DNA – In the family!

Over the Easter holiday, my husband and I spent time with an aunt (by marriage) and her children and grand children in Florida. The children and grand children are ‘cousins’. It was fun, for me, to share our family tree and discover similarities and traits. It was even MORE fun to discover another generation actually showing an interest in ‘their’ ancestry!! (We always worry, what’s going to happen to my research once I’m gone?)

I shared the DNA results with my aunt and a girl cousin – both were pretty excited and stated THEY were going to submit samples ☺️ I found out my aunt HAS so we are just waiting for Ancestry.com to process the sample. I haven’t heard whether my cousin, Dianne, also submitted DNA.

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During this same trip, we visited Pimsner kin in the greater Cleveland area. This is such a treat for me as the two ladies we visited are so sweet!! One lady is going to be 98 in a couple of weeks (she is a 2nd cousin, once removed) and the other lady will be 82 in a couple of months (she is a 3rd cousin). I shared the same DNA results with both ladies and Arlene, the older of the two, wanted to submit HER DNA! While in our campground that evening, I placed an order  to have a DNA kit delivered to Arlene.) By the time we arrived home a few weeks later, Arlene called and told me she had her kit, the activation number and, the kit would be mailed the next day😊 I think this dear lady is as excited about these DNA differences as I am!! I have gotten confirmation from Ancestry that they are ‘processing’ Arlene’s sample.

What will both of these results show? My guess is that Arlene will have MORE Eastern Europe than me. My aunt will have more Western Europe than any other ‘mix’… (I have also researched her family tree and Germany is the only country I could find for a second generation American!!)

If YOU are thinking about using Ancestry.com and submitting a DNA sample, please let me know. If we ‘share’ a connection to the PIMSNER surname our DNA will, most probably, show great similarities!!! And as soon as I get results back for the two samples submitted recently, I will let you know!

DNA – Part II

Not only has my DNA results come in (somewhat of a surprise I can tell you) but I asked a sister of mine to also submit her DNA.

1st – Ancestry.com DNA says I am 28% from WEST Europe and 23% from EAST Europe. (The East Europe includes, of course, Slovakia…)

2nd – My sister’s DNA says she is 25% EAST Europe and only 4% from WEST Europe.

3rd – Here largest number is 31% from Scandinavia while my Scandinavia number is 24%.

4th – She has a region I do not have (1% Caucasus) and I have a region she does not have (Finland/Northwest Russia 2%).

5th – For the most part, we do ‘share’ the same regions but have different numbers.

I find this DNA stuff pretty exciting I can tell you! If you have submitted DNA to Ancestry, please let me know your results!

One of the ‘benefits’ of working with Ancestry.com is that they will off and on let you know if ‘they’ find matches!  Right now, I know of a 3rd cousin related, we think, to my paternal great grandfather. I have more information than she does on her paternal great grandfather but they share a surname. And, as new DNA samples are submitted, Ancestry.com tries to find matches!

At $99.00 (or $79.00 when on sale) this seems a more cost effective way to submit DNA then others I have checked into over the years…

Family genes, traits and DNA

I’ve gone and done it – my next ‘step’ in this family research has been to update my website and submit my DNA to Ancestry’s DNA project.  I’m kind of excited about the results for multiple reasons but mainly to get a better ‘feel’ about where I came from!

I know my ancestors are all Germanic and the Pimsner’s did originate from somewhere in Germany. But the big question is, of course, where?

You know family traits can carry from one generation to the next and even beyond!  Will this DNA sample tell me where the big smiles come from or the blue eyes or even the tendency towards big hips?  Probably not but – I’m hoping it will identify the regions in Europe my ancestors might have lived that I don’t know about!

I understand someone has already taken those first DNA steps and established a guide with regard to the oldest match from Metzenseifen.  Will I also be a match? How exciting if I am!

Recently I pursued additional avenues of information with regard to what may be a triple ‘connection’ with the Pimsner surname – Stroempl, Brostl and Gedeon. Yes, we have seen these surnames before and multiple times.  I would SO like to find the actual connections to these names with my Pimsner family regardless the number of times they show up!

 

Results from certificates after all…

Yeah, the much awaited death certificates finally arrived 🙂 Can you guess, I AM a happy HAPPY person!!  As expected, I now know the name of the parents for Franz (or Frank as he later wanted to be known) Stroempl! And, it seems these were the ‘right’ names to definitely CONNECT with the Stroempl family still found in Hamburg Germany. But, though a puzzle piece is now in place, there are a couple new openings that need to be answered…  Questions like: WHO were the siblings of Franz? Nina and a new connection to this family say only one of the siblings stayed in Germany while the rest came to America.  So, WHO were they and where did they live?  Also, Henriette supposedly gave birth to 3 children yet I can only account for 2…  Was the 3rd child born in America or Germany?  It is obvious the child must have died young so when and where did this boy or girl die?

 
I mentioned a ‘new’ cousin – it turns out Dan is my 3rd cousin!  How exciting to know there are more Dittmer descendents out there!!! Hi, Dan!

 

Another question and puzzle piece – Dan’s grandfather left Pittsburgh PA and ended up in Cleveland.  Here is another ‘connection’ to figure out – a cousin of John Stroempl was born a Gedeon! Franz and Henriette lived with the niece and her husband for a few years in Pittsburgh.  WHO was the ‘kin’ that John hooked up with in Cleveland?  A Stroempl? A Gedeon? or even a Pimsner?
That’s it for now…