My DNA Origins

I've been trying to figure out the racial makeup of the various lines of my family tree. To do this, we'll start with my yDNA haplogroup.

My yDNA haplo group is J-M172. The origins of this haplogroup are Middle Eastern and, in particular, from the Asia Minor region. This could potentially be Jewish but could also be Middle Eastern men who migrated into the Roman Empire.

Then, we move on to my autosomal DNA test results. According to my autosomal DNA test, I am 96% European. Of this 96 percent, 45% is of Scandinavian origins, 39% British Isles, and 12% southern Europe, including Greece, Italy and Spain. The remaining 4% is the Middle Eastern origins shown in my yDNA test.

My DNA Origins

This is all well and good. I can make educated guesses as to which ancestor is of which origins. When I guessed, I knew my Miller male line was Middle Eastern, my grandmother, Julia Doran's ancestors would have made up a good percentage of the British Isles with their assumed Irish ancestry. That left the Scandinavian and southern Europe to be the Millers, Bixenmans, Panthers and Menkes. But who is who?

My Aunt's DNA Origins

I had the sister of my mother take the autosomal DNA test and her results were quite surprising. Her results showed 94% European, of which 46% were western and central Europe, 32% Scandinavian and 16% British Isles. The other 7% turned out to be Jewish Diaspora, in particular, Ashkenazi Jewish. This surprised me, however, a theory about what I believed to be the Panther male line would have given a similar result. So, was my theory correct?

I had a male line Panther descendant take the yDNA test. The results show that the male Panther line belongs to the I-M253 haplogroup. I had expected the Panther line to come back as Jewish but without a doubt, they are very much German. The Jewish ancestry could be one of the other lines in her father's ancestry (Panther) or could also be of her mother's line (Menke).

My female Miller cousin's DNA origins.

I also had a female Miller cousin get an autosomal DNA test. Hers came back as 88% European, of which 73% is British Isles, 12% Eastern Europe and 3 Scandinavian. The remaining 12% was Middle Eastern, 10% Asia Minor and 2% North Africa. Now, I'm not blood related to where 50% of her ancestry comes from. I am operating under the assumption that the part I'm not related to is the 2% North African and 12% eastern Europe. This leaves the 73% British Isles and 10% Asia Minor. I'm confident that a good percentage of her British Isles ancestry is from our Doran/Kelly Irish ancestors.

I'm thinking that my Grandpa Miller was about 10% Middle Eastern/Asian Minor and the rest split among the British Isles, Scandinavia and southern Europe. All of these ancestral origins can be said to be found in the German people, due to the migration patterns between these areas.

I also had my mother's sister's MtDNA tested to see where the female direct line ancestors originated. Her yDNA haplogroup is T2f1a. This means that the Menke-Harmeyer-Nichting female line is also very much pure German.

So, my general outlook on my Ancestral origins:
5% Middle Eastern/Asia Minor
5% Ashkenazi Jewish
25% Irish
25% Other British Isles/German
20% Scandinavian/German
20% Southern European/German

Am I 100% confident of this? Absolutely not. Genetic genealogy must be taken with a large amount of salt. DNA is passed down from generation to generation through mostly large chunks but also many tiny slivers. I didn't inherit any of my grandparents (Panther/Menke) Jewish DNA and my female Miller cousin didn't inherit any of our great-grandparents (Miller/Bixenman) southern European DNA. In the end, it's unlikely anyone will know beyond a doubt exactly what percentage of the ancestry is of what racial makeup. However, it is interesting to look into and DNA testing can definitely help with your genealogical research.

-Matt