My DNA test shows me to be 12% Welsh. I wasn't all that surprised by that. My mom's family claims Welsh descent. Some of them were Quakers with names like Davis and Roby which are Welsh derived names. I fully expected to see Welsh in my DNA. That was until I looked at my Mom's DNA. She is 0% Welsh. What?
That would mean that Dad's side has a lot of ancestors from Wales or perhaps I got all the Welsh DNA that my dad had to offer. But, on Dad's side, his mom, my grandma is entirely German and Polish. There is a bit of European Jewish ancestry there, but no English or British Isles. I can name these folks and where they came from. My grandfather's side must be the folks from Wales. But these people came over in the 1600 and 1700s and most of what I find are people from Holland, England, Ireland, and Scotland. By and large I don't see a lot of Quakers (who were the majority of the Welsh settlers before the Revolutionary War). But, some of my paternal great great grandmother's people did come from Pennsylvania which is where those Welsh Quakers settled.
Still, 12% is a sizeable piece of DNA. Where did the Welsh people come from? Who were they? It is interesting to dig around and try to figure it out.
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