Ancestry.com Results: Where Am I From?

It has crossed most of our minds. What is my heritage? With innovative DNA breakthroughs, you can find out if you really are part Native American, Irish or Chinese. Or can you?

I gave it a shot. I paid Ancestry.com a hundred bucks to test my DNA. Before I started the testing process, I knew that like most African-Americans, I was from West Africa because that was the easiest slave trade route. My great grandfather was a slave in Alabama. My last name, Flannigan, came from his owner.

What I didn’t know is that most captured Africans were transported from Africa to the North and South Carolinas. Ancestry.com has tools that help you build a family tree. I learned that my maternal and paternal ancestors were from North and South Carolina and moved to Alabama, Virginia, West Virginia, and finally Ohio.

The big question is: What part of Africa are my ancestors from? According to Ancestry.com, 97% of my DNA is from the continent of Africa which is an extremely high percentage. I don’t know of any recent family connections to Africa, but I had the feeling that I was Nigerian. Here are my results.

Nigeria 36%
Ivory Coast/Ghana 33%
Benin/Togo 8%
Senegal 7%
Africa Southeastern Bantu 4%
Cameroon, Congo, & Southern Bantu Peoples 4%
Mali 3%
Scandinavia 1%
Asia Central <1%
Ireland/Scotland/Wales <1
Africa South-Central Hunter-Gatherers <1%
Europe West <1%

3,000 reference samples

363 possible regions

I was pleased with my results. It appears as if my ancestors were from the Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Nigeria. I was extremely proud to be a Nigerian princess. Nigeria is the wealthiest African country and progressive.

Everything was great for a few months until I was notified by Ancestry.com that their technology had improved and they had generated new results for me.

According to the new results, 41% of my DNA shows that I’m from the countries of Benin and Togo. Only 7% is Nigerian. 27% of my DNA is linked to Cameroon, Congo, and Southern Bantu Peoples.

Ancestry 4

There was such a drastic difference in my test results that I’m not quite sure I trust either one. One issue is that there aren’t enough test samples from small communities such as the Native American tribes. You might have Native American DNA, but the sample pool is too small to find a match.

I think ancestry DNA testing is fun but not reliable. Don’t take it too seriously. I also had my DNA tested by 23 and Me. I’ll have those results in another post soon.

Stay blessed,

Barbie