DNA Results VS. Documention

Last August my sister-in-law gave me a DNA test kit from 23and me.  I was so excited because I had always wanted to do a test but hadn't been able to get one so I am very grateful to her for her generous gift.  Ironically, this was the same test my brother used so we were able to compare results.  

My DNA breakdown is as follows:

---

• British & Irish                                      52.8%
  United Kingdom
  Descended from Celtic, Saxon, and Viking ancestors, the people of Great Britain and Ireland have left their genetic fingerprints around the world, following centuries of nautical exploration, colonization, and immigration. The modern British Commonwealth is composed of 52 member states found on every continent except Antarctica, and the English language is a lingua franca for global economic exchange.·         
• French & German                               22.1%
  Austria
  "French and German" people descend from ancient Alpine-Celtic and Germanic populations, and inhabit an area extending from the Netherlands to Austria — roughly corresponding to the extent of Charlemagne's Frankish Kingdom in the Middle Ages. Estimates place Charlemagne himself in the family trees of all modern Europeans, possibly many times over. Genetically and geographically, the French and Germans are at the heart of Europe.
  
• Scandinavian                                       2.8%
  Denmark
  Scandinavians — represented by the people of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Iceland — owe much of their linguistic and genetic heritage to North Germanic tribes who established settlements around the North Sea during the late Middle Ages. Many Scandinavians, like the Sámi people in the far north, are descendants of indigenous Scandinavian hunter-gatherers. In the United States, Scandinavian ancestry is most common in North Dakota.
• Broadly Northwestern European    20.6%
  Northwestern Europeans are represented by people from as far west as Ireland, as far north as Norway, as far east as Finland, and as far south as France. These countries rim the North and Baltic Seas, and have been connected throughout much of history by those waters.
• Broadly Southern European             0.6%
  Southern Europe, including the Iberian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas as well as the island of Malta, is a region defined in great part by the  Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean has provided transportation routes, keeping these regions connected
  
• Broadly European                              1.0%
  Much of Europe was buried under miles of ice ten thousand years ago. As the glaciers receded over millennia, Neolithic farmers from western Asia joined Paleolithic hunter-gatherers to settle Europe.
  

Maternal Haplogroup:  H                        Paternal Haplogroup (From my brother's DNA):  I-M223
(My brother's maternal  haplogroup is H1).

DNA tests are only as reliable as the algorithms used. 23andme has updated my results two times since I took the test. I had first showed to only be 99.9% European with 0.1% North African.  The first time my test was updated it showed I was 100% European, the second update added Scandinavian, which includes the Vikings. My brother has continuously showed to be 99.9% European with 0.1% Sub-Saharan African.

To see how accurate the DNA results were, I decided to chart each surname in my ancestry to see how the DNA results compared with the documentation I have gathered.  I have been able to trace most of the surnames in my family tree  far enough back to their European roots with just a few surnames left unknown.  Not too surprisingly, the paper trail matches with the DNA results.

I am still researching every line, obtaining more documentation and finding even more surnames associated with my family.  There is family folklore of having Native American DNA that has not shown in my DNA that I am trying to prove through a paper trail.  I have also obtained a clue as to which line of the family the African (either sub-Saharan or North African) DNA comes from.  

DNA is a great tool to have but I always obtain as much documentation as possible...the paper trail will prove the DNA.  ​