DNA Origins update, and other 'bits and pieces'

 There was quite a major update to the Ancestry DNA Origins this month, with Ancestry increasing the number of ancestral regions.

I have now lost any sign of the European ancestry that I might have expected from my 5xgreat grandfather, Johannes Michael HENGLER. 

 As you can see, it is possible to look back at figures from prior to the update.  When I did that on the 8th October, these were the changes noted:

But there seem to have been a few smaller 'tweaks' to the results since then, as Southeastern England has now gone up to 26%, instead of 24%, West Midlands down to 27%, instead of 29%, South Wales down to 25%, rather than showing no change, and Northern England has gone up to 4%, instead of 3%.

The major changes, with the 25% reduction to the Northern Wales & North West England region, and the appearance of the West Midlands region, now at 27%, isn't unexpected and, overall, I think the results seem to be a better representation of what I know about my most recent ancestry. (I haven't found a single ancestor from North Wales yet, but there are just a couple who seem to be from Yorkshire and Lancashire. Most of Dad's side are South Wales or West Midlands.)   

Ancestry are also now breaking the regions down per grandparent, rather than just parents.  In my case, though, the results show that they couldn't link 43% of my DNA to a grandparent.

My maternal grandparents split:

My paternal grandparents split:

I don't know whether it is common to have so much not linked to a grandparent - or whether it is because I still haven't got around to adding details to much of my family tree, and linking in my identified DNA matches. 

I'll find out once I actually do that!

Ancestry also 'paint' the regions onto a chromosome diagram, which could be interesting, and potentially useful, when I get around to comparing the results to what the other DNA companies supply about chromosomes.

In other news..

I have decided to try updating some of my family's DNA tests at FamilyTreeDNA, despite some of them now being deceased and the samples several years old.  

So I'll see how successful that is over the coming months.

I also decided to take out the subscription at 23andMe again, in order to explore the DNA tools that they now have available.  Whether I maintain the subscription beyond the year will depend on how useful I find the results.

Finally, I included some research into the 'ancestral journeys' of three of my direct PARRY ancestors on my One-Name Study blog this month so, if you are interested in that, you can find the post at https://parry-one-name-study.blogspot.com/2026/10/mapping-ancestors-journeys-and-general.html (with a link back to a 2020 post on this blog, at https://notjusttheparrys.blogspot.com/2020/01/52-ancestors-week-1-fresh-starts.html, for the details of my father's travels.)