DNA revisited: Viking, Visigoths and assorted others!

After receiving an initial DNA ethnic profile I puzzled over the combination of British Isles, Scandinavian, Southern European and assorted unknowns that my Irish and French Canadian ancestors seemed to have passed on to me. A refinement of the profile is even more interesting: As was no surprise my DNA profile comes from Europe 97%, with the remaining 3%  2% West Asia (Caucasus) and 1% Central Asia. The bulk of the ancestry is Irish 68% which still is a bit of a mystery - since some of that DNA should come from my father who was French Canadian. The rest is scattered over three regions Italy/Greece10%, Europe West 5%, and Scandinavia 5% Iberian Peninsula 3% Great Britain 3% Europe East 2% , Finnish/Northern Russia< 1%, and European Jewish< 1%.  All of those ethnic markers leave room for the Vikings and the Visigoths which I speculated about in an earlier blog entry, But it contains some interesting twists for example the European Jewish trace.

My candidates for the lines producing some of these DNA traces could be: Raymond dit Toulouse line. The ancestor who immigrated to the new World was a soldier named Jean Baptiste Bertrand dit Raymond dit Toulouse son of Raymond Bertrand from the city of Toulouse. That area would have been the meeting place of southern European DNA (Romans, Visigoths, Greeks). Plus I am twice descended from this line with both of my paternal great-grandmothers being Raymonds.

It is interesting that the profiles of others with similar DNA have a large amount of Acadian surnames from my Dupuis side. Some genealogists speculate that this population had a percentage of both Scottish and British mixture. My Melancon line is supposed to have originated in Scotland and from the city of Quebec I am descended through at least two of the daughters of Abraham Martin nicknamed "the Scotsman".  Of course there is always the soldier Jose Bertrand from Valladolid Spain, ancestor on  my Dad's side for the dash of Iberian pennisula.  Irish legends have my Celtic ancestors migrating through the area now known as Spain as well.

On a recent visit to France I visited the Paris Museum of Jewish Art and History. In the Marais where the  Museum is located there has been a Jewish community since the middle ages. Since many of my ancestors came from Paris and area around the city including the Marais district this could have been the connection.

The 3% that is not European is divided into West Asia 2% (Caucasus2%) and
Asia Central< 1%.  I still have hopes that some of the Asia central was through my (documented) Native American ancestry and a bit disappointed that they didn't pass on more.

Sarmartian soldiers

The Caucasus was equally a surprise. Since I just visited Turkey (and loved it) traveling through this same area it was nice to know some of my DNA made its way from there to Europe. An Internet search for how some Turkish DNA might have found its way to northern Europe led me to the Sarmartian solders who served in the Roman Legions. They were fierce warriors respected by their enemies the Romans. So much so, that in 147 C.E. after defeating them, Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius enlisted 8,000 in his legions. 5,500 cavalrymen were sent to the north of England around York on the Scottish border. When there service was over Roman soldiers were often given land and remained where they had served, marrying into the local population. Wonder if that is how DNA from Turkey found its way into my family tree?


It is fun to speculate!