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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)

Lawrence County	28,584	1,055	544	17	181	728	25	2	90	55	56	14
South Dakota (in 000's)	930	34	73	0	5	25	8	1	3	10	8	2
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
Pennington County	116,284	3,666	10,618	77	795	4,531	248	268	331	805	302	315
Meade County	30,955	1,450	750	41	299	971	59	10	55	267	123	59
Butte County	10,826	569	209	7	47	277	0	0	116	5	0	1
Crook County	7,944	394	47	10	6	93	20	1	19	0	0	0
Weston County	6,909	267	152	13	18	212	33	0	4	10	3	3

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Lawrence County	13.32	3.69	1.90	0.06	0.63	2.55	0.09	0.01	0.31	0.19	0.20	0.05
South Dakota	12.27	3.66	7.82	0.05	0.55	2.66	0.83	0.14	0.28	1.04	0.83	0.18
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
Pennington County	10.87	3.15	9.13	0.07	0.68	3.90	0.21	0.23	0.28	0.69	0.26	0.27
Meade County	13.49	4.68	2.42	0.13	0.97	3.14	0.19	0.03	0.18	0.86	0.40	0.19
Butte County	11.75	5.26	1.93	0.06	0.43	2.56	0.00	0.00	1.07	0.05	0.00	0.01
Crook County	15.22	4.96	0.59	0.13	0.08	1.17	0.25	0.01	0.24	0.00	0.00	0.00
Weston County	13.54	3.86	2.20	0.19	0.26	3.07	0.48	0.00	0.06	0.14	0.04	0.04

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

Lawrence County		100.94	24.32	112.40	114.88	95.89	10.58	4.96	111.15	18.43	23.57	27.03
South Dakota		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		110.67	8.24	344.87	598.70	426.44	217.74	958.84	379.16	722.59	275.16	1,153.35
Pennington County		86.22	116.70	125.14	124.04	146.70	25.79	163.33	100.48	66.31	31.24	149.48
Meade County		128.10	30.97	250.31	175.24	118.10	23.05	22.89	62.72	82.62	47.80	105.18
Butte County		143.74	24.67	122.20	78.77	96.33	0.00	0.00	378.24	4.42	0.00	5.10
Crook County		135.64	7.56	237.90	13.70	44.08	30.44	8.92	84.43	0.00	0.00	0.00
Weston County		105.69	28.12	355.60	47.27	115.52	57.75	0.00	20.44	13.86	5.22	23.96

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

Lawrence County		91.21	295.16	32.59	19.19	22.49	4.86	0.52	29.31	2.55	8.56	2.34
South Dakota		90.36	1,213.45	29.00	16.70	23.45	45.93	10.43	26.37	13.84	36.34	8.67
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Pennington County		77.91	1,416.14	36.29	20.72	34.40	11.84	17.03	26.50	9.18	11.35	12.96
Meade County		115.75	375.76	72.58	29.27	27.69	10.58	2.39	16.54	11.43	17.37	9.12
Butte County		129.88	299.41	35.43	13.16	22.59	0.00	0.00	99.76	0.61	0.00	0.44
Crook County		122.56	91.76	68.98	2.29	10.34	13.98	0.93	22.27	0.00	0.00	0.00
Weston County		95.50	341.20	103.11	7.89	27.09	26.52	0.00	5.39	1.92	1.90	2.08

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

Lawrence County	28,584	260	1,985	415	409	6,444	291	272	3,484	2,685	83	1,201
South Dakota (in 000's)	930	2	40	23	10	215	7	8	102	56	2	28
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
Pennington County	116,284	385	7,344	1,631	1,707	21,377	1,514	1,175	9,896	9,009	505	3,744
Meade County	30,955	213	1,576	366	380	6,666	324	415	2,878	2,464	37	1,052
Butte County	10,826	69	781	158	171	2,024	228	170	1,165	938	86	633
Crook County	7,944	87	866	112	83	1,902	64	62	818	756	0	131
Weston County	6,909	33	984	75	98	1,334	89	87	404	601	16	171

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Lawrence County	13.32	0.91	6.94	1.45	1.43	22.54	1.02	0.95	12.19	9.39	0.29	4.20
South Dakota	12.27	0.26	4.29	2.50	1.12	23.11	0.70	0.83	11.00	6.01	0.19	3.02
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
Pennington County	10.87	0.33	6.32	1.40	1.47	18.38	1.30	1.01	8.51	7.75	0.43	3.22
Meade County	13.49	0.69	5.09	1.18	1.23	21.53	1.05	1.34	9.30	7.96	0.12	3.40
Butte County	11.75	0.64	7.21	1.46	1.58	18.70	2.11	1.57	10.76	8.66	0.79	5.85
Crook County	15.22	1.10	10.90	1.41	1.04	23.94	0.81	0.78	10.30	9.52	0.00	1.65
Weston County	13.54	0.48	14.24	1.09	1.42	19.31	1.29	1.26	5.85	8.70	0.23	2.48

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

Lawrence County		349.34	162.00	58.11	127.32	97.53	145.05	114.97	110.83	156.38	155.89	139.30
South Dakota		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		151.07	122.80	21.31	94.40	31.14	374.71	164.26	15.81	100.03	178.33	92.37
Pennington County		127.16	147.33	56.14	130.62	79.53	185.51	122.08	77.39	128.98	233.14	106.75
Meade County		264.27	118.77	47.32	109.23	93.16	149.13	161.98	84.54	132.51	64.17	112.67
Butte County		244.78	168.29	58.41	140.54	80.88	300.07	189.72	97.85	144.24	426.46	193.86
Crook County		420.61	254.31	56.43	92.97	103.58	114.79	94.29	93.63	158.43	0.00	54.67
Weston County		183.44	332.25	43.45	126.21	83.53	183.54	152.14	53.17	144.81	124.32	82.06

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

Lawrence County		231.25	131.92	272.62	134.86	313.19	38.71	69.99	700.96	156.33	87.41	150.81
South Dakota		66.19	81.43	469.17	105.93	321.12	26.69	60.88	632.44	99.97	56.07	108.26
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Pennington County		84.17	119.98	263.37	138.36	255.39	49.51	74.32	489.42	128.94	130.73	115.56
Meade County		174.94	96.72	222.02	115.70	299.16	39.80	98.61	534.69	132.47	35.98	121.98
Butte County		162.04	137.05	274.05	148.88	259.73	80.08	115.50	618.87	144.20	239.14	209.86
Crook County		278.42	207.09	264.74	98.48	332.62	30.63	57.40	592.18	158.38	0.00	59.19
Weston County		121.43	270.56	203.84	133.69	268.23	48.98	92.62	336.28	144.77	69.71	88.83

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

Lawrence County	28,584	58	41	8	24	0	15	8	28	27	2,122	5,957
South Dakota (in 000's)	930	1	2	1	1	1	3	3	1	2	84	170
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
Pennington County	116,284	66	581	164	148	24	164	251	55	268	14,142	20,178
Meade County	30,955	43	91	30	12	25	2	21	34	35	2,822	7,385
Butte County	10,826	1	5	0	11	0	15	0	7	0	892	2,241
Crook County	7,944	0	11	0	0	15	0	0	0	0	598	1,849
Weston County	6,909	11	0	1	0	0	2	22	0	2	672	1,592

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Lawrence County	13.32	0.20	0.14	0.03	0.08	0.00	0.05	0.03	0.10	0.09	7.42	20.84
South Dakota	12.27	0.15	0.24	0.06	0.12	0.13	0.33	0.31	0.13	0.18	9.04	18.24
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
Pennington County	10.87	0.06	0.50	0.14	0.13	0.02	0.14	0.22	0.05	0.23	12.16	17.35
Meade County	13.49	0.14	0.29	0.10	0.04	0.08	0.01	0.07	0.11	0.11	9.12	23.86
Butte County	11.75	0.01	0.05	0.00	0.10	0.00	0.14	0.00	0.06	0.00	8.24	20.70
Crook County	15.22	0.00	0.14	0.00	0.00	0.19	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	7.53	23.28
Weston County	13.54	0.16	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.32	0.00	0.03	9.73	23.04

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

Lawrence County		131.57	60.29	49.76	70.84	0.00	16.05	9.02	73.45	52.47	82.09	114.28
South Dakota		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		842.70	368.66	410.66	378.88	418.89	485.80	154.31	268.57	312.42	152.45	81.47
Pennington County		36.80	210.02	250.74	107.39	15.51	43.14	69.59	35.47	128.01	134.48	95.15
Meade County		90.07	123.57	172.30	32.71	60.71	1.98	21.87	82.36	62.80	100.81	130.82
Butte County		5.99	19.41	0.00	85.73	0.00	42.38	0.00	48.48	0.00	91.11	113.51
Crook County		0.00	58.21	0.00	0.00	141.93	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	83.24	127.63
Weston County		103.23	0.00	25.73	0.00	0.00	8.85	102.66	0.00	16.08	107.55	126.35

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

Lawrence County		15.61	16.36	12.12	18.70	0.00	3.30	5.85	27.35	16.79	53.85	140.26
South Dakota		11.87	27.13	24.35	26.39	23.87	20.58	64.80	37.23	32.01	65.60	122.74
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Pennington County		4.37	56.97	61.06	28.34	3.70	8.88	45.10	13.21	40.98	88.21	116.79
Meade County		10.69	33.52	41.96	8.63	14.49	0.41	14.17	30.67	20.10	66.13	160.57
Butte County		0.71	5.27	0.00	22.63	0.00	8.72	0.00	18.05	0.00	59.76	139.32
Crook County		0.00	15.79	0.00	0.00	33.88	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	54.60	156.65
Weston County		12.25	0.00	6.27	0.00	0.00	1.82	66.53	0.00	5.15	70.55	155.08

Sources: STI: PopStats, Circa April 2025

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