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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)

Rappahannock County	7,536	473	14	0	10	248	5	10	40	175	65	40
Virginia (in 000's)	8,893	582	19	6	172	223	326	155	66	1,026	341	252
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
Fauquier County	75,850	4,310	112	51	1,074	2,683	2,773	1,426	360	3,089	973	894
Culpeper County	56,430	4,144	119	24	1,180	2,001	3,964	554	336	4,728	1,292	1,130
Warren County	42,834	3,800	148	15	462	642	994	330	256	1,317	335	292
Page County	24,029	3,577	51	9	108	258	88	32	7	256	79	101
Madison County	14,361	1,426	10	1	123	242	49	47	24	670	242	206

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Rappahannock County	12.27	6.28	0.19	0.00	0.13	3.29	0.07	0.13	0.53	2.32	0.86	0.53
Virginia	8.45	6.55	0.21	0.07	1.93	2.51	3.66	1.74	0.74	11.53	3.83	2.83
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
Fauquier County	9.85	5.68	0.15	0.07	1.42	3.54	3.66	1.88	0.47	4.07	1.28	1.18
Culpeper County	10.20	7.34	0.21	0.04	2.09	3.55	7.02	0.98	0.60	8.38	2.29	2.00
Warren County	13.49	8.87	0.35	0.04	1.08	1.50	2.32	0.77	0.60	3.07	0.78	0.68
Page County	21.03	14.89	0.21	0.04	0.45	1.07	0.37	0.13	0.03	1.07	0.33	0.42
Madison County	15.81	9.93	0.07	0.01	0.86	1.69	0.34	0.33	0.17	4.67	1.69	1.43

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

Rappahannock County		95.83	87.08	0.00	6.87	131.24	1.81	7.62	71.37	20.14	22.53	18.77
Virginia		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		61.78	302.22	263.16	170.85	451.71	49.15	77.70	144.42	65.41	59.74	73.90
Fauquier County		86.76	69.21	96.96	73.31	141.07	99.78	107.97	63.82	35.31	33.50	41.67
Culpeper County		112.12	98.84	61.33	108.27	141.42	191.73	56.38	80.06	72.65	59.79	70.80
Warren County		135.45	161.95	50.50	55.84	59.77	63.34	44.24	80.36	26.66	20.42	24.10
Page County		227.28	99.48	54.01	23.27	42.82	10.00	7.65	3.92	9.24	8.59	14.86
Madison County		151.61	32.64	10.04	44.34	67.20	9.31	18.80	22.47	40.45	44.01	50.72

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

Rappahannock County		155.10	28.81	0.00	4.02	29.05	3.68	9.81	49.42	30.78	37.71	25.40
Virginia		161.85	33.09	38.00	58.53	22.14	203.46	128.70	69.24	152.88	167.39	135.32
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Fauquier County		140.42	22.90	36.85	42.91	31.23	203.02	138.96	44.19	53.99	56.08	56.39
Culpeper County		181.47	32.71	23.31	63.37	31.31	390.08	72.56	55.44	111.07	100.09	95.81
Warren County		219.23	53.59	19.19	32.68	13.23	128.86	56.94	55.64	40.76	34.19	32.62
Page County		367.86	32.92	20.52	13.62	9.48	20.34	9.84	2.71	14.12	14.37	20.11
Madison County		245.38	10.80	3.82	25.95	14.88	18.95	24.19	15.56	61.85	73.67	68.63

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

Rappahannock County	7,536	26	1,041	22	113	851	243	123	159	987	0	320
Virginia (in 000's)	8,893	21	591	30	62	457	162	69	77	533	24	218
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
Fauquier County	75,850	249	7,758	442	763	6,541	2,115	1,108	1,405	7,470	162	2,689
Culpeper County	56,430	192	4,036	111	484	3,265	1,034	574	569	3,182	49	1,551
Warren County	42,834	374	3,359	300	342	4,037	832	338	410	4,637	206	1,067
Page County	24,029	22	2,312	34	150	3,071	285	73	176	1,278	29	314
Madison County	14,361	0	1,668	34	106	1,330	143	45	116	1,037	18	323

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Rappahannock County	12.27	0.35	13.81	0.29	1.50	11.29	3.22	1.63	2.11	13.10	0.00	4.25
Virginia	8.45	0.23	6.64	0.33	0.70	5.14	1.82	0.77	0.87	6.00	0.27	2.45
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
Fauquier County	9.85	0.33	10.23	0.58	1.01	8.62	2.79	1.46	1.85	9.85	0.21	3.55
Culpeper County	10.20	0.34	7.15	0.20	0.86	5.79	1.83	1.02	1.01	5.64	0.09	2.75
Warren County	13.49	0.87	7.84	0.70	0.80	9.42	1.94	0.79	0.96	10.83	0.48	2.49
Page County	21.03	0.09	9.62	0.14	0.62	12.78	1.19	0.30	0.73	5.32	0.12	1.31
Madison County	15.81	0.00	11.61	0.24	0.74	9.26	1.00	0.31	0.81	7.22	0.13	2.25

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

Rappahannock County		147.98	208.03	87.36	214.60	219.80	176.98	210.62	243.80	218.40	0.00	173.62
Virginia		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		168.72	79.27	159.36	151.84	140.11	144.35	175.45	200.93	100.20	124.06	113.92
Fauquier County		140.81	154.03	174.38	143.96	167.85	153.04	188.50	214.04	164.23	79.76	144.95
Culpeper County		145.94	107.71	58.86	122.75	112.62	100.57	131.26	116.52	94.03	32.43	112.38
Warren County		374.51	118.10	209.58	114.27	183.45	106.61	101.83	110.61	180.52	179.60	101.85
Page County		39.27	144.90	42.34	89.34	248.76	65.10	39.20	84.64	88.69	45.07	53.43
Madison County		0.00	174.91	70.85	105.63	180.26	54.65	40.44	93.34	120.41	46.81	91.96

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

Rappahannock County		87.71	262.42	54.82	141.33	156.88	122.61	120.05	121.34	217.97	0.00	152.41
Virginia		59.27	126.14	62.75	65.86	71.37	69.28	57.00	49.77	99.80	80.61	87.78
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Fauquier County		83.46	194.30	109.42	94.81	119.80	106.02	107.44	106.53	163.90	64.29	127.24
Culpeper County		86.50	135.87	36.94	80.84	80.38	69.67	74.82	57.99	93.85	26.14	98.65
Warren County		221.98	148.97	131.51	75.25	130.93	73.86	58.04	55.05	180.17	144.78	89.41
Page County		23.28	182.78	26.57	58.84	177.55	45.10	22.34	42.12	88.52	36.33	46.90
Madison County		0.00	220.64	44.46	69.57	128.66	37.86	23.05	46.45	120.18	37.73	80.73

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

Rappahannock County	7,536	1	0	36	0	0	0	0	3	5	787	1,739
Virginia (in 000's)	8,893	80	79	12	78	67	223	44	41	74	1,377	1,409
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
Fauquier County	75,850	179	179	78	248	151	278	105	57	208	10,987	14,933
Culpeper County	56,430	231	14	1	102	17	120	111	163	434	8,904	11,814
Warren County	42,834	75	58	12	58	9	213	57	14	100	5,690	12,055
Page County	24,029	7	23	4	11	0	31	19	9	116	2,167	9,332
Madison County	14,361	1	0	0	4	0	41	1	26	22	1,854	4,552

Per Cent to Total Population	Diversity Index

Rappahannock County	12.27	0.01	0.00	0.48	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.04	0.07	10.44	23.08
Virginia	8.45	0.89	0.89	0.13	0.87	0.75	2.51	0.50	0.46	0.83	15.48	15.84
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
Fauquier County	9.85	0.24	0.24	0.10	0.33	0.20	0.37	0.14	0.08	0.27	14.49	19.69
Culpeper County	10.20	0.41	0.02	0.00	0.18	0.03	0.21	0.20	0.29	0.77	15.78	20.94
Warren County	13.49	0.18	0.14	0.03	0.14	0.02	0.50	0.13	0.03	0.23	13.28	28.14
Page County	21.03	0.03	0.10	0.02	0.05	0.00	0.13	0.08	0.04	0.48	9.02	38.84
Madison County	15.81	0.01	0.00	0.00	0.03	0.00	0.29	0.01	0.18	0.15	12.91	31.70

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

Rappahannock County		1.48	0.00	366.43	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	8.59	7.95	67.45	145.66
Virginia		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
National		145.22	98.63	177.18	51.35	73.84	63.27	96.58	77.26	67.41	89.04	93.79
Fauquier County		26.37	26.54	78.88	37.39	26.38	14.60	27.93	16.21	32.86	93.55	124.27
Culpeper County		45.74	2.79	1.36	20.67	3.99	8.47	39.69	62.31	92.17	101.91	132.15
Warren County		19.56	15.23	21.49	15.48	2.78	19.81	26.85	7.05	27.98	85.79	177.65
Page County		3.26	10.76	12.77	5.24	0.00	5.14	15.96	8.08	57.85	58.25	245.14
Madison County		0.78	0.00	0.00	3.19	0.00	11.37	1.41	39.05	18.36	83.38	200.08

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

Rappahannock County		1.02	0.00	206.81	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	11.11	11.80	75.75	155.31
Virginia		68.86	101.39	56.44	194.73	135.43	158.05	103.54	129.44	148.36	112.31	106.63
National		100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00	100.00
Fauquier County		18.16	26.91	44.52	72.81	35.72	23.08	28.92	20.98	48.75	105.07	132.51
Culpeper County		31.50	2.83	0.77	40.25	5.41	13.39	41.10	80.65	136.74	114.45	140.91
Warren County		13.47	15.44	12.13	30.15	3.77	31.31	27.80	9.13	41.51	96.35	189.42
Page County		2.24	10.91	7.21	10.19	0.00	8.12	16.52	10.46	85.83	65.41	261.38
Madison County		0.54	0.00	0.00	6.20	0.00	17.97	1.45	50.55	27.24	93.64	213.33

Sources: STI: PopStats, Circa April 2025

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