Am I a backdoor Scot?

[tundramanq]

Being my last name is Holm from Denmark and decendent of the Vikings, I think I probably share common ancestry with many Scottish blood lines.

In researching this there is evidence and some agreement and disagreementon both sides of this thought line.

Centuries before the raiding and pillaging started, the Vikings settled peacefully and intermarried on Skye and elsewhere in Scotland where their fishing and sea going skills especially were welcome. There seems to have been a lot of mixing of cultures then also.

Your take on this is wanted and welcome, Chuck Holm

[SoSelkirk]

Thanks to the excellent record keeping of the Danish tax collectors (also a descendent of said tax collector) in Norway during their occupation, I can trace my lineage to Dugall (Somerledsson) and the Norwegian side of the supposed connection between Scots and Vikings.

Soon, when time and finances permit, I will collect a DNA sample from my mom and submit it to the Scottish DNA project and see if there is any genetic proof of relation.

Being Norwegian and very hard headed, I consider the MacDougalls my relatives, and will draw my sword if anyone wants to contest

[MeghanWalker]

Honestly, the ancient European tribes did a lot of traveling and trade and raping/pillaging with other European tribes, theres a good chance we've all got random genes in us somewhere down our family tree.

Celts spread down as far as Spain and as far East as China and India. Any one of us could have a random Indian chick in our bloodline somewhere. Being that your genes are Viking, theres really no question that you might have random goth, celtic, saxon, etc. whatever blood lines too.

I'm German, Irish, and Scottish with a wee bit of English and Dutch in me too. I like to refer to myself as a Germanicelt Germanic and Celtic. get it?

[Riverkilt]

A couple years ago my cousin did the DNA thing and it came back Scandanavian. He was confused. "I thought we were Scottish" We go back to the Trotternish Peninsula of Skye.

I explained that Clan Donald was founded by Sommerled - a Viking and that it makes perfect sense that our DNA goes back to Scandanavia. Skye was a long stopover before heading for Canada, then the U.S.

As already mentioned, a very common blend of cultures. Welcome aboard and kilt up. Start with a Danish tartan if you wanna.

[Bugbear]

Honestly, the ancient European tribes did a lot of traveling and trade and raping/pillaging with other European tribes, theres a good chance we've all got random genes in us somewhere down our family tree.

Celts spread down as far as Spain and as far East as China and India. Any one of us could have a random Indian chick in our bloodline somewhere. Being that your genes are Viking, theres really no question that you might have random goth, celtic, saxon, etc. whatever blood lines too.

I'm German, Irish, and Scottish with a wee bit of English and Dutch in me too. I like to refer to myself as a Germanicelt Germanic and Celtic. get it?

My family has many Teutonic/Anglo-Saxon roots, as well as Irish. Some of the English and Irish names were mistaken to be of Scottish origin and became a family mythology of being Scottish, but no Scots that I know of in my tree. There is missing and covered up information on one branch, though, so who knows...

[tundramanq]

I'm having a lot of fun digging "my roots". My granddad emmigrated before the Germans occupied Christiano, DK , an island group about 600 by 700 meters in the Baltic, before WW1.

Am I Dotish or just dotty? -

It sound like europe was a big melting pot also.

Bugbear - my dad's mom was pretty tight lipped about her roots too. She was an Illinois McCONNELL. But she sure looked half Cherokee.

[warrior]

Not at all uncommon. My own MacLeods will tell you all in the same breath that we are an old Scottish clan but we are really norse.

[warrior]

Bugbear - my dad's mom was pretty tight lipped about her roots too. She was an Illinois McCONNELL. But she sure looked half Cherokee.

Sounds like my Gibbs side. My mother's father to his dying day refused to admit that he was in fact one quarter cherokee. My Gibbs side came down from the mountains of Tennessee to sand mountain Alabama. They like a lot of mountain families that spent tome with and married into the cherokee lived in fear for generations following the trail of tears when the cherokee were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory. Many of us with roots in north Alabama know we are cherokee but are unable to prove as all possible records, even the family bibles, were voluntarily destroyed to prevent discovery that we were "passing" and to keep from losing our land. When I try to dig past my g grandfather I hit a brick wall of no information other than one ancient photo of an elderly native american woman smoking a long stemmed clay pipe in front of a log cabin, her dress has been positively identified as cherokee. She is my gg grandmother the only verification cones through a single source. All others make the claim that the Gibbs of north Alabama are actually Greek. If that is the case it flys completely in the face of all known immigration patterns in that area

[Dangerdean]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_of_the_Vikings

More likely that a lot of Scots are backdoor Scandinavians.

[Bugbear]

Ya,I don't know, there's a deliberate wall. That branch did come out of Alabama, by the way, and is scattered all over the place with half relatives and such. It could be anything.