[Lindsay]

I understand that Ancestry ethnicity estimates need to be taken with a pinch of salt, so this query comes with a big ‘If it’s accurate…’

Ancestry estimates suggest I have 20% Irish ethnicity – 12% from my maternal side, and 8% paternal.

The paternal side is at least partly explained by an Irish 3x ggrandparent. However, I’m struggling to understand the maternal estimate, since the paper records haven’t thrown up anyone Irish at least back to my maternal 3x ggrandparents.

For my maternal side Ancestry’s DNA painter shows three quarters of number 7 highlighted (which might show how recent the connection is, I believe?), slightly less in 9 and 10, and less again in 13 and 16.

Is there any way to tell if I should be looking for one person, and how far back it might be, or did I inherit a lot of bits of Irish DNA that just happened to be floating around the east end of London where this branch mainly came from?