Could you imagine, at 42, finding out that everything you’ve known your whole life – who your parents are, who your siblings are, where you born, how you came to be, the stories of you ancestors – was fake?
Today’s New York Times highlights a story about adoptees searching out the truth, through science, including one woman who, in her 40s, found out she was adopted. Wow. DNA testing companies are responding to a our desire – or perhaps cashing in on our natural instincts – to know exactly where we come from. The NYT piece is a quick, 2-page read, which I inhaled between sips of latte, which I realize is how I scan most articles I read: with coffee.
I can see the appeal of getting to the bottom of your DNA story. I’d love to know where my lineage traces back to, other than Portugal…Northern Africa, maybe? I’ve tried Ancestry.ca (and .com) but my family tree, for the last several generations anyway, have largely been made up of working class farmers, entrepreneurs who were, for the most part, largely uneducated; birth records weren’t exactly cared for in rural Portugal, and so my history is a bit scattered. Poetic, if you think about it, I guess. Or maybe not.
Yeah, knowing that your parents were from Portugal, it’s possible that you have North African and/or Persian (basically modern Iranian and/or Iraqii) blood. Other good possibilities dating back to the Peninsular War would be any or all of British, French and Spanish blood.
Ok, that’s all speculation, but it’s well-found in historical terms.
my aunt and I are so interested in our family history, and she’s been digging for stories for years. we have some interesting names in our family, including very “non-Portuguese” names, like “Ludvika”… love that.