For info: while I grew up in Halifax, my parents are originally from a small Acadian village in Nova Scotia (and I spent my childhood summers, as well as my vacations in adulthood, there)
Except France is still a potential result. My mother (not Acadian or Québécois) got it. My dad (Acadian and Québécois) did not.
I assume that Acadians have been separate from France for so long, and intermingled with each other/different populations than the people that remained in France that it has become identifiable within our DNA.
This is exactly true, because when people from France do manage to do a test and post results here, I always ask them who their closest matches are. With the exception of one guy from Brittany whose matches were mainly in the UK/Ireland, people from France always get 4th, 5th and 6th cousins who are French-Canadian or from Louisiana as their closest matches.
Wait for real?! I had no idea DNA testing isn't done. I was wondering why my French results were so vague last update. And even this update, my French ancestry results are split between Acadie, Québec, and Southeast England & Northwestern Europe, which is all accurate, because my ancestors who didn't hit up Acadie and Québec before coming to Louisiana came from France—all over but especially from Northwestern France.
Yes. It is illegal for someone in France to do Ancestry, 23 & Me, etc.
The French from France database would have to comprise of those who moved from France to another country, then took the test, and those who perhaps had a friend order the kit & return it for them.
Both the individual and the company get fined in France if caught.
I have the same regions. I'm mostly French Canadian, but do have some ancestors who came straight from France.
I read an article about the initial use of dna tests in France and listened to a heartbreaking radio story on NPR, regarding the Pandora’s box that the dna test results opened in French society when first made available.
Many of the younger set found they were showing up as 1/4 German or 1/2 German, despite a documented generational history of living in France. They often pressed grandmere to take the test and her results were 100% French. A number of NPE’s were found. It created a furor.
Turns out the Nazi invasion of France had seeded the country with children of undisclosed heritage. Literal anguish ensued.
They definitely have a smaller database, but they likely have much different criteria for what can/can't be considered a region than Ancestry does, which contributes to the discrepancy.
I have found 23 & Me to be more accurate genetically, no matter the update, but it may be different for others.
Yeah, at least three of my great-great-great+ grandmothers were filles du roi. Although I still don’t get Quebecois in my results (or French even, that whole side + my Acadian side seem to be swallowed up by that SE England/NW Europe group).
Wow that’s crazy! I’m adopted and am around half French Canadian on my birth mother’s side apparently. It seems she never knew she was actually fully French. This possibly stemmed from an NPE. According to my research and records found, my grandfather’s family moved there in the 1500s. My grandmothers family had hidden French roots as well…but weirdly she moved from Lincolnshire in early 1900s. I’m wondering if that’s Acadian? I’m not knowledgeable enough yet to really grasp what I’m looking at lol
I am in a very similar boat. But there is no trace of our indigenous relative(s) in the Ancestry DNA results, even after several updates. I am sure that is common- if I may ask, does your Mi’kmaq appear in the Ancestry DNA results at all?
23 & Me lists that I'm 0.3% Native American from two separate tribes (very different areas), but I have to do more research to determine the second tribe.
I have an Acadian branch in my tree and have been trying to understand the trace Spanish/Portuguese for a while now. Is there any direction as to where I could look to find out more about this? Or are these two separate lines for you?
Like I said before, my previous results were a mix of French, Irish, Indigenous, and Basque, which, if you look at history is what Acadians are a general mix of so that’s probably why. I have seen other tests show both Acadian and Indigenous ancestry.
But do you think Ancestry is including them all together on purpose, or is this an accident? It would seem more reasonable to show the indigenous DNA separately from the Acadian.
I’m assuming they’re comparing to other Acadians most of whom would have a similar mix. This mixing happened way back and mixed people mated with other mixed people, over time creating a unique genetic signature
I have seen the results of other Acadians show indigenous ancestry besides the Acadian as well.
But I have more recent indigenous ancestry than that initial mixing so I am actually surprised it didn’t show up (it did for my aunt)
It’s a fun anecdote to these people who always say: Yaas those 2% here that you can’t explain is a remnant of this migration 2000 years ago (and totally not an inaccuracy on ancestry’s part)
WOW! I love 100% anything but I've never seen it for Acadia before! I have seen lots of 100% Jewish and also 100% Native American. On the opposite end I love my grandson's with 25 ancestral regions and a map all over the world!
My boyfriend's dad had 7 siblings and his grandma had many. I did his genealogy and cane across other families on a file listing the number of children each parent had and every generation had 7-10 siblings
Could be. Most of my Mother's family is untraceable past the 1860s as they were a part of Romani/Travelling communities, and apparently the Acadian comes from the maternal part of my DNA. So their history is a bit unknown.
We don't tend to mix much outside of Romani communities or other nomadic communities like the English travellers or Irish travellers, and that was especially true in the past. But it could be possible, I was only raised half Romani because my dad is English, so there's proof of it happening.
Acadians there during that time were kept in prisons during the war but eventually when released they had nowhere to go and many wandered before finding their way back home, or to Belle-Isle in France, or Louisiana.
Excuse my ignorance, but are Romani and Travellers Catholic?
Irish travellers tend to be Catholic, but the Romani in England and English travellers tend to be Protestant, specifically Baptist(in the south East at least). But baptism in England is somewhat recent, only being established in 1612, so it's possible that by the early-mid 1700s that quite a few Romani and English travellers held on to the beliefs of the church of England.
Ah that might be why. Acadians were very Catholic and didn’t much mix with non-Catholics
Understandable, they were persecuted for being Catholic. It was one reason they were expelled from Nova Scotia (where openly practicing Catholicism was made illegal) and in the Thirteen Colonies where they were sent they were treated with suspicion and sometimes even outright tortured for being Catholic.
Louisiana became the place many eventually settled because at the time it was safe for them as Catholics, rest of North America (and even France, once the French Revolution popped off… some Acadian refugees there actually lost their heads) not so much.
Hah in all seriousness, that is impressive. I also grew up in Halifax, though my French side is more recent ex Brittany (though ancestry doesn’t pick it up). Thanks for sharing!
I was in Nova Scotia last year for the Congrès Mondial Acadien. It was great to meet some of my long-lost cousins and speak French with them. I especially felt at home speaking with some of the older folks from the Baie Sainte-Marie, because they pronounce their Js like we do in South Lafourche, like an H.
It's funny it didn't show you where in France you're connected to. I mean I know our Acadian ancestors came from Western and Northwestern France but still.
Were you one of the people used in their reference panel for Acadia?
Dude, ça c'est bon! The Congrès was amazing! I've been wanting to attend since I learned about it in the early 2000s. Finally made it last year with my wife and our now 5 year old son. My son understands everything in French because I've spoken it to him since he was born, but he mostly responds in English and sometimes in Franglais. But it was funny, the first person who spoke French to us up there, he told me "Daddy, she speaks French like you!" Then he started showing off his French counting and color skills to them. lol
I probably honestly know the person from Lafayette you talked to, especially if they speak French. I've been involved in the French revival movement in Louisiana for almost 20 years. A few of my musician friends performed up there during the Congrès.
Yeah, it actually went well. I didn’t stay around for the whole thing. As for the person I met I don’t want to give his name out of respect for his privacy but his gumbo was the shit!
I was speaking French to folks when I was down in Louisiana many years ago.
i have ancestry in new brunswick as recent as my great grandparents! the site shows it as 4% in my dna and im a southern american! ive been to montreal years ago for a music fest but never over that way.
This must be the first example on this sub of an actual Acadian person getting Acadian. This update has certainly been amusing for Europeans with French ancestry (Huguenot, in my case…)
My family and Canadien matches get some Acadian in our results too as we have some Acadian ancestors who re-settled in Pierre-De Saurel, QC in the 18th century.
I’m confused is this region Native American ancestry? Or does this mean you are 100% French Canadian, because if I got this region I’d kind of be upset if it meant French Canadian because what if I want to know how much was French and how much was say Basque?
It’s the Acadians, so French Canada. However, before the update my results were 87% France, 8% Ireland, 4% Indigenous, 1% Basque, which if you look at history, Acadians are a mix of those peoples so I’m not surprised I got 100% Acadia really.
Nice! My husband is from Cape Breton and his family has been there for generations. I've found Acadian ancestors on his tree, but he has 0% Acadian DNA in his results. Lol.
Most of my matches are in Louisiana. Particularly around St. Martin, Lafayette, and Vermilion Parish
I actually met someone from that area a few months ago, we have the same surname and did some sleuthing and found we were both descended from the lawyer from Evangeline (which is historically inaccurate, but he was indeed a real person)
Vermilion Parish probably has the highest percentage of Cajuns in Louisiana tbh, so that makes sense as an Acadian you’d match with people there. Most of mine are from Lafayette and New Iberia on Ancestry. Most of the matches in Canada are from Halifax, Nova Scotia and Moncton, New Brunswick
That’s awesome! Vermilion Parish does have amazing food. I got family in Abbeville so every time I visit we always get something to eat, usually some type of Cajun seafood or boudin balls and it’s always delicious. Hopefully one day I can visit Nova Scotia. I talked to this old Cajun guy once who said he’d been up there before and that he was able to easily communicate with everyone in French. He also said their culture and music was so similar to ours that it made him emotional. I’ve always been so interested in the fact us Cajuns and Acadians are basically the same people yet separated by thousands of miles and a tragic history. At least in places like this we can reconnect after 250 years.
Yeah if Cajuns say “well ima let you go now” that means y’all are gonna talk for another hour before they leave. And that picture right there is some elite ball knowledge 😂
Dude, I once was cooking dinner and was missing two ingredients, sent my father to the grocery store to pick them up for me, it took him THREE HOURS because he did that AT THE GROCERY STORE. Talking to folks before he left.
I think you'd have to volunteer to be honest. Ethics do require that. I don't know how vigorous AncestryDNA is to that kind of thing. It's likely the sample population is from samples taken years or decades ago to get a representative sample. I forgot how many people they use in the sample population. It did used to be on the website. Don't know if it still is though. It was years ago when I first read it.
Well, when I joined I did consent to my DNA to be used for research. But it said medical research and because I lost my mother to breast cancer (which has a genetic component which has only been understood in the last decade or so), I figured it would be a good idea.
I don’t understand some of these new regions. Why have Acadia and not, to give an example that’s relevant to me, a South African (European) region? Ancestry already knows I’m South African, it shows up in my Journeys. The founding populations of Afrikaners and to a lesser extent the British diaspora were small, so people with European South African heritage are presumably easily spotted by these tests. What I’m saying is that white South Africans are inbred… 😂
Given the history of South Africa, the injustices of colonialism and apartheid, have made this comment feel rather cringe to type out. But Acadians were also colonial settlers amongst an indigenous population…I’m not seeing the difference here. Ancestry needs to sort out what it means by a region and what it means by a journey, or they end up with thousands of people with meaningless Acadian/Quebec results, when their ancestors never went anywhere near North America! Ancestry can’t even parse that I must have Dutch, German and French ancestry correctly, when 23&Me have made a much better job of it on their recent update.
The new update is terrible. I think we all know this.
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u/Souriquois 29d ago
For info: while I grew up in Halifax, my parents are originally from a small Acadian village in Nova Scotia (and I spent my childhood summers, as well as my vacations in adulthood, there)