To Tell
Her mentality moulded by the Irish,
By birth, politically speaking, 'bayerisch'.
Uli came across the Atlantic Ocean,
To bring the Donohue-Clan in motion.
Genetically a bit of an Ashkenazic Jew,
But in Matt's heart - Green Mountain dew.
And already long before anybody knew,
He had embraced the name Donohue.
In his run-of-the-mill life stepped kiddo,
Along a handsome, but (un)fortunate widow.
This was a real step into the Ring of Fire,
After that heat inside a laundry dryer.
But birth and history, they do not count,
What matters are the ventures you mount.
If you do it on your own or all together,
Be it calm, rainy or stormy weather!
You go out there and have a blast,
Married now - you are free at last!
J. Riemenschneider, 2018
Just to add a bit of an explanation here - in case you are wondering?! Matt and I did a DNA test to explore our genetic ancestry and at the time, when my brother wrote the poem, a small fraction of Matt's DNA suggested that there was some Jewish ancestry. In the meantime, as the genetic analysis was refined and updated, that fraction has disappeared. Totally unrelated to our marriage and my brother's poem, but while we are on the topic, here's a summary of my and Matt's genetic ancestry.
Matt is around 61% of British/Irish ancestry with the most likely match coming from the Greater London area, but other likely matches stretching all the way up into the Scottish Highlands and all across the island of Ireland. The largest remaining portion of the DNA traces back to France (38%) with the most likely matches in the Normandy, Brittany, and Nouvelle-Aquitaine regions. There remains a small (0.3%) trace of Subsaharan African ancestry. Last but not least, Matt's paternal haplogroup, that is DNA that can only be traced back through the male line of ancestors, suggests that he shares a common ancestor (about 10,000 years ago) with King Louis XVI.
My ancestry suggests I am 67.7% German, no surprise there, with the most likely matches stemming from the Northwest of the country, 24.3% of my DNA suggests ancestry in Eastern Europe, specifically from Lithuania, and small 4.2% points back to an ancestor who in the late 1700s or early 1800s was born in Scandinavia. Most of the remaining percentage (3.6%) points to a broadly Northern European descent, which is difficult to assign to just one region due to extensive migration in the middle ages. Finally, my maternal haplogroup, that is DNA passed down only through the female line of ancestors, suggests that I share a common female ancestor with King Richard III.
So there you have it 😁. Quite fascinating stuff! I'd love to do this test for Klara sometime, what an interesting mix that might show?!
Thanks for the poem, Jules!
PS.: And one more clarification, because a friend just asked me, after we got married Matt changed his last name to Klara's last name 'Donohue'. I had suggested we could do a hyphenated name 'Donohue-Webb', but he felt it was easier for just one person to change their name instead of three and so he changed his name.