Do you have an Ancestry DNA test? If so, have you explored the updated Origins feature? Since much of my family tree is rooted in colonial ancestors, I’ve only identified a few of my immigrant forebears. This sparked my curiosity about their geographical origins, so I decided to dig deeper into the birthplaces of some of my family lines.
Using FamilySearch, I traced the birth locations of ancestors on my paternal line for each surname. When this information wasn’t available, I turned to FamilySearch’s “Find Your Last Name’s Meaning and Origin” tool for insights.
Paternal
- Crawford — unknown but likely Scottish or English
- Smith – unknown but likely English or Scottish
- Foster – England
- Browning – unknown but likely English or Scottish
- Ostrander – Netherlands
- Forbes – Unknown but likely Scottish
- Hammond — England
- Hale – England
- Fisk – England
- Arnold – Unknown but likely English or German
- Ralston — from Ireland but likely Scottish
- Barr — unknown but likely Scottish or English
- McCormick — Scotland
- Hall – Ireland
- Currey — England
- Reagan – Unknown but likely Irish
- Harris — England
- Van Ausdal – Netherlands and/or Belgium
- Burke – Ireland
- Graves – Unknown but likely English
- Bland – England
- Anderson – Unknown but likely Scottish or Swedish
- Hutchinson — England
- Nettleton – Unknown but likely English
- Merry – Ireland
- Peabody – England
- Harding – Ireland
- Flewelling – England
- Fowler – unknown but likely English or Scottis
Maternal
- Briles – German
- Beckerdite – unknown but likely English
- Rush – England
- Clark – England
- Thompson – Unknown but likely English
- Iglehart – German
- Evans – Wales
- Garrett – Unknown but likely English
- Ricketts – England
- Story – England
- Reed – German
- Buckles – England
- Christy – Unknown but likely Scottish or English
- Dawson – Unknown but likely English or Scottis
- Gallimore – England
- Bentley – England
- Mentzer – Unknown but likely German or French
- Penniman – Unknown but likely English
- Miles – England
- Joslin- England
- Minnick – Germany
- Wells – England
- White – England
- Kennedy – unknown but likely Irish or Scottish
- Barnes – England
- Crandall – England
- Butler – unknown but likely English or Irish
- Nafus – Netherlands
- Carpenter – Unknown but likely England
I then compiled the results into a spreadsheet, organizing them by geographic origin. The spreadsheet outlines the details of my four ancestral lines. Since I have DNA results for my mother as well, I was able to calculate a “maternal origin percentage” for her and a “total origin percentage” for myself and my brothers.
Below is a chart showing the Ancestry Origins for the 4 tests I control.
Although many ancestral lines were not included in my “origins” analysis, the newly released Ancestral Origins feature closely aligns with the origins reflected in my family tree.
