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Unfortunately, for me, most of my immediate family, seems not to give a ***t. Doing it for my kids though. And my husband was thrilled to find he had 2 revolutionary war soldiers in his background!
That must have been exciting for him! I found out recently through another cousin that our family line is a descendant of Capt John Gorham and Desire Howland, from the Mayflower. Thought that was kinda neat!
Yes, no one ever knew until I found out. Hard to believe that. Warning though, when you get into it, you may also dig up a few skeletons. Murders, scandals, etc.
I've been using ancestry.com for quite a while now, and it's been invaluable. I can't believe what I've been able to find with it. Amazing. I've met so many distant cousins because of it that it's hard to keep up with all of them!
Making that "ah-HA!" connection is awesome, isn't it? Using common sense, keen instinct, and sharp eyes will get you far with this stuff quite often. I agree that it's very interesting to find out, historically, how families lived so long ago, and how different things were: families stayed together so much more, either in the same houses or on the same streets, they had LOTS of children, and if a spouse died young, many times the widow would marry their spouse's brother or sister!
Found out yesterday that Dad's family is related to Anne Boleyn, distantly of course. Cool.
Speaking of common names - my husband is Jones, for God's sake! Good thing it's a popular Jones line and there's been a lot of research done on it. Between doing my own foot work and talking with MANY Jones cousins, I've gotten a lot farther than I ever thought I would!
Warning though, when you get into it, you may also dig up a few skeletons. Murders, scandals, etc.
This is so true. Funny, too, the reactions you'll get from some family members when they find out you're doing it. Mine have ran the table, from complete excitement and willingness to help in any way possible, to total avoidance. I've also got a few older family members who are now using this as an opportunity to talk about all the scandals, stories, and general craziness that they've either seen or heard about in the different families. Some of it is extremely amusing, and some of it is terrible! But, you take the good with the bad, as with everything.
Yes, no one ever knew until I found out. Hard to believe that. Warning though, when you get into it, you may also dig up a few skeletons. Murders, scandals, etc.
Yeh he he he I am proudest of my Cousin Lizzie.......as in ya can't choop your pappa up in Massachusets......Elizabeth Andrew Borden
How would you go about using DNA for the female line? It's a bit harder, isn't it?
It's a bit harder. See, there's these things called mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosomes. You inherit your mtDNA from your mom and she inherited from hers, etc.. If you're male, you inherit your Y chromosome from your dad and he inherited it from his dad, etc. Men inherit both a Y and mtDNA, but they do not pass on their mtDNA to their children. You don't have your dad's mtDNA, you inherit your mom's.
So when it comes time to take a DNA test, males have it a lot easier. They can get their Y tested for their father's side and their mtDNA tested for their mother's. Women can only get their mtDNA tested because we don't get a Y chromosome, we get two X chromosomes (unless you've got some funky chromosomal abnormality, and we won't go into that. Too complicated.) BUT! Your Y chromosome and your mtDNA will only tell you about the genes of your direct paternal-line ancestor and your direct maternal-line ancestress. So your father's father's father's father, etc. and your mother's mother's mother, etc. It won't tell you anything about, say, your mother's father's father's genes, etc. And the results will show you what your VERY ancient ancestor was. You could, for instance, take a mtDNA test and discover that you are in haplogroup L1 -- an African haplogroup. But I'm blonde and blue-eyed! you might say. Doesn't matter. All that means is that somewhere along the way, thousands of years ago, your mother's mother's mother's mother came from Africa and brought her mtDNA with her. All of your other ancestors may have been blond and blue-eyed, but you didn't inherit their mtDNA, you inherited your ancestresses' African mtDNA.
I have a funny story. A good friend of mine decided to get into genealogy. He hunted down everything he could. He tracked his dads side back to the civil war. Tracked his mom back even farther. He got both sides filled in the best he could. Then decided to fill in the gaps. That's when he found out he was adopted. His folks never told him. And of course, hunting down ancestry you don't get that info.
Wow, jgussler - what a shock for your friend! Hw did he take it?
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