tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17066858062167475832024-03-14T00:20:54.893-05:00SallySearchesSallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comBlogger306125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-28248582294492129352018-02-25T14:09:00.001-06:002018-02-25T14:09:42.906-06:00How Many Ancestors: 2018 EditionFinally!<br />
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Here is my update to the ongoing "how many ancestors have you identified" quest.<br />
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The idea is to list the "known by name" ancestors at each genealogical level: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. As the potential ancestors double and the available records decrease over time, the challenge increases. Let's check mine and see what I've found.<br />
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Here's my chart from 2017:<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eoKXixavYQ0/WGr1AMsTqjI/AAAAAAAAD3c/JPwc_HeW9CoEQOvydIRjc3_RMiD1tOfkgCLcB/s1600/2017%2Bancestors.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eoKXixavYQ0/WGr1AMsTqjI/AAAAAAAAD3c/JPwc_HeW9CoEQOvydIRjc3_RMiD1tOfkgCLcB/s640/2017%2Bancestors.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And here is 2018's:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EyXiVLvZrWA/WpMOgW5v5hI/AAAAAAAAD_A/CoUWcwuc4505Fzfz5GVX6U-ijJzZERgowCLcBGAs/s1600/Ancestral%2BNumber%2Bin%2BProgress%2B%2B%2B2018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="624" height="230" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-EyXiVLvZrWA/WpMOgW5v5hI/AAAAAAAAD_A/CoUWcwuc4505Fzfz5GVX6U-ijJzZERgowCLcBGAs/s640/Ancestral%2BNumber%2Bin%2BProgress%2B%2B%2B2018.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Some improvement...</b></span><br />
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In blue above are the generations where I found new ancestors over the last year.<br />
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In Level 7, the 4x great-grandparents, I made zero progress. The missing ancestors are my Irish lines. I may be forever stuck here. I have some new leads, but they are still speculative.<br />
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In Levels 8, 9 and 10, I located new records for my maternal grandmother's West Prussian family. I had great success <a href="https://sallysearches.blogspot.com/2017/01/how-many-ancestors-2017-edition.html" target="_blank">with her Wuerttemburg lines in 2017</a>, and now Ancestry added West Prussian microfilms that I had rented years ago, but were now much more complete and had some search capabilities. Many of these records are from what is now Poland.<br />
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Numberswise, I added 2 percentage points to my total, and now know fully a third of ten generations of ancestors (including me!) by name. Not bad!<br />
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I know were aren't supposed to be name collectors, but I enjoy this post every year ;)<br />
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One great record I found was the marriage of a pair of 7th great-grandparents, Marcin Mazciewski to Maria Nyckzynski, in <a href="https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/20829023" target="_blank">Sommerau, Kries Rosenberg, West Prussia</a> in 1744. I love how the marriages are just squeaked in on the page:<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j800rP65AKA/WpMTjYw5CzI/AAAAAAAAD_c/jgxjAWFflpgWYJTL0al3qYsu6f125lxuACLcBGAs/s1600/InkedMacz%2Band%2BBrant%2Bms%2B1744%2Bedit2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="954" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-j800rP65AKA/WpMTjYw5CzI/AAAAAAAAD_c/jgxjAWFflpgWYJTL0al3qYsu6f125lxuACLcBGAs/s400/InkedMacz%2Band%2BBrant%2Bms%2B1744%2Bedit2.jpg" width="237" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V-MCWPT9vjI/WpMTa_pgYVI/AAAAAAAAD_Y/w8teaXTB96EYLSqx6M2p5ltSw1uIDA9EgCLcBGAs/s1600/Macz%2BNyk%2Bmarr%2B1744.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="575" data-original-width="323" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V-MCWPT9vjI/WpMTa_pgYVI/AAAAAAAAD_Y/w8teaXTB96EYLSqx6M2p5ltSw1uIDA9EgCLcBGAs/s400/Macz%2BNyk%2Bmarr%2B1744.jpg" width="223" /></a></div>
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Happy Belated New Year and Happy Searching!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2018 Sally Knudsen</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Snips: </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #36322d;">Ancestry.com. </span><em style="background-color: white; box-sizing: inherit; color: #36322d;">Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1518-1921</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #36322d;"> [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2017.</span></span></span>SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-80750626380129050962018-01-08T06:30:00.000-06:002018-01-08T06:30:02.471-06:00#52Ancestors Favorite PhotoChoosing just one <b>favorite photo</b> is tough!<br />
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This is a photo I snapped of my sons (who are now young men) in front of the gravestone of their 4x great-grandparents, Wright and Sally (Joslin) Spencer. Sally died in 1895 and Wright in 1899.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wteMS7yOlWw/U2warRsUVQI/AAAAAAAADIY/spt-Iu6CThMIo1xaugaCM8AkBFLOfEaGwCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/boys%2Bwright030.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="551" height="640" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wteMS7yOlWw/U2warRsUVQI/AAAAAAAADIY/spt-Iu6CThMIo1xaugaCM8AkBFLOfEaGwCPcBGAYYCw/s640/boys%2Bwright030.jpg" width="440" /></a></div>
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Wright Spencer was the guy who started it all for me. Taking my sons to "meet" him didn't mean much to them but it did to me. I'm so glad I have this photo!<br />
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Wright and Sally are maternal ancestors, and are buried in Rowley Cemetery in Locke Township, Ingham County, Michigan.<br />
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<br />SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-3156267663623417322018-01-03T15:17:00.000-06:002018-01-03T15:17:31.605-06:00#52Ancestors 2018 Version: StartHappy New Year!<div>
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I have decided to <b>start</b> the 52 Ancestors challenge by <a href="https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/#more-3982" target="_blank">Amy Johnson Crow</a>.</div>
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The first prompt is <b>start</b>. Just blogging again is a big <b>start</b>. Sadly, I only managed 5 posts last year. While I have been researching all along, I found that my real life was getting more challenging. I anticipate 2018 will be even more so. Getting back to blogging will be a fresh <b>start</b> for me, and a way to retreat from the real world (in a good way!).</div>
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I do maintain a website of my ancestors here at <a href="http://sallysearches.com/">sallysearches.com</a>.</div>
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I also completed a 52 Ancestors Challenge in 2014. Here's the <a href="http://sallysearches.blogspot.com/2014/12/52ancestors-52-big-bad-2014-challenge.html" target="_blank">wrapup</a>.</div>
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I'm not sure how I will approach this version, but mulling it around in my head is a good <b>start</b>! Thanks for following along and I'll see many of you out there. Cheers!</div>
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<i>-Sally</i></div>
SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-39147702437496804812017-05-24T20:20:00.000-05:002017-05-24T20:20:20.093-05:00Luck of MY Irish<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z9u46K1_R5A/WSYpyiago5I/AAAAAAAAD6c/6dMDfDirR-4SGS_14bGzi6WL158U5fZPQCEw/s1600/Tyrone_arms.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="256" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z9u46K1_R5A/WSYpyiago5I/AAAAAAAAD6c/6dMDfDirR-4SGS_14bGzi6WL158U5fZPQCEw/s200/Tyrone_arms.svg.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>County Tyrone coat of arms</i></td></tr>
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<span id="goog_641852603"></span>I've always known I was of Irish descent. It was nice of my various DNA tests to confirm it. The testing companies show my ancestral heritage to be about 50% Irish. Most of it is from my dad's family.<br />
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I always had trouble actually FINDING my Irish ancestors. As more and more records became available, I did. They led me on a hunt for <b>McBride</b>s from Illinois to Birtley in County Durham, England and finally to County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. But like many researchers, this is where I got stuck.<br />
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Knowing County Tyrone was pretty cool, but not quite enough. I wanted to know where. Like, <i>exactly</i> where? Like, <i>what parish and townland</i> where?<br />
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DNA to the Rescue</h3>
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I've done DNA testing everywhere possible. It's been more than four years since I got my first set of results back, and at times it can be tedious and frustrating. I hope to use my DNA to map my entire chromosome and use those segment matches to locate other distant relatives and confirm ancestries. </div>
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I have never been a died-in-the-wool fan of AncestryDNA due to its lack of segment data and spotty messaging system. I continue to pursue matches there but don't expect much. However... I did have a breakthrough!</div>
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Last October, I had a new "third cousin" named Jessica show up in my results. She did not match my mom, who also tested at Ancestry, so this was intriguing. She had a handful of people in her tree from Chicago. She also had some unique names I could trace back to Joliet, Illinois, where my dad and I were born. Yet, I still didn't recognize the names. I sent Jessica a message and didn't hear a thing. Typical. I waited another month and sent a second. Still nothing.</div>
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In April, Jessica wrote back.</div>
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***<i>pick me up off the floor</i>***</div>
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She apologized for just receiving my messages and for not really understanding how to reply within the system (see, Ancestry 😠).</div>
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We discovered we are second cousins once removed (2C1R) through our shared McBride ancestor, <a href="http://sallysearches.blogspot.com/2014/08/52ancestors-33-john-joseph-mcbride.html" target="_blank">John Joseph</a>.</div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ws-xGfy23aA/WSYZHdO0pYI/AAAAAAAAD6I/Yc__mxKOqKsyx0sV1OAwHZUTMz9P7zq8ACLcB/s1600/AncestryDNA%2BMatch%2BDetails%2BIreland.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="492" data-original-width="1242" height="252" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ws-xGfy23aA/WSYZHdO0pYI/AAAAAAAAD6I/Yc__mxKOqKsyx0sV1OAwHZUTMz9P7zq8ACLcB/s640/AncestryDNA%2BMatch%2BDetails%2BIreland.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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These are the only matches Jessica and I have in common. I had written to WM via his wife and learned we had emailed many years ago. WM is also a McBride descendant but his wife, the family historian, was stuck at the same place as me. They, however, still live in County Durham. Their daughter Jess had also tested.</div>
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Then I wrote to John. John had no tree but since he already matched two known McBride cousins, it was worth a shot. Two days later, I heard from John. He likely had to be picked up off of <i>his</i> floor! </div>
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Here is the McBride descent and DNA tree:</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ATSkGohKhcs/WSYN-fb4-8I/AAAAAAAAD5w/aCHuEq-0TOgN4T2nan7oUgKmYjgOBgmiACEw/s1600/McBride%2BDNA%2Btesters.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="405" data-original-width="712" height="363" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ATSkGohKhcs/WSYN-fb4-8I/AAAAAAAAD5w/aCHuEq-0TOgN4T2nan7oUgKmYjgOBgmiACEw/s640/McBride%2BDNA%2Btesters.jpeg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Blue and pink are the ancestor and known children; green are descendant DNA testers</i></td></tr>
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Bridget McBride married in Ireland. Alexander, Jane, Daniel, and Edward all married in Birtley and all named Daniel as their father. They all lived near each other and worked in various mines.</div>
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From my new cousin John I learned that his great-grandfather Felix was sent back to Ireland after his parents had a number of children die. They hoped for a better life for him. He eventually married and emigrated to Scotland. My ancestor Daniel did similarly: he and Mary Ann lost their first two children to scarlet fever, then sailed for America in 1880 with their surviving son, John.</div>
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John and I exchanged a number of emails with records and family stories. His mother is 93 and she thought she was the last of the McBrides. Surprise! I also learned that when Felix was sent back to Ireland, it was to where Alexander came from - Dunnamore.</div>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KViiBZ5ykN4/WSYN7N1tvQI/AAAAAAAAD5w/AA3TSoSdtZkgMm501tOyp0baIR1bdF_KwCEw/s1600/Dunnamore%2B%2B%2BGoogle%2BMaps.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="582" data-original-width="468" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KViiBZ5ykN4/WSYN7N1tvQI/AAAAAAAAD5w/AA3TSoSdtZkgMm501tOyp0baIR1bdF_KwCEw/s400/Dunnamore%2B%2B%2BGoogle%2BMaps.jpeg" width="321" /></a></div>
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Dunnamore is a village located in Kildress Parish near the city of Cookstown, almost centrally located in Northern Ireland. It even has a neolithic stone circle called Beaghmore. Swoon.</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GTnB60FZfGs/WSYVa8_9lEI/AAAAAAAAD58/0oBV0tFtHtcXVLr1U9jLx94r7ibvrcXVwCLcB/s1600/Beaghmore_Stone_Circles_and_Standing_stones_-_geograph.org.uk_-_112215.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABeaghmore_Stone_Circles_and_Standing_stones_-_geograph.org.uk_-_112215.jpg" border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="640" height="339" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GTnB60FZfGs/WSYVa8_9lEI/AAAAAAAAD58/0oBV0tFtHtcXVLr1U9jLx94r7ibvrcXVwCLcB/s640/Beaghmore_Stone_Circles_and_Standing_stones_-_geograph.org.uk_-_112215.jpg" title="Beaghmore Stone Circles" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Beaghmore Stone Circle</i></td></tr>
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I have more work to do to find traces of my McBrides in Ireland. The teen and young adult siblings left Ireland for England between 1851 (not on the UK census) and 1861 (all on the UK census). Did their parents, or at least Daniel as head of household, die and the famine forced an exodus? Griffith's Valuation was in its early stages and doesn't show a Daniel in Kildress. The <a href="http://www.nli.ie/en/parish-register.aspx" target="_blank">Catholic parish registers at the National Library of Ireland</a> do not have any of the siblings' birth records in Kildress. The search goes on. </div>
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For now, I'm happy to have Dunnamore as an ancestral home.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2017 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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***<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Coat of arms courtesy Kanchelskis [CC BY-SA 2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Beaghmore photo courtesy Kenneth Allen [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">***</span></div>
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SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-89309949891668037632017-03-16T19:42:00.000-05:002017-03-16T19:44:50.241-05:00Spencer DNAMy bucket list "who are your parents?" ancestor is my 4th great-grandfather, Asa SPENCER. <a href="http://sallysearches.blogspot.com/2014/12/52ancestors-49-brick-wall-alert-asa.html" target="_blank">His story is here</a> and <a href="http://sallysearches.com/getperson.php?personID=I377&tree=Main" target="_blank">his database information is here.</a> And seriously, I'm not getting any younger...<br />
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With so many different DNA testing sites, you can only use the tools each has available. My mom Jo (a Spencer descendant) and I both tested at Ancestry. As we all know, Ancestry will not provide us nerds with a chromosome browser or segments, so we have to make do. Ancestry does provide us with "Shared Matches" and the total centimorgans (cMs) and number of segments shared with a match. Using those tools, I created this spreadsheet, read from bottom to top:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0VTpCicJuQ8/WMsbnDiYDQI/AAAAAAAAD44/NYxXbyf12qY4PI8VzAmKKTtVpcf73DeogCLcB/s1600/Spencer%2BDNA%2Bmatches%2B%2B%2BGoogle%2BSheets.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="412" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0VTpCicJuQ8/WMsbnDiYDQI/AAAAAAAAD44/NYxXbyf12qY4PI8VzAmKKTtVpcf73DeogCLcB/s640/Spencer%2BDNA%2Bmatches%2B%2B%2BGoogle%2BSheets.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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My legend:</div>
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Bold denotes those who have tested at Ancestry</div>
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Total cMs and number of segments, provided by Ancestry, as matched to my mom Jo</div>
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Orange = all shared matches with Aleta</div>
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Blue = all shared matches with RH</div>
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Green = all shared matches with Eleda</div>
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Red = all shared matches with RC</div>
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Black = all shared matches with Ed S</div>
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Everyone here matches my mom Jo</div>
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What I tried to do in my head was visualize how these mini-groups of people matched each other. And what prompted the visualization was the recurring matches to the various HULING descendants. Ooh, a pattern! I had no Hulings in my own research, nor do my known cousins here, Eleda, Aleta, and RC, all of whom I have corresponded with and can verify descent from my Asa Spencer.</div>
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The testers RH and Katie show up as the first 4th cousin matches in my mom's Shared Matches list. None appear to have transferred to Gedmatch or FTDNA. Of course, I have messaged all of the other testers to no avail, which led me to the spreadsheet. </div>
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Honestly, I think I did a pretty good job transferring my musings to paper.</div>
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Tell me what you think. Do you think I should pursue a relationship between the Spencers and Hulings? If so, what might the relationship be? Where else in the tree should I look? What else can I do to help determine Asa's parents? Is this a legit way to show relationships without segments? Help me, DNA!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2017 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-52827177000550561502017-02-01T20:32:00.001-06:002017-02-01T20:32:08.134-06:00Test Post 2This is a test. Again. Sorry ;)SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-3627202126733554822017-01-29T13:01:00.002-06:002017-01-29T13:01:25.652-06:00Test PostThis is a test.<br />
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I previously used a client to forward my blog posts to Twitter...and then it shut down. I have registered with dlvr.it. And my first post came up with duplicate appendages:<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h06fMqIM-6k/WI47m_z_AyI/AAAAAAAAD4U/Q9PW8VhhdDconU2Skdg5Etlh4uPypZnOgCLcB/s1600/Sally%2B%25E2%259C%258A%2B%2B%2BSallyOnTheGo%2B%2B%2B%2BTwitter.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="348" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-h06fMqIM-6k/WI47m_z_AyI/AAAAAAAAD4U/Q9PW8VhhdDconU2Skdg5Etlh4uPypZnOgCLcB/s640/Sally%2B%25E2%259C%258A%2B%2B%2BSallyOnTheGo%2B%2B%2B%2BTwitter.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Trying again. I checked the settings and they only appear once.<br />
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If they duplicate again, any ideas?SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-37042160689801398142017-01-02T19:30:00.000-06:002017-01-02T19:30:34.418-06:00How Many Ancestors: 2017 EditionHappy New Year!<br />
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My first post of 2017 is an update to the ongoing "how many ancestors have you identified" quest.<br />
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The idea is to list the "known by name" ancestors at each genealogical level: parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc. As the potential ancestors double and the available records decrease over time, let's check mine and see where my research challenges are.<br />
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I realize now that I didn't do this assessment in 2016, so this will be two year's worth of progress. And progress there was!<br />
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Here's my chart from 2015:<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RxYOH3Jlo8I/WGr1AJxZI7I/AAAAAAAAD3g/nzeQgqrl6507Ple4Lmr-9qDAWtU980MAwCEw/s1600/2015%2Bancestors.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RxYOH3Jlo8I/WGr1AJxZI7I/AAAAAAAAD3g/nzeQgqrl6507Ple4Lmr-9qDAWtU980MAwCEw/s640/2015%2Bancestors.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And here is 2017's:<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eoKXixavYQ0/WGr1AMsTqjI/AAAAAAAAD3c/JPwc_HeW9CoEQOvydIRjc3_RMiD1tOfkgCLcB/s1600/2017%2Bancestors.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eoKXixavYQ0/WGr1AMsTqjI/AAAAAAAAD3c/JPwc_HeW9CoEQOvydIRjc3_RMiD1tOfkgCLcB/s640/2017%2Bancestors.jpeg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Go me!</b></span><br />
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In green above are the generations where I found new ancestors over the past two years.<br />
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In Level 7, the 4x great-grandparents, I made zero progress. The missing ancestors are my Irish lines. I may be forever stuck here.<br />
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In Level 8, the 5x great-grandparents, I made a LOT of progress, mostly filling in information through further research. This includes finding books on my colonial American lines, and locating more records in my French-Canadian lines.<br />
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The biggest jump is in the last group, the 7x great-grandparents. I quadrupled 2015's number. This is almost singularly due to <a href="http://sallysearches.blogspot.com/2016/12/in-cave-in-germany.html" target="_blank">my big break</a> in my maternal grandmother's Wurttemberg lines. Once I broke through that brick wall this summer, the records filled in so much history. I wish you all would have Wurttemberg Lutheran ancestors, because...wow.<br />
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When I first did this exercise in 2014, I had identified 160, or 16.5% of my direct ancestors through 10 generations.<br />
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In 2015, I had 196, or 19%.<br />
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By 2017, I had a whopping <b>319</b>, or 31%.<br />
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The oldest record I have to date is my maternal 10th great-grandparents, Veit SUFFEL and Maria LACHENMAIER of Rudersberg in Wurttemberg. They were married in 1649:<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hUgVkKMbSZg/WGr6JhHtamI/AAAAAAAAD3w/f5Xr719-RmM9jpbHW1aOVSXR80LVKGHkQCLcB/s1600/VeitSUFFEL%2Bm%2B1649%2Bsm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hUgVkKMbSZg/WGr6JhHtamI/AAAAAAAAD3w/f5Xr719-RmM9jpbHW1aOVSXR80LVKGHkQCLcB/s640/VeitSUFFEL%2Bm%2B1649%2Bsm.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Happy New Year and Happy Searching!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2017 Sally Knudsen</span>SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-60759396929246280062016-12-04T09:46:00.000-06:002016-12-04T09:46:41.241-06:00In a Cave in Germany<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I wish this was the cave I was visiting</i></td></tr>
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I haven't posted in some time, but that doesn't mean nothing has been happening genealogy-wise lately.<br />
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I have been in a cave in Wurttemberg. Not an actual cave, but I've been in my basement research cave, after a MAJOR breakthrough this summer.<br />
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Reality also struck with both highs and lows in my family over the past few months. My younger son won the Illinois high school state cross country title and signed for a wonderful college scholarship. My older son's cross country team was second in the NAIA college championship and he's on track for another semester on the Dean's List. The lows came by way of my father's death, my maternal grandmother's death, and one of my son's coach's death. It was a very emotional fall.<br />
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Genealogy is my "touchstone," the one thing that keeps my brain functioning and me tethered to some sort of reality.<br />
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On with the show.<br />
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My grandmother that recently passed provided my German ancestry. Her mother was full Prussian (I know that's not an ethnicity but it's where her people lived for hundreds of years) and her <b>Hummel</b> father was mostly German by way of southwest Germany near Stuttgart. I have a copy of the family's church record from Michigan where they finally settled giving clues to their German villages. But I was very uncertain how to search for records. I contacted fellow genealogist Barbara Schmidt (@BarbFFm on Twitter) and she helped me get an idea of the village and Lutheran parish system. After that, I took a chance and ordered some FamilySearch microfilms for the area and crossed my fingers. It worked.<br />
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Having some sense of the Hummel family already, I started working with my great-great-great-grandmother's <b>Ebinger</b> line, which I knew only by the two children who emigrated to America. Fortunately, my microfilm guesses were correct as I found both of their births in the Dafern parish records. Then with lots of scrolling, it was off to the races. Suddenly, I had a huge German family!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qr7ZYJ8fxrk/UcOsduz_hnI/AAAAAAAABlk/bJRtOx-GAgA70VutV8W8DpW6szNauoxrACPcB/s1600/hummel_family_c1895181-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="521" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Qr7ZYJ8fxrk/UcOsduz_hnI/AAAAAAAABlk/bJRtOx-GAgA70VutV8W8DpW6szNauoxrACPcB/s640/hummel_family_c1895181-001.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Johann Lorenz Hummel (1843-1901) <br />Christina Karolina Ebinger (1849-1895)</i></td></tr>
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At home, I tried finding more records at Ancestry. Amazingly, not only did I find records, but I found the <a href="http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=61023" target="_blank">same digitized microfilm records</a> as the ones I had ordered. And thus, I have scarcely left my computer in the evenings because I keep. finding. people.<br />
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Some of the interesting things I have encountered (your mileage my vary):<br />
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<li>the vital records are pristine, accurate, and cross-referenceable by date/age and parents/father</li>
<li>you definitely need creative database skills</li>
<li>surnames are underlined about 99% of the time</li>
<li>Jerg of the 1600's became Georg of the 1700's</li>
<li>Johannes is not the same as Johann, but Hans and Johann are usually interchangeable</li>
<li>you "hope" for an illegitimate birth because the pastor went out of his way to describe the circumstances of the birth, then "hope" the father acknowledged the child</li>
<li>learn to read upside down because that's how many illegitimate births were noted!</li>
<li>in the 1730's, there was a sudden use of astrological symbols in the birth records</li>
<li>the records are a "moveable feast" because all the births may be in one parish but the marriages in the neighboring parish</li>
<li>and so much more!</li>
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I am (proudly) at the name-collecting stage. This has been a fascinating few months of work. Here is <a href="http://sallysearches.com/index.php" target="_blank">my database</a> if you'd like to check for common ancestors. </div>
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Come find me in Germany (in my mind)!</div>
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* German diacriticals and spellings omitted here because...American keyboard ;)</div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arimo; font-size: xx-small;">© 2016 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo credit: </span><span style="font-size: x-small;">By Enzyklofant (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons</span>SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-32942933898586336332016-07-14T06:30:00.000-05:002016-07-14T06:30:23.329-05:00Mad Dash to Mad TownWhile taking breaks from my DNA matching, I am doing my best to shore up some of my family lines that are a little neglected. One is my maternal grandfather's COUNTRYMAN line.<br />
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My earliest known ancestors were Peter Countryman (<a href="http://sallysearches.blogspot.com/2014/03/52ancestors-9-peter-countryman-dead-and.html" target="_blank">read about his probate here</a>) and his wife, Matilda AMES. Peter and Matilda had seven known children, and possibly eight, when they both died in their 40's from causes I have yet to discover. The family were early settlers of Ingham County, Michigan, around 1834.<br />
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I have a lot of speculative information about Peter's ancestry from the help of many excellent Countryman researchers, but Matilda and her Ames family had continued to be a mystery. One of my distant cousins hoped we could find a connection to the famous Ames brothers, <a href="http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=A000175" target="_blank">Oakes</a> and Oliver, who were instrumental in the expansion of the transcontinental railroad - and the scandals that followed. Alas, we are not.<br />
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I would check Google and Google Books every once in a while to see if any clues popped up. Earlier this year, this did:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-atQkeI_7-1k/V4bRoxknyHI/AAAAAAAAD1I/pXDAQceJyVIbzX2VoGdICUGGVLmE_U8pgCLcB/s1600/ames%2Bsnip.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-atQkeI_7-1k/V4bRoxknyHI/AAAAAAAAD1I/pXDAQceJyVIbzX2VoGdICUGGVLmE_U8pgCLcB/s400/ames%2Bsnip.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Google Books snippet view</i></td></tr>
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<br />Ingham County, Michigan! This was a real lead! But darn that snippet view. No matter what combination of names I searched for, I could not get farther. No way was I going to attempt to guess who her parents and family might be. I then used WorldCat to locate the book as no print copies appeared to be available for purchase. WorldCat showed six copies in the United States. The closest was at the <a href="http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/" target="_blank">State of Wisconsin Historical Society</a> in Madison.<div>
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So I went.</div>
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I have been though Madison but never stopped, so I decided this would be a me-cation or day-cation or genea-cation, or, you know, one day alone! Madison is just over a two hour drive from my house. In addition to the Society library, my destinations included the University of Wisconsin campus and the shores of Lake Mendota.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rc7-RJzvM3U/V4bUIwqqbGI/AAAAAAAAD1Q/jboqJK4pXwIZbvAb8A9m4UrpVcgipjuegCLcB/s1600/20160709_131721.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Rc7-RJzvM3U/V4bUIwqqbGI/AAAAAAAAD1Q/jboqJK4pXwIZbvAb8A9m4UrpVcgipjuegCLcB/s400/20160709_131721.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>State of Wisconsin Historical Society</i></td></tr>
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<br />The building is a library, archives and research center. The Society has occupied the building since 1900. The staff was very helpful in directing me to my book's location on the 6th floor. The building had those wonderful old book smells and creaky door sounds.</div>
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Here is the book:</div>
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<i>Descendants of William Ames of Braintree, Massachusetts</i></div>
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<i>by Ann Theopold Chaplin, CG</i></div>
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<i>published 2004</i></div>
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It is very possible that this book has never even been touched before. I pulled it out of the stack and it looks like it came fresh from the printer. It was a traditional descendancy, so I first located Matilda's family, then went forward and backward noting my particular lines. I took the book to the public scanner, and after a few minutes of scanning, printing and $2.87, I had my information. (Yes, I copied the source citations and cover matter, 'natch).</div>
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I drove around the UW campus, picked up some lunch, and sat along Lake Mendota and enjoyed the beautiful day.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BP8Bxr2m8mI/V4bcmZMAH9I/AAAAAAAAD1w/jwsDeKw1KuUhAFuAKgCevJqhOLiuwkfawCLcB/s1600/20160709_151854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BP8Bxr2m8mI/V4bcmZMAH9I/AAAAAAAAD1w/jwsDeKw1KuUhAFuAKgCevJqhOLiuwkfawCLcB/s400/20160709_151854.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>along Picnic Point, looking toward the capitol dome</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vELYtw35HBQ/V4bdJ0aetQI/AAAAAAAAD10/dkGlwMLrbxkfuuufYxESwSf-l0vn7AfXwCLcB/s1600/DSC_0857.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vELYtw35HBQ/V4bdJ0aetQI/AAAAAAAAD10/dkGlwMLrbxkfuuufYxESwSf-l0vn7AfXwCLcB/s400/DSC_0857.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Native American burial mounds along Picnic Point</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>wild daisies along the trail</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8N6WZPWHDFQ/V4bdo8dVooI/AAAAAAAAD2E/QeeM8Nv_YQkyYq477d6eRszmE2pQia0yQCLcB/s1600/DSC_0869.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8N6WZPWHDFQ/V4bdo8dVooI/AAAAAAAAD2E/QeeM8Nv_YQkyYq477d6eRszmE2pQia0yQCLcB/s400/DSC_0869.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wisconsin state capitol building</i></td></tr>
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Then it was back to Illinois, home of corn and soybeans...and wind.</div>
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I haven't yet entered my new information into my family tree program yet. I have read through it a couple of times. And a huge shout out to Ms. Chaplin for the book - your efforts have not been in vain.<br />
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I am savoring the moment - both of my new-found ancestors and my day away.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2016 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-27511410510768224042016-04-06T16:13:00.000-05:002016-04-06T16:13:34.946-05:00Presidential Announcement<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>President Grover Cleveland<br />1837-1908<br /></i></td></tr>
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Much of my genealogy lately has revolved around my DNA matches. Sometimes, though, I need a break. That's when I head back to traditional research. And I freely admit, most of my traditional research comes via the internet.<br />
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I have many of my lines researched 200 years or more back in time. But no matter how much information I have, I always want more. Always! I also review some of those "dormant" families and see what might be new, or new to me, on the interwebs. One method is through online digitized books. It is pretty amazing how many old family genealogies and town histories have been digitized. Searching <a href="https://books.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Books</a> and the <a href="https://www.hathitrust.org/" target="_blank">Hathi Trust</a> usually yields something good.<br />
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Take the case of my search on the TENNY or TENNEY family of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. There is a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=0y9WAAAAMAAJ&dq=tenney&source=gbs_navlinks_s" target="_blank">Tenney family history book</a> I've located that mentions my great-great-great-grandmother Amelia Tenney (1838-1891). I have confirmed using other sources that this is indeed my family. The Tenney book goes back several generations, to Thomas Tenney (c1615-1699) of Yorkshire, England and Rowley, Massachusetts, and includes descendants and many in-laws when known.<br />
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A little farther along Amelia Tenney's direct line, I came across Lucretia CLEVELAND. Hmm. There can't be too many Cleveland families in the 1700's. Some web searching about President Grover Cleveland yields his line and ancestry - and it ends the same as mine! Our first common American ancestor is Moses Cleveland, who came to Massachusetts in 1634 from Suffolk County, England. Another of Moses' descendants, also called Moses but using the spelling Cleaveland, was a famous surveyor and the founder of...<a href="http://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/280#.VwV2NfkrLtQ" target="_blank">Cleveland</a>!<br />
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Here is each of our lines:<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S6NRZgdRxPc/VwVyDQH2duI/AAAAAAAAD0o/tRt9XBZ_0eUe52pddaD3Z25bHysfh8SdA/s1600/cleveland%2Bchart.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-S6NRZgdRxPc/VwVyDQH2duI/AAAAAAAAD0o/tRt9XBZ_0eUe52pddaD3Z25bHysfh8SdA/s400/cleveland%2Bchart.png" width="311" /></a></div>
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Using <a href="http://isogg.org/wiki/Cousin" target="_blank">this chart from ISOGG</a>, I traced each of our paths to Moses Cleveland. Moses was Grover's 4th great-grandfather and he is my 10th great-grandfather. That makes Grover and me 5th cousins 6 times removed, or 5C6R. </div>
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I can call him Grover because he is my cousin after all ;)</div>
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For a Midwestern girl who comes from farmers and miners, I'm not quibbling about the degree of cousinship. I'm related to a President!</div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-86d5-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99" target="_blank">Photograph</a>: <span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3a34; font-family: 'Kievit Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-indent: -40px;">The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. "Grover Cleveland and his Cabinet." </span><em style="background-color: white; color: #3f3a34; font-family: 'Kievit Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-indent: -40px;">The New York Public Library Digital Collections</em><span style="background-color: white; color: #3f3a34; font-family: 'Kievit Web', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-indent: -40px;">. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47de-86d5-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2016 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-29093900605539666952016-03-24T11:08:00.000-05:002016-03-25T21:41:27.638-05:00Birthplace Pedigree, or WOW, Did My Ancestors Travel!Of course, I had to jump on the bandwagon in creating a birthplace pedigree chart! For "extra credit," I went to six generations, only because all of my lines migrated so much!<br />
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Here's the picture:<br />
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Thanks to Cheri at <a href="http://carolinagirlgenealogy.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Carolina Girl Genealogy</a> for posting this on Facebook and to those who made the template!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2016 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-18590638698495910192016-03-03T06:30:00.000-06:002016-03-03T06:30:16.382-06:00Circle of LifeLast week I had the opportunity to wander around the University of Chicago, one of the preeminent universities in the US.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Henry Crown Fieldhouse</i></td></tr>
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Let's back up first. </div>
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I have written in the past about my <a href="http://sallysearches.blogspot.com/2014/10/52ancestors-40-dallas-spencer-born-and.html" target="_blank">grandfather Dallas Spencer</a>. My grandfather was born on his family's farm outside Lansing, Ingham, Michigan. It was the same farm his great-grandparents first settled on in 1867.<br />
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After his education at the Agricultural College of Michigan (now Michigan State University), he served in the Navy in World War II, both in the US and in Japan. Eventually, he took an engineering position at the Department of Energy's new Argonne Laboratory in suburban Chicago. Argonne was founded in 1946 by several of the participants in the first successful nuclear chain reaction under the Stagg Football Field at the University of Chicago. Here is some <a href="http://www.anl.gov/photos/argonne-history-1940s" target="_blank">great history about Argonne</a>.<br />
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While my grandfather was not 'under the field' for that moment in scientific history, he was later presented with a small token to commemorate it:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>memento inherited by this author</i></td></tr>
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Fast forward to February 2016.</div>
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Readers of my blog may remember that I have sons who run competitively. My college son was racing in a meet... at the University of Chicago. And it happened to be a glorious, 50 degree February day in Chicago. So I went with dual purposes: watch my son and his team compete, and visit the University.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>plaque commemorating the exact location of the nuclear reaction</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>beautiful Chicago skyline, south of the Loop</i></td></tr>
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Sometimes genealogy and history are just genealogy and history. But sometimes they can show us a connection, a window, a way to observe the bigger world around us. </div>
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My grandfather went from a boy on a farm to a seaman in Japan to an engineer for the Department of Energy. He circled the world. In following my sons as they circle their prized track oval, I can make connections and create context to the places I visit and the things I have learned about my ancestors. Watching my son reach for his goals gave me an opportunity to remember my grandfather and how his choices reflect why I am here today.</div>
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The Circle of Life.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2016 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-42301018133197540632016-02-14T14:31:00.000-06:002016-02-14T14:31:14.814-06:00Vet Your Sources, Please!I am not Ancestry's biggest fan.<br />
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I love the record sets. Love. Them.<br />
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I do not like a lot of the other "tools" they have, especially the DNA tools.<br />
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I recently checked out a DNA Circle that suddenly has 7 connections. Well, the seven include my two tests, the four tests of one other contributor, and one test to a person who Ancestry doesn't show as matching to my tests directly.<br />
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[<b>Confidential to Ancestry</b>: give us segment data and/or a chromosome browser, so I can determine how I really do match these connections. Please and thanks.]<br />
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The other group of tests are descendants of a common ancestor I'll call Jacob. I have lots of good data on Jacob, including his Will, pension file and census records. I have no definitive parents or birthplace for Jacob - another brick wall ancestor.<br />
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This new DNA Circle member does!<br />
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I viewed the Timeline that Ancestry can create from my connection's tree and found this:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ceo38FPzKDo/VsDdvTzDVVI/AAAAAAAADyY/eC1Z7_7eoUo/s1600/Random%2BJacob%2B%2BFacts.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ceo38FPzKDo/VsDdvTzDVVI/AAAAAAAADyY/eC1Z7_7eoUo/s640/Random%2BJacob%2B%2BFacts.png" width="523" /></a></div>
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So "Jacob" was born in England, six years later his mother died in New York, he then went back to England (assuming he came to the colonies with his parents!) to marry and have a first child, sail back to the colonies and have three more children in two years in three different counties covering two states, bury his wife a year later in yet another county and state, and then move some more. </div>
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I need a map.</div>
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The "sources" for the children's information include - only - a minimum of 12 other Ancestry trees. There are no sources given for the English records. </div>
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Maybe, maybe, maybe this is true but I am too skeptical. I will keep searching for Jacob's parents.</div>
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Examine your timelines and vet your sources before you get my hopes up again!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2016 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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<br />SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-87197381311764574312015-12-31T15:20:00.001-06:002015-12-31T15:20:51.653-06:00A New Space for a New YearAs 2015 draws quickly to a close, I am here with my year-end wrap-up, for those of you still along for the ride!<br />
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As usual, life got in the way of genealogy as it always seems to do. But that doesn't mean I still haven't been working on my family tree. THAT will never change.<br />
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Recently, I decided to take over a portion of our basement so I could have a dedicated genealogy space. Previously, the files and computer for my husband's small side business were housed in the basement. He was "supposed" to work down there. Slowly but surely, he and his files made their way upstairs into the computer loft, where both my little workspace and the family computer are located. Rather than compete for space, I made lemonade from lemons and took over the basement.<br />
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The basement is divided into a kids video game area and storage, with some basic studding separating the two. My new space consists of two folding tables plus a 6' plastic storage shelf. I bought two new industrial rugs on sale at the local home improvement store to keep the floor area warm. The kids' video game TV was starting to fail, but the PC connection still worked. I hooked up that TV to a basic PC and will use it for internet access to read records on a big screen! My bifocals heartily approve. Then I will continue to use my laptop for my family tree entry and basic computer work.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oT0eQTgH57Y/VoWQFoeGjGI/AAAAAAAADxk/xEs_XdXfi_c/s1600/20151230_185809.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-oT0eQTgH57Y/VoWQFoeGjGI/AAAAAAAADxk/xEs_XdXfi_c/s640/20151230_185809.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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For storage, I had two rolling IKEA tables. I kindly left one upstairs for my husband. The other one holds both of my scanners and neatly rolls underneath the smaller table. Good use of space!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CNHKspKXoVE/VoWQFYr6_sI/AAAAAAAADxs/qCbG251pnAg/s1600/20151230_185841.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CNHKspKXoVE/VoWQFYr6_sI/AAAAAAAADxs/qCbG251pnAg/s640/20151230_185841.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Finally, the only real decorating expense of my project was shower curtains! We haven't figured how (or if) the basement will be finished, but for now I tacked up two plastic shower curtain liners between the kids' space and mine. Voila - room divider for $5.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LrtzPLeCCGc/VoWQF7mzO3I/AAAAAAAADx0/6jxus1Czlzs/s1600/20151230_185851.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LrtzPLeCCGc/VoWQF7mzO3I/AAAAAAAADx0/6jxus1Czlzs/s640/20151230_185851.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Now it is a basement and you may wonder about water problems. Oh, we've had them. June of 2015 brought terrible rain and storms to Illinois. We did have some water in the basement after power loss and the sump pumps not working. We tossed the old carpet scraps and went through mops and bleach, but in the big picture, damage was pretty minor. We do, however, have everything stored in the basement in plastic buckets, all our files are on racks with feet and nothing of value is actually on the floor - we learned! My family photos are stored upstairs, if you were worried.</div>
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For file backup, I use a redundant system of backup drives. And Santa brought me a new 2 terabyte drive for Christmas! Files are routinely backed up and the drives stored away from each other.</div>
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I think the best part of "moving" will be the opportunity to go through all the papers and notes I dragged downstairs to refile. Sorry - no pictures of that mess. I don't want to spoil your image of me! And as an added bonus, I can keep an eye on the laundry while I'm working ;)</div>
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For less than $50 and re-purposing many things we already had, I have a new place of my own!</div>
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So now you'll know where I'll be, once my kids are back to school and NOT USING MY NEW SPACE!</div>
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Happy New Year to you all!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-90232715453137315792015-10-05T06:30:00.000-05:002015-10-05T06:30:00.981-05:00Oh Ancestry, or How I DNA: Part TwoLast week, I shared <a href="http://sallysearches.blogspot.com/2015/09/how-i-dna-part-one.html">an overview post</a> of my family's DNA results from 23andMe and Family Tree DNA (FTDNA). This post is devoted to AncestryDNA's results.<br />
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To review, here are the tests for me and my family:<br />
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When Ancestry had a sale, I ordered two $79 "spit" kits. I took one, and since I had not yet tested my mom, she agreed to take the second one. I have a full Ancestry account and was able to link both tests to my account. Mine shows as me, and hers shows as "managed by me."</div>
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Ancestry provides the same basic information: ethnicity, matches from their testing database, and their own "hints," "circles," "new ancestry discoveries," and recently, "shared matches." Additionally, since I have tested my mother, I can sort my own matches against "mother" by selecting that sort option.</div>
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(+) Ancestry's biggest connection feature is their Hints, via family trees. In your list of DNA matches, some will show the Ancestry "shaky leaf" hint. These matches share DNA with you AND have a discernible match through a tree in Ancestry's database. However, just because there is a match doesn't guarantee that that is the actual DNA connection. Use it as a hint and only a hint. In some cases, Ancestry also shows a DNA Circle. These are links based on both DNA and multiple trees (albeit through a computer algorithm) that may also give you connections to pursue.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>this is a good hint that matches what I already had - yay!</i></td></tr>
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The above graphic is one of my hints that is also my only Circle (cue the sad violins). There are four people in this circle: me, my mom, and two other descendants. This is a tree hint to one of the descendants. I have done a large amount of research on my branch of the Maxson family and am comfortable with this connection. This is a great way to review other sources or connect to other researchers.</div>
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(-) Every rose has it's thorns and AncestryDNA has bunches, <i>in my opinion</i>. First, Ancestry is basing the hints to your DNA connections on it's trees. Argh! Online trees can be a notorious means of error dissemination. Therefore, proceed with caution! The DNA doesn't lie, but the trees - perhaps. But many do not have a tree of any kind or keep it locked:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>no help here</i></td></tr>
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<br />Which brings me to drawback #2: the messaging system. Ancestry employs a blind messaging system so that you need to connect within Ancestry (not by email). The system is often broken and there are loads of instances where messages don't get though. That's a problem. And some people choose only to test for ethnicity or at the request of a family member and will likely not ever reply. You also cannot search by tree name or by tester name. Huh?! Kind of a big drawback, but that is a site-wide concern, not just DNA.<div>
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Finally the biggest and most egregious issue is NO CHROMOSOME BROWSER OR SEGMENT DATA! We can only rely upon the data in the form Ancestry chooses to share with us. I consider that a huge fail. The other two companies provide actual segment comparison tools as a means to analyze and compare connections. Really, this is the basis of DNA testing! I wish that Ancestry would provide this option, even though perhaps only a small percentage of testers might utilize it. It can't be more difficult than offering up silly circles and new ancestor discoveries. </div>
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Addendum: New Ancestor Discoveries</div>
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Holy cow, what a weird thing to waste your engineering resources on, <i>in my opinion</i>. I now have four of these and they make be laugh harder every time I see them.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I'll keep the Circle and ditch the rest...</i></td></tr>
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I clicked on the NADs, even though my sensible inner voice told me not to. I looked at the trees of the first two. The names and especially the locations have no connection whatsoever to my tree. In fact, they even made me start to question my own research. But I am not going to fall into that trap. I am confident in my own genealogy (what the heck, I have REAL documents, pictures and family stories!). </div>
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On closer inspection, all four of these NADs are in the 13,000+ family tree of DNA relative Bob. Now Bob is only a 5th-8th suspected cousin, which is already beginning to stretch the usefulness of DNA and it's predicted amounts (you know, from ACTUAL DNA segment research). So somewhere waaaay back, Bob and I have common DNA. It could be a very small segment that we were both fortunate enough to inherit, but we will never know because Ancestry WON'T GIVE US THE DATA! And it still doesn't mean that any of these people are the reason Bob and I share DNA. Oy.</div>
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I appreciate Ancestry for the clues, but my kingdom for some data! If you can afford to, or are all-in with Ancestry, by all means, test! But if you are hoping for serious genetic genealogy, you will be disappointed.</div>
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Off to lower my blood pressure! Thanks for reading.</div>
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Next time, I'll offer some pitfalls to avoid with your DNA results.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-34628229983055795992015-09-28T06:30:00.000-05:002015-09-28T06:30:02.826-05:00How I DNA - Part OneThe focus of my genealogy research lately has been on DNA matching. Working with DNA matches goes hand-in-hand with traditional DNA: you cannot locate the match connection unless you have a paper trail to use. I plan to write a few posts on what I do (and don't do) with my DNA and some mini case studies of real matches.<br />
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I started out with DNA testing in 2013 using 23andMe. At the time, they were the first of the "Big Three" companies to lower a test to $99. Good enough for me! Over the next year or so, I was able to test other family members, so I have multiple results to compare as well as having a view of how each of the tests work.<br />
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Here's what I did for testing:<br />
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I am not made out of money, so some of my decision making was financially-based, and some was obtaining as much information as I could. I'm fortunate that both of my parents are still living. They've put up with my genealogy stories for plenty long, so it didn't take much to convince them to take a test. All of these tests were autosomal (cousin-finder) tests that are applicable to both men and women. My last tester was my brother. In addition to the traditional autosomal test, he also took a Y-DNA test for me, so I had a test for my very unknown Irish male lineage in my DNA arsenal. </div>
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Short of having everyone test everywhere, this lineup has been working pretty well for me. I have a wide variety of tests and results. With some family at multiple companies, it also helps to sort results between paternal and maternal families.</div>
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<b>23andMe</b></div>
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This was my first company. It is a "spit" test. They provide ethnic breakdowns, Neanderthal percentage, haplogroups, general ethnicity by chromosome, and lists of matches by percent of DNA shared and by number of segments in common.</div>
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(+) Having my dad test there also allows MY matches to be designated "P" for paternal. What a plus! I don't take this to heart the farther away the matches become, simply because the shared DNA is too small. My dad has one grandparent who is French-Canadian, and easily 75% of his matches have ancestry from Quebec. If you have French-Canadian ancestors, test there!</div>
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(-) The biggest drawback is the connection system. You can opt for public or private. If you are private, your connections can see basics, but must agree to connect to see the actual DNA segments. The whole point, in my opinion, is having the segment data, so when a match does not reply or agree to share, it is very frustrating.</div>
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Here is a table of data for my dad at 23andMe, showing me in green and three of his first cousins. Who wouldn't want all that information?!</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uSeIdn1O9oQ/Vgh9R3EmrHI/AAAAAAAADvo/ig07K7Y2wgM/s1600/Family%2BInheritance%2B%2BAdvanced%2B%2B%2B23andMe.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-uSeIdn1O9oQ/Vgh9R3EmrHI/AAAAAAAADvo/ig07K7Y2wgM/s640/Family%2BInheritance%2B%2BAdvanced%2B%2B%2B23andMe.png" width="402" /></a></div>
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<b>Family Tree DNA</b></div>
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Family Tree DNA (FTDNA) does autosomal tests and currently accepts transfers of DNA data from Ancestry. This is how my mom and I moved our data to FTDNA. My brother took their "cheek scraper" autosomal test. FTDNA provides ethnic breakdowns, match lists, longest segment shared, ability to add a family tree, an ICW (in common with) list, and several other features. It's a little clunky, but provides great information.</div>
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(+) Using the ICW list is helpful in determining who a match might also match. Using the list, as well as any tree information, you may be able to narrow the connection. ICW does NOT mean they all match each other in the same place, but in a more broad sense; think Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. FTDNA also has a chromosome segment map that is very useful.</div>
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(-) Two of the bigger drawbacks using FTDNA are that (1) they tend to overestimate the closeness of a match, and (2) your matches are sorted by largest block of DNA, not total amount. When you dig a little deeper with your matches, sometimes you'd rather have total DNA shared, not just the longest block.</div>
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Here's what my top four DNA matches look like on FTDNA. First is my mom, then my brother, then a maternal match and then a paternal match:</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2xNvQLu9ANk/VgiFwSqr65I/AAAAAAAADv4/9NoYzN0g5gI/s1600/myFTDNA%2B%2B%2BFamily%2BFinder%2BIllumina%2BOmniExpress%2BMatches.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2xNvQLu9ANk/VgiFwSqr65I/AAAAAAAADv4/9NoYzN0g5gI/s640/myFTDNA%2B%2B%2BFamily%2BFinder%2BIllumina%2BOmniExpress%2BMatches.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Ancestry</b></div>
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Ancestry has so many features going on - good and bad - that I will leave them for their own post!</div>
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Thanks for reading!</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-80240900307402966012015-08-22T11:59:00.000-05:002015-08-22T11:59:35.272-05:00What I Did On My Summer VacationSeems like an appropriate post title, considering that it is back to school time. Again.<br />
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Back to school time for me means the household has a better routine. Thanks for hanging around - I do appreciate it. Hopefully, my brain will be more engaged in blogging and reading everyone else's posts.<br />
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My last post was from the deep South. I traveled to Alabama in May because my college son qualified for NAIA track and field National Championships in the 5000m. He's settled in so well in college and we were so thrilled for him. Unfortunately, competing in 85 degrees and 85% humidity on the Gulf Coast of Alabama was less than ideal. He still finished 20th, though a long ways from his personal best time.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">#1194, white over black</td></tr>
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<br />Back in Illinois, high school son was hoping to qualify for the Illinois 3A state track and field meet in the 3200m (2-mile). He did! So after flying back home from Alabama, I packed up and we drove to Eastern Illinois University to watch him compete. As it goes with my sons and coincidences, he also finished 20th! We were so proud. The best part is that they were both just sophomores, so hopefully there will be more qualifying ahead. Now...cross country season!<div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">#6, orange and white</td></tr>
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The rest of the summer was spent working and dealing with everyone's crazy schedules. We took a family weekend to Wisconsin and Lake Michigan, and now it is back to reality.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Michigan, near Port Washington, Wisconsin</td></tr>
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Part of MY routine, of course, is genealogy. That will never go away. So even though I didn't blog this summer (and frankly, I am still exhausted from #52Ancestors in 2014!), I have continued my research. I keep up with my DNA matches and because of that, keep working on my tree. Previously, I usually added new lines and sometimes in-laws, based on what I learned. Now with DNA in the mix, comparing my tree to another's may not yield an immediate match, but if we both fill in our trees, that potential match may show itself.</div>
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In addition to the tree-ing, I have jumped back into my online database (<a href="http://www.sallysearches.com/">www.sallysearches.com</a>). I use TNG to present my research online, and have been learning more of the behind-the-scenes "coding" to make it appear to my liking. That will always be a work in progress! One thing I decided to add was a DNA logo for those people who I have discovered a DNA match with. Here's an <a href="http://www.sallysearches.com/getperson.php?personID=I4161&tree=Main">example</a>.</div>
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I learned how to add Google maps in my database to show a person's life locations. That was easy. Then looking at my database, I realized how badly I needed to actually update the locations. Wow, was that a (necessary) chore. I use Legacy Family Tree for my database (which uses Bing) but TNG uses Google. I've decided Google maps are far superior to Bing maps. That meant manually geocoding many locations. I think I got most. If you see something that looks weird, do tell me!</div>
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I still want to start posting about my DNA work and the connections I've made. I'm not sure of the approach - do I start with basics, assuming this audience is not terribly familiar, or do I jump right in? Hmm, more to ponder.</div>
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I hope you all had great summers! I, for one, am glad to be back to the grind.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-23521664609944095522015-05-25T09:18:00.000-05:002015-05-25T09:18:00.495-05:00Memorial Day in BiloxiFor the past several days, I was in various parts of the South: Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. While driving through Biloxi, Mississippi yesterday, I paid a visit to the <a href="http://www.cem.va.gov/cems/nchp/biloxi.asp">Biloxi National Cemetery</a>. It was established in 1934, and lies on the grounds of the US Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.<br />
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Thank you to all who served.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-57312381342239611082015-05-09T10:20:00.001-05:002015-05-09T10:20:50.191-05:00Happy Mother's Day!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
Happy (early) Mother's Day to my mother, grandmother (at age 96!), and all of our ancestral mothers before us.</div>
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Sally</div>
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JoAnn</div>
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Dolores</div>
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Louise Wilhelmina Dork Hummel (1895-1973)</div>
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<i>died Lansing, Ingham, Michigan</i></div>
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Wilhelmina Kopkau Dork (1871-1915)</div>
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<i>died Lansing, Ingham, Michigan</i></div>
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Wilhelmina Stachel Kopkau (1842-1914)</div>
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<i>died Lansing, Ingham, Michigan</i></div>
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Gottliebe Schmidtke Stachel (1815-1900)</div>
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<i>died Lansing, Ingham, Michigan</i></div>
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Anna Maria Macziewska Schmidtke (1785-after 1854)</div>
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<i>died Kreis Rosenberg, West Prussia</i></div>
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Christina Brant Macziewska (unknown)</div>
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<i>died Kreis Rosenberg, West Prussia</i></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">reprinted from my original post 5/12/12</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
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SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-64041118702335206182015-04-24T08:25:00.000-05:002015-04-24T08:25:11.531-05:00Slightly SidetrackedI'm still here, I swear.<br />
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Now that I've discovered DNA testing, I've vastly altered how I research. It takes a lot of time and I am so fascinated! I hope to get a better grip on various results and start blogging about them soon.<br />
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So many ways to get sidetracked! This:<br />
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and these:<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kid1 winning a college 3000m last weekend</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kid2 (r) running an Illinois Top 10 1600m time last weekend</td></tr>
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Me: wandering through the past and cheering on the present. Thanks for your patience!<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span><br />
<br />SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-61242711260436317532015-03-31T06:00:00.000-05:002015-03-31T06:00:11.020-05:00Tombstone Tuesday - He's HilariousThis is one of my favorite "stumbled upon" stones.<br />
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Hilarious and Margaret are buried in St. James at Sag Bridge Cemetery in Lemont, Cook, Illinois.<br />
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I find that Hilarious is a true Latin name, meaning 'cheerful.' From the <a href="http://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/ancient-roman">Behind the Name</a> website, there was a Saint Hilarius, a 4th century theologian, and a Pope Hilarius in the 5th century.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span>SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-13671293932221772112015-03-24T06:00:00.000-05:002015-03-24T06:00:03.931-05:00The Family With 17 ChildrenOne part of my ancestral makeup is French-Canadian. I recently made a double-cousin connection via DNA. This cousin and I each descend from the same Blanchette and Dionne families two times. Making that connection got me back to filling in gaps on my tree. Those gaps can be pretty big because a lot of my Quebec families had a large number of children: 8, 10, 12 and more was not uncommon.<br />
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I was in my database, updating the <b>fourteenth </b>baptism in a particular family, and I thought, <i>hmm, I wonder how big is the biggest family in my tree? </i>And never one to shy away from data, I spent some time in the Statistics tab of my family tree software to see what other <strike>shocking</strike> interesting facts I could find.<br />
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I use Legacy Family Tree 8.0. Here is where I find the Statistics tab:<br />
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The report in Legacy comes 'pre-filled' with a number of interesting facts like longevity by century, number of children, most popular names, etc. I have about 7,000 people in my database including both parent's trees and my husband's tree. The report includes the entire database.<br />
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Let's begin!<br />
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<b>Longest female lifespan: 102 years, 1 month, 10 days</b><br />
<b>Longest male lifespan: 99 years, 11 months, 5 days</b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span>
<b>Average female lifespan: 59 years, 7 months, 27 days</b><br />
<b>Average male lifespan: 59 years, 2 months, 22 days</b><br />
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<i><span style="color: red;">Sorry guys!</span></i><br />
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<b>Families with 10 or more children: 49</b><br />
<b>Most children: 17 </b> (yes, that really says 17)<br />
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<i><span style="color: red;">Ignace Blanchette and Julie Lampron of Ste-Monique in Quebec had 17 known children, including two sets of twins, between 1846-1876. Ignace is my first cousin 5 times removed. Julie has my sympathy.</span></i><br />
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<b>Most popular names in the 1800's: Mary and Joseph</b><br />
<b>Most popular names in the 1900's: Dorothy and Edward</b><br />
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<i><span style="color: red;">Not sure I even know a Dorothy in real life!</span></i><br />
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<b>Most popular locations:</b><br />
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<ol>
<li>Lansing, Ingham, Michigan</li>
<li>Chicago, Cook, Illinois</li>
<li>New York</li>
<li>L'Avenir, Drummond, Quebec, Canada</li>
<li>Locke Township, Ingham, Michigan</li>
<li>Joliet, Will, Illinois</li>
<li>Birtley, County Durham, England</li>
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It's fun to look at your genealogy in a different way. What fun facts can you find in your tree?<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span>SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-52540249356404578692015-03-20T06:00:00.000-05:002015-03-20T06:00:06.199-05:00Friday DNA FunI haven't been writing quite as much lately. With a number of family DNA tests back, I have been busy analyzing those tests, as well as working on updating my family tree.<br />
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This recent exchange with my son was too good not to share.<br />
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He is a teenager and recently was fitted for contacts. One afternoon last week, I picked up a new trial pair from the optometrist's office. I laid the bag on the bathroom counter:<br />
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Yesterday I asked him why he hadn't used the new contacts yet.</div>
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"OOOHHH that's what that bag is? I thought it was one of your DNA tests!"</div>
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True story.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1706685806216747583.post-40320121588754541432015-03-17T06:00:00.000-05:002015-03-17T06:00:06.635-05:00Happy St. Patrick's Day!<span style="color: #38761d; font-size: x-large;"><b></b></span><br />
<b style="color: #38761d;"><span style="font-size: large;">Happy St. Patrick's Day! Sláinte!</span></b><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GHeIiJlFkz8/UUKQBoxuUzI/AAAAAAAABXo/8loOAzMfxn4/s1600/celtic_shamrock-555px.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-GHeIiJlFkz8/UUKQBoxuUzI/AAAAAAAABXo/8loOAzMfxn4/s1600/celtic_shamrock-555px.png" height="75" width="75" /></span></a><br />
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Of my eight great-grandparents, three are of full Irish ancestry. Using my basic math skills, that makes me 3/8ths Irish. In other words, 37.5% of my DNA is probably* green.<br />
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<i>*No scientific basis for that fact.</i><br />
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Here are some of my Irish roots. Have a connection?<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="font-size: large;"><b>McBride</b></span><br />
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from County Tyrone<br />
oldest known ancestor is Daniel <b>McBride</b>, born circa 1805<br />
his son Daniel, born circa 1840, left Ireland for Birtley, County Durham, England<br />
he married Mary Ann<b> McAleer</b> in Birtley<br />
Daniel, Mary Ann, and son Joseph arrived in Illinois in 1880<br />
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Daniel had two known siblings:<br />
Jane (c1838-1912), married Michael <b>McCormick</b> in Durham<br />
Edward (c1843-1903), married Ellen <b>Dinnery</b> in Durham<br />
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and two more likely siblings:<br />
Bridget (c1831-1893), married Samuel <b>Lee(s)</b> in Magherafelt, Ireland<br />
Alexander (c1835-1902), married Mary <b>Monaghan</b> in Durham<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Kerr</b></span><br />
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from unknown county in Ireland<br />
oldest known ancestor is Joseph Kerr, born circa 1790<br />
his son Robert, born 1829, left Ireland for Kilbirnie, Ayr, Scotland<br />
his son Robert, born 1853, wife Sarah <b>Donaldson</b>, and baby Margaret arrived in Illinois in 1876<br />
Robert worked in the coal mines of Braidwood, Will, Illinois<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Riley</b></span><br />
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from County Westmeath<br />
immigrant and oldest known ancestor is Thomas, born circa 1840, died 1915<br />
arrived in Illinois as a child with unknown family members<br />
settled in Lockport, Will, Illinois during height of I and M Canal construction<br />
married Mary Ann <b>McWeeney </b>of County Lietrim in 1865<br />
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I need help with these lines!<br />
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<a href="http://sallysearches.blogspot.com/2014/03/can-i-get-lucky-with-my-irish.html">Reprinted from my 2014 post</a><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">© 2015 Sally Knudsen</span></div>
<br />SallySearcheshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12085309109469827084noreply@blogger.com