DNA: Exploring the Latest Genealogy Tool

 DNA testing has gone mainstream. TV ads show how easy it is. Just send away for your test, collect some spit or a cheek scrape, pop it in the mail and in a few weeks you will know if your ancestors came from Germany or the wilds of the Scottish Highlands or some other exotic place. That’s all well and good, but how will it help with your genealogy? I am no expert but I have long been interested in the new field of genetic genealogy. Exploring DNA should prove engaging and, hopefully, rewarding.

I first encountered genetic testing in the early 2000s at a genealogy conference. One seminar was about the exciting new field of DNA for genealogy. We were told it was only possible for males to get anything related to genealogy out of the testing but were encouraged to give samples of our spit to the nice people from the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation. *

Genetic genealogy advanced. At first it was only the men, and those lucky women with cooperative male relatives, who added DNA tests to their research. Then there was a buzz about a new test for atDNA (autosomal) which anyone could take to find genetic cousins. My profile at FTDNA (Family Tree DNA), shows that I signed up in 2012. I was on my way to finding new cousins. Who knew what connections I would be able to make!

Well, I tried. I sent out emails to probable cousins, not that there were many close matches. For the most part, I had to make do with 4^th - 5^th cousin matches with likely listed surnames. Some emails were ignored, one likely prospect said she was too busy, but one did respond. He was a 7^th cousin on my Tripp line. We had already exchanged information and now had the science to prove our connection. That was great as far as it went but what about all the new cousins I was supposed to find?

Maybe there was something else I could try. FTDNA also offered Y-DNA tests. My family lines included Cavanaghs who I had researched back to the early 1800s in East London. With a name like that they must have come from Ireland but there were no clues to pin down the specific locality. Now was the time to look for cooperative male relatives. The men I asked turned me down flat.

That is where my genetic research stalled. Now I am determined to explore the possibilities of DNA testing further. I want to find out where the tests can take me, what the results mean and how they can help with my research. Periodically, there will be posts on this blog about my explorations in the world of genetic genealogy as I share what I have tried and learned along the way.

  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorenson_Molecular_Genealogy_Foundation *

https://www.familytreedna.com/ 

 

 

Families of Immigrants: Finding Their Stories

The Museum of Immigration at Pier 21

Why did they come and why did they leave? There were always good reasons for both, reasons that shed light on the lives they lived in the old country and the lives they led in the new world, once, and if, they arrived.

Many immigrants did arrive, usually in groups following those who had gone before and followed by more in turn. When searching for your family’s story, it is often difficult to find written memories of their immigration experience or, even sometimes, the passenger list showing when they traveled and the ship or other means that conveyed them to their new life. But diaries, letters and books can fill in some of the details of other immigrants’ experiences, immigrants from the same area and time period that can help give an idea of what your ancestor experienced. When writing about my immigrant Scots, I used various sources to find out what their journeys would have been like.

This same method can be used to fill in details of the immigrant experience. When I questioned why my grandfather’s first job was in Craig, Saskatchewan, I found that the answer was the government facilities in place at the time, an answer I found in a book about immigration to Canada.

Immigrants came to North America from many different lands. The family lines that I have research have predominantly come from the British Isles. As I what I write is related to my family history research, I have not covered many immigrant groups who make up the Canadian mosaic or the American melting pot. I have only written about what I know but I have many more immigrant stories to research and, hopefully, many more stories to bring to light. They were all travelers in their own way. I hope that I can find traces of the early journeys from old world to new and from even before that in the times that the Vikings roamed the land of the Western Isles. 

The shores of Islay, Scotland