I finally did it! I had my DNA done for my ancestry quest. I knew most of it.
Europe West 24%
Scandinavia 21%
Ireland/Scotland/Wales 20%
Great Britain 14%
Europe East 9%
Iberian Peninsula 6%
Most of the family I’ve traced hail from England, Scotland, Ireland, and I assume a few snuck in there from France and Spain way back in the day, hence that small percentage from the Iberian Peninsula. But 21% Scandinavian?? I have no idea where that came from. Norway, Sweden, Denmark? No clue. Though “Viking Princess” suits me. 🙂
While I was searching, I ran across a new line I didn’t know I had. Apparently these folks were from Switzerland. Really? Where does that fit in?
A great great grandmother on my mother’s side was a Spencer, and a few generations before that, one of the Spencer wives was a Flournoy. I had never heard of these Flournoys and traced them back to their first entrance into the U.S. in the early 1700s.
My 8th great grandfather was Jean Jacques Fleurnois – in American – John James Flournoy. He came to Virginia in 1705 before sending for his family in 1717.
| Name: | Jacques Flournoy |
|---|---|
| Arrival Year: | 1705 |
| Arrival Place: | Virginia |
| Source Publication Code: | 613 |
| Primary Immigrant: | Flournoy, Jacques |
| Source Bibliography: | BOCKSTRUCK, LLOYD DEWITT. “Naturalizations and Denizations in Colonial Virginia.” In National Genealogical Society Quarterly, vol. 73:2 (June 1985), pp. 109-116. |
| Page: | 111 |
His son, my 7th great, John James Jr, was born in Geneva on 17 Nov 1686. He would have been about thirty years old when he arrived on the Virginia shores in 1717. He was son of Jacques Flournoy of Geneva and Julia Eyraud. He settled in Williamsburg where in 1720 he married Mary Elizabeth Williams, daughter of James Williams and widow of Orlando Jones. They set up house in Henrico County, VA and over the next nineteen years, they had about eleven children. Records say John James Jr. died in Henrico Co in 1739 at the age of 52.
He had a son named John born 1726 and died 1825, so the record below must have been his grandson and namesake. This would not be one of my direct ancestors but interesting none-the-less. The following is on file in the Archives Dept. State Library in Virginia.
Point of Fork, 18 Aug., 1783. I do certify that Jean Jacques Flournoy enlisted with me the first of Oct., 1782, in the Va. Contl. line, to serve three years, and was in actual service until the 22 of August following, at which time he died, and that he received only four months pay. Signed, Jacob Brown, Lieut. Quartermaster and Paymaster of the 1st Va. Regiment.
Thank you for your service, Sir, for our freedom, and for your ultimate sacrifice.
This an interesting web that will require more research.
Still haven’t found the Scandinavians!
Lori Crane 
I did mine this year as well. I was hoping to find some connection to a child my mother possibly put up for adoption when she was fifteen. No such luck. But you, my dear, could be my sister! Our backgrounds are virtually the same although I don’t have the Swiss connection (yet). Thanks for sharing!
We probably are cousins somewhere waaaay back. I guess that Swiss connection would be the ‘Europe East’ part of my DNA. Down at the bottom, which I didn’t copy and paste, it also said .2% European Jew. It didn’t have any American Indian, which I always thought I had. I guess I have to find a way to turn my Indian feather tattoo into a dreidel. LOL!
Quite fascinating. Your Scandinavians were probably the so-called Vikings who spread far and wide in the early years of the Christian Era. There were Danes in the east of the UK, and King Alfred, Alfred the Great, as he came to be known (Incidentally, the only english king to be called ‘The Great’, ruled Wessex from 871-899. After repulsing many Viking attacks, he made a treaty wherby the Danes could have the area of Britain to the north east of a line from about London to Chester (very roughly) where the Danish Laws ruled. This came to be called the Danelaw.
I expect they intermarried with the local population, so the Scandinavian DNA could come from there. The ‘Vikings’ were also to be found in Scotland and Ireland as well as many other parts of Europe, even as far as Russia. The Normans, of whom William the Conqueror was one, were ‘Vikings’ who settled in northern France in the area now known as Normandy.
Incidentally, the word ‘Viking’ originally meant a long-distance sea voyage as I understand it, although Wikipedia has some other possible derivations.
As much as I’m certain you’re correct, I’d really love to find a specific person from the Scandinavian countries. I’m going to keep looking. The possibility of being descended from Vikings is super cool, though!!
The DNA results often stem from a connection of possibly ten generations back. Further back than most geneological records. I am still searching for my Norwegian connections – I know the Danish already.
It’s quite a long road finding all these ancestors!!!