Discovering Us through -Ancestry DNA

*This post is sponsored by Ancestry DNA like always all my thought and opinion are of my own.

Hi Guys,

I’m so excited today write this post! I have for years and years always been fascinated by DNA hence my career in healthcare for the past 10 years. Working in healthcare I have learned that a lot of what makes up who we are and what genes we inherit can in turn also factor in our health. Different populations of the world and cultures also really affect life expectancy and disease people can have. Since having children and mixing my husbands blood with mine I was ever more determined to find out the origins to where our ancestors have lived. Technology has come such a long way and I love to utilize any little bit I can. After speaking to a gentleman at work who found out so much about his heritage I was so excited to try ancestry.  My husband and I decided to do it!  We chose ancestry DNA because it has the biggest database and many people we know have had great results.  Ancestry results show migrations and where ancestors moved which is fascinating. The test was super simple and easy. You have to fill up a small tube with your saliva and send in the mail. we received email notifications the whole way through. We received our results way faster than they estimated my results date. The results were so amazing! My husband and I had more in common than we even knew.

Here is a little history about us then you may see the bigger picture of where our results fit into our DNA.

I grew up in Trenton, New Jersey in a polish and Italian family. Hence my maiden name Sukotsky I learned to find out through ancestry was not always spelled that way. The real spelling was Suskotsi and through past generations the name was changed. I have leaned that my relatives were from Eastern Europe and Italy. My ancestors have migrated to northern USA to Massachusetts, Maine, Virginia, Plymouth, New Jersey, Pennsylvania. I have deep polish roots in Shenandoah, PA where tons of men in my family were coal miners and even died on the torturous job. I have a great -great- great -great grandfather that fought in the revolutionary war and had the last name of Churchill. Can I possibly be related to Winston Churchill? That would be awesome! I have also found so much royalty from England on my mothers side of the family it literally blows my mind. I have also found that my ancestors were some of the 1st settlers on Plymouth Rock. Tons of my family migrated from Europe to New England. Gosh growing up in school I learned all about history of Plymouth Rock and did no even know that my ancestors where part of the 1st settlers. Truly amazing stuff her that really fascinated my hubby and I. What story to tell my kids when they sit down for there 1st history class in a few years. I cant wait to fill them in on all this information about their ancestors.

On my fathers side we have deep Italian roots that go way back to the 1700’s just incredible to me. If I told you my favorite food is Italian, Do you think because I have Italian blood I crave the Italian food? Haha! I’m just being silly but, my Italian cravings were hard core when I was pregnant with both kiddos. My Italian roots go back to south Italy.  A place called San Marino, Vatican City, & Malta

My ancestors can over to the USA on a boat called the Saturina. How cool is that. They settled in New Jersey and had many children and grand-kids. I’m one of those grand kids. Some of the family names I have found where really cool. Italian names such as Nellie, Faustina, Libero, Gesue.

Here is a list of members that lived in my grandparents household growing up

I have learned that if any of your family has served in the military there are more public records you may find on the ancestry database. My grandfather served in World War II. I have found documents of his pay stub for a 3 month tour in Japan. He made a whopping $10.00 to serve our country.  So crazy right. He never spoke about the war he kept to himself about what he endured during the world war. My grandfather did tell me this as a kid. He was on a ship that was torpedoed and he did not think he would ever make it back from Japan. He of course made it back and later had my father which then had me. So trust me I’m so thankful that ship made it back. Some other documents I found were his writing and I love to show my children because they never got to meet my grandfather but I want them to learn as much as possible about their ancestors. I feel it really gives kids a place to find whom they are in life and what heritage they came from.

Ancestry also matched me with people who share the same DNA and what did I know I found my 1st cousins on here and indeed they were correct.

Now onto my husbands DNA. My hubby Mike was born in Warsaw, Poland and came to the US when he was about 8 I think. His family has deep polish roots and all of his family is still in Poland. Well a few members of the family have moved the Chicago. Chicago has a huge polish population a a lot of European people migrate there.

We have found out that 63% of my husbands DNA is very similar to mine. Both of our ancestors have lived in the same origin many moons ago.

We both have similarities in the Baltic states and Eastern Europe areas. Knowing most of his family is still in Poland we have not found as much ancestry on him. Basically none of his ancestors migrated to the USA besides his grandfather. Other than that my husband is a true European.

Now we will tell our children their true ancestry in a few years when they can understand.

Here is there mix:

Tons of Polish/Eastern European, Italian, German and French. Truly Amazing!

OK so what will I do from here. I hope that if any of you were interested in doing it. I highly recommend. It was so fun exploring our history. It really made my heart smile learning about my ancestors. I was deeply moved as well as members of my family loved hearing and discovering with me. I will now live my life to the fullest and teach my children all about their culture that my husband and I gave to them.

Next up I’m going to try Ancestry New trait features showing  18 traits such as eye color and facial features. I find it so cool.  For more info visit this link

Well guys now that you know all about my bloodline and ancestors thank you for reading along.

Have you done any sort of ancestry and if so what did you think. I would love to hear form you.

-xoxo

Candace