Friday, February 26, 2016

AncestryDNA Results Came In : Ethnicity Estimates



My AncestryDNA results came in last week, and above are the graphics for the ethnicity estimates.  Although I know that these should be taken with a grain of salt, and are only as good as the database they are comparing me to, I find it interested to compare the differences from my results at 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA.

AncestryDNA picked up traces of Native American and West Asian, for example, that 23andMe didn't show.   I've had my results run at GEDMATCH in the various ethnicity calculators and have found similar results.  So way back in time there is a bit of a mystery to solve.

These regions are hard to pinpoint and are very vague such as Europe West or Scandinavia - but again based on the paper trail I'm not too surprised by the results.  

The trace regions in West Asia - the Caucasus region of Turkey, Iran, Iraq, etc. is interesting.  But then again, I have quite a bit of ancestry that remains unknown due to my mystery maternal 2nd great-grandfather.

I've posted on these various topics before under my DNA Genealogy tab.

Thursday, February 25, 2016

In Memoriam : Edmund G. Pierce, Anderson Democrat, January 29, 1875

Located this remembrance of my maternal 3rd-great grandfather, Edmund G. Pierce in the Anderson, Indiana Democrat of January 29, 1875.  Edmund had died on January 8, 1875.

IN MEMORIAM 

WILSON GRANGE, No. __ , Jan. 19, 1875.

WHEREAS, We, with deep regret, must announce the death of our beloved brother and worthy lecturer, Edmund G. Pierce, and,

WHEREAS, We regard his death as a great loss to  the community, and to his bereaved family and friends, in as much as he was a good citizen, kind brother, true christian, and as affectionate husband and parent.

RESOLVED, We tender our sincere and heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved family and friends.

RESOLVED, That, as a tribute of respect to our deceased brother, we drape our hall in mourning for thirty days.

RESOLVED, That these preambles and resolutions be entered upon the minutes of this grange, and that a copy be presented to each of our county papers with a request to publish.

D.C. HUFF
D.E.H. THOMAS
LEVI BREWER , Committee


Sunday, February 21, 2016

DNA Files & Horizontal Pedigrees

Found a great idea for helping to connect with my DNA matches and figure out where we connect - horizontal pedigrees.  Thanks to a post at Analytic Genealogy, I've been creating horizontal pedigree charts for myself, my parents, and other relatives that I've convinced to do DNA testing.  My hope is that I can use them to share with my genetic cousins in an easier way to find the common ancestors.  The blog post describing how these horizontal pedigree charts can be used is linked here.

So often my matches either don't have a family tree online or if they do, it can become unwieldy to read and figure out where the matches lie.  I find that the horizontal pedigree chart not only makes it pretty easy to see your family lines extended out, but also can show you where there are gaps in your tree without having to look at your software.

I've created a Dropbox folder for my DNA Files and am including these horizontal charts.  I might eventually include other information, but for now I will be sharing the link to the Dropbox folder with my DNA matches so they can easily see where we connect.  Since most matches are below 5th-6th cousins, they should be able to see a common surname on the chart.  

If you are interested, the link to my Dropbox folder and the charts is included here.