Joining the World of Modern Genealogy - DNA

I must admit that my knowledge of DNA was rather sketchy and I was always under the impression that I needed a relation to test with me – and I come from a small family that includes three of my mother’s cousins even older than myself.  However a friend convinced me otherwise, and that  I would understand the results.  So I took the plunge with Ancestry and have just had the results/

Not surprisingly I am 73% English  from  North West Lancashire. (my mother’s Danson family) and from the West Midlands (my father’s Weston family). But the surprise came from the 22% Scottish and 5% Norwegian  - I have no idea where those figures stem from.

 St. Chad's Church, Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire where my mother's Danson family were baptised, married and buried - traced back to 1736.

 

My brother in front of the famous Ironbridge in Shropshire  where my father spent his childhod.  His father had a 35 minute walk  across the bridge every day to his work at the Coalbrookdale Power Station.

A tinge of disappointment, though, did cross my mind – there was no Spanish element.  A photograph of my great grandmother Maria Danson, nee Rawcliffe was the inspiration that sparked my interest in family history.   I  grew up with the,  no doubt apocrophyll, story that “Granny’s dark looks” came from the past when a Spanish Armada ship was wrecked off the Lancashire  coast, the sailor were rescued and made their home there, marrying local girls.  I took this with  pinch of salt, until I picked up a little local history book that related this same story, but with the event happening in 1660 not 1588.   So I often wondered if I had Spanish blood in my veins?  Sadly not so.

 

My great grandmother Maria Danson, nee Rawcliffe with granddaughter Annie Maria.

The results showed a long list of matches and I have already been in touch with two  - one descended from Maria’s grandfather, and the other descended from my grandfather’s only sister. Plenty to keep me occupied,  should we go back into Lockdown!  

I found the whole process very straightforward.  Results came through quicker than I expected and were well presented  and I could understand them.  So to anyone wavering about doing their DNA  – look out for Ancestry’s frequent discount offers, and go for it.   

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Postscript  

When I set up my blog, why did I  choose the user name “ScotSue”, when I was unaware of any Scottish ancestry?

The reason -  I have now lived in Scotland for 58 years, studied here and worked here in tourism, including ancestral tourism,  and then in local studies and archives where family history enquiries were a key responsibility.  I was keen to get across on my blog that I was knowledgeable on Scotland -  its  history, geography and genealogical sources. The “Scotsue”  name has served me well!

 

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