AncestryDNA Test on sale for $79...

...plus shipping! And  the offer is only available through the link in an email. This info just came to me about an hour ago and I have no idea how they chose the recipients of the email notice. I've already tested so perhaps they believe I'll  but more tests for family and friends?

It'd really like to know how their sales fluctuate since they seem to have this "20% off" deal quite frequently. So much so that I nearly always advise people who have interest in the test to wait for a holiday or even call them up and simply request the test at the sale price.

All I can be sure of is that  by comparing the results I received from AncestryDNA to the results from FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe the most recent results seem to be more accurate. I tested long ago with NatGeo whose results also parallel those of the other major testing labs. I am predominantly Northern European with just a smattering of Eastern European and almost a full half of a percent of Ashkenazi Jew.

Would I recommend one over the other? The famous answer to that is "That depends." It depends, of course, on your needs or your motivation. AncestryDNA is a relatively simple (and inexpensive) "cousin finder" inasmuch as they only test autosomal DNA. Autosomal lives in the nucleus and is the DNA that is 50% Mom and 50% Dad. If you follow that out several generations, the logic dictates that your autosomal is 25% from each of your 4 grandparents, 12.5% from each of your 8 great grandparents, 6.75% from each of your 16 2nd great-grandparents and so on. That same logic demonstrates that the accuracy of discovering 4th, 5th or earlier generations is relatively remote at best. However, since Ancestry.com has a significant data base of family trees, some of which are reasonably accurate, there's also a reasonable chance you'll be able to discover some new relationships up to about 4th cousins or so. But don't try to prove you're descended from Charlemagne with the AncestryDNA test!!

The other companies' tests can be more expensive, but the testing is a great deal more complex. Just keep in mind the Y-DNA is specifically for your paternal line. Why (couldn't resist the pun)? Because only men have Y-DNA. That's what makes the men men! It is the 23rd of  the23 chromosomes in the nucleus of each cell.

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), on the other hand, lives outside the nucleus but still within the cell itself. EVERYONE has mitochondrial but  ONLY the females transmit it, thereby giving us all a genetic map to our mother's mother and her mother as well, back many generations of mothers

.

It starts to get a little technical from here on, but it may be enough to help you make a decision...hopefully!

Major Changes at 23andMe

Roberta Estes is a very competent genealogist with extensive credentials in the field. If you're familiar with her blog "DNAeXplained - Genetic Genealogy"you'll likely agree. If you're not familiar  but have interest in DNA and DNA research, I suggest you go to her blog and subscribe.

Rather than have me attempt to describe the goings-on at 23andMe, I thought it would be best to simply offer the link to that specific blog to read at your leisure. All you have to do is click here.
She'll do a much better job that I could ever accomplish!

 

Find A Grave Project - Potentially 20,000 Photos to Upload!

The Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society (WMGS) held their regular monthly meeting Wednesday night at the Agawam Senior Center in Agawam Massachusetts. Tonight's presentation was given by Al and Betsy McKee of the Longmeadow Cemetery Association who have been photographing 18th and 19th century gravestones along the Connecticut River Valley for many years. Tonight's title was "Cemetery CSI: Causes of Death Found on Gravestones" focusing on the inscriptions on the epitaphs, many of which were quite interesting!

Toward the end of the lecture, during the Q&A, I asked if they had ever uploaded any of their work to Find-A-Grave which they had not. They've posted many photos to the Longmeadow Cemetery Association's website, however. So my proposal was a collaborative effort between WMGS and the McKee's to take on the project of uploading their 20,000+ photos to the memorials that may already exist at the website or add the entire memorial along with their photo. They were more than enthused at the idea!

I put out a call for volunteers at the WMGS Facebook page and Google Community. If this blog reaches anyone who has an interest, please get in touch with me at dave@oldbones.info. We've barely come up with a strategy, but I believe that within a week or so, we could come up with a plan that works for the McKee's, gives WMGS a worthy community project and attracts helpful folks from anywhere who'd like to help.

Thanks!

Tracing Immigrant Origins - Historical Immigration & Naturalization Records with DearMYRT

For those of you who know or are familiar with "DearMYRTLE, your friend in genealogy," you'll know that she is responsible for a veritable stream of genealogical education broadcasts during the course of every week. Monday at noon eastern time, there's "Mondays with MYRT" a one and a half hour of a group of genealogists from around the world get together and discuss a wide variety of genealogical subjects.

Wednesdays have been the Google Hangout equivalent of classroom education at noon and "Wacky Wednesday" at 9 pm eastern. Both cover specific subjects, with "Wacky" being a little bit more fun and light hearted.

Occasionally, DearMYRT will host other specific subjects on Fridays at noon and once a month is "Genealogy Game Night" on a Saturday evening. "Game Night" is a modern twist of the old "What's My Line" TV program.

The Hangouts can be viewed by anyone. Simply ask to be added as a member of DearMYRTLE's G+ Community by clicking here and making the request. You will be able to watch the program live or, once you "get the hang of it," you may be interested in joining the panel. Panelist are active participants who appear live to the international broadcast.

Wednesday's class is the 3rd of 5 sessions on "Tracing Immigrant Origins - Historical Immigration & Naturalization Records." And the panelists won't just be watching, there's homework for us!! Here's my assignment: To post a document referencing an immigration or naturalization event in an ancestor's history. And below are the documents I'll be talking about on Wednesday, 4 November 2015 at noon eastern. Tune in!

This was my grandfather's 1919 "Declaration of Intention" to naturalize. There is a bounty of genealogical information here. He was single at the time and in spite of the filing, he never went through the final process. The document is only valid for 7 years so...

...he had to file again, this time in 1933. By now, he was married with 2 children. He lists Hazel, my grandmother, Beatrice my mother and Clement Jr, my uncle.

Once again, he never complete the process and died in Westfield, Massachusetts, a Canadian citizen in 1955 and veteran of "The Great War" having served in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces.

Grammar? I went to school for that!

For the record, I didn't attend a "grade" school.  I attended a "grammar" school where we learned, among a myriad of other subject, grammar.  Anyone who writes anything may be confronted with issues of "grammar." Since I have been known to write a thing or two, I felt compelled to watch these videos for a quick review. I found these little vignettes to be oddly entertaining.  Maybe I need other distractions!

See what you think... They're all very short and to the point; you may be able to binge watch the entire season in a little over 10 minutes. That's easier than taking the totality of "Game of Thrones!" She even talks about the implied diaeresis. And, by the way, that's not an intestinal disorder!

Here's the link: The Comma Queen, Series Premier

I hope she'll cover commas and quotation marks in an upcoming video.  Do they go inside or outside?

Ancestry Health? Yes, Ancestry Health

This is a little bit disturbing in my opinion.  Maybe even creepy.  But Ancestry.com is diving into the health data field which, on the surface, sounds a bit like what the FDA prevented 23andMe from doing, at least in its original form.  But that's another story!

I refer everyone to the most excellent DNA blog by scientist and genealogist, Roberta Estes.  If you have any interest in DNA whatsoever, her blog provides an excellent resource.  She speaks "English" in her blog rather than "Scientist."  Well, she does for the most part!  Some of the entries get a little long and have a tendency to cause my eyes to glaze over, but I'm always able to get the gist of her knowledge and manage to read most of the information.  Then there's the comments...hundreds of comments from researchers everywhere.

But I digress!  Here's the link where she explains with reasonable clarity the ins and outs of the beta program: http://dna-explained.com/2015/06/06/and-now-ancestry-health/ which should be a heads-up for anyone who may be tempted to jump right into the Ancestry Health pool.

She also references Judy G Russell, a very accomplished genealogist who happens to be a lawyer, a former prosecutor in fact.  That's another blog I would strongly recommend.  You can read and subscribe to her clever, informative, sometimes personal and often humorous words published daily at http://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog/.

Needless to say, I subscribe to both.  Some posts I have no interest in reading but most of the others and their comments are an education in and unto themselves.

Happy researching!

In closing, I had to share this Father's Day "card" from my kids.  Matthew, Mark and Kimi collaboratively colored this cartoon for a long ago Father's Day sometime around 1995.  They're a prescient group as I recently discovered through 23andMe that I am, in fact, 3% Neanderthal!

Thanks kids!

Visit http://www.oldbones.info for more information about yours truly then "Like" my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/OldBonesSearch?ref=hl

Lots to Talk About in New York Research

Seal of New York. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today, I learned a few things that should be of interest to anyone researching in the State of New York, the veritable "Black Hole" of genealogical research!

First, here's a post I put up at http://bit.ly/WestMassGen, the Facebook page of the Western Massachusetts Genealogical Society:

The New York State Family History Conference is being held this September in Syracuse, New York. Similar to the recent New England Regional Genealogical Consortium conference held in Providence, Rhode Island, this event is a regional conference, “A Federation of Genealogical Societies.” Early bird rates apply until May 31, 2015. The full 3-day conference is only $150 (early bird) or $175 after May 31st. Read all the details here: http://www.nysfhc.org/index.html where you can see the extensive list of outstanding speakers, the rates for partial registrations, hotel rates, exhibitors and sponsors.

I’m planning on registering myself and would be happy to travel with someone. I’m going to spend some time with my sister and her family while I’m out there….save a little on hotel expense!

Let me know if you’re interested at dave@oldbones.info.

*******

And here's the other New York genealogy research item I need to mention:

More good news for New York researchers....well, sort of...www.GenealogyBank.com has

just announced a large addition to their already huge collections of newspapers. They've

added 12 newspapers from th 18th and 19th centuries including the New York Gazette

(New York, New York) for 1730 through 1738. It is a paid subscription site, but it is one I

have subscribed to for many years. I don't know of any newspaper sites that could help me

any better than Genealogy Bank! And that includes Google! This link should get you to the

specific announcement: http://bit.ly/GenealogyBank-1700-1800.