My Trails into the Past

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings today is to:  1)  How many autosomal DNA matches do you have descended from your eight 2nd-great-grandparents (they would be your third cousins)?  Do you know how they are related to you?  Have you corresponded with them?  Why are your numbers high or low? 2)  Share the number of your autosomal DNA matches for each of your 2GGP, and answer my questions above on your own blog, on Facebook or other social media, or in a Comment on this blog.  Share the link to your post on this blog, so readers can respond. Here's mine: The number of autosomal DNA matches I have on Ancestry, as seen on Thru-Lines for each 2nd-great-grandparent pair, is as follows: Paternal side: Joseph Heinrich Horoch (1804-1857) and Maria Catherine Trösster (1813-1874) have 2 matches . They are both descendants of Urselle Hork (...

I have not looked at my matches at Family Tree DNA in a long time. For this post, I’ll concentrate on my paternal side. My dad’s ancestry is half Irish and half German.  Closest Match My strongest match is my dad’s sister at 1962 centimorgans (cM), with the longest block at 167 cM. I also match 107 cM on the X chromosome. The 1962 cM is consistent with matching at a half-sibling, uncle/aunt/niece/nephew, or grandparent/grandchild. [1]  Next Closest Matches My next closest match is a 2nd-4th cousin range at 170 cM. Our longest block is 28 cM. There is no X match. I have communicated with this person in the past and she is my second cousin once removed, a granddaughter of my great-grandfather, John H. Sullivan’s brother.   The third closest match is also at the 2nd-4th cousin range with 117 cM, 42 cM as a longest block, and 10 cM on the X chromosome. I don’t know this person and they provided no surnames. Since she was an autosomal transfer, I found her on Ancestry DNA. Her...

Many people choose to do DNA tests in order to see their ethnicity estimates. Since I have completed my genealogy research back several generations, I have an idea of my ethnicity. My Ancestry Estimates My paternal grandmother is from a long line of people from Ireland, particularly County Cork and perhaps County Tipperary. The surnames I research are Sullivan, Sheehan, Gleeson, and Tierney. My paternal grandfather is from a long line of people from the German states of Westfalen & Posen. The surnames I research are Hork, Sievert, Sommer, Trösster, Voss, Döbener, and Randuntz. On my mother’s side, both her maternal and paternal sides have been in the U.S. since colonial times and settled in the South. Likely, they came from countries of present-day Great Britain. The surnames of her paternal ancestors are Johnston, Hutson, Jones, Selman, Haley, and Oldham. The surnames of her maternal ancestors are Lancaster, Loveless, Welch, Coor, Rodgers, Hughes, Polly, Neel, and Kethley. D...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again - Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Here is our mission this week from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing . “Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision.” 1) Judy Russell wrote Those spreading genes two weeks ago, highlighting the countries that her close DNA matches (with 20 cM or more) are currently residing, based on her Ancestry DNA matches.  2)   On the AncestryDNA Match List page, you can select "Close Matches" in the "Shared DNA" button.  Then click on the "Location" link to see a world map with that set of matches.  You will have to count some or all of them by hand.  3)  Can you work with your "Close DNA Matches" and find the countries that your close matches are residing in? Here’s mine: I have never looked at my matches this way and it is interesting that I have matches in countries on three continents: Great Britain and Germany; US...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's  Saturday Night  again - Time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Here is this week’s assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing : 1)  Have you done an autosomal DNA test?  If so, which testing company/ies?   2)  Of your Top 10 DNA matches on any site, how many are a known relative, and are they in your family tree?  No names...but give a known relationship if possible. 3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook Status post.  Please leave a link in a comment to this post . Here's mine. I have listed only those I knew who they are: At Ancestry, I have 36,703 matches, many of which I have not even investigated. I do have close matches: Daughter, 3484 cM Brother, 2666 cM First cousin, once removed, paternal side, 507 cM First cousin, once removed, maternal side, 429 cM First cousin, once removed, maternal side, 364 cM First cousi...

I have not solved any genealogical mysteries with DNA (yet). I do have burning questions that I would love to answer, but haven’t found the right people to test. Who Has Tested I have tested at Ancestry, 23andMe, and Living DNA. I have uploaded my Ancestry DNA to FamilyTree DNA and MyHeritage. So, I feel I’m doing the right thing and are prepared to solved problems. I have asked some family members to test. My maternal grandmother first tested mitochondria DNA at FamilyTree DNA when that was the only test available for women. Later, when autosomal was available, we upgraded to that test. Here is the projected ancestry for my grandmother, which agrees with what I have researched so far. Her ancestry is deep in the South and I haven't yet found an immigrant except on the Lancaster line. I also asked my paternal aunt to test the mitochondria DNA at Family Tree DNA and, when available, we upgraded with the autosomal test. Having both my maternal grandmother and paternal aunt teste...

This is my second year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past . I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. I have been a bit behind in studying DNA for genealogy. I have done some self-studying but have not taken a DNA class yet. Education The books I’ve read include: The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Blaine T. Bettinger. This book gave me a basic understanding of the different types of DNA (Y-DNA, autosomal DNA, X-DNA, and mtDNA) and how they are used to solve genetic problems. Genetic Genealogy in Practice by Blaine T. Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne. This workbook allowed me to work through exercises in the use of DNA in genetic problem solving. I have also viewed several webinars on DNA. Especially helpful were these webinars from Legacy Family Tree Webinars that...

Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. This idea came from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing, who started this meme. Genealogy Blog Writing : I wrote the following blog post this week: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks  For week 12, I wrote about no. 12 in my husband’s ahnetafel chart: his great-grandfather, Nils Malkom Nilsen. For Saturday Night Genealogy Fun , we were asked to writing about the birth order of one of our lines. So I did one of my grandmother’s side. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   I attended: “The Five-Story Fall: Correlating Indirect and Direct Evidence to Extend the Pedigree,” by Debbie Mieszala, CG, for BCG Legacy Family Tree Webinars. “One African American Family’s Story of Migration,” J. Mark Lowe, CG, for Legacy Family Tree Webinars. “Scarlet Letters: Copyright, Ethics and Family Correspon...

I will be attending the Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree in Burbank, California from June 9-11, 2017. This will be my second time, the last time many years ago. Finally, I don't have any college and high school graduations to interfere with the seminar. If you want to register, click here . I am very excited to also be attending the DNA day on June 8. I am ready to learn more about using DNA in my genealogy research. On my last train trip across the country, I worked through the workbook, Genetic Genealogy in Practice ,  by Blaine T. Bettinger, Ph.D., JD, and Debbie Parker Wayne, CG, CGL. This has been really helpful and I know that some of the sessions at Jamboree will help me, too. I will blog about my experiences during Jamboree. I will meet many other bloggers, speakers, and friends who will also be there. It will be lots of fun. Copyright © 2017 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.