In 2024, I submitted a saliva sample to Ancestry.com to have my DNA analyzed. The following is my very basic understanding of genetics, the way these tests work and how to use the results for genealogical research. Needless to say, there have been many books written on these subjects so it can be very complicated.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in our cells contains the genetic memory which passes all manner of traits from one generation to the next in our genes. Half of our DNA comes from our biological father and the other half from our biological mother. Although that percentage does not change, the specific factors in the DNA will be different from one child to another. That is why each of us is a unique human being.

We humans have about 20,000 genes and each of these has some type of influence on a particular trait in our bodies. A certain combination will result in brown hair or blue eyes or our height or whether we are more or less susceptible to certain types of cancer. It has only been in recent decades with expanded computing power that scientists have been able to map the human genome and identify the nature of our DNA.

Several million people around the world have taken a DNA test over the past couple of decades. Millions more now submit a sample for testing each year. Genetic scientists have been able to determine that, if two people share a certain percentage of their DNA, they must be related. Further, if they share around 50%, they must be full siblings. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews would share about 25% of the same DNA while first cousins share about 12.5%. This can be carried out to where a 5th cousin may share 0.05% of their DNA.

Of course, determining an exact relationship between two people has to take into account such things as the age of the individuals. For instance, a person who shares about 25% of your DNA but is only 2 years older than you father, is most likely an uncle and not your grandfather.

DNA testing companies will offer you the opportunity to get in touch with other people in their database who are related to you. You must first agree to allow your data to be available so that relatives may be able to contact you.

In the not too distant past, it would take many days of computer time to calculate the relationship of one person to others in the huge databases being built around the world. Now, the same problem can be completed in a relatively short time with current computer systems.

Companies that test DNA have analyzed huge amounts of data to discover patterns in DNA that can distinguish one population of people from another. For instance, Ancestry DNA compares over 700,000 different factors in a sample to find where even miniscule patterns exist between a given population and your DNA.

Before taking this test, I would have described my background as 3/4 German and 1/4 Irish. The parents of Grandma and Grandpa Heiden (right) and Grandpa Roggerman were from Germany and the grandfather of Grandma Roggerman, whose maiden name was Getty, came from Northern Ireland. So, how did I end up with percentages of my genetic background being from Germanic Europe, England & Northwestern Europe, Scotland, Central & Eastern Europe, Sweden, The Netherlands and the Baltics? And, why is there no specific mention of Ireland?

From reading the information in a couple of books and at the Ancestry website, it becomes clear why they call these numbers "estimates". First, while many million people have taken DNA tests in recent years and there are large databases built from the results, it still represents a small sample when you consider that there are currently over 8 billion people on the planet. More billions existed in our past generations. Science has made huge advances in this area but there is still a very long way to go.

Second, I know the countries from which my great grandparents emigrated but I do not know where my great, great, great, great, great grandparents lived. They estimate that our DNA results can be extrapolated back to people living about 500 years ago on average. So, my fourth great grandfather may have married a woman whose ancestors came from Sweden or The Netherlands. The testing company can only say that some population in Sweden carries certain patterns in the thousands and thousands of DNA strands in our cells to say that a small part of my background probably comes from that area of Europe.

My Irish ancestors have only been traced back a few generations to those who lived in Northern Ireland in the early 1800s. Perhaps my sixth great grandfather was from Scotland and married a woman from England and their grandson moved to Ireland 200 years ago. So, he was only there for one or two generations and the amount of DNA would be unidentified with today's testing standards. Who knows? [See the note below]

DNA tests are very reliable if two people currently alive or recently deceased are involved. That is why it can be legally used to determine paternity. If you watch the PBS series, Finding Your Roots, you know how often it is discovered that someone the show's subject thought was an ancestor turns out to be actually not related.

These are a few of the reasons why DNA testing alone may not answer all or even most of the questions about your family. That is why it must be combined with the paper trail and even family stories to achieve any certainty in an individual person's genealogy.

While preparing this website for posting, I was looking over my Irish ancestors in the Getty Book section. That document speculates that a Reverend Adam Getty who in 1666 moved from Scotland to the small town in Ireland where the rest of the Getty's originated might be the beginning of our clan. Unfortunately, they were not able to make a verified link between Adam and the earliest Getty of record, John Getty, Sr who was born in 1788 in the same part of Ireland. The search continues.

Also, August Heiden's Uncle Ludwig was living in Sweden according to an 1883 letter we found and he had children living there also. He also had children living in Denmark, Silesia (central Europe) and one son in Boston, Massachusetts. This may account for some of the regions represented in my DNA results.

As mentioned above, 50% of our DNA comes from each of our biological parents. Genetic variations come about because each sperm and each egg have unique mixtures of DNA. For siblings, only identical twins have the same DNA makeup. They come from one sperm and one egg that split in two during conception. Fraternal twins are different because they come from two different eggs fertilized at the same time.

In my results, it appears that my father, Arthur Heiden, contributed background DNA from 6 of the 7 regions that are in my ancestry. My mother, Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden added the seventh, Scotland, and shared 3 other regions. Unlike my father, she had no genetic relatives in Sweden, The Netherlands and the Baltics.