Do you really know your ancestry? You might be surprised

I thought I pretty much knew my ancestry - had lots of information on both sides of the family. Not growing up, but once I started looking into it, which was about age 25.

My father's side was very clear. Grandfather Anderson had a Swedish mother and Swedish father, raised Lutheran. Grandmother Anderson's maiden name was Kilty, Irish Catholic, both mother and father, so she was Irish. Protestant-Catholic marriage was quite a taboo in those days. Trailblazers.

But as it turns out my mother's side is a bit more complex:

Mom's mother was a Rouse - English and Scottish, Presbyterian.

Mom's father was Howard Hicks and was supposedly "Pennsylvania Dutch" on his father's side of the family, which is actually German, not Dutch. His mother, Charlette Bell, was Irish Protestant.

But recently I discovered that Hicks is an English name, nothing to do with German or Pennsylvania Dutch. Origins English! Not German. Just goes to show - family lore is not always 100 percent correct! Of course, over the years some Germans certainly moved to England.

So this means I'm basically Swedish, Irish, English, Scottish. But we were raised in the Swedish tradition for holiday celebrations, food, religion and family folklore. So we thought we were Swedish growing up - and because our name is Anderson. And most people in town were Swedish, Norwegian or Finnish.

I guess as we grow older, for many really starting in our 20s, it becomes more important to know our ancestry. And when bereaved or alone, for some reason it may seem important to know our roots. Some years ago, my brother Nic did a DNA test which fit pretty well with what I knew, but the continental "western European" part wasn't broken down so it didn't clarify any possible German link. Well, I suppose a little mystery is OK.

I wasn't even interested in ethnicity until I went to the East to graduate school. There, in Massachusetts, people were very interested in ancestry. I remember being asked what ethnicity I am by a classmate. I answered "Swedish." He said, that's funny, you look very Irish. I was surprised of course. And that set me off looking into family my background.

The point is: Ethnic identity is an important part of the self, of an individual. It's complicated for many Americans - because we are indeed a country of many mixed cultures, because of the many of the waves of immigration as our country was taking shape over several hundred years. But these days, it's relatively easy to sort out personal ethnicity with DNA testing and online research.

So I may not have any German genes, but I still wonder why my Mom had dark brown eyes and black hair, and so did my brother Nic! While the rest of us had green or blue eyes, brown or blonde or auburn red hair.

• Susan Anderson-Khleif of Sleepy Hollow has a doctorate in family sociology from Harvard, taught at Wellesley College and is a retired Motorola executive. Contact her at sakhleif@comcast.net or see her blog longtermgrief.tumblr.com. See previous columns at www.dailyherald.com/topics/Anderson-Kleif-Susan.