will get more 'accurate' as more people are tested.
I have tested with 3 companies, the estimates from 2 of these are similar.
A, Great Britain 58%, Scandinavia 18%, Ire/Scot/Wales 9% and W. Europe 9%.
B, British Isles 70%, Scandinavia 17%, S.E. Europe 13%.
C, English 7.6%, Scandinavian 47.3%, N & W Europe 45.1%.
My ancestors have lived in Surrey for 300 or so years, that is the ones that I have managed to trace with evidence, but England has been over-run by every man and his dog from Europe over the past 1000 years so that might explain the Scandinavian % and Europe %.
I bought the book "The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy" by Blaine T. Bettinger, and am slowly ploughing my way through it.

Good Luck!
Maurice.