Essay: When a DNA test confirms personal beliefs

By Paul Carrier

People who have their DNA tested often seem to come up with exotic genealogical ties they knew nothing about. Some guy who thought his roots were German learns that his people were Hungarian, for example, or that he's more mutt than purebred. So when I sent in a saliva sample for analysis, I assumed the same might prove true in my case as well.

It's not as if I knew nothing about my family tree. In fact, I've worked on "growing" it for years. My genealogical research indicates that my ancestry is almost entirely French Canadian and, before that, French, when my 17th-century ancestors migrated from France to New France (Canada). 

But all that digging on my part predated what is now readily available DNA testing. So I got to thinking. Was I unaware of a major link that, thanks to DNA, would dramatically alter my perception of who I am and where my people came from? Or would DNA reveal that I had been right all along?

Yesterday, the results came in. The test lists my "ethnicity estimate" as 97 percent France, with the remaining 3 percent hailing from Ireland and Scotland. In fact, my French connection could be even stronger than that number would suggest. The 97 percent estimate falls within a possible French range of 94 to 100 percent. Similarly, my Scottish and Irish range runs from 0 to 3 percent.

I was momentarily disappointed to find no grand, eye-popping revelations, but ultimately thrilled to learn that I am who I've always "known" myself to be. Sometimes, confirming cherished beliefs is more satisfying than making unexpected discoveries.