Discover Your History: 10 Surprising Things You Didn’t Know About Your Ancestry

Researching your ancestry is a great way to learn more about where you come from and feel more connected to your heritage. Whether you’re an avid genealogist or a curious beginner, there’s always something new to discover. Here are ten surprisingly interesting and unexpected facts about your ancestry that you probably didn’t know before.

The Far-Reaching Roots of Your Family Tree

Your family tree extends much further than you might have realized! In fact, research suggests that the average person is related to around 3% of the world’s population.

The Surprises Hidden in Your DNA

Getting a DNA test is a popular way to learn about your ancestry, but did you know that there are several tricks your DNA can play on you? It’s not uncommon to find unexpected geographic locations mixed into your results– or identify relatives you never knew about.

The Incidental Rediscovery of Family Heirlooms

It’s likely that you have some family treasures– a piece of jewelry, an old photograph, an antique piece of furniture– that didn’t originally belong to your longtime family line. Countless objects can lose their original origin stories over generations, leading to some delightful surprises when the facts finally return.

The Influence of Professions on Family Traditions

The careers your forebears chose can have a significant impact on your family culture and lifestyle, even generations later. In some cases, it can be a stepping stone that allows continuing job opportunities for other members within the family.

The Path Your Ancestors’ Tales Took Them

Familiarizing yourself with the ways your grandparents or grand-greats’ life paths guided their successes and failures provides an understanding regarding their stories of innovation, failing, leaving, and succeeding.

The Language Choices Your Relatives Might Have Made

More than knowing what laws or area they might be found living in, seeing how ancestors have learned languages—what were their day-to-day functional languages—could guide travels to locations to learn more family stories with locals.

The Genetic Influence of Diet on Your Ancestry

Diet is known to affect health, well-being and often determines which diseases occur more frequently. Did your ancestors make strides towards a healthy diet and options not drawn towards the unhealthy patterns some countries endorse?

The Spiritual Side of Your Family History

Do you wonder if the societal programs and religion information used by your ancestors were coming from locations tied up in fear, struggle or protection or places that flourished?

The Height Gene Characteristics Passed Down the Family Tree

From observing photographs through familial rankings, can you tell who is the tallest or did height skipping occur along the line quite consistently?

The Involvement Your Forebears Had on Global Cultures

Even something as small or less impactful than modes of habits is associated with having a greater or lesser influence during times of societal heritage movements, including fashion, dancing pedagogues or food variation in their traditional cuisine, to mention a few. Finding out about the diet was only a small part of this point– the key point being if your ancestor’s proficiencies had an impact on their society?