Favorite Photo

        Instead of a photograph to talk about this week, I thought I would share a screen shot of my DNA genetic origins. This is me !  It is fascinating, and Ancestry is getting better with their analysis as more people test their DNA and broaden the base.

My DNA origins map

Basically I am about 50% English, but that percent is broken down into 4 different regions of the United Kingdom. The smallest % in this regions is Cornwall, which is on the southwestern tip of England. This is so interesting to me, since I am deep into the TV series Poldark, which is based in Cornwall in the last part of the 1700’s. I can just see myself riding a horse and galloping across the windswept edge of the seaside cliffs overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. 

The chart below shows the breakdown of my ethnic origins and is color-coded to the screen shot. Note that the size of a color-coded region does not indicate how large my DNA origin is in that area. For example, I am only 3% from the area of France (purple).

My DNA origins breakdown

Western Europe, basically northwestern and southern Germany is about 25% total. I thought this was mostly on my mom’s side, but Ancestry attributes about half of this to my dad’s side. 

The rest of me (about 25%) is mainly Central Scotland and Northern Ireland and southern Wales (which is considered Celtic even though it is part of the island of Great Britain.   

I am doing a deep dive into my Irish ancestry right now. I am bound and determined to find what parts of Ireland my mom’s maternal great - grandparents came from in Ireland. They are the parents of Elizabeth (Lizzie) Reilly. You might recall, Lizzie Reilly married John Koetzle Jr. (his parents were from Germany). Lizzie and John were married in Philadelphia in 1886.

And I am gaining ground on John M. Reilly (Lizzie’s father). Piece by piece and detail by detail, I am building a picture of his life. It is slow going, but I hope to get there, Gotta tell you, you never know how many John Reillys there were, even back then in mid-1800’s. I’ve seen his name spelled John Riley, plus many other variations. Nobody cared much for spelling accuracy back then.

And, he didn’t stay in one spot either. After immigrating from Ireland around 1852 (my rough guess so far), to Brooklyn NY, to Detroit Michigan, to Cincinnati, Ohio, back to Brooklyn, and finally to Philadelphia. All between around 1855 and 1872. I must hope one day to tell his story!