DNA Holiday Sales

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.

A Crazy Family History Dream

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.

Welcome, Cuz - NPE Results in a Newly Found Relative

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!

Join a Genealogy Interest Group

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.