SONG
OF OURSELVES
In my honest opinion, your
deepest ancestral roots are also your ultimate symphony of life. That said, how
could one NOT wish to identify the panoply of genetic notes or simply hum
the inherited melody...in essence, one's very own opus of UNIQUE DNA
composition! My husband and I have come to appreciate ours: I'm basically 60%
Northern European and 40% Eastern European, with an extremely tiny amount of
Asian. He's approximately 55% Eastern European, 40% Southern European and 5%
Northern European but also with an [equally] extremely tiny amount of
Asian. But here's the kicker, his "Asian" is not my same Asian!
Moreover, we are both totally lacking in Arabic and sub-Saharan African DNA.
Shocking as it may seem, many apparent 'Caucasians' do have DNA profiles that
include the aforesaid sub-types (including my maternal uncle's wife and she's a
very pale, 100% natural red head!).
My
highly inquisitive nature is such that if there's a skeleton
or ghost in the
proverbial closet, I WILL seek such an
entity out!
Both my husband and I are
members of the 23andme family. Interestingly, part of the 23andme information gleaned from an individual's
DNA also allows for a list of associated surnames; these are culled from the inter-related
top ten and further arranged by "most common to least common". The 1st
and 2nd surnames germane to my DNA data are Stack and Connell, respectively. The latter name
I could understand as I WAS already aware that I had 2nd cousins with this
surname...but the former(?), this totally threw me for a loop! Other prominent
surnames in my list included Hay*, Hall, and Hamilton (also similarly astounding
me a bit). No where on this surname list was my maiden name of Porter, nor the surnames
from any [of my] more 'recognizable' family tree. But given that I thoroughly enjoy
the pursuits of investigation and discovery, supplementary information a propos
my genetic legacy is always most welcome and accordingly appreciated...
Stack
This is a rather
famous Anglo-Irish name, even though the surname's factual origin is pre 7th
Century Norse-Viking, a derivative of the term "Stakkr". Essentially,
this is a name depicting a builder of Stacks (specifically 'hay stacks') and, in
effect, really alluding to a prototype of agricultural contractor. NOTE: At first,
I automatically assumed that the surname of Hay must share a similar origin,
but it doesn't appear that it does.
Yet, the moderately
serene occupation of hay-stacking appears discrepant with the
"Stacks" of later renown. Specifically, the Irish holders of the
name, originally forming part of the English 14th century colonist rule, turned
against England and were her brutal opponents in the Elizabethan Wars. On
another note, this name is considered an early definitive surname: some
recordings include Simon Stakke of Hampshire in 1244; in Ireland, John Stack
was Bishop of Ardfert in 1588, while General Edward Stack lead the Irish
Brigade (a.k.a.'The Wild Geese') in the Napoleonic Wars of 1792 -
1815.
MY NOTE: No wonder I love the Cotswalds!
The other family surname of mine, Connell (or O'Connell),
is an Anglicized form of the famous Gaelic clan name O'Conaill, meaning
"strong as a wolf", and from the Gaelic siol cuin which translates as "descendant of
Connall or Con." The name possibly derives from cú (con) meaning "hound" or "wolf,"
and gal meaning "valour." Of the three
distinct O Connell clans that exist (i.e., these located in the provinces of
Connacht, Ulster, and Munster), I know mine is related to county Clare
in the province of Munster. My father's mother's side is from Cork,
Limerick and Munster. My father's father's side is Protestant through
and through and THEY were from Ulster, being post-plantation people originally
from the Cumberland region of the British Isles.
**********************************************
On the other
hand, my husband's top surname (by way of the 23andme
data) is 'Goldstein' and this is the
far and away front-runner vis-a-vis
his complete surname list. Now, having known his late father, I'm not totally
surprised. By way of background, his father knew of 'some' Croatian roots (he was
raised as a Catholic) but, for centuries, Croatia belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire; it was only after World War I
that it joined the 'new' Yugoslavia. The surname 'Goldstein' was not uncommon within
the Austro-Hungarian empire either. Moreover, my husband's current surname of
Grenn was actually a name derived from Gludowitz (sometimes
spelled Gludowatz) and Krenn. His genetic [DNA] breakdown truly
reads like a mini United Nations but with very strong contribution from the Carpathian
mountain region(s) as well as Ukraine and Russia. What is interesting, though,
is the moderately significant sprinkling of Finnish; yet, I would totally
surmise that this has to be from his mother's father's side even though the
Whyte surname was originally something like Bialyik.
However,
through my own mother's DNA legacy, I am Russian, Polish, Lithuanian and
Ukrainian with a minor amount of German (with
some Ashkenazi Jewish), as
well. But my biggest surprise was the inclusion of Yakut blood within my DNA
profile. I would have totally expected Saami, but not these people! In looking up their history, though, I've also
arrived at the conclusion that the late Natalie Wood likely had some of this
Asian sub-type in her history. Wouldn't you concur?
Yakut
girl on left. Natalie Wood was born Natalia Nikolaevna Zacharenko
Our
personal innate building blocks...what a fantastic story they truly are!
*Although
Hay is now seen as a quintessentially Scottish name, its origins are in
northern France, and branches of the family settled in England shortly after
the Norman Conquest.
