DNA update

 

Most of the topics covered in the talks on my recent genealogy cruise to Alaska were about DNA. That meant lots of DNA chatter. The fact that a lot of us knew us each other from years of genealogy meetings and volunteering at BCGS helped the conversation along. As a bonus, there were draws for various prizes during our seminar days. I won a year of the paid tier at GEDmatch. I've been meaning to activate my prize. Not that I've done it yet. 

Before I got more deeply into DNA, I wanted to expand my family tree on Ancestry first. One of the BCGS members advised me that adding twigs to the branches of my family tree would help when looking for matches. But where to start? I've been researching various branches of my family tree for decades. I've gone deep and long on a lot of branches. The task seemed daunting. The tree expansion project became something to do later as other events filled my time. 

Then I got an email from one of my matches. We know that we connect but are not sure how. But we have our link narrowed down to a probable county in England. There will be an incentive now to add more names and family connections to my family tree. I just hope that we will be able to figure out our common ancestor once the work is done. 

Remembering Scottish Links

 

                                                         The White Hart Hotel, Charlotte Street, Port Ellen, Islay

Recently, I was on Ancestry checking out common links on family trees. As I remember, my search was for information on the surname Ross. My earliest matrilineal ancestor that I know of, Ann Ross, came from the Isle of Skye. I wanted to see if I could link her back to a line of McPhersons on Skye or in some of the surrounding areas. According to written sources, her mother had the surname McPherson. I didn't have much luck with that but one of the trees I looked at had McCuaigs in Kildalton, Islay. Back in the days of genealogy by email, I'd had a lot of correspondence with family historians on the track of McCuaigs. They'd told me that my line linked to members of that family. So I got sidetracked and brought further south in my links to the Western Isles. 

Islay links seem much easier to research than those on Skye. Perhaps that's because there are so many more record sets available. More books seem to have been written about Islay as well. In fact, I picked one up on my latest foray into Scotland, Land of the Ilich: Journey's into Islay's Past. It looks interesting. According to the list of contents, the book delves far into the island's past. Genealogy doesn't take me back quite that far although there is a chapter about Vikings that might give me some ideas.

Maybe someday I'll know if my Viking roots go back to when the northmen were on Islay. For now, I'm more interested in recent family links to the island. Specifically ones that connect with the White Hart Hotel. I stayed at the hotel once when I was in Port Ellen, but, unfortunately, nobody there could tell me about the hotel's history. Through records, I was able to find that the McCuaig family lived there. That's according to the valuation roll for 1885-1886. Also, in the back of my mind, I remember finding a strong link between the Hunters from Glenegedale, who were my lot, and the White Hart Hotel. I proved it to my own satisfaction at one time. Now I need to find the research that backs up that memory.

Genealogical archeology

 

                                                                       One of the convict ships, the Discovery

I never know where I'll come across something that links into my family history. Recently I was watching an episode of the program, Digging for Britain, which I have access to through my Acorn TV subscription. Archeology is one of my many interests. I've always thought that I'd like to be part of an archeological dig, on sunny days preferably. The program deals with the archeology of the British Isles so sunny days might be few and far between.

Each episode takes the viewer to different digs. As I'd just been reading about the Vikings, I was interested in the dig which turned up artefacts related to King Alfred, who had fought the northmen. The next dig segment really caught my attention. It was on Burrow Island, known locally as Rat Island. Through the years there had been rumours that the bodies of prisoners from the hulks in Portsmouth Harbour were buried there.

That perked up my ears. My 3x great grandfather, Thomas Arment, (Armant according to the death register) died on the convict ship Defence in Portsmouth Harbour. I covered the story of how he, his son Thomas and Henry Samuel Chester, were caught and tried for their crime in a continuing story on my blog in 2018. You can see it here: https://genihistorypath.blogspot.com/2018/08/adding-to-family-story-london-criminal.html Criminal records are a boon to family history research, there are so many records to find.

The information about the burials on Burrow Island leads me to wonder if that was where Thomas Arment the elder ended up. Perhaps one of the bodies they recovered was his. It would be good to be sure but I wonder if I will ever know.

Sources:

Digging for Britain, Series 6: Episode 1: Vikings and Gold, coverage of the dig on Burrow Island, known as Rat Island starts at about 24 minutes in

The mystery of Rat Island’s skeletons https://insidedio.blog.gov.uk/2021/07/07/the-mystery-of-rat-islands-skeletons/#:~:text=Harbour%20tours%20past%20this%20small,there%20in%20the%20Georgian%20era.

Image:

The forbidding form of the beached convict ship, Discovery, at Deptford. Launched as a 10 gun sloop at Rotherhithe, in 1789, the ship served as a convict hulk from 18-18-34. Date 19^th century By Unknown - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Discovery_at_Deptford.jpg Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10050203

Exploring Viking links

 

                                                            Some of the books about Vikings on my shelves

Vikings loom large in history and in our imaginations. Tales of the northmen raiding and plundering then moving in are the stuff of nightmares and horror films. But while stories of their daring and heartlessness make for action packed narratives, they were a real force that changed the course of history for many countries and fledgling kingdoms. Viking activity spanned hundreds of years from the early raids of the late 700s to sometime between 1066 and the mid-1200s, depending on which experts you consult. 

The Vikings left a wake of destruction, taking what they wanted; both material goods and people. Their deeds altered the history of settlements and family lines, many of which were wiped out through death and enslavement. As time passed, the Scandinavians began to settle in the areas that they had formerly attacked. That, of course, added their DNA to the gene pool of those places.

While some of the history of the Vikings appears in written sources, they also left other things behind, like burials. As the science of DNA became more sophisticated, scientists were able to separate this DNA into various groups by point of origin, which is how the commercial DNA testing company, Living DNA, came up with the Viking DNA Index.

When I first paid Living DNA to see my results in the Viking DNA Index, I knew I would have some positive results. After all, my ancestors came from the Western Isles of Scotland where the northmen had once ruled. At first glance, my results were interesting but didn't do anything for my genealogy. The history was too far back. The likelihood that my DNA was connected to the Vikings of Sweden and Denmark was just a fun fact.

Then I signed of for Diahan Southard's newsletter after watching one of her webinars. Her article about Viking DNA explained the results more fully. Her enthusiasm was catching. Besides my Viking index amount was 78% compared to other members in the Living DNA database. That was more than Diahan's, so if she was enthusiastic, maybe I should have another look. 

As with most history, I needed to know more and there are plenty of books written about Vikings. I own a few, most unread. Although, I remember cracking the covers of The Scots: A Genetic Journey, with high hopes. Some of the DNA population results written about in that book were Viking but, disappointingly, the concentration was on Y-DNA. That's not very helpful when tracing a maternal line. Further reading might give me clues about the Viking's in my family's past. Looks like I have my work cut out for me!

Sources:

Price, Neil Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings. Basic Books, Hachette Book Group, New York, 2020

Diahan Southard’s Your DNA Guide blog https://www.yourdnaguide.com/ydgblog/viking-dna

In Remembrance

 

It's that time of year again when we honour those who have served in times of war. There are many veterans of war in my family. My focus this year is on my father who served in the RAF. The automatic assumption would be that he flew a plane, perhaps participated in the well-known Battle of Britain but he wasn't a flier. He did have a part in that theatre of war or at least the start of it. In the early days of WWII, he was one of the crew who supported the buildup of equipment and construction of airfields for the fighter squadrons in England. 

After that, he was transferred to the Far East. At least that was where the convoy was headed before it turned back to Bombay after Singapore fell. In India, he was promoted to RAF Intelligence, a role that supported the buildup of air operations in southern India and also the Burma Campaign. I've recently started to go through his military records and hope to find out more. Part of that research will include reading more about the war in that part of the world. One thing I do know is that the war in India and Burma lasted for months after VE day was celebrated back in England. But eventually the war in the Pacific came to an end. My father made it home and I will honour his memory this Remembrance Day. 

Writing vs genealogy

 

                                  The double rainbow I saw going home from SIWC one year seemed like a good omen

It's easy to get lost for hours scrolling through email. I have the unfortunate habit of saving things to "look at later". As if "later" ever comes! Part of my problem is that I'm involved with so many things that generate virtual messaging. As any genealogist knows, there are lots of people trying to get our attention about webinars, meetings and new tech advances which will change the way we research. On top of that are messages about the latest records available on the big databases like Ancestry and Find My Past.

Sorry, I got pulled away for a minute because an email about writing family history caught my eye. That's because another of my interests is writing. Big Surprise there, but what you may not know is that, while I write this blog about genealogy and history, I'm also interested in other kinds of writing. I'm in the beginning stages of producing a work of fiction and have ideas about writing memoir. Believe me, the subject of writing also generates a lot of emails. Writers are not shy about putting down their words in electronic form!

Sometimes it feels like my interests in genealogy and writing are pulling me in two different directions, each demanding my attention and time. Not only to do family research or get down the words, but to learn more about the latest research techniques or to find better ways to convey my thoughts or show the actions of my characters. Both genealogy and writing each have their own online and in-person events to teach me more.

Last week I put genealogy aside to attend the Surrey International Writers Conference (SIWC). It's an event where writers, agents and other members of the publishing world come together to celebrate and learn. This year, for the first time in a couple of years, it was held partly in-person. There was also an online component, a holdover from the pivot done to allow the event to continue when getting together was problematic.

I enjoy attending SIWC, mingling with other writers, learning more about my craft. Being there is a big part of the experience but the learning doesn't stop there. A lot of the sessions are recorded and available for subscribers to view for 30 days after the event. That's both good and bad. I now have a playlist to get through in the next while. That reminds me of all those RootsTech videos that I really should get back to. With these two time consuming interests, it's no wonder I'm so far behind reading my emails! 

Giving records a closer look

                                                                  A pile of military records

I write for the BC Genealogy Society's newsletter. I've been a member of the BCGS for years and have gained a lot from the association. In the past, I volunteered at their library. Since they started the online newsletter, I volunteer by contributing written articles.

As the next newsletter was due to be published in November, the piece of writing I sent in this time was about my father's experiences in World War II. As part of my research, I pulled out his military records. I remember ordering them from the Royal Air Force, RAF Disclosures Division. That was back in 2013 or 2014. (There's a postmark on the envelope.) They took ages to come in. I recall looking at the paperwork and trying to make heads or tails out of it. Back then, understanding them seemed pretty hopeless but I did email an expert in interpreting RAF records, only what he sent back didn't make much sense. That was probably because I only scanned part of the document to send to him. After his confusing response, I put the records aside to look at later.

Now, unlike in many other cases, that later time was actually here. As I looked through the documents to find information, I was surprised by how many pieces of paper there were. I only remembered looking at the two buff coloured ones on stiff paper which detailed such things as his description, home address and cryptic notes about his various assignments. Now I found photocopies of more records. There were three more pages and, interestingly, a new family address much further away from dockland. I hadn't known that the family absented themselves from the area or, at least, spent their nights in what might have been deemed a safer area of London, Harringay, which was in North London.

I wonder what other surprises I will find as I explore the war records further. I also have an account my father wrote about his wartime experiences and this will be the first time that I look at the official record and his account together. It's time to give this information a much closer look.