My Ethnic Heritage According to Three DNA Companies

I was talking with someone recently about autosomal DNA tests and their value to the person who simply wants to learn more about their ethnic origins and isn't necessarily trying to make genetic matches to other people or solve a lineage-related family mystery.*

My experience learning about my ethnic origins via three DNA companies was fascinating.

According to Ancestry.com, my origins are 89% in the British Isles.

My ethnic heritage according to Ancestry.com

I take these results with a grain of salt as they don't match my paper-trail research about my heritage. Granted, I should show a significant connection to the British Isles. But what's missing here is the fact that I should show a higher percentage of Western European roots. Several lines in my ancestry came from what is now known as Germany. My Ancestry.com results don't reflect this.

According to Family Tree DNA, my roots are more varied. This seems more reasonable until I notice that western Europe is pretty much missing from these results as well.   

My ethnic heritage according to Family Tree DNA

So you can see why I sprang for yet another DNA test - this one from 23 and Me. I was fortunate to purchase this test when 23 and Me was battling it out with the US government about what kind of health information they would be allowed to provide. At that time, they had a discount on autosomal DNA tests in order to keep money coming in. (Now that they've resolved the issues with the FDA, their test prices are significantly higher.)

My ethnic heritage according to 23 and Me

These results are much more in line with what I expected to see based on my research. A very strong British/Irish connection combined with a significant French/German connection.

Although each company explains how their ethnic results are determined, clearly the companies are using different methods. If they were all using the exact same method, my results would look the same across all three companies.

In any case, I mainly took the tests to find genetic matches and further my research since as you can see, I have a strong sense of my ethnic origins. I have a huge number of matches across these companies, including my parents, an aunt, a sister, and thousands of cousins!




*All three companies provide genetic matches, though the tools each one offers for connecting with and making sense of those matches vary significantly.

Walter Sprott, Landholder

The will of my 4th great-grandfather Walter Sprott, who died in 1844, included a very lengthy list of property:

My real estates situate and being at Crowborough Common in the Parish of Rotherfield in the County of  Sussex and now in the several tenures or occupations of William Farris and Thomas Izzard yeoman

My freeholds messuages or tenements  and the gardens thereto belonging situate and being on Cumberland Cottage at Tunbridge Wells aforesaid and known by the name of Marine House the cottage behind the same and  Marine Cottage

My freehold accoutraments and premises at New Romney in the County of Kent

My freehold cottages or tenements and gardens to the same severally belonging situate and being in the Parish of Lamberhurst in the County of Kent and now in the holding of Stephan Goad and others as my tenants

The leaseholds messuage or tenement at Tunbridge Wells in which I now reside together with the several pieces or parcels of meadowlands and the roadhouse stable and coach house to the same belonging and held by me under a lease from the late honourable Catherine Scovill the honourable George Henry Scovill and the late Earl of Abergavenny

My freehold  Cottage situate at Beeding in the County of Sussex unto my said wife Mary Sprott absolutely I give to my said wife all that the annuity or clear yearly sum of ten pounds per annum to which I am entitled during the life of Mrs. Sarkin

For her own use I give her four leasehold cottages at Tullys Village in the Parish of Frant now in  several occupations of [blank] Cushman and others

Also all those my four leasehold cottages situated at Pembury in the County of Kent which I sold under lease from the late Marquis of Camden unto and equally between my said wife and my said daughter Sophia Sprott their respective executors administrators and assigns

I give and devise all that my freehold messuage or tenement farm lands hereditaments and previous situate and being in the Parish of Brenchley in the County of Kent and now in the tenure or occupation of George Bull Yeoman

Also all that my freehold farm and lands situate and being in the Parish of Tonbridge in the said County of Kent and now in the occupation of Richard Twort Yeoman

Also all that my cottage or tenement and the piece or parcel of meadow land thereto belonging to Richard Strange but now in the tenure or occupation of Thomas Skinner Esquire

Also all that freehold estate situate and being at Tunbridge Wells aforesaid and known by the name of the Chapel House Estate and the piece or parcel of ground thereto belonging and which is reserved for the erection of one or more Villa or Villas and the necessary appendages to the same

Also my two fifth parts or shares of and in a certain freehold estate situate and being on Mount Ephraim at Tunbridge Wells aforesaid and lately divided between the other proprietors and me by a Deed of Partition and which said two fifths parts or shares comprise two pieces of land so allotted and awarded to me for my share in the said estate are adapted as sites for building one or more Villa or Villas and the necessary appendages for the same

Also all those several pieces or parcels of freehold land containing by admeasurement seven acres two roods and twenty two perches situate and being at or near Dorset Green in the Parish of Speldhurst in the County of Kent aforesaid together with right of common to the same belonging and within the freehold manor of Rusthall and which in or about the year one thousand eight hundred and sixteen or the following year I agreed to purchase of Thomas Skinner of Tonbridge and the other three proprietors of the same and was then put into possession and in receipt of the rents and in the quiet and peaceable possession and in receipt of the rents and profits thereof

Also all that my freehold messuage or tenement and garden with the roadhouse and stable and the freehold land and also the piece or parcel of copyhold land containing two acres or thereabouts to the same belonging and which piece of copyhold land is holder of the Manor of Frant in the County of  Sussex and which is intermixed with the said freehold land and contain together six acres or thereabouts and said messuage land and premises are now in the holding of Robert Gebben Esquire

Walter Sprott, Solicitor of Tunbridge Wells, Kent

The given name Walter runs down through our Sprott family line, generation after generation. My great uncle was Walter Huggins Sprott, my great grandfather was Walter Keith Sprott, my great great grandfather was Walter Edward Sprott, and my 4th great uncle was Walter Sprott. Plus there are several distant cousins whose given name includes Walter. The progenitor of all these men is my 4th great grandfather, Walter Sprott, who born about 1780.

I haven't yet found a christening record so I am unsure who Walter's parents were. But I surmise they had some means since at the age of 28, Walter was contracted to serve as an apprentice clerk to Richard Jones, an attorney of Frant, Sussex, who agreed to train him in the ways of the profession. The articles of clerkship for Walter were found at Ancestry.com. They appear to have been originally signed in 1808, and a duty of 108 pounds paid by Walter Sprott at that time. The term was five years, and a second document was read in court in 1813, confirming that the apprenticeship had been completed.

From the articles:

Walter Sprott should well and truly serve the said Richard Jones as his clerk in the business profession and practice of an attorney of his majesty’s court of Kings Bench and as an attorney or Solicitor in his Majesty’s other courts at Westminster for and during the term of five years commencing from the day of the date of the said in part recited articles. . .

Tunbridge 14 Sept 1808

The year after Walter completed his clerkship, in 1814, he married Sophia Chapman. In 1817, their daughter Sophia was born. Infant Sophia was christened on May 13, 1817 in Tunbridge Wells. Three years later, in 1821, Walter was left a widower when his wife Sophia died. Sophia was buried at St. Mary the Virgin, Speldhurst, Kent.

It was three years before Walter married again, which means little Sophia was motherless from the age of four to about seven (though I think its safe to presume a nursemaid or nanny cared for her during this time). Walter's second marriage, in 1824, was to Mary Caven, the second daughter of Peter Caven of Brighton. Mary was 14 years Walter's junior. A year later, their first son, Walter was born in Tunbridge Wells, and in 1826, their son James was born. Walter and James were both christened at King Charles the Martyr in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Walter Sprott was a successful solicitor and a business man. During the three decades that followed the completion of his apprenticeship, he was involved in several partnerships, was the master to several apprentice clerks, and was involved multiple land leases. In 1834, Walter is listed in the Tunbridge Wells Guide as "Mr. Walter Sprott, Master Extra. in Chancery, Com. in King’s Bench, Common Plea, and Exchequer, Abergavenny Place."

Walter Sprott's signature and seal

The 1841 Census provides a personal glimpse of Walter's family.

1841 Census Kent, England

Civil Parish: Tonbridge

Hundred: Tonbridge Lowery

1 Abergavenny Place

Walter Sprott, 55, Solicitor, not born in county

Mary Sprott, 45, not born in county

Sophia Sprott, 20

Mary Davis, 25, F. S.

Harriet Lindley, 25, F. S.

Hannah Jarrett, 30, F. S.

Henry Woodhomes, 25, M. S.

Sons Walter and James were attending school so were not living at home. Both graduated from the University of London.

Walter Sprott died in 1844, while his sons were young men. His will contains a long list of properties, which were bequeathed to his wife, daughter and two sons.

Eastward Bound: The Marriage of Ruth Lovis and John Scott

I love writing about my 19th century ancestors who were American pioneers, moving west as the country opened up, homesteading in places like Minnesota and Colorado, and working hard to claim their portion of the American dream.  But I have at least two ancestors who went east, instead, from the shores of the Atlantic coast back to the British Isles. And when they made their homes in England and Scotland, and married natives of the British Isles, they added another dimension to my heritage that I find equally fascinating.

I'll start with the story of Ruth Lovis, my fifth great-grandmother. I first learned of her in the memoirs of my great-great-grandmother Mary (Huggins) Sprott. Mary wrote "John Scott’s wife was an American, Grannie said her name was Lovelace. She was a young widow and came to England about some lawsuit. John Scott was her lawyer, won the case and the widow. Grannie said she came from Boston . . ."

It took a while for me to identify Ruth since her surname was Lovis, not Lovelace. I found that she was indeed from Boston, with deep colonial roots that go back to early days in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Her parents were Thomas Lovis and Ruth Mansfield. In 1789, when Ruth was about 21, she married Alexander Moore, a ship's cargo master. Barely two weeks later, Alexander embarked on a lengthy shipping voyage from which he never returned. In 1791, while still on the journey, he died.

The Independent Chronicle, Nov 24, 1791, Vol XXIII, Issue 1204, page 3, Boston

Alexander Moore’s estate was administered both in Boston and in Canterbury, England. Apparently, Ruth did go to London since on October 1, 1794, Ruth Moore, a widow, married John Scott at St. Pancras parish church in London, England. Ruth was of the parish of St. Pancras, while John was of the parish of St. Mildred Poultry.

London Metropolitan Archives, Saint Pancras Parish Church, Register of marriages, P90/PAN1, Item 055. Ancestry.com. 

Saint Pancras Parish Church (now known as St. Pancras Old Church)

John Scott operated a law practice and was said to be a King's Counsel, a barrister of the highest rank. In 1794, he was 31 years old and listed in Kent's London Directory as an attorney at 6 St. Mildred's-court, Poultry. St. Mildred's Court was a short dead end lane just east of St. Mildred's Church, located in the heart of London in an area known as "the City." The Bank of England, the Mansion House, and the Exchange are in the immediate vicinity. The Scott law offices remained at this address for about 50 years, well into the 1840s. I assume they also had living quarters here.

1795 St. Mildred's Court is left of the Bank of England.

1872

St. Mildred's Church was demolished in 1874. Here's how the area looked in 2007, when I visited.

 St. Mildred's Court is the alley between the two buildings. A close up view of the alley:

This sculpture is on the building that stands where the church was, a reminder of the medieval history of the location as the center of the poultry market.

Notes and Sources:
1) The Memoirs of Mary Constance (Huggins) Sprott, privately published, are in our family's personal library.

2) In the second paragraph, "Grannie" is a reference to Sarah Hamer (Scott) Clarkson, a daughter of John and Ruth (Lovis) Scott.