I have a Spanish ancestor from the 1500s, would I still have some Spanish blood?

Question

I have a Spanish ancestor (a female) from the 1500s, I know it would not be alot but do I have some Spanish blood in me?

Answer 1

Yes, and all your past, present, and future offspring.

Answer 2

Of course! If you opt for a DNA test, it will show up.  Since you stated a female, you will need the mtDNA test, which traces female to female.  Males will reflect mtDNA, but cannot pass it down. The yDNA is male to male; females can not pass it on.  I have Spanish blood (from Mexico, Central & South America, the Carribean, Canary Islands AND Spain).  I opted for www.familytreedna.com, but there are others out there.

Try:

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 3

I would say that you and your offspring and their offspring and their offspring and so on and so on would always have some amount of "Spanish" blood.

Answer 4

"Blood" is not necessarily what relates people.  You might have Type A Type O or whatever; that is blood. There is no such thing as Spanish blood, English blood, Irish blood, Polish blood, German blood, Scottish blood, Italian blood etc.  Blood is a figurative term people use to express relationships but it isn't literally blood itself that relates you to others.

You are related to people by your genes and your DNA.  Your blood contains DNA but so does your hair, your saliva, your skin etc.  Actually to do a DNA test they won't use blood. The DNA tests won't necessarily define nationality as there is no such thing as a pure nationality or a pure race.

You  have the  DNA of all your ancestors.  

You have asked this question previously and the answers will not change.  Your  ancestors of the 1500s are a part of you.  

It is useless and futile the try and figure percentages.  As you go back the percentages will change, and you can only go back so far.

Answer 5

Let's say it is from 1590, or 418 years ago. Let's use 25 years per generation, being generous, so that would be 16, almost 17 generations.

You have 46 chromosomes in each cell, half from each parent. So a child has 23 from each parent, an average of 11 from each grand parent. But, since these are random recombinations, you could have anywhere from 0 to 23 from any single grandparent.

After 16 generations, the odds of having a chromosome from one particular ancestor would be 23 / (2^16), or about one in three thousand.

Of course, if your family has a lot of inbreeding with cousins, the odds go up! :)