Our ancestors are more than people. They are slices of times and places that we would know little or nothing about without them and we shouldn’t remain ignorant of those times and places despite them. They are our tour guides. We receive private showings of times and places that most people only vaguely realize exist. […]
Docents for Descendants Read More »
Today we look back on a moment when America and much of the world went into shock. Just about everyone old enough to have understood remembers what they were doing and where they were when they heard the news. I was living in Sweden then. Because of the time difference it was late in the
To pick up where I left off last week, after discussing yDNA and mtDNA, I should go over autosomal DNA, the vast majority of our genetic material. Autosomal DNA Autosomal DNA is a very different story from yDNA and mtDNA. On the plus side, autosomal DNA covers every line of our pedigrees, not just the
DNA—To Inherit or not to Inherit? Read More »
Last week’s post started out as just an example to use in a post about DNA in genealogy. The example grew and grew until it became a post of its own, so this week I’ll backtrack and just discuss a bit about DNA. This post has in turn grown out of control and I’ll have
On July 19, 1918 at about 2 am, a firing squad left a puzzle for DNA to solve. Over the previous eighteen months, Russia had undergone two revolutions, capitulated to Germany and suffered an ongoing civil war between communist and anti-communist armies. The first revolution led to the Tsar’s abdication. The second revolution and the
“Aunt Debbie” has been my nemesis for a while now. I’ve mentioned her before as I’ve tried to decide if she is a red herring or an important clue for a client. I know of her from letters that don’t tell me whose aunt she was, let alone how she might be related to one
School of Hard Knox Read More »
A neighbor and I just took a small herd of kids to one of my favorite living history sites, Old World Wisconsin. I’ve probably been there more than a half a dozen times over the years and like any good bit of living history, you learn something new every time if you keep your eyes
A Visit to the Old World Read More »
Well, well another blogyear has come and gone and sure enough my blogiversary is upon me. For the second time I get to put on my blogging party hat and celebrate just a bit. But first, as is traditional a short “real” post. (Ok, I did it this way for the one other blogiversary that
Should That Be Preserved and Blogiversary II Read More »
Everyone who researches their family history wants a good story. Almost everyone who finds a soldier in their family, at least secretly, hopes to find a good story of martial glory. Usually we don’t find those stories of glory but we at least come away with a story of a typical soldier who honorably did
Just, and Unjust, Deserts Read More »
When you are working on a tricky problem, some reticent relation for example, does it matter what information you find first? At first thought, it should not. Data is data and it ought not to matter what was the first bit gathered and what was the last bit. In the end there is a data
First Come, First Swerved Read More »