December 2018
The records continue to amaze me
Recently I was working on yet another unknown grandparent case ("there's a family rumor that Grandpa wasn't mom's real father"), using Ancestry DNA to solve it. There were several matches that pointed to a family in northwestern Arkansas, and I'd narrowed it down to two brothers, Roby and Cleo. When I started looking at the records of their lives, something stood out like a neon sign. In 1934, two years before my client's mother was born, Cleo (age 22) married Ruby Smith, who was 13. Yes, you read that right - she was 13. The following year, she had a baby. So at the time of my client's mother's birth, Cleo was 24 years old, with a 14-year old wife and a 1-year old baby. Sounds like a perfect recipe for philandering to me!
I have seen some amazing records in my 40+ years of research, but I have to admit, I have never seen a bride this young. This case was solved not just by looking at DNA matches, but by looking closely at the lives of the people involved.
What I've accomplished this year:
* Attended my first Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy, taking a class on research in the Great Lakes area
* Recovered from my 2nd knee surgery and the resulting complications
* Presented several lectures for libraries, genealogy societies, and retirement homes
* Solved six cases of unknown parents and three cases of unknown grandparents
* Attended the Northwest Genealogy Conference in Arlington, WA, where CeCe Moore was the keynote speaker
* In the trip of a lifetime, did onsite research on my newly-discovered great grandfather, Louis Prosser
* Spent time with family in Beulah, Michigan
* Preached a sermon on Genealogy, DNA and the Truth
* Created & submitted presentation topics for 2019
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What I'm Reading
From where it's placed in the Dewey Decimal system (641), and on the library shelves, you'd think this was a cookbook. Not so much. The Best Cook in the World is a family history, told in memories and recipes of down-home southern Alabama-Georgia cooking, from the time the author's great-grandfather taught his stubborn daughter-in-law to cook, starting in the mid 1920s. "These recipes and stories come, one by one, from the beautiful, haunted landscape itself, from inside the lunchboxes of men who worked deep in the earth and out in the searing sun, from homemade houseboats in the middle channels of slow rivers, or in the dark, high places as we chased the beautiful sounds of our dogs through the hills and pines." (p.26). This is a delight to read, and this "damn Yankee" may even try some of the recipes for pinto beans and sweet potato pie!
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In the News:
The annual list of 50 gifts for genealogists
World War 1 clippings are now online
Genealogy data helps track a rare disease
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Summer and her friends are ready for Thanksgiving!
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Upcoming Presentations
Saturday, March 9, 10:30am
Enumclaw Library
Discover Your Family History
Saturday, April 27, 3:00 pm
South Hill Library
Searching for Your Ancestors in Historic Newspapers
I am creating 3 new presentations for 2019:
"I've Had the DNA Test: Now What Do I Do?"
"Finding Your Ancestor in Military Records"
"Finding Your Immigrant Ancestor"
See the complete list of my lectures on my website here.
If you'd like to see these at your local library, ask your librarian to contact me!
New blog post:
The Value of Browsing
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DNA News
Growth of Ancestry testing risks huge increase in paternity issues
Should you give a DNA kit as a gift?
DNA helps a woman discover her World War II veteran father
An ancient case of the plague could rewrite history
And a new tool in the toolbox for us who are working with DNA matches on Ancestry, 23andme and FamilyTreeDNA! By using auto clustering at Genetic Affairs, you can see a graph of how your matches match each other. This blog post by Roberta Estes explains how to use it.
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Christmas Special
Who are you looking for?
To celebrate Christmas (and my 6th year of publishing this newsletter), I'm offering 6 hours for the price of 5, and 12 hours for the price of 10. Contact me before midnight, December 24 to take advantage of this offer!
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