I recently got my DNA tested by the MyHeritage.com folks, and they failed to mention that testing a girl (XX chromosome) yields less information that testing a boy (XY chromosome). It took me a while to piece together on my own, but when I initially got my results back, I was stumped.
No Swedish.
Come again? My grandmother’s maiden name was ‘Anderson’, and I knew of a few other Swedish connections on that side. That pesky chromosome! Anyhow, here is what I know from what has been studiously researched by others and handed to me in a three-ring binder (seriously, I’m not the only genealogy nut in the family – I’m just the most successful in the internet age):
I am descended from a couple named Anders and Svenborg (doesn’t that name sound feminine?) Person, who lived in Skåne, Sweden. They had a small estate, and one son – Peter B. Anderson (born 1822).
Tragically, Anders was killed while blasting some stone (routine work, as he was a stone mason) in 1824. Svenborg lived up to her formidable name and did not remarry, but raised Peter alone before dying at the ripe old age of 86. Peter did a bit of this and a bit of that and married Kerstin Månson in 1847. She was the daughter of a shoemaker.
They lived happily, had four children in Sweden, and, on April 29, 1854, picked up and left for NYC. They were on a sailing vessel.
Now, I suppose steam engines and such were a ways off, but this voyage… because the ship had no power other than the sails, it was driven off course to below the equator by a terrible storm.
Lemme chart that out for you.
So it took them a whopping 13 weeks to cross the Atlantic. They skipped right through the Big Apple and on to Chicago, but there was a cholera epidemic, and several of the party perished.
They moved on to Galesburg, Illinois. There were no trains, so they went by covered wagon. Real, legit, actual covered wagons, people. LITTLE HOUSE ON THE PRAIRIE STYLE!
The Anderson clan continued to grow and move about until 1868, when they moved near Harcourt, Iowa. They lived in wagons and cooked by the campire until they could move into a little log house. Seven Andersons and three Stenfelds living in one room. And then one final move when they ran into a cousin who lived about 40 miles away. Their new log house was only 14’x16′, but it had a loft.
This family of pioneers struggled for an existence, but were always happy and ready to entertain anyone who might come into their home.
Peter B. Anderson died in 1895.
He is my great-great-great grandfather.
May 11, 2017 at 8:06 PM
You don’t get very much DNA from ancestors that far back, DNA halves as you go back. And you won’t show the exact same results as your siblings either. I really want to get my DNA tested, but I plan to use Ancestry and FamilyTree DNA. I want to test my grandfathers for Y-chromosome line as well as to test for my ethnicity. The databases for the main DNA testing sites are larger and offer more matches also. And again, DNA testing isn’t absolutely certain anyway.
I had to take a break for lack of funds, but I want to pick up my genealogy. I’m stumped by lack of documents. My grandparents have gone to courthouses and have family stories, but some of their study is from online, and I’ve already run into trouble with verifying it, and some I’m certain is wrong. I think the most recent the family came over the easier to trace. I also imagine more northerners (less off the grid), more of a less English background would be easier to trace. Part of my grandfather’s family came from Switzerland comparatively recently (1880s) and are easy to trace. Everybody else has been in the South for a long time. And my dad’s family hit over half of the states in the South over a 50-100 year span. Plus random people were picked up for the census record, and the spelling is . . . interesting. I find this frustrating (I had SO much trouble locating anything on a great-grandmother and that isn’t even that far back), but fascinating at the same time.
LikeLike
May 11, 2017 at 8:39 PM
Anything between now and the late 1800s can be really difficult to track, but if you can get back farther you have a chance that someone kept track of some noble bloodline or other. Keep the faith!
LikeLike
May 12, 2017 at 11:20 AM
Reblogged this on Amanda Bradburn and commented:
This is my husband’s family heritage. Never let anyone tell you genealogy is boring…
LikeLike
May 12, 2017 at 7:45 PM
Wow, do you think the company is wrong or that there is an unmentioned adoption in there somewhere or what? This DNa stuff is all pretty darn confusing.
LikeLike
May 12, 2017 at 7:59 PM
No, they weren’t wrong. Male DNA just has more information for them to extract.
LikeLiked by 1 person
May 12, 2017 at 9:45 PM
That is so strange. Gosh, I wish I had a biological brother!
LikeLike
May 12, 2017 at 10:01 PM
A male on your mother’s side will do just as well (uncle, grandfather, etc.), and might even get you a little more information. You could theoretically piece your information together with a grandfather and great-uncle.
LikeLiked by 1 person
May 12, 2017 at 10:11 PM
Interesting. My uncle would be the only one left.
LikeLike