Where Do I Come From?

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I’m sure everyone has asked this question, “Where do I come from?” I know I have plenty of times. Let me take you back to a time in my life where I questioned who I am and where I came from.

About 8 years go, my husband was involved with this church that only accepted people who where of African American, Native American or Mexican decent. My husband who is African American was welcomed with open arms. Me on the other hand wasn’t. I wasn’t because I didn’t “belong” or come from any of those 3 ethnicity. He was told by a member of the church that I needed to find out who my fathers, father was and so on and so forth to determine if anyone in my pedigree was of African American, Native American or Mexican decent. It didn’t matter what the maternal side was, it was only determined on the paternal side of the family going back generations and generations. So because of this, I started to look up my paternal line. I didn’t get very far because my father only knew his father. He didn’t know who is paternal grandfather was. My grandfather died when my father was just a little boy. Anyways, because I couldn’t go any further I wasn’t welcomed in the church.

And that is how it all started. After doing all that, it got me curious as to where exactly do I come from? Where do my family origins come from? What exactly is my ethnicity? I began to immerse myself into finding as much information as I can, not only on my father’s side of the family but my mother’s side as well. It has become a hobby that I fell in love with. It’s my passion.

I made myself an account on Ancestry.com and started working on my family tree. One by one I was learning who my family is. Where they come from, what their ethnicity is, what they did for a living, where they were residing at, etc… I had all this information but I wanted more. I wanted with proof without a shadow of doubt what ethnicity they were or what I was. So I began looking for ways to find out more. And boom, I found it! DNA testing. What better way to find out with scientific facts.. is doing a DNA ethnicity test.

Ever since I first came across or even heard of DNA testing, I wanted to give it a try. Why not? It wasn’t going to hurt anyone. And plus, how cool would it be to really learn if you really are the combination of what you’ve been told, or if there was more to your life’s story than you know.

There are quite a few companies you can use to test your DNA. The most popular ones are AncestryDNA, Family Tree DNA and 23&Me. I’ve done a lot of research on these companies and read many articles comparing the three. Majority of what I’ve read suggest starting off with AncestryDNA because it’s the most well known. Also, it has the most people who tested with them and has the biggest database for comparison.

So, I chose to go with AncestryDNA not only because of the suggestion to start off with them first but because I have an account with Ancestry already along with all the information I’ve found with my family. Plus, it would be awesome to see what genealogy matches I get and how I can incorporate them in my family tree.

I purchased my kit on Ancestry.com for $99 and about a week later it was at my door step. On the box it says that the results should be back within 4-6 weeks but I’m hoping it gets back in less time. I’m also hoping that after I get my results back and share it with my family that others in my family will start taking the test too. The more the merrier!!

Interested in taking your own DNA?

If you’re interested in buying your own kit to start tracing your heritage/ethnicity back, you’ll find the kit available here: AncestryDNA. If you use this link you’ll get 10% off!

If you’ve done this or have decided to buy the kit and have your DNA tested, I’d love to know what you thought. Let me know what discoveries you’ve discovered or if you found any surprises. Can’t wait to hear your experiences! Please share!