Today is March 17th – St. Patrick’s day. In honor of the day, I was curious about whether I have Irish ancestry. Since my research hasn’t taken me beyond the borders of North America, I really don’t have any Irish lines identified. According to my Ancestry DNA results, my ethnicity % for Ireland is 3%.
screenshot from Ancestry.com
Out of curiosity, I decided to do some simple research on my family names using Ancestry’s tool to discover the meaning of a surname. Below are the surnames from my 5 generation pedigree with their probable origins. (chart printed with Family Tree Maker 2014)
Crawford — Scottish, English and Northern IRISH
Foster — English
Hammond – English
Ralston – Scottish
Currey — Scottish or IRISH
Burke — IRISH, English, Norway,or German
Hutchinson – Northern English
Harding – English
Briles – German
Thompson – English
Ricketts – English
Christy – Scottish / Northern IRISH
Mentzer – German
Minnick – IRISH
Wells – English
Crandall – Scottish
According to Forebears, my Crawford line originated in Scotland: “Local. First assumed by the proprietor of the lands and barony of Crawford, in Lanarkshire, Scotland.”
Even though my Ancestry DNA ethnicity is only 3% IRISH, five of the lines from my 5 generation pedigree could be IRISH. Interestingly, I also have 5 Scottish lines but Scottish isn’t listed as an ethnicity.
A little searching of Ancestry forums revealed why my report doesn’t include my Scottish origins:
