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Ancestry refers to the lineage or descent of a person, family, or group, tracing back through generations to identify their origins, heritage, and familial connections. It encompasses the genetic, cultural, and historical ties that link individuals to their forebears, shaping their identity and sense of belonging. Ancestry is a multifaceted concept, intertwining biology, genealogy, history, and culture, and it plays a significant role in how people understand themselves and their place in the world.

At its core, ancestry is rooted in genetics. Each individual inherits a unique combination of DNA from their parents, who in turn inherited their DNA from their own ancestors. This genetic material carries information about physical traits, predispositions to certain health conditions, and even behavioral tendencies. Advances in genetic testing, such as DNA analysis, have made it possible for individuals to trace their biological ancestry with remarkable precision. Companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA offer services that analyze genetic markers to provide insights into a person's ethnic composition and geographic origins, often revealing surprising connections to distant relatives or previously unknown heritage.

Beyond genetics, ancestry is deeply tied to genealogy, the study of family history and lineage. Genealogical research involves constructing family trees, documenting relationships, and uncovering historical records such as birth certificates, marriage licenses, census data, and immigration documents. This process often reveals stories of migration, resilience, and adaptation, offering a window into the lives of ancestors and the challenges they faced. For many, genealogy is a way to honor their forebears and preserve their legacy for future generations.

Cultural ancestry is another critical dimension, encompassing the traditions, languages, customs, and values passed down through generations. It connects individuals to their ethnic or national heritage, shaping their cultural identity and worldview. For example, someone with Irish ancestry might celebrate St. Patrick's Day, learn traditional Irish dance, or explore the Gaelic language, while someone with Japanese ancestry might practice tea ceremonies, study calligraphy, or observe Obon festivals. Cultural ancestry fosters a sense of continuity and belonging, linking individuals to a broader community with shared experiences and values.

Historical ancestry delves into the broader context of a family's or group's past, including significant events, social conditions, and historical movements that shaped their lives. For instance, the transatlantic slave trade, the Irish Potato Famine, or the Jewish diaspora have profoundly influenced the ancestry of millions of people, leaving lasting imprints on their descendants' identities. Understanding historical ancestry often involves grappling with complex narratives of triumph and tragedy, resilience and oppression, and the interplay of individual and collective experiences.

Ancestry also has a deeply personal and emotional dimension. For many, exploring their ancestry is a journey of self-discovery, offering insights into who they are and where they come from. It can foster a sense of pride, connection, and continuity, as well as a deeper appreciation for the struggles and achievements of those who came before. At the same time, it can raise questions about identity, belonging, and the complexities of heritage, particularly for individuals with mixed or multicultural backgrounds.

In a globalized world, ancestry serves as a bridge between the past and the present, connecting individuals to their roots while also highlighting the interconnectedness of human history. It underscores the diversity and richness of human experience, reminding us that every person's story is part of a larger tapestry woven over centuries. Whether through genetic testing, genealogical research, cultural practices, or historical exploration, ancestry offers a profound way to understand ourselves and our place in the world.

A diversification score measures the diversity of ancestries in the county. As the value appoaches 100, ancestry diversity decreases and therefore increasing the risk of a lack of cultural diversity. The ancestry diversification score for this county is:

Most common ancestry not including "Unknown" is:

Ancestry Report Part I
Description	Total Population	American	Native American	Hawaiian	Caribbean (Latino)	Mexican	Central American	South American	Other Hispanic	African American	Sub- Saharan	Caribbean (Black)

Monroe County	141,616	8,792	187	35	1,105	3,586	566	589	495	3,095	1,045	861
Indiana (in 000's)	6,972	477	12	3	68	396	51	28	26	419	128	90
National (in 000's)	343,251	13,890	2,213	626	11,327	38,879	6,181	4,644	3,687	25,893	7,852	7,174
Morgan County	74,237	9,945	187	9	452	751	76	95	31	202	70	92
Jackson County	48,019	5,411	66	5	966	3,735	1,705	22	57	460	49	52
Lawrence County	45,464	5,530	128	6	35	737	0	13	24	111	37	33
Greene County	31,364	3,648	54	3	71	361	95	1	31	94	1	8
Owen County	22,081	2,422	34	0	63	177	2	36	36	74	13	13
Brown County	15,739	1,532	20	5	93	189	0	0	13	66	6	5

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Monroe County	11.61	6.21	0.13	0.02	0.78	2.53	0.40	0.42	0.35	2.19	0.74	0.61
Indiana	11.72	6.84	0.18	0.04	0.98	5.69	0.73	0.40	0.37	6.02	1.84	1.29
National	7.83	4.05	0.64	0.18	3.30	11.33	1.80	1.35	1.07	7.54	2.29	2.09
Morgan County	22.58	13.40	0.25	0.01	0.61	1.01	0.10	0.13	0.04	0.27	0.09	0.12
Jackson County	13.71	11.27	0.14	0.01	2.01	7.78	3.55	0.05	0.12	0.96	0.10	0.11
Lawrence County	19.50	12.16	0.28	0.01	0.08	1.62	0.00	0.03	0.05	0.24	0.08	0.07
Greene County	21.27	11.63	0.17	0.01	0.23	1.15	0.30	0.00	0.10	0.30	0.00	0.03
Owen County	24.50	10.97	0.15	0.00	0.29	0.80	0.01	0.16	0.16	0.34	0.06	0.06
Brown County	18.12	9.73	0.13	0.03	0.59	1.20	0.00	0.00	0.08	0.42	0.04	0.03

Comparisons to State Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Monroe County		90.80	73.88	64.20	79.71	44.53	54.72	103.62	94.68	36.32	40.06	46.99
Indiana		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		59.18	360.76	474.02	337.11	199.17	246.53	337.08	290.95	125.38	124.20	161.56
Morgan County		195.92	140.94	31.49	62.20	17.79	14.02	31.88	11.31	4.52	5.12	9.58
Jackson County		164.80	76.90	27.05	205.51	136.78	486.09	11.41	32.15	15.92	5.54	8.37
Lawrence County		177.89	157.52	34.28	7.86	28.51	0.00	7.12	14.30	4.06	4.42	5.61
Greene County		170.11	96.33	24.85	23.13	20.24	41.47	0.79	26.77	4.98	0.17	1.97
Owen County		160.42	86.15	0.00	29.15	14.10	1.24	40.62	44.16	5.57	3.20	4.55
Brown County		142.36	71.10	82.52	60.36	21.12	0.00	0.00	22.37	6.97	2.07	2.46

Comparisons to National Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Monroe County		153.42	20.48	13.54	23.65	22.36	22.19	30.74	32.54	28.97	32.26	29.09
Indiana		168.97	27.72	21.10	29.66	50.21	40.56	29.67	34.37	79.76	80.52	61.90
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Morgan County		331.04	39.07	6.64	18.45	8.93	5.68	9.46	3.89	3.61	4.12	5.93
Jackson County		278.46	21.32	5.71	60.96	68.67	197.17	3.39	11.05	12.70	4.46	5.18
Lawrence County		300.58	43.66	7.23	2.33	14.31	0.00	2.11	4.91	3.24	3.56	3.47
Greene County		287.43	26.70	5.24	6.86	10.16	16.82	0.24	9.20	3.97	0.14	1.22
Owen County		271.06	23.88	0.00	8.65	7.08	0.50	12.05	15.18	4.44	2.57	2.82
Brown County		240.54	19.71	17.41	17.91	10.60	0.00	0.00	7.69	5.56	1.67	1.52

Ancestry Report Part II
Description	Total Population	Canadian	British	Dutch	French	German	Italian	Polish	Scandinavian	Scotish/ Irish	Spanish	Other European

Monroe County	141,616	195	12,685	1,212	1,555	16,512	2,826	2,286	2,430	12,163	349	5,707
Indiana (in 000's)	6,972	12	487	58	71	932	98	110	69	486	11	189
National (in 000's)	343,251	1,350	18,069	1,828	3,642	24,708	9,027	4,667	5,969	20,625	1,140	9,563
Morgan County	74,237	99	6,415	704	556	8,428	593	438	708	5,779	58	1,450
Jackson County	48,019	53	3,775	251	244	7,167	320	238	243	3,371	271	345
Lawrence County	45,464	91	5,538	297	422	5,009	519	184	317	4,409	69	1,174
Greene County	31,364	2	3,611	254	587	3,741	281	122	176	2,695	6	614
Owen County	22,081	64	1,918	172	261	2,478	173	86	142	1,615	8	711
Brown County	15,739	39	2,108	107	191	2,273	181	175	131	1,502	41	443

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Monroe County	11.61	0.14	8.96	0.86	1.10	11.66	2.00	1.61	1.72	8.59	0.25	4.03
Indiana	11.72	0.17	6.99	0.83	1.02	13.36	1.41	1.57	1.00	6.97	0.16	2.72
National	7.83	0.39	5.26	0.53	1.06	7.20	2.63	1.36	1.74	6.01	0.33	2.79
Morgan County	22.58	0.13	8.64	0.95	0.75	11.35	0.80	0.59	0.95	7.78	0.08	1.95
Jackson County	13.71	0.11	7.86	0.52	0.51	14.93	0.67	0.50	0.51	7.02	0.56	0.72
Lawrence County	19.50	0.20	12.18	0.65	0.93	11.02	1.14	0.40	0.70	9.70	0.15	2.58
Greene County	21.27	0.01	11.51	0.81	1.87	11.93	0.90	0.39	0.56	8.59	0.02	1.96
Owen County	24.50	0.29	8.69	0.78	1.18	11.22	0.78	0.39	0.64	7.31	0.04	3.22
Brown County	18.12	0.25	13.39	0.68	1.21	14.44	1.15	1.11	0.83	9.54	0.26	2.81

Comparisons to State Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Monroe County		78.90	128.19	103.10	107.27	87.24	142.01	102.54	172.41	123.19	154.47	148.43
Indiana		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		225.38	75.33	64.15	103.65	53.86	187.16	86.37	174.72	86.19	208.22	102.62
Morgan County		76.41	123.66	114.24	73.17	84.95	56.84	37.48	95.83	111.66	48.97	71.94
Jackson County		63.24	112.50	62.97	49.64	111.68	47.42	31.49	50.85	100.70	353.74	26.46
Lawrence County		114.69	174.32	78.69	90.68	82.44	81.24	25.71	70.06	139.10	95.13	95.11
Greene County		3.65	164.76	97.56	182.84	89.25	63.76	24.71	56.38	123.25	11.99	72.10
Owen County		166.07	124.31	93.83	115.48	83.97	55.75	24.74	64.62	104.91	22.71	118.60
Brown County		141.98	191.67	81.89	118.56	108.06	81.84	70.63	83.63	136.89	163.28	103.67

Comparisons to National Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Monroe County		35.01	170.16	160.70	103.49	161.98	75.88	118.73	98.68	142.94	74.19	144.64
Indiana		44.37	132.75	155.88	96.48	185.66	53.43	115.78	57.24	116.03	48.03	97.45
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Morgan County		33.90	164.16	178.07	70.59	157.72	30.37	43.40	54.85	129.56	23.52	70.10
Jackson County		28.06	149.34	98.15	47.89	207.35	25.34	36.45	29.10	116.83	169.89	25.79
Lawrence County		50.89	231.40	122.67	87.49	153.06	43.41	29.77	40.10	161.40	45.69	92.68
Greene County		1.62	218.71	152.07	176.40	165.70	34.07	28.61	32.27	143.00	5.76	70.26
Owen County		73.69	165.01	146.27	111.41	155.90	29.79	28.65	36.98	121.72	10.91	115.57
Brown County		63.00	254.43	127.66	114.38	200.63	43.73	81.78	47.87	158.82	78.42	101.02

Ancestry Report Part III
Description	Total Population	Chinese	Filipino	Japanese	Korean	Vietnamese	South Central Asian	South East Asian	Other Asian	Middle Eastern	Other Ancestry	Unknown

Monroe County	141,616	2,813	528	353	1,103	462	2,816	285	456	953	18,607	34,964
Indiana (in 000's)	6,972	31	17	6	11	9	57	33	12	19	819	1,736
National (in 000's)	343,251	4,461	3,010	793	1,541	1,913	5,452	1,643	1,229	1,931	47,322	51,000
Morgan County	74,237	89	82	6	17	0	33	80	62	36	5,662	31,032
Jackson County	48,019	1	77	401	7	26	222	8	35	16	5,930	12,490
Lawrence County	45,464	10	0	15	22	59	81	12	42	18	3,779	16,743
Greene County	31,364	11	22	0	13	0	0	1	34	2	2,381	12,444
Owen County	22,081	23	28	0	20	0	0	12	10	18	1,574	9,898
Brown County	15,739	0	23	0	12	0	0	37	4	1	1,162	5,380

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Monroe County	11.61	1.99	0.37	0.25	0.78	0.33	1.99	0.20	0.32	0.67	13.14	24.69
Indiana	11.72	0.44	0.24	0.09	0.16	0.13	0.82	0.47	0.17	0.27	11.74	24.90
National	7.83	1.30	0.88	0.23	0.45	0.56	1.59	0.48	0.36	0.56	13.79	14.86
Morgan County	22.58	0.12	0.11	0.01	0.02	0.00	0.04	0.11	0.08	0.05	7.63	41.80
Jackson County	13.71	0.00	0.16	0.84	0.01	0.05	0.46	0.02	0.07	0.03	12.35	26.01
Lawrence County	19.50	0.02	0.00	0.03	0.05	0.13	0.18	0.03	0.09	0.04	8.31	36.83
Greene County	21.27	0.04	0.07	0.00	0.04	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.11	0.01	7.59	39.68
Owen County	24.50	0.10	0.13	0.00	0.09	0.00	0.00	0.05	0.05	0.08	7.13	44.83
Brown County	18.12	0.00	0.15	0.00	0.08	0.00	0.00	0.24	0.03	0.01	7.38	34.18

Comparisons to State Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Monroe County		452.99	157.12	288.44	496.41	242.48	243.11	42.61	187.72	251.43	111.90	99.16
Indiana		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		296.38	369.59	267.29	286.20	414.22	194.19	101.34	208.81	210.15	117.41	59.67
Morgan County		27.34	46.55	9.35	14.60	0.00	5.43	22.82	48.69	18.12	64.95	167.88
Jackson County		0.47	67.58	966.34	9.29	40.25	56.52	3.53	42.49	12.45	105.17	104.46
Lawrence County		5.02	0.00	38.18	30.84	96.46	21.78	5.59	53.86	14.79	70.79	147.90
Greene County		8.00	29.56	0.00	26.42	0.00	0.00	0.68	63.20	2.38	64.65	159.35
Owen County		23.75	53.44	0.00	57.73	0.00	0.00	11.51	26.40	30.46	60.71	180.03
Brown County		0.00	61.58	0.00	48.59	0.00	0.00	49.78	14.82	2.37	62.87	137.28

Comparisons to National Norms	% to Total >= 150%		% to Total < 50%

Monroe County		152.84	42.51	107.91	173.45	58.54	125.19	42.05	89.90	119.64	95.30	166.17
Indiana		33.74	27.06	37.41	34.94	24.14	51.50	98.67	47.89	47.58	85.17	167.58
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Morgan County		9.22	12.59	3.50	5.10	0.00	2.80	22.51	23.32	8.62	55.32	281.34
Jackson County		0.16	18.28	361.53	3.25	9.72	29.11	3.48	20.35	5.92	89.58	175.06
Lawrence County		1.69	0.00	14.28	10.78	23.29	11.22	5.51	25.79	7.04	60.29	247.86
Greene County		2.70	8.00	0.00	9.23	0.00	0.00	0.67	30.27	1.13	55.07	267.04
Owen County		8.01	14.46	0.00	20.17	0.00	0.00	11.35	12.64	14.49	51.71	301.70
Brown County		0.00	16.66	0.00	16.98	0.00	0.00	49.12	7.10	1.13	53.55	230.06

Sources: STI: PopStats, Circa April 2025

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