I'm What?

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Looking out over Torr Head in Ireland, across the North Channel of the Irish Sea, you can see the coast of Scotland. I've always known that Ireland and Scotland are very close culturally and geographically. What I didn't realize, until a few months ago, was just how closely related genetically the Scots and the Irish were. In fact, one could make the argument that in essence, we are the same people.

I use the word "we" somewhat loosely. I am an American by birth and consider myself to be an American through and through. I am not an <insert ethnic group here>-American. I don't tell folks that I'm an Anglo-French-Scottish-American. I was not born "over there" and naturalized as a citizen of this great land. However, I am inordinately proud of who my ancestors were, and where they came from.

I was born and raised in New England, specifically Vermont, I spent 24 years away from my native soil while in the Air Force so I don't really consider myself a Vermonter anymore, especially when I consider the political leanings of my native state.

While I live in Rhode Island, I don't consider myself a Rhode Islander either. Especially considering how the natives around these parts are somewhat clannish and very particular about who calls themselves a Rhode Islander. As if it's an accomplishment to have never left the nest. I'm really just a generic American, who's been around the block a couple of times. Lived here, lived there. Four countries on three continents have been where I called home at one time or another. But I digress.

My paternal great-grandfather hailed from Trois-Rivières in the administrative region of Mauricie in the Canadian province of Quebec. Oui, l'arrière grand-père parlait le français comme sa langue maternelle. My grandfather, born and raised in Vermont, later lived in New Hampshire, had only a few words of his father's native French when I knew him, most of them not used in polite society, at least when the ladies were present. One of his aunts, whom I never met, had no English at all.

Great-grandfather had an interesting life. Emigrated from Canada to the U.S., specifically Vermont, and when the War Between the States started, he enlisted in a New York regiment. Not sure why, there isn't much documentation left concerning the founder of the clan in this country. He married late, my grandfather didn't come along until Great Granddad was in his sixties, as I recall.

Now my paternal grandfather married a lady who drew her first breath along the banks of the River Dee in Scotland, not far from Aberdeen. So the paternal side of the family are relatively new in the United States, but the Canadian parts go back to the days of fur trapping and Montcalm, from what I understand.

The maternal side of the tribe have been here rather a longer time, since before the Revolution. One distant relation was a governor of Connecticut and signed the Declaration. Mostly Scots with the odd English relation thrown in on the maternal side of things.

So for years I've considered myself, at heart, a Scot, with a bit of English and a lot of French thrown in for seasoning.

Now my brother, The Olde Vermonter, went and paid for a DNA test, just for the curiosity and the "why not" that was in it. The results, while somewhat surprising, aren't really that surprising when you look at the relationship between the Scots and the Irish. (See where I'm going with this yet?)

The results of the DNA test show that my brothers' and my ancestors (going back millennia, not centuries) came from:

• 27% Ireland
• 24% Great Britain
• 22% Western Europe
• 15% Scandinavia and (this next one has a large uncertainty associated with it)
• 4% West Asian (?!?!?!)

The green stuff, that's West Asia.
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Interesting that West Asian bit, uncertain though it be. I guess if you go back far enough? (I have a great great uncle, killed in action in the Great War, buried in Gaza. So there's another connection. Yes, Middle East and West Asia are, as some of my relations might say, "Same same.")

Now historically the area we know as Scotland today was populated originally by the Picts. The west coast of Scotland was settled by the Irish. The Romans called all the folks north of Hadrian's Wall, the Scotti. See where I'm going?

Now the Great Britain part of the ancestry no doubt includes the Picts and the Celts of pre-Roman Britain. Western Europe, well that's the French bit. As to the 15% Scandinavian?

Let's just say that Lindisfarne wasn't the only place in early Britain raided by the Norsemen. Their depredations occurred throughout the British Isles and Ireland. Many Scots clans have a great deal of Viking blood in them. One example springs to mind, the MacIvers have relatives across the North Sea, the Iversons. (Mac or Mc prepended to a name in Scotland or Ireland means "son of." MacIver, Iverson, "Same same GI.")

So a great big chunk of my ancestors hailed from the British Isles.

Does this change anything about me, who I am? No, not really. But guess what?

I'll be celebrating St. Patrick's Day with a bit more enthusiasm than I have in past years. After all...

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Just don't expect me to spring for a round, the Scots is still there, muted though it might be. Also, be careful not to rub me the wrong way...

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I'm not sure if Onkel Olav has a sense of humor...