I’ve always been curious about the makeup of my ancestry. I do know that many of my forefathers are from Africa and the Caribbean. But, I’ve wondered if there were any other regions that made up my genealogy.
With the help of Ancestry.com, my husband and I set out to find out more about our DNA. The process was pretty simple. We received the Ancestry DNA kits in the mail, set up our online profile, took a saliva sample, placed it inside the package, and dropped in the the mail. We received the results about six to eight weeks later.
My husband and I documented it all for our YouTube channel. The step-by-step video tutorial shows you exactly how it’s done, and we also had some fun guessing the other components of our DNA profile.
Ancestry DNA Test Results!
He actually came pretty close to finding out his ancestry when his relatives decided to trace their roots through Ancestry.com a few years ago. They eventually hit a wall after finding out that my husband’s Grandfather was adopted, which means that there may be more to his German background than originally thought. We also have a binder with pictures of his relative dating back to the early 1800s.
When it comes to my Caribbean heritage, I know that Jamaica has a big English and Spanish influence. Christopher Columbus arrived from Spain 1494 and stole the land from the indigenous Natives.
Spaniards took Jamaica’s original inhabitants, Arawaks (Tainos) to Hispaniola as slaves. I actually remember hearing that African slaves replaced the Natives because they were more capable of working in the heat for long hours at a time.
The English eventually captured the island from Spain during the 1600s. As one can imagine, Jamaica has a long history of slavery and migration.
The English and Spanish weren’t the only ones to migrate to Jamaica. Chinese population also made their way to the island from Asia. So, I expected to see more in my DNA than the obvious African roots and was excited to learn more.
Like the saying goes, “you don’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’re coming from.” And, as parents to multiracial and multicultural children, we want to teach them about their identity. Knowing their ancestry means having self-awareness.
That’s exactly one of the reasons why I decided to start blogging. I knew that one day our kids will want to know more about their family history. They may even need information for a school project. Either way, it’s great for them to have all this valuable information at their fingertips.
We’d like to thank Ancestry for sending us the AncestryDNA kits.
Have you ever taken an Ancestry DNA test? How much do you know about your ancestry?
This video was sooo cute! Wow, DNA tests are especially insightful for mixed/bi-racial families. Personally, I’m too nervous about doing one myself. I’ve followed your blog for 3 years now (also in a mixed marriage w/ children). I’m a native of Cote d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast) and immigrated to the US as a kid like yourself. So I was happy to hear dome of your background was traced to Cote d’Ivoire! And if you ever want to learn more about Cote d’Ivoire, you have a blog-reader as “fam” 😉 You and your hubby have such an awesome and fun dynamic, love it! Keep up the great blog & videos!
Thanks so Rai. I have a lot more research to do. Ancestry provided us with a great start. Thanks for compliment. We have so much fun filming videos.
It was interesting finding out where our families were from, but a bit surprising to find out that my husband and I are also related 7 and 10 generations back. (Both of our ancestors came to America in the early 1700’s.)
Wow!!:) Thanks for sharing. That’s amazing. I’m also trying to trace my ancestors prior to the 1800s. but that’s been tough due to slavery and migration. I’m so happy and amazed at what I’ve uncovered thus far.