John Foss - DNA confirmation?

Started by Colin Ordaniel Foss on Tuesday, July 12, 2016
Showing all 4 posts
7/12/2016 at 2:54 PM

I did take a DNA test, but not from this company. It has confirm I have 3% or 0% traced amounts of Great Britain ethnicity. While showing I have 5% positive Scandinavian ethnicity.

John Foss is my direct ancestor(8th great grandfather). There is a possibility that John or his parents came to England as immigrants from Denmark. Records only show to my knowledge that they were Christen in England, but not showing any evidence they were born there.

7/13/2016 at 11:50 AM

I think John Foss is a bit complicated by the fact that there are at least two from about the same time period -- one definitely born in Denmark in 1638 who died in New Hampshire and another born in Devonshire, England in 1633. Both died in New Hampshire, the Danish one in Portsmouth in 1699; the English one in Rye in 1710, Further confusion is caused by the wives! My family tradiion is for the Danish one,but I think this may wellbe based on the genealogical research done by one of my great-aunts to which I have no access and don't know what became of it.
I found similar confusion on the other side if my famiy when checking on a great-grandfather and found another man with the same name and year of birth from the next town! As this was from the mid-19th century I was able to resolve this with the census records and the different parents.
I have not done a DNA test as you did so I can't be sure for myself which of the John Fosses is my probable ancestor but in any case one of them is my 9th generation ancestor.

7/13/2016 at 9:45 PM

Well, as I shuffle through all my ancestors origins, there were multiple relatives from England. Makes me wonder how accurate these DNA test are. Since mine is telling me I only have 3% trace amounts from Great Britain. There is always a chance that my "English" ancestors were immigrants to Great Britain, making things even more confusing.

7/14/2016 at 4:29 AM

You should try to find out where the lastname Foss came from. It's doubtful it is of British origin. In Scandinavia of today it is only Norway that uses the word "foss" which means "waterfall", and the word is of Old Norse origin. Since the word means waterfall it is doubtful it is of a Danish origin because of the lack of waterfalls in the flat country of Denmark. So maybe you should try to find a Norwegian origin of the lastname.

Showing all 4 posts

Create a free account or login to participate in this discussion