I took the plunge nearly five years ago and had my DNA tested.

I wanted to do it for a long time but was hesitant.

Like many, I was fearful of learning what it might uncover.

I knew enough to be leery about possibilities, after having spent a lifetime in the news and information profession.

For instance, what if I’m descended from Jack the Ripper? Or related to Charles Manson? Not sure I want to know, but went ahead and did it anyway.

I was pleasantly surprised many weeks later when results arrived.

Ancestry.com showed that I’m the fourth great-grandson of Colonist Johannes Serfass of the Revolutionary War. He served with the 4th Battalion, Northampton County, Province of Pennsylvania.

I already knew all of that. But DNA confirmed it.

In fact, for this year’s 250th anniversary of our country, I plan to attend events to honor him and other members of the militia, minutemen and Continental Army.

More recently, evolving results of my DNA test uncovered surprises through the Family Search app.

They alerted me that I’m related to Queen Elizabeth II. We share the same ancestral great-grandparents and blood line.

Specifically, my 11th great-grandfather Randall Grosvenor II and wife Anne Charlton are the Queen’s 12th great-grandparents.

Family Search occasionally has errors. But the lineage was confirmed by Ancestry DNA and British Peerage.

So Queen Elizabeth Mary Windsor was my 12th cousin.

Of course, I wanted to find out how this was true. Which ancestor of mine had a touch of nobility?

Once again, DNA supplied the answer. And I didn’t have to look far back in time.

The connection is through Aaron Serfass of Palmerton, my great-grandfather. He married Rosanna Elizabeth Greenzweig, who had ancestral ties to British gentility.

And it gets even more interesting.

Aaron’s mother was Lydia Strohl. She shared ancestry with Winston Churchill, making Churchill my 11th cousin, according to Family Search.

There was some nobility in that line, too.

My 13th great-grandfather was William Douglas of Loch Leven Castle. He was Ninth Earl of Angus, Scotland, married to Countess Egida Graham. The couple had 13 sons and four daughters.

So I learned I have some Scottish heritage even though primarily German-Bavarian.

By the way, these connections don’t automatically make a person royalty. Royalty is reserved for the reigning monarch, family and direct descendants.

Even someone with a title of earl or countess isn’t considered royalty. But they are regarded as nobility or aristocracy. All of this is quite educational.

I’m having fun learning about the lives of all of these folks and others.

And while this information is noteworthy, I honestly believe these kinds of connections are fairly common. They might pertain equally to you as well.

Once you go back 400 years or so, everyone is related to everyone. Well, maybe not quite. But you get the idea.

The best way to find out is to have your DNA tested through one of the major genealogy services.

If you haven’t done so, go ahead and do it.

Don’t worry about a potential link to an unsavory character like Jack the Ripper. As they say, every tree has some sap in it.

I think of Ancestry DNA testing as an eye-opener. It’ll teach you about your country, your world and especially yourself.

You might even meet relatives you never knew.

Best of all, you’re bound to discover that it’s a small world after all.

Walt Disney was right.

By the way, he’s my 13th cousin.