Genealogy

I've loved the search for genealogy and my family's history since my children were young. I wanted to understand my roots, and why some of the difficulties my family endured happened, and how those events changed all those who were touched by them. I found young orphans, babies born before marriage, rape, and tragic death by fire among the more normal events. I've also found some family lines that are rather well-researched, which took away the challenge. For some years other projects took my time. Then, the yDNA tests became affordable, and I bought an Family Tree DNA kit for my dad for Father's Day. Because those "beginner kits" don't tell you much, and have far too many meaningless matches, I kept paying for upgrades, all the way up to 67 markers. This took his high-quality matches down to under 10, but as we followed up on these matches, we realized that this line of Cowans came from Stirling, in Scotland. The recorded part of the family went to t...

It took me a year to really start using 23andme. I think it was because it is hard to know what to do. Recently I got tired of waiting for something to happen, and decided to just wade in and make it happen. As of now, I have over 85 people I'm sharing with, with another 252 invitations to share. Altogether, tonight I have finished contacting all 962 matches that they report, unless I skipped someone inadvertently. The page where you can make this happen too is https://www.23andme.com/you/relfinder/ . This page links every match up to 1000, and you can sort it various ways. What I did first was sort it this way and that, randomly messaging people, with very few responses. When I got serious, instead I made a little text: We may be related according to 23&me. I've been doing genealogy research for quite awhile, and my old GEDCOM is online at Rootsweb: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~valoriez. And GEDMATCH: kit # M186808 Main surnames are Baysinger, Booth, Cowan, Disn...

Last Christmas I got a 23andMe kit , and sent in my spit. Now it is finally paying off in matches. I spent part of last night writing to my newly-found genetic cousins, and hope to do more of that. It would be good to get a GEDCOM online again too, so we can more easily compare lineages. One weakness I found is that all the hours I put in after I sent off the kit, putting in information on the website, seems to be totally absent. Oh well, I sent this to some of my cousins: Hello, I see that we may be related, according to 23 and me. I've been doing genealogy research for quite awhile, but my chart isn't online right now. However, some of my main surnames are Baysinger, Booth, Cowan, Disney, Goosic, McBee, McPhail, McPherson, McQueen, Walters. I have a genealogy blog: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/ . My email is valorie.zimmerman@gmail.com, and I'm on G+, Facebook, Twitter, etc. http://about.me/valoriez All the best, Valorie I hope to improve that as I gather my thou...

Our DNA does not fade like an ancient parchment; it is not rust in the ground like the sword of a warrior long dead. It is not eroded by wind or rain, nor reduced to ruin by fire and earthquake. It is the traveler from an antique land who lives within us all. - Dr. Bryan Sykes, in The Seven Daughters of Eve Famous DNA lists DNA Haplotypes (DNA signatures) for famous, or infamous, people: http://www.isogg.org/famousdna.htm International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG) , new non-profit promoting greater understanding of the uses of DNA within genealogy, and support network for genetic genealogists. No dues, no treasury, donated web server space and donations. Side-by-side comparison charts of Y-chromosome and mtDNA testing services: http://www.isogg.org">http://www.isogg.org . Journal of Genetic Genealogy : http://www.jogg.info/ Genetealogy - Using DNA testing to learn about your genealogy and family history : http://www.genetealogy.com/ Andy's Guide to DNA in Family ...