Calendar of Ancestral Events Updates

Ancestry.com has come out with a new DNA update, and mine has changed a fair amount.  I'll talk a little about DNA testing - especially by Ancestry.com so that you may get a better idea of where this data is coming from.  Generally, when you get a sample of your DNA tested (for genealogical purposes - medical DNA testing can be MUCH more exhaustive), there are 3 different types of tests:

Mitochondrial DNA is testing DNA from your mother, and her mother, and her mother, etc.   It does not include any DNA contribution from the males in your family line.

Y-Haploid DNA testing is from your father's DNA, and his father, and his father, etc.  It does not include any DNA contributions from the females in your family line.

Autosomal DNA - this is what Ancestry.com does.  When you look at your DNA, there are parts of the DNA that we know "codes" for something - blue eyes, brown hair, tall, short, etc.  These sections of DNA are what we call "genes" - in that they code for some physical trait that you have.  This only accounts for a couple of percent of the DNA in your body.  We don't know what the rest codes for at this time.  It may code for something, but we aren't smart enough yet to know about it.  So there are these vast stretches in your DNA that does something, but we don't understand it all yet.

The interesting thing about the autosomal DNA is that people whose families have VERY deep roots (going back hundreds of years) in a particular place - have very distinctive regions in their autosomal DNA that matches up with others from that place.  Ancestry.com calls these "reference populations".   They try to identify families or clans that have lived and married into local populations for centuries, and then they use a kind of general DNA profile from that population and they compare the rest of our DNA to that reference population's DNA.  If there is a good match, then we probably have ancestors from that area.

In this latest DNA update, Ancestry.com has gone from 146 reference populations or regions to 302 reference regions!  Over 100% increase in the number of reference regions!  So the new results are much more specific than in the past.  There are still many "blanks" for regions - for example, Native Americans generally do not participate in DNA analysis, and who can blame them?

I will try to do some more explanations of DNA analysis, especially of Mom and Dad's DNA in a later post, but this will just focus on mine and the changes.  I will compare the DNA from October 2025 to this new DNA analysis of October 2026.

In the table above, you can see that my North Wales and Northwest England DNA has dropped by almost 80% (from 29% of my DNA to 6%).  My Devon and Somerset has dropped also about 80% (from 14% to 3%).    So those are pretty big changes.  I have not traced  any of my ancestors to North Wales and Northwest England, but I know we have Welsh ancestry (the Davises in North Carolina, and others).  This Ancestry.com update split Wales into Northern and Southern, so I picked up about 9% Southern Wales as new.  This area is a Celtic or Brythionic area, meaning this is DNA from the original people inhabiting the English Isles before the Romans invaded in about 55 to 54 BC.  I have other Brythionic areas such as the Scottish Western Lowlands and Highlands, Northern Ireland, Eastern Ireland (around and south of the Dublin area).   About 31% of my DNA shows up as Brythionic.

My non-Brythionic DNA adds up to about 63% of my DNA.  My Northern, West Midlands, and Southeastern English DNA went up from a total of 37% to 55%.  These areas are more related to the invaders of Brythionic England, such as the Romans and others that came later.  We aren't talking about the Vikings at this time.

Other non-Great Britain DNA comes from Bavaria, West Austria, France, and Finland (total DNA about 6%).

I have traced ancestors back to all over Ireland, Scotland, and England, so that DNA is completely understandable. As I said above, I know we have Welsh ancestry, but I haven't found the exact departure points.  I know where the Bavarian / West Austria comes from.  I am sure the Finnish is due to various Viking ancestors when they came into Great Britain (or even France) from about 850 AD to 1000 AD.  So it seems that Ancestry.com's DNA analysis is getting close to what my genealogical research is showing.  Which completely makes sense if both of us know what we are doing!  I was a little disappointed that my Acadian DNA disappeared (from 1% to 0%).  BUT, it was picked up in Dad's DNA (from 1% Canadian and American to 2% Acadian).  How about that?  Dad's a Cajun!

Ok, let's get this out and I will put out more on the changes in Mom's and Dad's DNA in a later update!  Take care, everyone.  John