Am I from a place if my last name originated there?

Question

If my mother's maiden name was to be Douglas would I be of Scottish heritage, I'm African American and I know my family were not slaves. I'm a chocolate color but my mom is olive-skinned (my dad is chocolate colored as well). I know they were some European traders, settlers and explorers that came to my country and there are records of Scottish missionaries. The Presbyterian church originated in Scotland and I am presbyterian. My mom and uncle said we may have white ancestry but were unsure. What do you think?

Answer 1

Best idea is to try to trace your ancestry. If the paper trail leaves you wondering, try a DNA test.

According to: "Mapping Human History: Discovering the Past Through Our Genes" by Steve Olson, every one alive on earth today is descended from: Nefertiti, Confucius, and Julius Caesar.  They did not live all that long a time ago...

You should start by asking all your living relatives about family history.  Then, armed with that information, you can go to your public library and check to see if it has a genealogy department.  Most do nowadays; also, don't forget to check at community colleges, universities, etc.  Our public library has both www.ancestry.com and www.heritagequest.com free for anyone to use (no library card required).

Another place to check out is any of the Mormon's Family History Centers.  They allow people to search for their family history (and, NO, they don't try to convert you).

A third option is one of the following websites:

http://www.searchforancestors.com/...

http://www.censusrecords.net/?o_xid=2739...

http://www.usgenweb.com/

http://www.census.gov/

http://www.rootsweb.com/

http://www.ukgenweb.com/

http://www.archives.gov/

http://www.familysearch.org/

http://www.accessgenealogy.com/...

http://www.cyndislist.com/

http://www.geni.com/

Cyndi's has the most links to genealogy websites, whether ship's passenger lists, ancestors from Africa, ancestors from the Philippines, where ever and whatever.

Of course, you may be successful by googling: "john doe, born 1620, plimouth, massachusetts" as an example.

Good luck and have fun!

Check out this article on five great free genealogy websites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article...

Then there is the DNA test; if you decide you want to REALLY know where your ancestors came from opt for the DNA test. Besides all the mistakes that officials commonly make, from 10% to 20% of birth certificates list the father wrong; that is, mama was doing the hanky-panky and someone else was the REAL father. That won't show up on the internet or in books; it WILL show up in DNA.

I used www.familytreedna.com which works with the National Geographics Genotype Program.

Answer 2

You rmom had 16 great great grandparents, like as not. (She had less if someone married a cousin; most of us have less than 32 GGG GPs.)

One of them - her Douglas one - may have been a Scot. He may have been an 9th-generation Englishman whose 10th GGP was a Scot. He might have been a German who got tired of his neighbors mis-pronouncing "Duggleheimer". Her other 15 GG GPs could have been Chinese or Cherokee, for all the "Douglas" tells you.

You can't judge percentage of African by skin color; as any National Gegraphic article will show you, Africans range in darkness.

The only way to tell where you are from is to research your family tree. There is a "Visa" commercial on TV about a fellow who goes to Norway to get back to his roots and, when he looks at the records, finds out he is Swedish. (Or maybe vice versa. It is the one where they are served massive fish heads in a cafe.)