In 2024, I submitted a saliva sample to Ancestry.com to have my DNA analyzed. The following is my very basic understanding of genetics, the way these tests work and how to use the results for genealogical research. Needless to say, there have been many books written on these subjects so it can be very complicated.

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in our cells contains the genetic memory which passes all manner of traits from one generation to the next in our genes. Half of our DNA comes from our biological father and the other half from our biological mother. Although that percentage does not change, the specific factors in the DNA will be different from one child to another. That is why each of us is a unique human being.

We humans have about 20,000 genes and each of these has some type of influence on a particular trait in our bodies. A certain combination will result in brown hair or blue eyes or our height or whether we are more or less susceptible to certain types of cancer. It has only been in recent decades with expanded computing power that scientists have been able to map the human genome and identify the nature of our DNA.

Several million people around the world have taken a DNA test over the past couple of decades. Millions more now submit a sample for testing each year. Genetic scientists have been able to determine that, if two people share a certain percentage of their DNA, they must be related. Further, if they share around 50%, they must be full siblings. Grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews would share about 25% of the same DNA while first cousins share about 12.5%. This can be carried out to where 5th cousins may share 0.05% of their DNA.

Of course, determining an exact relationship between two people has to take into account such things as the age of the individuals. For instance, a person who shares about 25% of your DNA but is only 2 years older than your father, is most likely an uncle and not your grandfather.

DNA testing companies will offer you the opportunity to get in touch with other people in their database who are related to you. Before anything happens, you must first agree to allow your data to be available so that relatives may be able to contact you.

The types of results that you get from a DNA test depends on the type of test you purchase. Certain tests will include a list of genetic factors in you DNA that might lead to specific health concerns during your life or account for individual physical traits. One category of tests will check the Y-chromosome which is directly passed down from one male to his offspring throughout the generations. This is often used to determine paternity cases.

The test that I took is aimed primarily at genealogical applications. It is for people who are just searching for people that are related to them. This involves sharing some portion of one of the many strands of DNA between two people. As mentioned above, the percentage of the total DNA that is shared will determine the category of the  relationship.

A second result of the type of test I took from Ancestry.com is to associate you with people in various geographical regions of the world. Keep in mind that these results only mean that certain people in that region who have been tested share some of your DNA characteristics. It does not automatically mean that your direct ancestors originated in that area. See the next section for more on this topic.

In the not too distant past, it would take many days of computer time to calculate the relationship of just one person to others in the huge databases being built around the world. Now, the same problem can be completed in a relatively short time with current computer systems.

Companies that test DNA have analyzed massive amounts of data to discover patterns in DNA that can distinguish one population of people from another. For instance, AncestryDNA compares over 700,000 different factors in a sample to find where even miniscule patterns exist between a given population and your DNA.

Remember that these results are based on people currently living in these areas who have taken DNA tests in the past few decades. If they find some kind of match for you, as I understand it, this may mean one of two things:

1) Direct genetic ancestors of yours originated in a region. Your third great grandfather may have emigrated from France to Switzerland where your second great grandfather was born, raised his family and later emigrated to America. Therefore, you could say you have French and Swiss roots.

2) A relative of yours relocated to that region at some point in history. For example, a third cousin, twice removed may have gone from Germany to Scotland 150 years ago and established a family that is living there today. You can say you have relatives in Scotland but not that your family originated from that region.

Below are the geographic regions where DNA patterns similar to mine have been recorded through 2024. According to the data, I have some type of genetic connection with 7 different regions in Europe. That was a surprise to me.

In late 2025, Ancestry.com notified me that they had updated their geographic regions and have found DNA matches for me in 9 different regions. In both cases, these are "best estimates" based on a database of DNA results that is expanding every year as more people take the test.

I show both the 2024 and 2025 results below with a little explanation for the differences.
 

AncestryDNA included the following information about changes in the regions which pertain to my test results:

1. The previous Germanic Europe region has been separated into more specific regions like Southern Germanic Europe, Northwestern Germany, and North Central Europe, which covers Eastern Germany and Western Poland. People with roots to Central, Southern, and Western Germany will predominantly see the new Southern Germanic Europe region show up in their results. Those with roots in Northern Germany will see mainly the Northwestern Germany region, as well as the Netherlands. Individuals with roots in Eastern Germany will see their results most significantly shifted, with North Central Europe becoming a more prominent region in their results. This reflects the mixed German-Polish population that lived in the former eastern territories of Germany. With new advances in the technology behind the ancestral regions, our estimates are becoming more precise, especially for people of an admixed origin.

2. In this update, we made significant changes to our regions in Scotland and Ireland, adding greater levels of granularity and narrowing the scope of these regions. At the same time, the shared histories of these nations means that we regularly see some amount both Irish and Scottish descent showing up in both populations. By strengthening our reference panels for both of these populations, you may see your results shift, better capturing your Irish or Scottish heritage.

Changes from 2024 to 2025.

Before taking this test in 2024, I would have described my background as 3/4 German and 1/4 Irish. The parents of Grandma and Grandpa Heiden and Grandpa Roggerman (right) were from Germany and the grandfather of Grandma Roggerman, whose maiden name was Getty, came from Northern Ireland. So, how did I end up with percentages of my genetic background being from Germanic Europe, England & Northwestern Europe, Scotland, Central & Eastern Europe, Sweden, The Netherlands and the Baltics? And, why is there no specific mention of Ireland?

From reading the information in a couple of books and at the Ancestry website, it becomes clear why they call these numbers "estimates". First, while many million people have taken DNA tests in recent years and there are large databases built from the results, it still represents a very small sample when you consider that there are currently over 8 billion people on the planet. More billions existed in our past generations. Science has made huge advances in this area but there is still a very long way to go.

Second, I know the countries from which my great grandparents emigrated but I do not know where my great, great, great, great, great grandparents lived. They estimate that our DNA results can be extrapolated back to people living about 500 years ago on average. So, my fourth great grandfather may have married a woman whose ancestors came from Sweden or The Netherlands. The testing company can only say that some population in Sweden carries certain patterns in the thousands and thousands of DNA strands in our cells to say that a small part of my background might come from that area of Europe.

My Irish ancestors have only been traced back a few generations to those who lived in Northern Ireland in the early 1800s. Perhaps my sixth great grandfather was from Scotland and married a woman from England and their grandson moved to Ireland 200 years ago. So, he was only there for one or two generations and the amount of DNA would be unidentified with today's testing standards. Who knows? [See the note below]

DNA tests are very reliable if two people currently alive or recently deceased are involved. That is why it can be legally used to determine paternity. If you watch the PBS series, Finding Your Roots, you know how often it is discovered that someone the show's subject thought was an ancestor turns out to be actually not related.

These are a few of the reasons why DNA testing alone may not answer all or even most of the questions about your family. That is why it must be combined with the paper trail and even family stories to achieve any certainty in an individual person's genealogy.

While preparing this website for posting, I was looking over my Irish ancestors in the Getty Book section. That document speculates that a Reverend Adam Getty, who in 1666 moved from Scotland to the same small town in Ireland where the rest of our Getty's originated, might be the beginning of our clan. Unfortunately, the author, Monita Fergus, was not able to make a verified link between Adam and the earliest Getty of record, John Getty, Sr who was born in 1788. So...the search continues.

Also, August Heiden's Uncle Ludwig was living in Sweden according to an 1883 letter we found. He had four children by his first wife who was German and two more by his second wife who was Swedish. Some of his children were living in Sweden but others had settled in Denmark, Silesia (central Europe) and one son emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts. Of course, these would be August's first cousins and would share about 12.5% of his DNA with him. This probably accounts for the appearance of some of the regions represented in my DNA results.

As mentioned above, 50% of my DNA comes from each of my biological parents, Arthur and Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden pictured to the left. Genetic variations come about because each sperm and each egg have unique mixtures of DNA. For siblings, only identical twins have the same DNA makeup. They come from one sperm and one egg that split in two during conception. Fraternal twins are different because they come from two different eggs fertilized at the same time.

In my 2024 results, it appears that my father, Arthur Heiden, contributed background DNA from 6 of the 7 regions that are in my ancestry. My mother, Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden added the seventh, Scotland, and also shared 3 other regions. Unlike my father, she had no genetic relatives in Sweden, The Netherlands and the Baltics.

In the 2025 interpretation of the test results, my father shares DNA with people in five different regions in Europe while my mother appears in seven regions. They share listings in only three regions. The Central Scotland & Northern Ireland connection reflects a group called the Scotch-Irish in history.

Shown below is a photo pedigree/ancestry chart for four generations of my ancestors. The ancestors of my grandparents, William Carl and Mary (Rambow) Heiden and Ralph Raymond Roggerman all came from Germany. My mother's mother, Adeline "Addie" Getty's people came from Northern Ireland.

I can personalized one of these for your family if you provide photos and dates for the non-Heiden side. They make a nice 12x18 poster. Cost of materials and shipping only.  See below for details.