The days between posts have been a bit mundane. Cooking, laundry, an adolescent girl cat and many, many thoughts about this place and the realization that there is no affordable alternative out there at the moment or possibly ever again. I would have to live in another state.
I also received my autosomal DNA test results and have been looking at matches, summaries, traits and other things. The results of the ethnicity estimate held no big surprises but a few little ones such as small percentages of Norwegian, Danish and Swedish. The more predominate ethnicities were a mix of countries comprising the UK, and Germany, all of which are reflected in my tree.
The Traits section is new. According to my DNA, I should be an extrovert, do not care to have pets, am not a night owl and likely to have a cleft chin, higher than average birth weight, appear motivated by success but also less determined.
In actuality, I am an introvert, prefer pets to people and always have, am a night owl, possess no cleft in my chin, had a lower than average birth weight and have always been determined. Without this last, I doubt I'd still be rolling around.
What accounts for these differences?? A mix of circumstances, most beyond my control as an infant or little kid--premature birth, low birth weight, disability, and the adults who shaped my living environment as well as my experiences in that environment. Age and perception also influence all of this.
Among my matches are by now well known surnames to me and many others I do not recognize, a lot of these do not have trees so it is harder to know how we are related. While I do not plan on contacting matches, I am encouraged that my research prior to testing has for the most part accurate. I have over 3000 people in my tree and it will likely never be completed in what remains of my lifetime but I am okay with that. My only goal in doing this was to learn and I have, in spades.
I am about two hours from an early morning grocery delivery. The sidewalks here are due for replacement/repair starting today. I hope that is not too noisy. It will take a week.
Have a great day!
10 comments:
Interesting that they got the traits so wrong. The nature/nurture conundrum?
I hope the repairs are finished quickly and they are not tooo noisy.
DNA usage is evolving. I hope this can be refined.
I am seriously considering researching my family's history. It just seems so daunting to begin. What would your recommend as a first step?
I wonder if DNA hasn't been adapted to life circumstances yet. I definitely agree on the determination part of it.
I worked on a tree on Ancestry several years ago. I guess I stopped when my membership ran out and I didn't renew. I got my paternal side back to the 1760s in the US. I should give it a go again. There is so much involved in who we become and I think in the end genetics play a role but lesser than environment. Perhaps the genetics help us to survive an environment.
Interesting. I've never had my DNA examined. I've done a tree but only of my grandfather's (from my mother's side) family.
Dear Ms. Moon,
If I were you, I would visit your local library and ask the librarian for a basic book on genealogy, followed by a list of resources available such as Ancestry, My Heritage and others that the library has subscriptions to which you can use there if you have a library card.
Family Search is free and done by LDS volunteers and has various collections within it that can be useful. I have found errors in their work on my tree which they refused to remove, so I prefer to work in Ancestry myself.
Try out different ones and see which is easier to use for you. No database will contain every record on a person or family but Ancestry is one of the largest.
I would start with yourself, your family and work back to parents, grandparents and great grandparents and their families. Because your family are living, fewer records will be available. Census, birth, death, marriage, divorce and some military records are common. I also use Newspapers.com as a resource for obituaries and other family information. If you don't want to subscribe, your library will have additional newspaper resources you can use online or in person.
Because your family were Florida Pioneers, the historical society where they lived may have information or photos. Your local librarian may be able to check with the State Library to see what they have on Florida Pioneer families and yours specifically. If you have specific questions you wish to research or any come up during your research, write them down. Also, do not assume that every record you may find is for your family. Many people have the same name. Additionally, do not take information from trees online unless you can confirm it with records. You will need to do the work to put things together properly. It is time consuming.
Good Luck!
Thank you, E! Lots of good information here. I appreciate you taking the time to explain things. I think I will probably start with Ancestor. I have no desire to deal with anything from the LDS as I know they do their research in order to do their Temple work which is baptizing the dead posthumously so that they can enter Mormon heaven which...
No. Just no.
Also, my family is not from Florida pioneer stock. My grandparents were the first to move to Florida in the 1950's. But honestly, I know so little!
I really am grateful to you for explaining things to me.
Interesting how you are not fitting the blueprint. I haven't explored my own DNA but near relatives have. I was astonished to find there was a third cousin living here in Newfoundland.
I should do it for myself as I am really, really curious as to my maternal great-grandmother.
XO
WWW
The "traits" sound a bit dodgy to me. I know very little about genetics but believe that genes interact with each other, so I'd have thought it would be very hard to identify all that many ... even leaving out (as you say) issues like upbringing, etc. I'm sorry you think you may need to move state. Do you have experience of living in other states not too far away in similar climate?
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