Friday Feature

In my previous Friday Feature posted on April 14, 2014, I wrote about Genealogical Research. I listed several items that you might find around your home that can help you create your genealogical history, which then can be translated into a Family Tree.
As you traverse your family’s landscapes, one of the best ways to get you started is by having your own DNA analyzed. There are two programs and I suggest that you read about each one. They offer two different perspectives, both educational and informative. Whatever your needs and desires are as your search for your family history, you will find that the more you search, the more you will find.

This Christmas, my family gave me Ancestry’s DNA Kit. I completed the test on January 7^th and two weeks later, was sent an e-mail informing me that my DNA was in the process of being analyzed. I will received another email when the testing is completed. I am very excited about this because my family history is sketchy at best. Hardly any records were kept by both my father (Lithuanian) and mother (Italian), so all I had to go by were stories and photographs. Therefore, this analysis will help me find out who I am.  

Discover your ethnicity, Connect with new relatives, Family history is in our DNA

Get your kit with easy-to-follow instructions. Send in your kit with a small saliva sample. Experts analyze your DNA within 6-8 weeks. Discover your heritage, cousins, and more online. http://dna.ancestry.com/

For my husband’s birthday, we gave him the Genographic Project Participation “Geno 2.0” DNA Ancestry kit.  Though his mother’s family (Norwegian) was quite astute about tracing their heritage, his father’s (German) side did the opposite. After completing the test he was gob smacked to find out how far his family traveled over the centuries’. This new DNA test uses cutting-edge technology to give you the richest ancestry information available. By participating, you will:

•  Discover the migration paths your ancient ancestors followed hundreds—even thousands—   of years ago, with an unprecedented view of your ancestral journey.
•  Learn what percentage of your genome is affiliated with specific regions of the world.
•  Find out if you have Neanderthal or Denisovan ancestry.
•  Have the opportunity to share your story and connect with other Genographic Project participants, helping us fill in the gaps in the human story.

http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/product/genographic-2.0-kits/geno-2.0---genographic-project-participation-and-dna-ancestry-kit

The search for family history as given birth to not only DNA studies, but television shows as well. Here are two that my family watches and each is both educational and edifying.

Finding Your Roots (2012), noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees.  Professor Gates utilizes a team of genealogists to reconstruct the paper trail left behind by our ancestors and the world’s leading geneticists to decode our DNA and help us travel thousands of years into the past to discover the origins of our earliest forebears. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots/schedule/

 

Who Do You Think You Are? Is an American genealogy documentary series that premiered on NBC on March 5, 2010. Each week a celebrity goes on a journey to trace his or her family tree. Lisa Kudrow is an executive producer for the series, which is a partnership between Shed Media, NBC Entertainment and Ancestry.com. The series has since been picked up by TLC and has renewed the show for a sixth season which will premiere on March 8, 2015. http://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/who-do-you-think-you-are/

So now you have the tools, instructions and guidance to start planting your family roots that will develop into a might tree that will continue to grow as long as you take care of it. Start today and have fun!

  Next Week Posts: Collections

Friday Feature

                                      Genealogical Research

 

Boxes hidden or stored in the attic or basement can contain valuable information you may have never dreamed possible to discover. They may prove to be an invaluable wealth of knowledge when beginning a genealogical project. While some of the information is piecemeal and perhaps some of the contents divided between family sides, but there are probably enough clues to lead to others who have what you need and other potential sources. Listed below are additional items that you might find around your home that can help you create your genealogical history.

*Old family Bible with names and dates handwritten inside.

*Births, deaths and marriages dates recorded that occurred in the family over the years

*Birth certificates of great-grandparents, grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles, etc.

*Application for naturalization; books and papers associated with this history, a

  train ticket, ship manifest, and other travel documents

*Last Wills & Testaments; major and primary documents

*Military enlistment and discharge papers, medical records, group & individual    

  photographs, weapons, uniforms, letters and postcards from military bases or units

  providing histories that put an individual at a particular place and time

*Licenses; old driver's licenses, professional licenses, or hunting/fishing licenses

*Property deeds, rental agreements, property records or census information

*Old newspaper clippings on current events, local politics, world happenings, weather *Hand-written  

  business ledger with notes on prevailing business practices, contracts

*School records, report cards, papers, yearbooks, certificates of achievement, diplomas

*Religious items; baptismal, communion, confirmation, marriage certificates,

  burial Mass cards, obituaries. 

*Letters of all kinds: friendship, love, family correspondence that may yield valuable  

  insight into the relationships, unique glimpses into personalities

*Scrapbooks; some of the most interesting and useful information can be found in these

  mementos that many people keep. They provide documentation of certain events in that

  person's life such as athletics, vacations, and entertainment. These certainly provide a

  unique peek into one's life and add wonderful anecdotes to a family history.

*Keepsakes; jewelry passed down from parent to child-each with its own story. Some  

  have engravings that provide valuable clues, furniture, artwork, clothes, toys, books, etc.

Study the history of your family . . . all sides . . . using whatever documents to discover the relationships between people. When you have all your ducks in a row, start a Family Tree. When that is finished, frame it by itself or incorporate into a shadow box where you can add small items that will lend more interest. And don’t forget to involve the whole family; after all, it is their history, too.

  

Next Post: A brief hiatus and I will be back with more fun and interesting aspects to creating your family museum.