Dear Reader:

I don’t want you to think it has taken me this long to get my DNA report back on my ethnicity and heritage from ancestor.com. It actually arrived in late August… right before the avalanche of cataract surgeries, biopsies, exploratory surgery for margins for breast cancer, Hurricane Matthew, and shingles. I had looked at the results but just had not had time to decipher some of the history and its implications from the different ethnicities listed.

Last week I finally came up for air and got interested again in tracking down more genealogical history behind my findings.

So this report (in a nutshell) will be a simplified version of my personal family tree and how it evolved according to me, my research, and my imagination.

Obviously the largest percentage…almost half of my ancestry comes from Great Britain- 44%. At first I was surprised that I didn’t see Scotland in the mix until the informational guides reminded me that Great Britain was/is a hodgepod of nationalities of thousands of years of invasions…(like from the Vikings who invaded England and the surrounding areas for hundreds of years)…thus producing the second largest percentage (matching Ireland- 22%) in my heritage from Scandinavia.

My father’s clan (Barbour) was among (what is called today) the border Scottish clans. They lived in and around the border of  England/Scotland. So depending on what the borders were at any given census… my ancestors could have gone either direction in their labeled nationality- Scottish or British.

*(Only the Welsh and Cornish strands of Great Britain are purer in family genealogy…all other British subjects are mixtures of migratory patterns and invasions.)

The oldest (historically-known ancestor) we have been traced to is on my father’s side-John Barbour… who has been dubbed the “Father of Scots Poetry” and compared to Chaucer. While serving in the royal court of Robert the II (in the mid-1300’s), he wrote the famous epic poem on the warrior-king Robert the Bruce... which told the story of the fight for independence against England and the famous Battle of Bannockburn.

Barbour is buried today in St. Machar’s Cathedral in Aberdeen, Scotland. This plaque containing a line from the poem The Brus is near his resting place.

Our family is also connected to the Barbour clothing dynasty…out of Great Britain. (Another John Barbour started this enduring clothing company)

2014 (120 Years of High Quality Wax Jackets)

So, now I realize that I have some Viking blood in me which accounts for my love of traveling and sticking it to my enemy “little c.” (Just wish I had known about this Scandinavian connection when I did the teacher exchange in Denmark…construction companies were literally tearing up the streets of Copenhagen when I was there with Benedikte Christiansen because of an archeological dig that would prove the Vikings came much earlier to England than first thought.)

My last famous relative from the Barbour side is James Barbour…Governor of Virginia, friend, and neighbor to Thomas Jefferson who actually designed his home . *Today there are famous vineyards that house the world-famous Barbour wine. (Ruins left from the fire that destroyed the mansion on Christmas Day in the early 1800’s.)

*

(Way to go Dad…some interesting history on the Barbour side.)

The pie chart showing the mixture of nationalities showing up in your DNA doesn’t tell about personal family trees…Ancestor.com, however, does give you a list of people who are distant cousins to you and it has checked the box if they have agreed to be contacted by email. So if you are working on a family tree…this really helps.

Now that I have information on my dad’s side…I am ready to pursue the Wilsons (mother’s surname and her mother…Seawright.) I know Seawright is English and the Wilsons lived in Northern Ireland…the Protestants…and fighters…again good genes when you are dealing with adversity.

So 88% of my ancestry was pretty predictable except for the Scandinavian part which made sense after I dusted off my lack of World History knowledge…but then ancestor.com informed me that I had little snitches of DNA found in 5 other regions that finished up the last 12% of who I am.

1. Less than <1 %: Morocco…Northern Africa…since I remember this exotic location was a great trading post/commercial center for hundreds of years I have a feeling a distant ancestor had him a memorable night… perhaps celebrating great success in trade and the fruits of his labor…thus producing a “fruit of his labor”! Love it…fun diversity!
2. European West: 5%
3. East European Jewish: 3% (Don’t know if I will be able to return to the Holocaust Building or not…it was hard enough looking at this time period from the other side…but to know even if I just have 3% in me….the extreme sadness I feel.)
4. Italy and Greece: 3% (Mama Mia!)
5. Iberian Peninsula: (Spain/Portugal) <1% (My brother wishes this percentage was higher…here is where many of the stringed instruments have been made for centuries…. of the highest quality including guitars…Go Ben and Lee!)

So that’s me…in a nutshell…like everyone else…a product of luck, accident, migratory patterns, wars and invasions…in other words…a Citizen of the World!

*I highly recommend doing this DNA test…it really broadens one’s appreciation for all who came before us…Now I want to know their stories…These are voices yearning to be heard…(by the subtle flames of a fire)…so when I ended the blog last evening…I started a fire…the first of the season. November 6, 2016!…I am sure I am just following the tradition of my past genealogical families who passed on their love of storytelling to me.

So until tomorrow…The one thing we all have in common, regardless of location or culture…is the knowledge that we all are of One Spirit…and as such… Children of God.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* Here are two of my gene-pools chilling on a Saturday morning…literally and figuratively!

Sunday found them at the SC Aquarium…Glad my ‘gene off-springs’ are having a fun, restful weekend. (Is Eva Cate going to do a Scottish jig?….only time will tell.)