I have been trawling through old posts and spotted a few where people are baffled by their ethnicity results as they don't identify with, for example, a European connection.
I thought I would just share my scenario in the hope that it might help others. Many years ago an elderly Aunt threw out in conversation "Well of course you know that we have a lapsed Jewess in the family don't you?" .... I remember feeling quite shocked at the time, it seemed like a racist comment ........ and I didnt give it much more thought. However it got me wondering - I am fair skinned (and freckly) and take after my father in complexion. My mother had a more olive skin, and dark hair and so did her brother. We always thought that they resembled her father who had similar colouring. Granny was grey haired and pale skinned so we didnt put her into the equation as we only had black and white photos and couldnt see what here colouring was.
AFter a while I started exploring my mother's family tree in more detail..... and discovered that her mother's father had married Caroline Leah Rubey ........ that started ringing bells - Leah is a Jewish name, and so is Rubey ...... further investigation revealed that it was SHE who had married outside of her Jewish faith and I eventually discovered other family trees which listed her mother's family tree and it seemed to go back to Spain/Italy and even Morocco. How could I be sure? I left it for years, but had my DNA tested just before Christmas. Back came the results ..... I am 40 percent British, 23 per cent Irish (still looking for that link!) and 32 per cent European West - the map showed exactly the right area in the paper trail, so for me it has confirmed that I do actually have the right person in my tree. And then I realised ...... what I thought was a racist remark by my Aunt wasnt racist at all...... she was much older than my Mum and had apparently paid for her to be evacuated early on in the war..... because of course they all had Jewish blood ...... and she was downright scared. Makes so much sense now.
Now I just have to unravel the Irish connection - my father always thought there was one but I cannot find it - interesting though that when I visited Dublin about 18 months ago the man next to me in the theatre asked which part of Ireland I came from, and would not have it that I was English!! He just kept saying "Are you sure you are not Irish?" Lol! Isnt this exciting?
