ancestry - anyone else into it?

I'm fascinated by family history and where my ancestors come from. I've been diving deep into it for the past year or so and have found which small town some of my family is from in Germany, on my Mom's side...a tiny town called Gauangelloch, in the state of Baden-Wurttemberg...near Heidelberg.

I'll start with my ancestry: my Mom's family is mostly German with a small sprinkle of English & French. My Dad's family is from Slovakia & Poland.

My goal is to try to visit these areas/towns/villages once I figure out all of them and can get over to Europe.


where's your family history from?!

My interest in my ancestry was piqued recently with these new ancestry dna tests. My family always believed that we were equally Italian and Polish, but the tests actually showed more polish heritage than we thought! Has renewed my interest in learning more about my Polish cultural heritage.

My Ancestry DNA results confirmed what my parents told me when I was a youngster. Father's side is Scotch/Irish paternal, Belgium maternal. 

Mother's side is Russian, both paternal, and maternal.  In spite of that ... I state unequivocally that I had no involvement in tampering with the 2016 election. 

I've had interest in ancestry for a while but haven't done any DNA tests yet - while I was working and my children were younger my lawyer-induced paranoia about being denied life insurance because of some genetic health concerns kept me from doing it but now they're grown and independent and life insurance isn't a concern anymore I'll probably investigate.  I've heard that there are more than one type of DNA test, one that focuses on ancestry and another on health markers.  Is that correct?

I think Dad's side was mostly Dutch, with probably some German mixed in. I've read reports from two different sources of an ancestor who sailed from Rotterdam in the 1700s, but one said he was Dutch & the other that he was from a village outside Hanover. Some later marriages definitely involved Dutch surnames.

Mom's side is pretty much pure Scots.

I've had interest in ancestry for a while but haven't done any DNA tests yet - while I was working and my children were younger my lawyer-induced paranoia about being denied life insurance because of some genetic health concerns kept me from doing it but now they're grown and independent and life insurance isn't a concern anymore I'll probably investigate.  I've heard that there are more than one type of DNA test, one that focuses on ancestry and another on health markers.  Is that correct?

There is a competitor of Ancestry, not sure which one, that offers DNA tests that include genetic proclivity for certain conditions. A google search ought to turn up the main companies. @ 71 I figure I'll know soon enough without giving myself something to worry about  

I've had interest in ancestry for a while but haven't done any DNA tests yet - while I was working and my children were younger my lawyer-induced paranoia about being denied life insurance because of some genetic health concerns kept me from doing it but now they're grown and independent and life insurance isn't a concern anymore I'll probably investigate.  I've heard that there are more than one type of DNA test, one that focuses on ancestry and another on health markers.  Is that correct?

There is a competitor of Ancestry, not sure which one, that offers DNA tests that include genetic proclivity for certain conditions. A google search ought to turn up the main companies. @ 71 I figure I'll know soon enough without giving myself something to worry about  

I'll consult with Mr. Google before I do anything.  There are a few competitors out here - 23 and me, Ancestry and one in the UK started by a Prof in Genetics at Oxford U.  Probably more.  Not sure if there is much difference in the product, maybe different report styles.  I'm curious about my Cro-Magnon DNA percentage.  Apparently the average is around 3%. Maybe its Neanderthal not Cro-Magnon??

Sorry, it is Neanderthal.  Check out this great Podcast called Mobituaries

https://www.mobituaries.com/the-podcast/...n-species/

I've had interest in ancestry for a while but haven't done any DNA tests yet - while I was working and my children were younger my lawyer-induced paranoia about being denied life insurance because of some genetic health concerns kept me from doing it but now they're grown and independent and life insurance isn't a concern anymore I'll probably investigate.  I've heard that there are more than one type of DNA test, one that focuses on ancestry and another on health markers.  Is that correct?

There is a competitor of Ancestry, not sure which one, that offers DNA tests that include genetic proclivity for certain conditions. A google search ought to turn up the main companies. @ 71 I figure I'll know soon enough without giving myself something to worry about  

I'll consult with Mr. Google before I do anything.  There are a few competitors out here - 23 and me, Ancestry and one in the UK started by a Prof in Genetics at Oxford U.  Probably more.  Not sure if there is much difference in the product, maybe different report styles.  I'm curious about my Cro-Magnon DNA percentage.  Apparently the average is around 3%. Maybe its Neanderthal not Cro-Magnon??

You refreshed my memory,  23 and me is the one that does the genetic DNA, at an extra cost.

My interest in my ancestry was piqued recently with these new ancestry dna tests. My family always believed that we were equally Italian and Polish, but the tests actually showed more polish heritage than we thought! Has renewed my interest in learning more about my Polish cultural heritage.

very cool. I hadn't known of any Polish heritage on my Dad's side until about 2 years ago when I saw some letters between my great-great-grandfather & great-great-grandmother and a ship card from when they came over from Europe - all written in Polish. we were always told we were Czechoslovakian (it seems like the Slovakian side of Czechoslovakia at the time)...

something to keep in mind if you dive deeper into this is a lot of Poles changed their last names when coming to America so they didn't get discriminated against, my grandmother's family included. Their last name went from Rudzewicz to Rudewick.

I've had interest in ancestry for a while but haven't done any DNA tests yet - while I was working and my children were younger my lawyer-induced paranoia about being denied life insurance because of some genetic health concerns kept me from doing it but now they're grown and independent and life insurance isn't a concern anymore I'll probably investigate.  I've heard that there are more than one type of DNA test, one that focuses on ancestry and another on health markers.  Is that correct?

ancestry and 23 & me do the health & wellness DNA testing too. familytreedna does the family ancestry testing as well as mtdna and ydna testing. the mtdna tests your maternal heritage only (your mom, your mom's mom, your grandmother's mom, etc.) whereas the ydna is for your paternal heritage only (your dad, your dad's dad, your grandfather's dad, etc.)...