Ancestry/Genealogy

I did the My Heritage DNA which just traces where our ancestors originated.
Most of it supported the things I had been told about the roots of my family, particularly my mother's: English, Scotch, Irish and a little German.
Mostly the same on my father's side with Wales and Swiss thrown in. It has been a lot of fun rummaging through all of this stuff and it is addicting.

Kentucky was settled early and all branches of my family trace back to pre Civil war times. There are definitely soldiers from the Revolutionary period so yes I could join DAR, if I wanted to. One ancestor of my Great grandmother did fight in the Confederate army.

One really cool discovery though: our grandfather told us we were direct descendants of President John Tyler. My sister and I just sort of did mental eyerolls at that. Come to find out it is really true; My great grandmother was a Tyler, and her father was the president's grandson. Something else: those Tylers were really good at having kids!! President Tyler's father was Governor of Virginia and one of his brothers was a US Senator from Virginia. Tyler was not that great of a president as far as I can tell. He was the first vice president to succeed to the presidency due to death of the president though .

He still has one living grandchild who is 95.

Now I want to do 23 and Me. The local blood center tells me I carry Sickle Cell Trait, which is nuts considering how totally white I am!!! They call me when they are desparate for blood to help a Sickle Cell patient who is having surgery. I really want to know how I ended up carrying this trait. I think it is pretty bizarre, considering how long my ancestors have been in North America, and as far as I can tell none of them originated around the Mediterranean area.