Looked at the calendar this morning and realized this will be my last Genealogy At Heart post for 2021! I will be taking a hiatus due to the holidays for the next 2 weeks. Hoping you have a delightful time – enjoy, reminisce, and stay safe.
It’s Official – I have been named an “Oldtimer.” I knew this would happen someday but I never expected I would get the title twice in 24 hours! The first award was made by young visitors from Tallahassee who asked me how long I lived in my area. I had switched shifts with another volunteer at the historical society because it was her birthday (Happy Birthday, Barbara!). When I replied nearly 50 years though I spent my early years in the midwest the man replied, “You’re an old-time Floridian.” I guess I am though I don’t feel old at all!
Early the next morning I decided to go on a cemetery hunt which was just awesome since I haven’t done that since the pandemic began. Hubby and I visited an unincorporated area of the county where we once resided. We decided to stop at the local historical society first to see if anyone could direct me to living descendants of the Garrison family as I am writing a journal article on a tragedy the family endured. My kids used to volunteer at this historical society when they were in middle and high school and I haven’t stopped by in many years. My oh my has it changed! I was remarking how impressed I was with the refurbished pine floors, window shades featuring historical photos, and new exhibits when a docent said, “These are the original floors.” “Yes,” I replied, “but when the building was restored over 25 years ago they left the floors with all the stain buildup and I see they’ve been stripped; they look amazing.” “You sure are an old-timer,” she said, “I don’t think you need me to give you a tour.”
I certainly wanted a tour and kept my mouth shut, as much as possible, as she took us room to room. I didn’t correct her when she said the kitchen was original – nope, I clearly recall the roof leak about 1997, and the then director was frustrated that the roofing company had provided no warranty and the County Commissioners refused to give any more funds. That’s about when the idea to have a Tea Party to raise money began. I still have the hat I created for my daughter to wear as a server. I guess it’s about time we donated it to the museum! I have photos, of course, to show it being worn in the building. Except, they probably wouldn’t take it.
I had promised the original director that I would, upon my death, donate our family’s sheet music collection as she wanted the museum to be known for its musical history as it had the original piano and violin from the family who had built the house. My youngest used a computer to archive the holdings in the late 1990s. Now, I’m told, they have moved to a more minimalist approach so there is no library for researchers to use. I couldn’t get confirmation of what happened to the books, photos, and sheet music they once had.
Or what happened to all the furniture. It once had been set up like a house, though most of the pieces were not original to the location. Each room now houses only 1 piece of furniture – the boy’s room has a carved dresser, the living room has the family’s piano, etc. It’s an interesting way to display the items and allows the visitor to set up the rest of the furniture as they can only imagine.
I’m all for change but I’m also for preserving the past. I love the new look but I sure wish that some of the old items could have been preserved somehow. Somewhere is a happy medium I hope archives and museums can achieve. If you are planning to donate your family items, make sure you have an understanding with the organization of what they’ll do with your items if they change their focus!
After the visit, these two Old-Timers high-tailed it over to a pioneer cemetery and found the graves we sought in about 10 minutes. Trying to clean up the stone for a pic set off a fire ant colony. No bites, thankfully! I clearly had forgotten the perils of cemetery visits.
Now that I’m a reigning old-timer I’ve decided I’m going to blog more about my memories of living in Pinellas County, Florida. The area has changed so dramatically since I was a high school teen I couldn’t have imagined then what it has become. Strangely, it doesn’t even seem like so many years have passed. Recollections – here I come!
Yes, this is the season to be jolly and I am reading a fascinating book that’s anything but jolly this week that I got for free on Amazon Prime. Each month I get a free Kindle book of the month and I selected Murder at Teal’s Pond by David Bushman and Mark T. Givens for my December freebie. I made my selection because I was a Twin Peaks fan of the original series though I didn’t like how creepy it got in the 2000’s so I didn’t finish watching the series. That reason alone wasn’t why I chose this book to read. I was shocked to learn that the show was based off a real life event that just happened to have occurred in upstate New York where my husband’s paternal family once resided. Wow! Who knew?! And I’ve even done boots on the ground research in that location!
Even if you weren’t a Twin Peaks Fan or had kin in the Troy, New York region I recommend this book for the research methods that was employed in an attempt to solve the 113+ murder of Hazel Drew who looked remarkably like Laura Palmer. Talk about typecasting! The authors use many of the strategies that we genealogists do – searching old newspapers, investigating the FAN Club and interviewing the living who might have had knowledge of the event past down to them.
Like Mark Frost who was a co-creator of Twin Peaks, he first learned about the murder from his grandmother who was retelling a different story that had happened at Teal’s Pond. When he questioned her about the details she told him about the murder but didn’t provide much background. As an adult, he decided to dig deeper and that’s how Twin Peaks was brought to life.
There’s a message in here – with the holiday’s approaching you may be interacting with family that you weren’t able to see last year. Make sure you are recording their stories. Who knows, you may end up with a hit TV series because of your efforts.
Photo courtesy of Petmd.com
It’s the most wonderful time of the year if you’re searching for DNA sales. Limited time offers are listed here:
Ancestry has a Black Friday sale that ends 11/28; a Cyber Sale for $49.00 that ends on 11/30 and a $100 off All Acess 6 month Membership which was advertised during the Macy’s Parade on Thanksgiving. Those deals are all through Groupon so click here to access. At the Ancestry site, they are still offering Free 14 day trials and 30% off World Explorer or All Access membership for AARP members – but you can only use those once! The specials are valid through 11/20/2021. Ancestry DNA kits are $49.00 (was $99.00) through midnight on 11/29.
MyHeritage also has specials through Groupon – up to 50% off DNA, free trials for 2 weeks and a free trial with no promo code – click here. Through the MyHeritage site, they are offering DNA testing for $39.00 (was $79.00) with free shipping on 2 or more kits on Cyber Monday. Click here to take advantage of the offer.
Family Tree DNA has the following offers: Family Finder + myDNA Wellness for $59.00, Family Finder $39.00 and discounts on Y-DNA and mtDNA through 11/30. Here’s the link.
23andMe is offering 50% off on one Health and Ancestry Kit and 60% off when you buy two kits. Offer ends 11/29.
Another option for mtDNA or Y-DNA is LivingDNA – a small but growing company that is offering kits for $59.00. Great Britain results are their largest reference samples. They also have Wellbeing Kits at $69.00 and Wellbeing/Ancestry Kits for $89.00.
Not sure which to select? I’ve tested mtDNA and autosomal through Ancestry. They have the largest samples but don’t support the mtDNA testing I first did. I’ve also tested with 23andMe because I wanted to know my percentage of Neandertal. If you have cave people jokes in your family that might be the option for you. I also tested with National Geographic but they are no longer doing DNA tests. I have purchased a MyHeritage test because they have a higher sample percentage of my particular eastern European ancestry. Next year I may test with FamilyTree DNA.
FamilyTree DNA and MyHeritage do allow you to upload your results from 23andMe and Ancestry so you can further connect with people who may have tested on other sites. Ancestry and 23andMe DO NOT allow uploads.
If your family member is worried about privacy, their results do not have to be shared. If you are interested in connecting family, then it’s advisable you will want to also add information for a rudimentary family tree on the site but that’s not necessary if you are only interested in determining ethnicity. Keep in mind, though, that the ethnicity estimates are only as strong as the sample that has tested so your results will change over time. I have been Jewish and then it was gone. I have been German and then it was gone. Now it’s French. I have been Irish but then it was gone and I became Scotts. You will probably discover, like me, you are a Mutt! Mutts are loveable and I’d much prefer there resistant genetic makeup than that of a purebred. Plus it’s more fun to research! Happy shopping.
Did you ever have a dream filled with genealogical hints? That happened to me last week. In my dream, an ancestor was speaking to me and told me the significance of a pin that had been passed down in the family. I had first become aware of the item in a mugbook. During the summer of 2020 when I was trying to locate the Bible, another descendant was hard at work trying to find the location of the pin.
The mugbook description is above. In the dream, the ancestor who I never saw, told me it was mourning jewelry. The ancestor had brought it with him when he left England in the early 1700’s. We think of mourning jewelry as Victorian but the practice did originate in the 1600’s so the piece very well could have memorialized a death.
The dream continued that I was to be on a news show to talk about tracing family. In the green room was my husband, the emcee for the show, and several individuals I didn’t know. When a man with wavy blonde hair, short and stocky walked in, I somehow immediately recognized him as a descendant of the ancestor who had owned the pin. Now that’s totally irrational because there are no pictures or paintings of the ancestor.
I introduced myself to the man and he said he didn’t want to talk to me and he didn’t want to be at the studio, he was only doing it for the money as he needed $1200.00. A woman, who said she was his sister, was glad the man had come as he had paid the burial cost for Elaine and Edward.
I was confused, who were those people? Evidently, Elaine was the caretaker of the pin but had died tragically, though I didn’t know how or when. Edward took possession of the pin but had recently died when his puppy jumped into a lake and he dove in to save it, both drowned. The blonde man had paid for both burials in a Methodist church. He wouldn’t tell the location. His sister said it was the same place she was living which confused me more, was she sleeping in a cemetery? Turns out she had lost her residence and was temporarily staying at a shelter the church provided.
I decided I would write the blonde man a check for half the money he had paid for the burials but I didn’t have my checkbook so I asked him for his address. He refused to give it to me. Then his sister told him it would be wise to do that. The other man in the room, apparently his brother, agreed. I was rummaging around in my purse for a pen and paper but it was time for us to go on-air, which I didn’t want to do. I didn’t want the blonde man to have to share his family tragedy with the world.
Turned out the emcee had gotten us all there under false pretenses; he had “expert” witnesses who were going to debate who should be the rightful owner of the pin – me, a descendant of the first wife, or blonde man’s family, descendant of the second wife. I was so miffed at the subterfuge I said you can debate all you want about the legality but that’s not what is important, respecting the family’s decision is.
And then I woke up and couldn’t shake the dream.
Now I’m not planning on going to the great beyond anytime soon but I am prepared for the big event. My kids know who gets what and they can even have it now if they want.
I have no desire to go after family heirlooms that other’s inherited so why would I dream such a strange dream?
Halloween’s over and Thanksgiving is almost here!
I don’t have any idea but I decided to Google for key details in the dream. The blonde man had told me the first and last names for Elaine and Edward and his sister had told me the name of the church.
I am embarrassed to tell you I Googled it. Weirder still, there were two people by that name affiliated with a church named by the sister, but they were husband and wife and not brother and sister, in Tennessee.
Gave me the creeps.
I told my husband about the dream the next morning and he laughed and told me he and I were on the news. Huh? He had received an email from a neighbor with a link to a local news station that had filmed a marathon city council meeting (it ended after 3:30 AM) a few weeks ago. We had attended the heated meeting for 2 nights. The Tuesday meeting went from 6:30 PM to 12:30 AM, was convened because of a family emergency for one of the council members, reconvened at 6:30 PM on Wednesday and went til about 3:45 AM Thursday morning. We stayed both nights (days?) until the bitter end. Apparently my husband and I had been filmed around 3:00 AM on Thursday morning.
Personally, I think I need to take a genealogy break. I plan on focusing on Thanksgiving prep this week and getting ready for the upcoming holiday season. Maybe then I’ll start dreaming of sugar plums dancing in my head! Have an awesome Thanksgiving with your loved ones.
This has been an unusual week for me. In August 2017 I emailed someone on Ancestry asking how they were related as the individual had no online tree. I suggested the match was for a particular surname.
This week, I got a reply. Yes, it was over 4 years after I sent the initial inquiry. Genealogy is a study in patience!
The woman had not gotten an email from Ancestry notifying her that I had messaged her. Recently, her sister had tested and she decided to go back on and see her matches. She had difficult logging on so contacted Ancestry. What a surprise she discovered when she finally saw her matches.
She was only 22% related to her sister and 21% percent related to someone she had gone to school with. Then she saw my message and discovered the schoolmate had the same surname I was asking her about.
Unfortunately, the schoolmate had died last year so she could not contact him. She found his obituary and discovered he had a brother and the name of his parents.
She was shaken to her core, understandably, as who she thought was her father was not biologically hers. She called her sister who responded by laughing. Her sister, only 2 and a half years older than her, had no idea and hadn’t even looked closely at her own Ancestry results.
The woman spoke with a counselor who told this was just a mistake. The woman didn’t believe it was. She messaged me and we spoke in detail. I was able to send her some personal photos I had of her grandparents as my grandfather had evidently attended their 50th anniversary party in the 1970’s.
She is coping extremely well; it’s difficult discovering a not expected parent when you get your DNA results back.
Now that she has some new family,here’s what I suggested she do as she would like to contact them:
DO NOT – Facebook Message/call/text or show up unexpectedly at their door
DO use either an unemotionally attached middleman or email/mail a letter
Here’s a template I recommend for adoptees that can be tailored to work for NEP’s:
I am (insert your name) and I understand that this note may come as a surprise to you. I don’t want to upset anyone but I am hoping to learn about my family’s medical history. I was adopted in (insert date). Recently, I had my DNA tested through (insert company). I have just been diagnosed with (insert illness) and I’m hoping to connect with my biological relatives who may help me better understand my genetic background. Please know I do not want to intrude. I am simply wanting knowledge about my family’s health. I can be reached at (insert phone) or at (insert email). Sincerely,
I also recommended she read, The Stranger in My Genes by Bill Griffeth. In her case, her mother is deceased so she may not ever discover what really happened. It’s likely the father who raised her had no idea but she did not look like her sibling and there was always a joke in the family that she was the daughter of the milkman. The father who raised her was a milkman. It’s unlikely he would have made that joke if he knew the truth.
Like so many others who discover the information, she reported she never felt connected to her family. I do believe we have an unexplainable sense of belongingness to those who share a genetic background with us. Maybe someday how that works will be understandable to us.
In the meantime, I say Welcome, cuz, to the family!
Nothing like joining an online group of people that share your passion for genealogy! With cold weather ahead, it’s a perfect time to put your head together virtually to help solve your brickwall.
Sure, it’s easy to do a Facebook search for genealogy groups but to save you time and find alternatives (because I know many of you are separating from Facebook), here’s a direct link to FamilySearch.org’s Wiki of all of FamilySearch’s groups – FamilySearch Genealogy Research Groups
To connect with a group on the FamilySearch.org website you must first log in. If you don’t have an account, click the “CREATE ACCOUNT” on the upper right corner of the screen.
A short intro video is supposed to be available but I couldn’t get it to come up. As an alternative, in the search box, type “FamilySearch community video” and a variety comes up to view.
Your options with FamilySearch are communities directly linked to FamilySearch, groups on Facebook and other groups that are independent.
I really wish I had known that when I was researching Barbados last summer – 5 different groups are mentioned and I would have loved to contact them with questions I had.
Photo courtesy of Fordham Institute
Here’s what I’ve been reading this week that I think you may find interesting:
When is Day of the Dead? The HIstory Behind Dia de los Muertos by Claudia Preza. Reader’s Digest, 19 October 2021.
6 Misconceptions About the Vikings by Jake Rossen, Mental Floss, 20 October 2021.
When Truman is Your Grandpa: The Complicated Lives of Presidential Descendants by Roxanne Roberts, Washington Post, 26 October 2021.
Archaeologists Unearth ‘Once-in-a-lifetime’ Discovery of Complete Roman Statues in U.K. by Sammy Westfall, Washington Post, 29 October 2021.
You might not want to miss the following:
Elizabeth Shown Mills lecture on Legacy Family Tree Webinars is offered FREE through October 31st. This is Elizabeth’s LAST LECTURE as she is retiring from lecturing. I will greatly miss her.
Special thanks to reader Tess who responded regarding my earlier blog mentioning problems I encountered with RootsMagic 8. She recommended posting on the RM Users Group on FaceBook so I’d like to pass that tip along if you are having difficulties. Before doing that, I viewed the FREE webinars that are available on YouTube and that solved my issue. More will be coming so here’s the link to register in advance.
The root of my problem was I was trying to reconnect to Ancestry.com due to a pop up on RootsMagic 8. I did not need to do that as the webinar stated if you were already logged into Ancestry.com on RM 7 you would automatically be connected in RM 8. That would explain why the program froze for me. My tree is very large which doesn’t help. I logged out and waited a day. When I logged back in I followed the directions provided on the video and have had no problems since. I absolutely LOVE version 8 – kudos to the RootsMagic staff for their hard work.
If you are doing French research, two changes are in the works. Geneanet.org has been purchased by Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com has acquired 90% of Filae.com. I’m not sure when databases will roll from the old company to the new one or what you do if you were a member of the old company. I recommend contacting the company for details. MyHeritage did blog about the new content so check that out here. I had a free Geneanet membership and never subscribed to Filae.
New Settings for Links on RootsMagic 8Kind of apropos that RootsMagic decided to unveil their new software during the magical month of October. There are a lot of changes and I have only begun to learn the new software. Here’s my experiences so far…
A week ago Sunday I tried to purchase the new version via a link in an email I received. The link didn’t work. Since I’ve been a long time user of the program and wasn’t a new subscriber, I could simply purchase an update instead of the new version’s software. The prices change beginning on 10/17 so I wanted to take advantage of the special offer.
Since the email link didn’t work I Googled for the product. I was entering my info but when I clicked to complete the transaction I got an error message that my card didn’t go through. I tried again. It still declined. I then got a bank alert that they had put the card on hold – did I really make that purchase? After informing the bank I had, I thought that the transaction would go through.
By the following day it still hadn’t; after checking my credit card and seeing that the bank did not process the payment I went back to the site and tried again. Got the same decline message. I pulled out a different card and it went through with no problem as minutes later I had an email with my confirmation of the order and another email with the download instructions. Don’t understand why the first card didn’t work as I used it before and since with no problem anywhere else.
I went back to the site and tried to download. So far – so good!
The program looks very different. I thought I would try to link with Ancestry.com and download my Main Tree again as I had with the previous version. I knew I was signed out of my RootsMagic 7 link as I had tried that a week earlier and it would not allow me to sign back into Ancestry.
Every time I logged into Ancestry through Version 8 the program would freeze. Sometimes I got a runtime error, sometime I received a message that I was out of space. Other times it just stopped working and I had to shut the program down through Task Manager (control + alt + delete). Unbeknownst to me, Version 8 was moving everything from Version 7. Since my trees have a lot of data and images, this took time. I wish that information had been available because I wasted time over two days to try to get an Ancestry connection.
On the third day I discovered, while poking around the new software, that all of my trees from previous RootsMagic versions had been loaded into 8. I clicked on my largest tree to check to make sure everything had moved. It then asked me again if I wanted to link to Ancestry.com which I wanted. I went to bed before the program finished.
The next day, the program was again frozen. Yes, the Disney musical Frozen is Magical but what I was experiencing was not! I again closed it out and reopened it. I could see photos, which was a plus. Before I started clicking into individuals to verify that stories and research had also been saved, I received the popup at the top of this blog.
So, I followed the instructions above and signed into FamilySearch. I’m not sure how that’s going to work because FamilySearch does not allow you to permanently be signed in unless you have a church membership, which I do not. Maybe there has been a deal cut with RootsMagic that I’m not aware of.
The Ancestry direction is interesting as I would have had to spend a lot of time looking around the site to discover where the update for that was located. I don’t know why it wasn’t under Settings where you’d find the other companies. I also don’t understand why I have to keep signing into Ancestry.
There are several online courses to help users and I intend to view them soon.
If you are new to RootsMagic and this is turning you against buying it, that’s not my intention. I loved the past software and the tech support in the past. I expect it will continue but this new makeover is quite dramatic. This program does permit you to identify any changes you make to your Ancestry.com tree and add to your RootsMagic tree. It was time consuming if you didn’t do it periodically but it was a nice way to save all of your information on your desktop, external hard drive or another cloud in case there is a problem with Ancestry.com.
For the old time users, I’m sure we’ll get the hang of the changes soon; I just wanted to let you know where you used to get linking info is not where it now resides. Patience in genealogy is important and with this change, even more so.
