Learning About my Ancestry with GPS Origins

I received a complimentary test. All opinions are my own.

I have a unique Oprah-worthy story to share with you….I can’t believe it’s part of my life! I could literally write a book about my situation but I’ll give you the quick overview. When I was 4 years old I was adopted out to an older couple along with my birth sister – we were put up for adoption together and adopted out together. Growing up all of our lives we always wondered so many things. Did we have other siblings? What did our parents look like? What was our medical history?  What nationality were we? Some of you may have experienced this if you were also adopted. For those of you who are not adopted I’m sure you can imagine not knowing anything about your family medical history or ancestry!

About 9 years ago, after graduating college and getting married, I was on an intense hunt for information about my birth family. I was desperate to get some of my questions answered, and although all of my records to this day are sealed, thanks to the internet and some savvy sleuthing I was able to track down almost my entire birth family and relatives. I’ve met 5 of the 6 other siblings I have! That’s a whole different story by itself! And even though I have met most of my biological family it was a unique scenario where even they did not know anything about family history or ancestry. So when I came across GPS Origins and was offered to do their Ancestry DNA test I was 200% in! Some of the things I’ve wondered my entire life would be answered!

It was a simple process. They send me a sealed brochure with some cotton swabs that walked me through the entire process of how to swab my cheeks for DNA which I promptly followed and sent back eager for my results! It takes about 4-5 weeks. My brother has done some genealogy on one side of the family but the other side we know absolutely nothing about so I was quite curious to see what this test would show me. I can’t compare it to other tests as I’ve never done any but I was impressed knowing that they tested 800,000 genetic markers against 500+ populations. (36 gene pools!)

You can see the entire results here but I’ve also included screenshots for a quick overview here. Right away I was able not only to see the top 3 gene pools but it mapped it out for me which was nice because I had never heard of the Orkney Islands and wasn’t completely sure what all encompassed Fennoscandia. Everything in the results had the option to click for more details. Even the gene pool narrowed it down to the tenth of a percent! Look at this:

I knew that relatively speaking most things boil down to a small amount of gene pools and nationalities but it was really cool to see it laid out to me.

Another really neat feature was seeing the genetic migration pattern mapped out. The red and blue is indicative of maternal and paternal lines although they cannot tell you which is which. Since I know my dad’s side is heavily French Canadian I am assuming that is the red and my maternal side is the blue. Either way it’s pretty neat! The map is interactive so you can zoom in closer. The less “mixing” of genetics in your ancestry line the better your mapping will show in a small area. My husband’s family knows their familial history from Russia & Czech Republic so he is really eager to see what his results would show. GPS Origins said sometimes they can narrow it down to the town within 50 miles!

Now remember not only did I know nothing about my ancestry but I have also never done any sort of DNA test before like this so I am extremely happy with it. As I began reading through the results little puzzle pieces began flying together in my mind. I’ve always had an obsession with Scotland and Ireland. Several of my sisters have bold red hair, and one has always joked about being Irish. It gave us all a better appreciation of our ancestry and we’ve been enjoying pouring over the results.

To find out more about GPS Origins, the tests they offer, and how it all works!

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