Polish workers????

[elaine gray]

Morning, I'm helping my nephew with family research
His dna shows 15% Polish
His gt grandad was born 1900 in Galashiels, illegitimate, father unknown
So my question is, was there polish farm workers, I thought railway labourers in area at that time?
Thanx
Elaine

[CaroleW]

1901 for Selkirk shows brother & sister George 66 & Robina 69 Govenlock (mistranscribed as Goranlock) both b Poland

1901 for all of Scotland - around 1600 males b Poland

I know very little about DNA but would have expected a higher percentage if his gt grandads father was full Polish

Could the father have been part Polish?

[youngtug]

You say15% Polish, is that the ethnicity estimate?

[elaine gray]

Hi thanks for the replies. To answer Carole, I did a check and it said gt grandparents share 12.5% which surprised me to be honest. I'd have thought more too
In reply to the second reply, I have no clue but will try and find out.
The possibilities are endless and everyone latched onto the mystery gtgt granddad being polish, as I use this site a lot and it's been so helpful over the years I'd offered to post on it. I get intrigued and love solving mysteries.
Elaine

[Forfarian]

I had a quick look at the indexes at www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk for records of people whose surnames end in -wicz.

This produced over 9,000 results, mostly from 1900 onwards, but including events as early as 1789. There were 5 different surnames ending in -wicz in the 1851 census.

So I'd say that there is evidence of a small number of Poles being in Scotland befrore 1900.

[Jouault]

There were a number of Polish exiles (2,000) who came to Britain after the November Uprising 1830, and Spring of Nations 1848. I know some of the men settled and married locals.
Also there was trade between Poland and Scotland.