I’ve spent so much time writing about my paternal side of the family for 52 Ancestors that this week offers the perfect topic to shift the focus to my maternal side. When DNA testing first emerged as commercially-available, I got an mtDNA test from Family Tree DNA. The autosomal testing was less ...
DNA
The Wallace family of Halifax, Nova Scotia
In confirming my great-great grandmother's paternity, I found myself digging deeper into her father's family. It's time to meet the Wallace family of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Emma's father was Francis Wallace. It seems more and more likely that he didn't marry Emma's mother, Eliza (Elizabeth) ...
Southern Italian Ancestors
Once upon a time, my father joked, "Why do you talk with your hands so much? What are you - Italian?" Being about 16 and not know any better, I shot back, "Maybe I am!" Two years later, when I delved into genealogy in earnest, I learned the truth. Or half of it. My mother's mother's family is ...
Spring 2021
As much as many of us may look back at 2020 and say, "What a dumpster fire," it seems 2021 isn't much of an improvement. Though I'd like to think we're going to eventually get to an overall better, more positive place by the end of the year. Besides, I think I've let go of the idea of "good years" ...
Western Massachusetts Brick Walls
Ah, the joy of brick walls! Of course, the fun part is smashing them down. Here is one that has plagued me for a long time now:Esther was the wife of Edward Curtis. She was born about 1748. She married Edward about 1780. Edward was born 4 May 1736 in Dudley, Worcester County, Massachusetts ...
The Importance of Radical Empathy with DNA Matches
You log in to your various DNA tests to see what's shaking, and see something exciting: a new close relative match! It's not a name you recognize, but that makes the new match that much more exciting, yes? So you send out the message you have used time and again with new or particularly intriguing ...