DNA

Just for fun Rick and I had our DNA tested.

I already knew much about both the paternal and maternal sides of my family.

On my mother's side, the Stockbridges arrived in the US on the Blessing in the 1630s. The Sargents fought in the American Revolution.

Michel Boudrot (later Boudreau) left La Rochelle for Noya Scotia in the 1640s much like a ship in the La Rochelle port we saw last spring. He and his descendants were fertile populating much of that area of Canada.

Thus when the results came back I was 97% European with a concentration in England, there was no great surprise. I would have thought there would have been more in France was only a little surprising.

What was a surprise, was a connection to Norway. Probably some Viking while ravishing the English countryside found a pretty local lass and stayed.

The DNA test also traced hunter/gathers and farmers, both of which were in realistic numbers for the development of humans.

What the DNA can't tell me is more about the individuals that passed down their DNA to me. Was one of the hunter/gathers a loving husband and father? Was he disappointed when one of his offsprings wanted to farm?

What did they laugh at?

Did they like mammoth meat and thousands of other questions?

What the test made me aware of was that my existence goes back not just to the Blessing and a ship from La Rochelle but to prehistory. The writer in me, will have to be content to imagine what all my ancestors did and felt.

Rick has done a dueling blog at http://lovinglifeineurope.blogspot.com