Scraping my cheeks? Feels more like rubbin’.

This morning I sent off two samples of my DNA to get tested for the Genographic Project. I’ve been thinking about it for over a year now and because I wanted some concrete evidence of where I come from. My knowledge of both sides of my family does not extend past my grandparents and what I’ve been told. I’d like something more even if it’s not specific information.

My mom’s side is a big mystery to me. From what I’ve been told my grandmother has Spanish blood and that her family were wealthy landowners until the Japanese invaded. She once told me about how she and her sisters fled into the mountains. Two of her sisters were killed. Only she and one other sister survived. She married my grandfather and had quite a number of children. Off the top of my head, I can think of four daughters and two sons although there may be more. My grandfather picked up two other wives (it’s not limited to those Mormon sects) and who knows what’s been happening there. While there is definite Malay blood in the family and perhaps Spanish (due to my grandma’s early social position), I am inclined to think that they’re also may be Chinese blood as well since that part of the Philippines has been settled and visited by Chinese.

My dad’s side doesn’t make much sense. Most of what makes up his side is large amounts of German by both my grandma’s side and my grandpa’s side. There is a story though, that my grandpa’s family hails from the royal court of some Scandinavian country. Which royal family that was and which country is never elaborated on.

The samples that I took will be tracing my paternal lineage. I chose my dad’s side of the family because that lineage is actually the most murky. Will I pass through Germany? Scandinavia? Although my mom’s side probably has a good story to tell, I’m pretty confident that whether or not my grandmother has Spanish blood in her or not, probably wouldn’t make a difference. That blood would likely have been contributed by a male. Tracing my maternal lineage would probably still keep me in with the Malays and into South Asia.

I hope to have the results back within a couple months.