Olar and Spencer DNA

Olar and Spencer DNA

With Ancestral Surname Index

(1600 to present)

By Nationality

By Jared L. Olar

Alphabetised Ancestral Surname Index (1600 to present)

The family histories of the Olars and Spencers and of their ancestral families show that our ethnic heritage is chiefly English and Romanian, with a significant amount of our ancestry also coming from the Ukraine, Germany, Switzerland, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Belgium. The stories told by our family traditions and genealogical studies are confirmed by the results of a number of DNA tests that members of our immediate and extended families took in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Olar-Shaw DNA:

An AncestryDNA autosomal DNA test that I took in December 2015 yielded results that line up perfectly with what we already knew about my parents' ancestry (later AncestryDNA ethnicity estimates, however, are not as accurate a representation of our known origins, so I will chiefly discuss my original AncestryDNA ethnicity estimate). My father is of ethnic Romanian and Ukrainian origin, while my mother is chiefly of English ancestry with a very large number of German and German Swiss ancestors, and a significant amount of Scottish ancestry as well. This is reflected in my autosomal DNA test results, which show Eastern Europe, Scandinavia, and the Mediterranean regions as the areas where most of my DNA originated. My father had his own DNA tested in February 2016 through 23andMe, which found that his Olar patrilineage belongs to the J2 haplogroup (J-M172), a large genetic family historically found throughout the Near East, Southern Europe, and Northern Africa (perhaps originating in Persia), while his matrilineage through the Pascar and Ciopei families belongs to the HV9 haplogroup, a female lineage historically found in Italy, Bohemia, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, and Britain. In December 2020, I took a Family Tree DNA 111-marker y-DNA test (Kit No. B109661) that confirmed that my y-DNA haplogroup is J2 (J-M172). I then checked my STR values at NEVGEN, which predicted at a 99.75% probability that I belong to the J2a1-Z387 haplogroup. As of June 2022, only two y-DNA testers match me at 111 markers, one man with the Romanian surname Luchian and the other with the Slavic surname Dodrv. Whoever our common male ancestor was, though, he probably lived a great many centuries ago, long before Romanian peasant families adopted hereditary surnames.

23andMe's estimates of my father's genetic ethnicities are as follows:

45.8% Southern European -- This encompasses the 36.1% of my father's autosomal DNA that is Balkan and the 9.7% that is Broadly Southern European. This is my father's Romanian ancestry, the largest portion of his genetic heritage, originating ultimately from the ancient Getae, Dacians, and Thracians. This DNA came from the families of Olar, Pascar, Ciopei, Cosic, and their ancestors. Both my father's direct paternal line and direct maternal line are ethnically Romanian as far back as we have been able to trace them. 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for my father's DNA results speculates that most of his "Balkan" DNA came to him from an ancestor living one generation back, that is, born from about 1840 to about 1900 -- an estimate that agrees perfectly with our known genealogy. My father's paternal lineage, belonging to the J2 haplogroup (J-M172), is as follows:
Joseph Olar > Alecsie "Alex" Olar > Ioan Olar > Andrei Olar > [Stefan?] Olar

My father's maternal lineage, belonging to the HV9 maternal haplogroup, is as follows:

Joseph Olar > Eufrosina "Rose" Pascar > Iftima Ciopei > Todosia (NN)
36.8% Eastern European -- This is my father's Ukrainian or Ruthenian ("Rusyn") ancestry which came from his Toderiuc ancestors. The two largest ethnic groups in the region of Bucovina are the Romanians and Ruthenians. 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for my father's DNA results speculates that most of his "Eastern European" DNA came to him from an ancestor living one generation back, that is, born from about 1840 to about 1900 -- again, an estimate that agrees perfectly with our known genealogy.
2.8% Broadly Western European -- It is somewhat surprising that my father, who is of Eastern European ancestry, would have a small amount of Western European DNA. At this time, we cannot tell which of his ancestors living within the past five centuries may have contributed this DNA. Perhaps there was a case of intermarriage with a German immigrant who settled in Bucovina -- maybe one of the Zipser Germans.
Less than 0.1% Ashkenazi Jewish -- When dealing with such a slight trace of DNA, one cannot be certain that a genotype analysis is correct. Nevertheless, even at a confidence level of 80% this small segment of Ashkenazi DNA can be detected on one half of my father's Chromosome 6. There is no way to tell, however, whether this means my father's ancestors inherited this DNA from an Ashkenazi Jew in Eastern Europe, or rather that one of my father's Gentile ancestors was also an ancestor of many Ashkenazi Jews. For what it is worth, my father does say that his mother's family the Pascars had formerly been Jewish. 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for my father's DNA results speculates that most of his "Ashkenazi Jewish" DNA came to him from an ancestor living about six generations back, that is, born from about 1660 to about 1750 -- an estimate that agrees broadly with our family lore.
0.8% East Asian -- This was another somewhat surprising result of my father's DNA test. It encompasses the 0.7% of his DNA that is generally East Asian and the 0.2% of his DNA that is Mongolian. These segments of DNA are found on Chromosomes 4, 5, 10, and 12, and are only on one side of their respective chromosomes, which indicates that the East Asian DNA all came from just one of my father's parents. Most likely this DNA originates from the catastrophic Mongol-Tatar invasion of Eastern Europe during the 1300s. Tereblecea, where my grandparents were born, is thought to have originated as a Tatar entrenchment, and some writers have suggested that the "Tere-" of "Tereblecea" is derived from "Tatar." In any case, 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for my father's DNA results speculates that most of his "Mongolian" DNA came to him from an ancestor living about six generations back, that is, born from about 1660 to about 1750.
0.7% Middle Eastern and North African -- This encompasses the 0.6% of my father's DNA that is Middle Eastern and the 0.1% that is "unassigned" due to uncertainties and gaps in current genotyping. These brief segments of DNA are detectable on one half of Chromosome 3 and one half of Chromosome 6 at a confidence level of 60%. Almost certainly this is Jewish DNA, corroborating the tradition of Jewish descent mentioned by my father. On the other hand, it is known that groups of Armenians (classified by 23andMe as a "Middle Eastern" ethnicity) settled in Bucovina, so it is not impossible that my father's Middle Eastern DNA came from an Armenian ancestor. 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for my father's DNA results speculates that most of his "Middle Eastern" DNA came to him from an ancestor living about five generations back, that is, born from about 1660 to about 1780 -- once again, an estimate that broadly agrees with our family lore, for any Jewish ancestor almost certainly lived prior to the first notice of my father's ancestors in Tereblecea's parish registers in the late 1700s.

I inherited my father's "J2" Y chromosome and about half of his autosomal DNA. In comparison to my father's genome, AncestryDNA's estimates of my genetic ethnicities are as follows:

42% Eastern European -- This is my father's Romanian and Ukrainian/Ruthenian ancestry, far and away the largest portion of my genetic heritage since about half of my autosomal DNA came from my father, whose parents came from the former Austrian Duchy of Bukovina (today cut in half between Romania and Ukraine). This DNA came from the families of Olar, Pascar, Toderiuc, Ciopei, and Cosic. The Hudcic and Bores families are also probably among my ancestors. The ancient ancestors of the Romanians and Ruthenians include the Getae, Dacians, and Thracians.
22% Italy/Greece -- This is in fact the general Mediterranean region, which includes Romania, which would be DNA from my father, but also includes Switzerland, which would be the DNA of the Pfautz and Holliger and allied families of German Swiss origin on my maternal grandmothers' side. This portion of my autosomal DNA is probably broken down as about 8% from my father and about 14% from my mother's Swiss ancestors.
22% Scandinavia -- This includes not only Scandinavian countries but also much of England, where the Anglo-Saxons and Norse vikings settled after having left the area of Denmark and Norway (whereas the new 2018 AncestryDNA ethnicity estimate now very stupidly and unhelpfully lumps all of my Anglo-Saxon DNA with broadly "German" DNA). This DNA is my mother's English ancestry, by far the largest portion of her genetic heritage, on her father's side. Her father's family were the Shaws, who belong to the R1b1a1a2a1a3 haplogroup and who have the P310 and CTS4529 single nucleotide polymorphisms on their male (Y) chromosome. The y-DNA of our Shaws thus originated in the South Baltic area, indicating an ultimate origin among the Scandinavian or Germanic peoples of that region. This means our Shaws were of Anglo-Saxon or perhaps Danish viking descent in the male line. Our Shaw ancestry also includes numerous other English families, however, who no doubt contributed to the "Scandinavian" portion of my autosomal DNA. My mother's known paternal lineage is as follows:
Dolores Frances Shaw > Sherman Linn Shaw II > Sherman Linn Shaw > James Monroe Shaw > Manly Sherman Shaw > Job Shaw > Benjamin Shaw > Benoni Shaw > Jonathan Shaw > John Shaw
6% Iberian Peninsula -- This designation includes not only autosomal DNA from Spain but also France and Italy as well as southern England and even a slice of the southwest of Ireland. These DNA segments would come from my mother's English, Welsh, and perhaps even Irish ancestors. In far ancient times, Celtic peoples from Spain and Gaul settled in southern Britain and Ireland, but later on most of these peoples in Britain became Anglicised, so they're mostly English today, besides those who became the ancestors of modern Welsh families.
3% Western European -- This region includes France, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Austria, Bohemia, and even Denmark and parts of England. I suspect this DNA represents mostly my mother's German ancestry, though we also have a touch of Flemish on her side as well due to the De Lannoy family of Tourcoing who became the Delano family of New England.
3% Ireland -- This designation includes both Ireland and Scotland. This DNA is mostly if not entirely from the Celtic Gaelic/Scottish part of my mothers's ancestry, which comes to us chiefly through the Linn family of Ayrshire in the Scottish Lowlands, along with the Scots-Irish families of Miller, Burnside, and Patterson. Another remote source of Celtic ancestry is the Scottish family of Curry (an abbreviation of the surname McCurry, from the Gaelic MacVurich clan). My descent from the Linns is as follows:
Jared Linn Polycarp Olar > Dolores Frances Shaw > Sherman Linn Shaw II > Sherman Linn Shaw > Mary Rebecca Linn
My own maternal lineage, as far back as we are able to trace it, goes back to the Scots-Irish colonists in Ulster, Ireland, as follows:
Jared Linn Polycarp Olar > Dolores Frances Shaw > Frances Mae Miller > Bessie Mae Young > Elizabeth "Libbie" Miller > Mary Jane Burnside > Margaret Patterson
Like the descent from the Scots-Irish Millers and Burnsides, my descent from the Curry family is primarily a matrilineage. In this case, the descent can be taken back to a woman of the Curry family who lived in South Carolina and Georgia in the latter 1700s and early 1800s. A female cousin of my mother's took a 23andMe DNA test that revealed that our Curry ancestress belonged to the maternal haplogroup H1, an ancient female lineage prominent throughout Western Europe (including the British Isles) and North Africa. My Curry lineage is as follows:
Jared Linn Polycarp Olar > Dolores Frances Shaw > Sherman Linn Shaw II > Grace Esther Bender > Clarissa Eleanor Riche > Esther Walker Albright > Martha Ann Walker > Catherine Curry
1% European Jewish -- This is chiefly Jews of Eastern Europe, the "Ashkenazim," most of whom are descendants of Gentile proselytes who adopted Judaism in the Middle Ages and afterwards intermarried with the Jewish people. As noted above, when one is dealing with such small amounts of DNA it might in fact be "background noise" in the DNA. However, the identification of this DNA is strengthened by the fact that 23andMe found approximately the same amount of apparently Jewish DNA in my father's genome. It appears that I inherited all of my father's Jewish DNA -- what little there was of this DNA, it all came to me. These test results indicate that I and Eastern European Jews have a little bit of DNA in common, DNA that is characteristic of Eastern European Jews. Compared with my father's 23andMe results, most of this Ashkenazi DNA is Middle Eastern, meaning we have at least one ancestor who was a direct male-line descendant of the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob who lived circa 2170-1860 B.C., and who converted to Christianity at an indeterminate time prior to the 1800s (most likely much earlier than A.D. 1800, by which time parish records show my father's known ancestors to be Eastern Orthodox Christians). These DNA test results corroborate what my father says about his mother's family the Pascars having been Jewish in the past, and my father's DNA results suggest that he may even have had Jewish ancestry on both his mother's and his father's side.

NOTE: As of November 2023, my father's 23andMe ethnicity estimate says 0.2% of his autosomal DNA was "Ashkenazi Jewish."
Less than 1% Finnish/Northwest Russia -- This is, again, so small amount of DNA that it might just be "background noise," or it might mean that on my father's side there is a little bit of Lithuanian, Esthonian, Latvian, or Finnish somewhere in his ancestry. That is not entirely surprising given the part of the world where the Olars came from. Given what we know of my mother's ancestry, it is extremely unlikely that this segment of DNA comes from her side of the family. (The new 2018 AncestryDNA ethnicity estimate gives me an even larger portion of Finnish/Northwest Russia, but it is impossible to say where I got that DNA or even if it is really "Finnish/Northwest Russian DNA.)

That, then, is what autosomal DNA testing has revealed about the ethnic composition of my own and my father's genomes. Notably, my test found no trace at all of American Indian DNA, although some researchers say there was some Abenaki far back in the 1600s on my mother's side. But that was so long ago that even if it's true, most likely there would be no trace of it left in my own autosomal DNA by now. The AncestryDNA test found no trace of African or typically Asian DNA. My father's 23andMe test also found no trace of "Gypsy" (Roma) DNA, which one occasionally finds among people from Bucovina.

Spencer-Riggs DNA:

In 2015, my wife Christina Carlene Paula (Spencer) Olar had her autosomal DNA tested through 23andMe. Her test results showed her genetic ethnicity to be 99.9% European, in keeping with the findings of genealogical research on her father's Spencer ancestry and her mother's Riggs ancestry. As expected, the DNA test found that the overwhelming majority of Christina's autosomal DNA is of Northwestern European origin, with the largest part of it coming from Britain. The test also determined that Christina's maternal ancestry, designating her direct female line into the distant past, belongs to the H2a2 haplogroup, a mitochondrial DNA family that is found throughout Eastern Europe and the Near East. Then in 2017 we followed up Christina's DNA test with a 23andMe test of her father Roy Eldon Spencer. His test results were virtually identical to Christina's, showing his genetic ethnicity to be 99.8% European, with almost all of his autosomal DNA being of Northwestern European origin, mostly from Britain. Roy's test determined that his paternal haplogroup agreed with a prediction based on genealogical research that shows Roy to be a descendant of one of the Four Spencer Brothers, whose y-DNA haplogroup has been identified as E1b1b1 (E-M35 or E-L117). Roy's paternal haplogroup came back as E-V13, which is genetically equivalent to E-M35 -- thus, as predicted, Roy's paternal haplogroup is indeed E1b1b1. (This particular haplogroup, as it happens, evidently predates the Anglo-Saxon Invasion of Britain and would thus be of Celtic or Romano-Briton origin rather than Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian origin.) 23andMe's estimates of Roy's genetic ethnicities are as follows:

93.3% Northwestern European -- This encompasses the 42.3% of his autosomal DNA that is British & Irish, the 17.9% that is French & German, the 3.3% that is Scandinavian, the 0.6% that is Finnish, and the 29.2% that is Broadly Northwestern European. This is Roy's English, German, and Scots-Irish ancestry ("Scandinavian" can include English or Scottish ancestry). 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for his autosomal DNA results speculates that most of Roy's British-Irish DNA came to him from an ancestor living one generation back, that is, born from about 1850 to about 1910 -- in other words, his parents, John Howard Spencer and Helen Elizabeth Smith, most of whose ancestors were of English origin. Roy's paternal lineage, belonging to the E1b1b1 haplogroup (E-V13), is as follows:
Roy Eldon Spencer > John Howard Spencer > William Penn Spencer > John Washington Spencer > Orin Spencer > Daniel Spencer > Joseph Spencer > Joseph Spencer > Joseph Spencer > William Spencer > Gerard Spencer > Gerard Spencer > Michael Spencer > John Spencer > John Spencer

Roy's maternal lineage, belonging to the H1 maternal haplogroup (an ancient matrilineal genetic family found throughout Western Europe and North Africa, and especially numerous in Spain), is as follows:

Roy Eldon Spencer > Helen Elizabeth Smith > Julia Mary Townsend > Mary Elizabeth Dwyer > Mary Elizabeth Bartlett

Besides his English ancestry, Roy also has German ancestry on both his father's and mother's sides:

Roy Eldon Spencer > John Howard Spencer > William Penn Spencer > John Washington Spencer > Anna "Nancy" Amey (Emig)
Roy Eldon Spencer > Helen Elizabeth Smith > Julia Mary Townsend > Alexander Mathes Townsend > Christena LeAnna Boyer (Bayer)

23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for Roy's autosomal DNA results speculates that most of his French-German DNA came to him from an ancestor living two generations back, that is, born from about 1820 to about 1880. This agrees with Roy's known genealogy, for the two women from whom his German ancestry derives lived about that same period of time.

Besides Roy's English and German ancestry, he also has Scottish and/or Irish ancestry on both his father's and mother's side. His paternal ancestry traces back to a family of Scottish Presbyterian Covenanters named Brown, while his mother's genealogy traces back to the Scottish and/or Irish families of Nevins, Currans, and McAfee, as follows:

Roy Eldon Spencer > John Howard Spencer > Eva Underwood > Emanuel Lewis Underwood > William Brown Underwood > Sarah Brown > Alexander Brown > Alexander Brown
Roy Eldon Spencer > Helen Elizabeth Smith > Willard Hayes Smith > Anna Del Ball > Mary Ann Nevins > Sarah "Sally" Currans" > Mary Margaret McAfee

Roy's 23andMe "Ancestry Timeline" speculates that Roy's "Scandinavian" DNA came to him from an ancestor living about four generations back, that is, born from about 1730 to 1820 -- possibly one of his English ancestors, or perhaps one of his Scottish ancestors.

2.4% Southern European -- This encompasses the 1.3% of Roy's autosomal DNA that is Iberian, the 0.5% that is Italian, the 0.6% that is Broadly Southern European. While "Iberian" autosomal DNA is usually of Spanish origin, there is a wider diffusion of "Iberian" DNA in France, Wales, and Southern England and Southern Ireland. Given what we know of Roy's genealogy, it is highly unlikely that he has any Spanish ancestry in the recent centuries of his ancestry. For that matter, it is also most unlikely that he has any Italian ancestry. More likely than not, Roy's "Iberian" DNA comes from a family from the south of England or perhaps Wales. Where the "Italian" DNA came from, however, is a mystery. 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for his DNA results speculates that most of his "Italian" DNA came to him from an ancestor living five generations back, that is, born from about 1670 to about 1790.
2.2% Eastern European -- At this time, we cannot tell which of Roy's ancestors living within the past five centuries may have contributed this DNA. Roy has no known Slavic ancestors, so it is most probable that one of his German ancestors is the source of these segments of DNA on Chromosomes 2 and 13.  Roy's daughter Christina inherited much of this "Eastern European" DNA. 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for his DNA results speculates that most of Roy's Eastern European DNA came to him from an ancestor living five generations back, that is, born from about 1700 to about 1790.
1.9% Broadly European -- This is autosomal DNA that cannot yet be linked to specific European ethnicities, but is typical of persons of European ancestry.
0.1% East Asian & Native American -- This was really the only surprising result of Roy's DNA test. It encompasses the 0.1% of his DNA that is Mongolian and the less than 0.1% of his DNA that is Broadly East Asian. The peoples of East Asia and the American Indian tribes are genetically related because most of the original Native Americans came from Asia by crossing into Alaska or sailing across the Pacific Ocean. Although there is a tradition of American Indian ancestry in the background of Christina's maternal great-grandmother Caroline Fredericka Klemme, her 23andMe test in 2015 was unable to identify any currently known "Native American" DNA in her genome. However, her DNA test did identify a trace amount of "East Asian" DNA, which includes less than 0.1% Mongolian DNA and less than 0.1% Broadly East Asian DNA. This is a small segment of DNA on one side of Chromosome 14. Often when dealing with such a small amount of DNA, there is a probability that it's in fact only genetic "background noise," but in this case her "Asian" DNA becomes immediately identifiable at a confidence level of 80%. The discovery of "Mongolian" DNA was unexpected. The Mongols and their Tatar cousins invaded Eastern Europe in the 1300s. We speculated that somewhere in Christina's distant ancestry there could have been a Mongol or Tatar whose genetic heritage was passed on to her Eastern European ancestors? However, this trace amount of "East Asian" DNA is more likely to be a relic of the Native American ancestry. Knowledge and understanding of American Indian DNA is still at a very early stage, so it could be that this trace amount of East Asian DNA is in fact a remnant of Native American DNA. Because Christina's maternal great-grandmother Caroline claimed to be paternally of American Indian descent, we thought this DNA on Christina's Chromosome 14 may have come from Caroline. However, Roy's 23andMe test shows the very same segment of "East Asian" DNA on his Chromosome 14 -- that means Christina inherited it from her father, not her mother. Remarkably, Roy's "Asian" DNA becomes immediately identifiable at a confidence level of 90%. As more American Indians are genetically tested, it might be possible to determine whether or not this segment of DNA came from an American Indian ancestor. Interestingly, 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for Christina's autosomal DNA results speculates that most of Roy's "Asian" DNA came to him from an ancestor living about six generations back, that is, born from about 1670 to about 1760 -- a period when intermarriages of white European colonists and women of aboriginal tribes in the English colonies of North American are known to have taken place.
NOTE: As of November 2023, Roy's 23andMe ethnicity estimate says 0.2% of his autosomal DNA is "Manchurian or Mongolian" -- i.e., probably a trace of Native American DNA.
Less than 0.1% Middle Eastern and North African (or North African/West Asian) -- This encompasses the less than 0.1% of Roy's DNA that is Broadly Middle Eastern and North African. This is a very small segment of DNA on one half of Chromosome 6 that is detectable at a confidence level of 50% (speculative). This could be Jewish, Arab, Syrian, Moroccan, or Libyan DNA -- or further genetic research may later determine that it isn't Middle Eastern or North African at all. If it really is Middle Eastern/North African DNA, most likely it would be a trace of Jewish DNA, highly improbable though even that would be.

NOTE: As of November 2023, Roy's 23andMe ethnicity estimate says 0.2% of his autosomal DNA is 0.2% is "Levantine" (a designation that includes Jews, Arabs, Lebanese, and Syrians), which does open up the possibility that Roy may have had Jewish ancestry in the 1700s or earlier.

23andMe's estimates of Christina's genetic ethnicities are as follows:

90.7% Northwestern European -- This encompasses the 39.2% of my wife's autosomal DNA that is British and Irish, the 16.5% that is French and German, the 4.4% that is Scandinavian, and the 30.5% that is Broadly Northwestern European. The British portion of her DNA would come from the Spencer and Riggs families and their ancestors, most of whom were of English origin. Much of the British and Scandinavian segments of her DNA would have come from her English and Swedish ancestors. In addition, Christina has some Scottish and Scots-Irish ancestry, including the Mutch, McAfee, Nevins, and Brown families. "Scandinavian" DNA is found in both England and Scotland due to the migration of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings to Britain during the Middle Ages. 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for Christina's autosomal DNA results speculates that most of her "Scandinavian" DNA came to her from an ancestor living about four generations back, that is, from about 1760 to about 1850 -- thus, probably it comes partly from her ancestress Maryann Steelman, who was descended from several colonist families of New Sweden, and partly from the Mutch family of Aberdeenshire, a region that saw medieval Viking incursions. Christina also has a large amount of German ancestry, including the families of Amey (Emig), Hess, Johnson (Janssen), Klemme, and Easterla (Oesterle). Finally, she also has a small amount of Dutch ancestry, chiefly the families of Sooy and Conover (Van Kouwenhoven). 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for Christina's autosomal DNA results speculates that most of her "French & German" DNA came to her from an ancestor living about three generations back, that is, from about 1820 to about 1880 -- thus, probably it comes from the Johnson and Klemme families. Christina's known paternal lineage, belonging to the E1b1b1 haplogroup, is shown above.
4.7% Southern European -- This includes the 1.9% of her autosomal DNA that is "Iberian" and the 2.8% that is Broadly Southern European. At first glance, the identification of Southern European or Spanish DNA in Christina's genome might seem surprising, since there are no Spanish or Mediterrean families in her genealogy. However, as mentioned above, "Iberian" DNA encompasses a wide area of Western Europe centered on Spain. In far distant ancient times, Celtic peoples from Spain migrated to Britain and Ireland. Consequently, there are many families from southern England, Cornwall, and Wales who have genetic signatures that are close to Spanish genetic signatures. In all likelihood, most of Christina's "Iberian" DNA comes to her from the southern English families of Still, Axworthy, and Hoyt/Haight. 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for Christina's autosomal DNA results speculates that most of her "Iberian" DNA came to her from an ancestor living about five generations back, that is, from about 1700 to about 1820 -- thus, probably it comes from the Still and Axworthy families.
1.7% Eastern European -- Some of Christina's German ancestry is Eastern German, as suggested by the surname "Easterla," which denotes a German who lived in eastern lands. The Easterlas and their ancestors came from the area of Posen in the Kingdom of Prussia or Brandenburg, today Poznan in Poland. Given the area where these families lived, it was not at all surprising that Christina would have a trace of Eastern European DNA that is more typical of Slavic peoples than of the Germans.  Nevertheless, through the "phasing" of the results of Christina's and Roy's DNA tests, it has been determined that she inherited all of her Eastern European autosomal DNA from her father, not her mother -- so we can rule out the Easterlas as the source of her Eastern European DNA, since the Easterlas were ancestors of Christina's mother. 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for Christina's autosomal DNA results speculates that most of her "Eastern European" DNA came to her from an ancestor living about five generations back, that is, from about 1730 to about 1820 -- thus, probably it comes through her father's German ancestors who lived in that period, the Ameys, Hesses, and Frankenfields. Besides the Eastern European autosomal DNA, however, Christina's mitochondrial DNA has been found to belong to the maternal haplogroup H2a2 which also points to ancient Eastern European roots. Christina's known maternal line, which goes back to East German families such as Easterla, Fritz, Vollk, and Lehr, is as follows:
Christina Carlene Paula Spencer > Carolyn Jean Riggs > Fannie Pauline Johnson > Caroline Fredericka Klemme Kruel > Emma Easterla (Oesterle) > Wilbura Elisabeth F. Fritz > Maria Katharina Lehr
2.9% Broadly European -- This is autosomal DNA that cannot yet be linked to specific European ethnicities, but is typical of persons of European ancestry.
0.1% East Asian and Native American -- The peoples of East Asia and the American Indian tribes are genetically related because most of the original Native Americans came from Asia by crossing into Alaska or sailing across the Pacific Ocean. Although there is a tradition of American Indian ancestry in the background of Christina's maternal great-grandmother Caroline Fredericka Klemme, the 23andMe test was unable to identify any currently known Native American DNA in Christina's genome. However, her DNA test did identify a trace amount of "East Asian" DNA, which includes less than 0.1% Mongolian DNA and less than 0.1% Broadly East Asian DNA. This is a small segment of DNA on one side of Chromosome 14. Often when dealing with such a small amount of DNA, there is a probability that it's in fact only genetic "background noise," but in this case the DNA becomes immediately identifiable at a confidence level of 80%. The discovery of "Mongolian" DNA was unexpected. The Mongols and their Tatar cousins invaded Eastern Europe in the 1300s. Could it be that somewhere in Christina's distant ancestry there was a Mongol or Tatar whose genetic heritage was passed on to her Eastern European ancestors? However, this trace amount of "East Asian" DNA is more likely a relic of Native American ancestry. Knowledge and understanding of American Indian DNA is still at a very early stage, so it could be that this trace amount of East Asian DNA is in fact a remnant of Native American DNA -- which would be the most likely source for her "East Asian" DNA. As more American Indians are genetically tested, it might be possible to determine whether or not this segment of DNA came from an American Indian ancestor. In any event, the 23andMe DNA test that her father Roy took in 2017 found the very same segment of "East Asian" DNA on his Chromosome 14, but detectable at an even higher confidence level. Thus, we know that the "East Asian" ancestor is on Christina's father's side, not her mother's side (even though it is her mother's side that has a tradition of American Indian descent, while no such tradition has been handed down on her father's side). Interestingly, 23andMe's "Ancestry Timeline" for Christina's autosomal DNA results speculates that most of her "Mongolian" DNA came to her from an ancestor living about six generations back, that is, born from about 1700 to about 1790 -- approximately the same period that is speculated for her father Roy's "East Asian" ancestor on his "Ancestry Timeline," though in Roy's case the possible date of birth for the "East Asian" ancestor is pushed back as early as 1670.
NOTE: As of November 2023, Christina's 23andMe ethnicity estimate says 0.2% of her autosomal DNA is "Manchurian or Mongolian" -- i.e., probably a trace of Native American DNA.
Ancestral Surname Index

(1600 to present)

By Nationality

Alphabetised Ancestral Surname Index (1600 to present)

Note: Surnames in italics are of uncertain nationality.

English

Adams (1), Adams (2), Addis, Alden, Andrews, Andrews, Anster, Atwood, Axworthy, Ayers (Eayres, Eyers), Baker, Baldwin, Ball, Barnard, Barnhart, Bartlett (1), Bartlett (2), Bates, Becket (Bucket?), Benedict, Benjamin, Betts, Betts (Osborn), Bidwell, Bingley, Blake, Blue, Bourne, Brewster, Bridgum (Bridgham), Brundage (Brundish), Buck (Bucke), Burt, Burwell, Busfeild (Busfield, Bashfield), Buswell (Bosville), Butler, Buxton, Chamberlin, Chapin, Chilton, Churchill, Churchman, Clark (Clerk), Clarke, Cocke, Coe, Coleson, Colles, Collier, Cook, Cosford, Crane, Crooks, Culver, Currans (Curran), Dale, DeWolf, Dewsberry (Dewsbury), Dickenson, Dighton, Doane, Doty (Doten), Dunn, Dwyer, Elborne, Elliott, Fairbanks, Farr, Feake, Fisher, Flower, Fox, Frost, Gallup, Garner (Gaymer?), Gates, Gay, Goad, Goodsell, Gray, Haight, Hailstone, Hall (1), Hall (2), Hanson, Harris, Hart, Hathaway, Hele, Hickock, Hicks (Hickes), Hix (Hixte), Hodges, Hodgkins, Holberton (Holbeton), Holman (Holloway?), Holmes, Horsman, House (Howes), Howland, Hoyt (Haight), Hubbard, Hudson, Hungerford, Hunt, Hurst, Hustis (Husted), Hyland, Jasper, Jeffers, Jerome, Johnson, Keeler, Kimber, Kingsley, Knapp, Law, Lawrance, Lee, Little, Lobdell, Locke, Loveland, Lyverich, Macomber (Macumber, Maycomber), Marlin, Marsh, Marshall, Marshe, Masterson, Mathew (Mathews), Merwin, Metcalf, Morey (Mowrey), Mullins, Munsell, Noble, Norton, Odding, Odell, Oldham, Oliver, Osborn, Oving, Palmer, Parnell, Pearsall, Peck, Pennoyer, Peterson, Phillips (1), Phillips (2), Pierce, Pierce (Perst), Pitts, Pomeroy, Pontus, Putnam, Radcliffe, Raynolde, Read, Reed (Read), Reynolds, Richardson, Riggs, Robinson, Rockwell, Rogers, Rowse, Saitley, Scott, Sharp, Shaw, Sheppard (of Littlecote), Sheppard (of Wavendon), Sherman (Shearman), Sherwood, Simmonds, Smith, Smith (1), Smith (2), Smith (3), Smith (4), Somers, Soule, Southern, Southworth, Spencer, Steelman, Still, Sturtevant, Swetland, Taylor, Teare, Tiffany, Tilley, Tinker, Tompson, Townsend, Turner, Turney, Underwood, Wadsworth, Walker, Ward, Warren, Waterhouse, Waterman, Weed, Westcott, Watson, Whitbread (Whitbred), Whitney, Wilcox, Willet, Williams (1), Williams (2), Winslow, Withington, Wollen (Woolen), Wright of Flushing, Wright of Oyster Bay

Scottish or Scots-Irish

Anderson, Ayers (Eayres, Eyers), Boyle, Brown, Burnside, Clark, Cristel, Currans (Curran), Forsyth (Forsythe), Grant, Horsman, Linn (Lynn), McAfee, McCollin (or McCullum), Miller of Co. Derry, Ireland, Mitchell, Morrison (Murison), Mutch, Nevins, Patterson, Penny, Queary (Query, McQuery), Reaugh, Scott, Sharp, Shewan, Stewart (Stuart, Steuart) of Londonderry, N.H., and Colrain, Mass., and of Gartnafuaran, Perthshire, Scotland, Stinson, Taylor, Thompson, Tyler, Walker

Irish

Currans (Curran), Kane (Cahan?), McAfee, McGuire, Musick, Wodow

Welsh

Evans, Lloyd, Price, Williams (1), Williams (2)

German

Alberts, Albright, Amey (Amy), Andressen, Appelona, Babb (Babp), Baier, Barnhart, Barron, Bauer, Bender, Berends, Bohlen, Boyer (Bayer), Burger, Cable, Derr, DeWolf, Diehl, Easterla (Oesterle, Oesterling), Engler, Erdwiens, Esterli, Frankenfield, Frercks (Friderichs), Fritz, Funk, Gerdes, Good, Heiple, Heller, Hess, Hinrichs, Hollinger (Holliger), Huber, Hummel, Jaspers, Johnson (Janssen), Keller, Klemme, Lehman, Lehr, Lenhart, Miller of Gettysburg, Penn., Oltman (Oltmanns), Onken, Pfoutz (Pfautz), Riche, Rick, Royer, Schweers, Shally, Six (Sechs), Smith, Steinhuesler, Stover, Stultz, Vollk, Young (Jung)

Romanian

Bores, Ciopei (Ciopeiu), Cosic, Hudcic (Hudcec, Hucec), Olar (Olari, Olariu), Paskar (Pascar)

Ukrainian

Toderiuc

French or Flemish

Cuvellier, Delano (de Lannoy, de la Noye), Riche, Toy (Tay), Vigne

Dutch

Conover (Covenover, Van Couwenhowen), De Haes, Lues (Lees), Marsuryns, Petersz (Jacobsdochter), Sibrants, Sooy, Vanderbilt, Van Thienhoven

Danish

Bording, Simons

Swedish

Gunnarsson, Jones (Jonasson), Lilliebielke, Lock, Lom, Steelman (M�nsson), Stille

Finnish

Toy (Jan Toy's wife Christina)

American Indian

Abenaki (Macomber), Roy Spencer Chromosome 14 ("East Asian/Mongolian" -- see discussion above), Klemme (unproven tradition)


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