Update

I've really been terrible at updating lately, sorry! No excuses, just life getting in the way!

So, what have I been up to? More of the same, really. Lots of corresponding with new and existing dna matches, paper trail matches, sorting out the dna results for the newest kit I'm administrating, looking into one branch of my family very closely to see if I can find where a couple of probable distant cousins fit in, working on my final course, watching webinars, and of course working on my do-over. I'm up to more than four dozen people in my new tree now, which is lower than I had hoped to have by now, but it's at least progress, and I know I'm entering things correctly.

I haven't done much more yet with Genome Mate Pro, but I'm still hopeful that I can figure it out, because I think it will become a very valuable tool if I do.

So that's it, short and sweet this week. I'm going to try (again) to update weekly, but we'll have to see how that goes...

Go dtí an chéad uair eile.

Update

Sorry I've disappeared for a couple of weeks, I was under the weather for about a week and didn't even look at anything related to genealogy. But I did manage to accomplish a few things aside from that, though once again not related to my do-over. I expect the do-over work to resume again next week.

The most important thing I've done since my last post is I had the first consultation for my course. I've previously mentioned that I'm taking the final course for my Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies, so that has to take priority over anything else, at least in terms of genealogy. The consultation went well, and I expect to resume course work again this weekend.

I've also recently joined several genealogy-related facebook groups for different locations in my family history, and as a result I've been making contacts with a lot of new people. Correspondence with new contacts was actually very time consuming, taking almost all of my time over a few different evenings! One person in particular was extremely helpful for some Northern Ireland research, even locating a marriage entry for my 3rd great-grandparents. This entry provided the marriage date, as well as the specific church, which is quite helpful! Thank you very much, Shirley!

As I previously mentioned, one of my dna matches is an adoptee. I'm pleased to say that she has discovered the identities of both of her birth parents, so we were in touch a fair bit about that. Another dna match is the daughter of an adoptee, and I think we finally managed to narrow things down quite a bit. I'm sure it's only a matter of time before we find something more definite!

So as you can see, that's a fair amount of corresponding between various contacts! I've recently also downloaded Genome Mate Pro to try to keep track of my various contacts, but so far I'm in the learning stages. If I can't figure it out by the end of the month, I'll just do up a spreadsheet to keep track.

As a result of looking things up for new dna matches, I got dozens of new hints on Ancestry. This led me to a few new family members, and several new documents, including passports with photos! That also took an entire evening to go through, though it was absolutely worth it.

My goal for the next week or so is to resume my coursework, as well as my do-over. Hopefully I can update you on both of those next time!

Go dtí an chéad uair eile.

Do-Over Week 3...Or Not

Well, this week was a write-off, in terms of the do-over. A couple of other genealogy things came up this week that I was spending a lot of time on, and didn't get a chance to even look at my do-over.

I was checking out my grandmother's dna matches, particularly those with trees attached, and ended up finding someone that had a death date for my 3rd great-grandmother that I didn't previously have. She has been a brick wall of mine for years, so needless to say I had to follow it up! I went looking for more information and stumbled upon a thread on a message board about her and her family! Obviously I wasn't about to consider the information in that thread to be proof, so I had to do more digging to find documentation to prove or disprove it all. I actually spent several nights this week looking into the information contained in that thread and I'm still not finished!

I've also been in fairly regular contact with a dna match distant cousin who was adopted. We know from GEDmatch that our most recent common ancestor is about 5 generations back. Through mutual matches, I was able to determine which side of my family she's on, but not specifically which line she's on. But based on new information she discovered this week, we think we now know which surname line the connection is on. The trick now is to get back far enough to prove or disprove it.

So even with no progress on my do-over, attempting to break a long-standing brick wall and helping an adoptee find her roots are valid reasons, as far as I'm concerned! Hopefully I can make some progress on all three projects this coming week!

Go dtí an chéad uair eile. 

Do-Over Week 2

Another week of progress! Slow going, but progress none the less.

I decided that since I was using Legacy Family Tree for my do-over, that I wanted to make sure I was using the best practices to make the most of my effort. Legacy has a fantastic library of webinars, many of which are free. So I located one on sourcing called Sources and Citations Made Simple, Standard, and Powerful (watch it here http://familytreewebinars.com/download.php?webinar_id=201). I found it extremely helpful! It confirmed that I was sourcing correctly in general, but showed me how I could improve both creating a citation and organizing them through more standardization, and save time!

I only had a few people in my tree earlier this week, so it was a great chance to edit a couple of sources to be more standardized, though most of my sources were already satisfactory. There was a bit of a learning curve for some of the new practices I'll be adopting, but once things are fully set-up with the main sources I'll be using, it will go much faster. Then as I enter people, I'll only need to enter their specific details which will save time. Using the Legacy source clip-board which I've never previously used will take time to get used to, but will absolutely cut down on time once I practice and get comfortable with it.

My Master Source List is looking nice and stream-lined at the moment, and I'm up to 16 people in the new tree. I still have a long way to go, but I know that my do-over is off to a solid start. I'm pleased with my do-over progress to date, especially since I've been focused on my course. I know I have a long way to go, but I look forward to the sense of accomplishment once it's complete!

Go dtí an chéad uair eile. 

Do-Over Week 1

I mentioned last week that I would try to update on a regular basis about my genealogy do-over. Here's my first update.

I started a new file in Legacy Family Tree, as intended. I have 10 people entered so far including myself and my husband, our children, my parents, my brothers, and one set of my grandparents Admittedly, that is fewer than I had hoped for at this point. However, it was time consuming setting my file options the way I wanted them, then entering information and creating new sources and figuring out how to attach multi-page documents. Now that I have that sorted out, it should go a little faster. So far, I've attached photos, birth/baptism records, marriage records, death records/obituaries/probates, and raw dna results. I hope to add in the other descendants of my grandparents during this upcoming week, with photos and source documentation attached.

While I'm in the process of my do-over, I'm also working on my final course for a Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies from the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. That, obviously, has to be my priority until I finish the course in a few months, so I suspect the do-over will be a little show going until then.

Go dtí an chéad uair eile. 

Do-Over Day 1

Sorry I've been away a lot longer than I expected! 

I've decided that today is the day I write about my planned genealogy do-over! I figure if I write about it, it will help keep me accountable and keep pushing me to go through with it, even when it's overwhelming. I was in denial about it for quite a while, but the more I look at my tree, and the more I read about do-overs, the more I realize it's time to do something about it.

Here's the situation. My tree file is a mess, after I had issues with Ancestry and Family Tree Maker syncing. Problems include duplicate individuals, records saved to the wrong person (not even the right branch of the family in some cases), occasionally a person is attached to the wrong family, and more minor errors. I've also been slacking with attaching digitized records to my files, so this will be a great opportunity to attach those as well.

For now, I'll keep my current tree online at Ancestry since it links to DNA, set to private. But I'm going to start a whole new tree file in Legacy Family Tree, my preferred genealogy program, uploading documents and citing sources. Legacy includes a great source writer to help with that!

With more than 3900 people and thousands of photos and pages of documents to add, I expect the do-over to take me between one and two years. And I will be keeping it updated in Legacy, rather than in Ancestry as I have been.

So, today is day 1 of my do-over. My goal is to try to update weekly on my progress. I'll try to keep a log of how many people, photos and documents I attach, problems encountered, and any new tricks or helpful tidbits I learn along the way.

Wish me luck!

Go dtí an chéad uair eile. 

Dougie McIntosh

Edit: Apologies for some of the text formatting. There were some issues when I copied this over from my word processor.

I just discovered my great-uncle's WWII service record on Ancestry.ca, and noticed that he took his final posting 74 years ago this weekend, on May 29 1942. To honour him, and share information about his life and death with family across the country, this entry is about Dougie McIntosh.

Dougie McIntosh. Personal Collection, Gale (MacIntosh) Stevenson. 

Douglas McIntosh (sometimes MacIntosh) was known to me as my grandfather's brother, Dougie. Growing up, the extent of my knowledge was that he was from Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, had served in WWII, and was buried in Newfoundland. In the past few years, I've located his grave in Botwood, Newfoundland, and paid my respects on multiple occasions, knowing that I am one of very few family members to have ever been there.

Dougie's military record says he was born 1 Aug 1910, however family information is that he was actually born in 1907, which seems to be corroborated by the 1911 Canada census when “Dougall McIntosh” was recorded as being 3 years old. He was the fourth of eleven children born to Angus McIntosh and Sarah Elizabeth McGillivray, both formerly of Northside East Bay, Cape Breton, but then residing in Glace Bay. Angus and Sarah were of Catholic Scottish descent, as both of their families left Scotland during the Highland clearances in the late 1700s. According to the 1911 census, they both spoke English and Gaelic, but unfortunately didn't pass Gaelic onto their children.

According to my grandfather Rannie, he and most of his brothers were athletic growing up. Newspaper clippings in a scrapbook in Pop's house show smiling McIntosh boys, including Dougie, in team photos for hockey and football.

Like many young men of a certain age, Dougie enlisted for WWII in Sydney in 1940. His occupation at the time of enlistment was mechanic, and he was single with no dependants. His widowed mother Sarah was listed as his next of kin. His service record provides that he was 5'7, 135 lbs, with a “linear scar, left side neck-back”, and had grey eyes and brown hair with a fair complexion. His record also indicates that he was transferred between regiments and batteries a few times before his final posting to Newfoundland.

Douglas McIntosh service record page 3. From Ancestry.ca.

So how did Dougie come to be in Newfoundland? Newfoundland did not join Canada until 1949, so it was considered an overseas posting. Gander, Newfoundland, was a popular refueling stop for many aircraft heading across the Atlantic. Naturally, the airport itself needed a supply of fuel, which was brought in by ship to Lewisporte, and transported from there to Gander. Because of this strategic importance to the Canadian and British war effort, Lewisporte was under guard by Canadian forces, including Douglas McIntosh. According to his service record, he was posted to Newfoundland on May 29, 1942 with the 107^th Heavy Battery, Royal Canadian Artillery. The military unit installations included Lewisporte and Botwood, among others in the area.

Dougie McIntosh (right) with unknown man. Personal Collection, Heather Matthews.

In researching information about Dougie's time there, I came across an articleⁱ written by Karen Wells in The Pilot in 2010 about a war diary that had recently been received by Barry Porter of By the Bay Museum in Lewisporte. “The document, from the National Defence War Diaries in Ottawa, was sent to Mr. Porter by John Sinclair of Fredericton, New Brunswick. Mr. Sinclair's father, Major Alexander Sinclair, was the Officer Commanding with the 107th Coast Battery of the Royal Canadian Artillery in June of 1942.”

The article recounts diary entries regarding everything from weather and freight, to more serious events, including that “someone had tried to sabotage the local power station” by fire on June 7 1942, resulting in an extra guard being placed on duty. Porter stated that there were two confirmed sightings of German U-boats, and many more unconfirmed, with persistent rumours of spies in their midst. 

The following diary entries appeared in Wells' article:

     25-6-42 Warm and fine. At approximately 1100 hours all the dynamite in

     the camp exploded, the amount as far as can be ascertained being between

     1600 lbs and 1500 lbs. Four fatalities resulted almost instantly and many

     lesser injuries were sustained. The cause of the explosion is not known.

     Lt-Col McKenzie arrived by plane with doctors and nurses after Major Sinclair 

     had notified Botwood Area Headquarters by railway telegraph. Our own                              communication lines were all broken. More doctors arrived by duty boat 

     with medical supplies. Dr. Knapp, the Lewisporte doctor did fine work right from

     the start. Thirty bell tents in the encampment, occupied by the Algonquin Regiment            personnel, the quartermaster, marquee and a mess marquee were

     blown to bits. A number of rifles were blown apart. The southwest wall of

     the temporary Orderly Room is completely blown off and the roof wrecked.

     Two Typewriters are wrecked. The crater created by the explosion is 20 ft in diameter        and 5 feet deep.

     27-6-42 Wet and cold. Gunner Meisner B.H died this morning very early.

     Funeral was held this afternoon with full military honours. Parade consisted

     of Algonquin and Artillery. Nurses, doctors and supplies from St. John's

     arrived early this morning. They passed right by Notre Dame Junction and got

     off at Bishops Falls. The conductor forgot to awake them. A Court of Inquiry is being        convened today to inquire into the disaster. An oxygen tent has been brought from              Botwood on the duty boat. Padre returned to Botwood on the

     return trip. The R.C. Fatalities are being buried in Botwood. The town people have            been wonderful. From the first they have done everything in their power

     for our comfort and aid. They have supplied sheets, bedding and even

     flowers for the dead.

Photo postcard of Douglas McIntosh's funeral. Personal Collection, Heather Matthews. 

Subsequent investigations ruled out sabotage, determining that the explosion was accidental in nature.

Douglas McIntosh was one of the men killed in the explosion on June 25 1942, while on active duty as a guard. Based on the information in his service record, death certificate and the war diary entries above, I can presume he died instantly. His official cause of death was “concussion and internal haemorrhage”, as well as “traumatic amputation of left foot”. He was then buried in the Roman Catholic Cemetery in nearby Botwood on June 27 1942 along with Private Philip Charles Flamain of Ansonville, Ontario. The other three men killed in the explosion were buried in Lewisporte: Gunner George Gordon Bennett from Fairville, New Brunswick; Gunner Bernard Harvey Meisner of Bridgewater, Nova Scotia and Lance-Bombadier John Fairweather Walker of Meduetie, New Brunswick.

Douglas McIntosh service record death registration. From Ancestry.ca.

The events of that day may have occurred 74 years ago, but they are not forgotten. Rest in peace, soldiers. 

Photo of Douglas McIntosh's headstone in Botwood, Newfoundland. Personal Collection, Heather Matthews. 

i. Karen Wells, “War Diary gives insight into Hann's Point explosion”, The Pilot, June 23 2010, online archives (http://www.lportepilot.ca/News/2010-06-23/article-1423368/War-Diary-gives-insight-into-Hanns-Point-explosion/1): accessed May 27 2016.

Friendly Connections

Happy April!

Since my last post, we unfortunately said goodbye to my husband's grandmother, Beverley. I mention this because she is the perfect place to start this week's exciting discovery! But first, I have to explain some family history.

Beverley's great-grandfather Jonas Shears married Harriet Buffett on 6 May 1858 in Burgeo, Newfoundland. I have record of them having six children prior to her death on 7 April 1874 in Rocky Harbour, Newfoundland. Jonas subsequently married a widow named Susannah White, maiden name Thomas, about 1878 in Rocky Harbour and they had four children I am aware of. Beverley, and therefore also my husband, is descended from the marriage of Jonas and Susannah. Nevertheless, I'm going to return to Jonas' first wife, Harriet.

Harriet was my 1^st cousin, 6 times removed. Her maternal grandparents, Samuel Durnford and his wife Ann, maiden name unknown, are my 6x great-grandparents. I have found various websites and family trees state that they were both from Dorset, England, and married there in the 1790s before relocating to Newfoundland in the late 1790s. However, I have personally not yet found any proof to confirm that information.

Samuel and Ann's daughter Rebecca Durnford, born about 1801 in Francois, Newfoundland, is my 5x great-grandmother. She married John Buffett about 1822 in Francois. Her sister Edith, born about 1803 in Francois, married John's brother Benjamin Buffett in 1832, also in Francois. Edith and John were Harriet's parents. Another sister Miriam, born about 1798 in Francois, married Gabriel Billard about 1815.

This leads me to my exciting discovery! The maid of honour from my wedding has been a close friend for nearly 20 years. Her longtime partner is a Billard, and this weekend I finally managed to connect his Billards into “mine”. He is actually descended from Miriam Durnford and Gabriel Billard, which means that he is, like me, descended from Samuel and Ann Durnford, making us 6^th cousins once removed! So at this point, my extended tree includes my husband, if only as a step-relative through his ancestor Jonas, and my maid of honour, since I now know that she is the mother of my 7^th cousin!

Three more members of our wedding party, that I'm aware of, had ancestors from the south and southwest coasts where the Durnfords, Buffetts, and Billards lived, so it's possible that there are more connections with long-time friends to come!

If these names are in your family, please get in touch! I'd love to connect and share information!

Go dtí an chéad uair eile.

Irish Roots

Happy St. Patrick's Day! To celebrate my Irish roots, I'm sharing what I know of my Irish family history.

I located an 1857 marriage certificate for my great-great-grandparents, Robert Stevenson and Mary Murray, on ScotlandsPeople website, which provided both of their parents' names. Prior to this, Thomas Murray and wife Mary Calderwood, and Alexander Stevenson and wife Sarah Stevenson, were unknown to me.

Based on family lore, the Murrays were from Ireland, near Belfast, though I didn't know where specifically. A Google search led to a William Murray who had the same parents' names as my Mary. That information also provided me with a specific village in Ireland. Through further searches on ScotlandsPeople, Ancestry, and Family Search, I determined that William and Mary were brother and sister. Subsequent research suggested additional sisters Jane and Ann. All four siblings had relocated from Ireland to Scotland, the sisters all to Ayrshire and William to Dunbartonshire. Jane's entry on the 1861 Scotland census indicated that an Eliza Murray (Visitor) was present as well. Eliza is close in age to Jane so I suspect her to be another sibling. Additionally, the informant for Thomas and Mary's deaths was an Eliza McCaw who may be the same Eliza, though I have not confirmed that to date. Based on my research, the only people named Thomas Murray and Mary Murray (ms Calderwood), who fit the information I have, died in Donaghadee in 1876 and 1875, respectively. I ordered both death certificates from the General Register Office for Northern Ireland, and am confident they are my 3x great-grandparents. Mary Stevenson (ms Murray) died in Beith, Ayrshire on 24 July 1914.

Mary (Murray) Stevenson

Since testing my dna through AncestryDNA, I've been able to identify a couple of distant cousins on the Murray side, which is fairly exciting as it confirms my research of Mary's siblings. I've been in contact with one of them, and we were able to exchange some photos and documents neither of us would have had otherwise.

The Stevenson line is, so far at least, even more unknown than the Murrays. A great-aunt provided my father with some information about my great-great-grandfather Robert's death, which I was able to confirm with his death certificate and a newspaper article. I was even able to confirm her physical description of him because a distant relative had posted his photo to Ancestry, and there is a definite resemblance to my father! From census records I know that Robert's father Alexander was widowed, and living with Robert in 1871. Unfortunately, I discovered Alexander in the 1881 census living in the Cunninghame Combination Poorhouse, where he died in 1882. These records give Alexander's place of birth as Ireland, though I have not been able to narrow down a region so far. Various records for Robert and Alexander list Alexander's wife as either unknown or Sarah Stevenson. I am unsure if Stevenson was her maiden name as well as her married name. She died prior to 1857 when Robert was married, but I am unsure if she died in Ireland or Scotland, which complicates the search. As a result of this uncertainty regarding Sarah, I have been unable, so far, to locate any possible siblings for Robert. Robert Stevenson died 14 July 1890 in Dalry, Ayrshire.

So unfortunately, these brick walls remain for now, but I'll keep working away at them. My hope is that through dna and the availability of more Irish records online that I will be able to break them down sooner rather than later.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any comments or recognize the names from your own family!

Go dtí an chéad uair eile.

DNA tests

I've been asked many times about dna testing, so I thought I would briefly address the topic. The information here is by no means exhaustive, but it should be a good starting point for deciding which test to use, if you're so interested. If you notice any errors or out of date information, please let me know!

Autosomal dna (atDNA) tests analyze all of your chromosomes, and are able to determine your approximate ethnicity going back roughly 1000 years. It makes no difference whether you're male or female, the tests will search both your maternal and paternal lines. This is the test I had done, through AncestryDNA, who currently have results for more than 1,000,000 people in their database. They are able to test your entire genome at over 700,000 points, and compare to everyone else who has taken the test. As more people take the test, your percentages may change. Other companies who offer atDNA testing include 23andMe, Family Tree DNA, and National Geographic's Genographic Project. Autosomal dna results from 23andMe, AncestryDNA, and the Genographic Project may be transferred to Family Tree DNA.

Mitochondrial dna (mtDNA) tests analyze mitochondrial dna inherited from your mother. This changes extremely slowly over time, so they are able to determine your matrilineal ancestry over thousands, or even tens of thousands, of years. Even though the results are matrilineal, both males and females can be tested. Results will also show you your matrilineal migration patterns, your haplogroup (group of people descended from one common ancestor on the matrilineal or patrilineal line), and other people who have taken the test who have a genetic match to you. Companies offering mtDNA testing include 23andMe, and Family Tree DNA.

Y chromosome (Y-DNA) tests analyze the y-chromosome (Ycs) based down from father to son. Much like the mitochondrial dna, it remains relatively unchanged over time, so you can determine your parilineal ancestry over thousands, or tens of thousands, of years. Only men can be tested, since only men carry the y-chromosome, but a woman interested in tracing her patrilineal line can request that a paternal-side male relative such as a father, brother, uncle or cousin take the test. Results will show patrilineal migration patterns, your haplogroup (group of people descended from one common ancestor on the matrilineal or patrilineal line), and other people who have take the test who have a genetic match to you. Y-DNA is useful for determining the origin of your surname, since historically in western cultures, surnames get passed down from the father. Many groups have formed for specific surnames, so signing up for one of those may be a way to further your knowledge and connections on your patrilineal line. Companies offering Y-DNA tests include 23andMe, Family Tree DNA, and the Genographic Project.

Genetic testing may determine whether you carry a specific gene responsible for various diseases and illnesses. Even if you do, there is no guarantee that you will be diagnosed, it just means your chances are increased over the general population. Such genetic tests may make you aware so you can change your diet or lifestyle to minimize your risks for certain health issues, however they may also come with an unexpected cost. Since these testings are relatively new, legislation in Canada and elsewhere has not caught up to very legitimate privacy concerns. Currently in Canada, you have no legal protection if your employer or insurance company finds out that you took a genetic test and requests the results, so you are legally obligated to turn them over. As a result, your premiums may increase just on the probability that you may at some point in the future develop a certain disease. For more information on genetic testing issues in Canada, please see this CBC article, and watch the Marketplace episode mentioned in the story http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/home-dna-tests-may-affect-insurance-employment-1.3018086. Companies offering genetic testing include 23andMe and EasyDNA.

Some things to consider before ordering a dna test:

-what do you hope to find out from your dna test, which will help determine the type of test you do

-what is your budget

-what is the size of the database you are interested in -the bigger the database, the more likely you are to find a match

-privacy concerns

I chose to go with AncestryDNA, partly because I am an Ancestry subscriber and am therefore able to avail of all their features for my results, but also because I liked the price and the fact that it covered both lines of my more recent history going back about 1000 years. As a direct result of my dna test, I've been able to connect with a couple of cousins with whom I've reciprocally shared information, which has resulted in enhancing my family tree with further documentation and photographs that I otherwise would not have. I've been very pleased with my experience, and would recommend AncestryDNA to others, particularly if they already have a subscription.

If you've had your dna tested and want to share your experience, please comment!

Search from Home

It's surprising the information you can locate online from home! However, I'm careful not to assume the information provided by others is correct unless it has supporting documentation. I use unsubstantiated data as a guide to locate my own sources.

I located an 1857 marriage certificate for my great-great-grandparents Robert Stevenson and Mary Murray on ScotlandsPeople website, which provided both of their parents' names. Prior to this, Thomas Murray and wife Mary Calderwood, and Alexander Stevenson and wife Sarah Stevenson, were unknown to me.

Based on family lore, the Murrays were from Ireland, near Belfast, though I didn't know where specifically. A Google search led to a William Murray who had the same parents' names as my Mary. That information also provided me with a specific village in Ireland. Through further searches on ScotlandsPeople, Ancestry, and Family Search, I determined that William and Mary were brother and sister. Subsequent research suggested additional sisters Jane and Ann. All four siblings had relocated from Ireland to Scotland, the sisters all to Ayrshire and William to Dunbartonshire. Jane's entry on the 1861 Scotland census indicated that an Eliza Murray (Visitor) was present as well. Eliza is close in age to Jane so I suspect her to be another sibling, and the informant for Thomas and Mary's deaths was an Eliza McCaw who may be the same person, though I have not confirmed any of that to date. Based on my research, the only people named Thomas Murray and Mary Murray (ms Calderwood) who fit the information I have died in Donaghadee in 1875 and 1876. I ordered both death certificates from the General Register Office for Northern Ireland, and am confident they are my 3x great-grandparents.

The Stevenson line is, so far at least, even more unknown than the Murrays. A great-aunt provided my father with some information about my great-great-grandfather Robert's death, which I was able to confirm with his death certificate and a newspaper article. I was even able to confirm her physical description of him because a distant relative had posted his photo to Ancestry, and there is a definite resemblance to my father! From census records I know that Robert's father Alexander was widowed, and living with Robert in 1871. Unfortunately, I discovered Alexander in the 1881 census living in the Cunninghame Combination Poorhouse, where he died in 1882. These records give Alexander's place of birth as Ireland, though I have not been able to narrow down a region so far. Various records for Robert and Alexander list Alexander's wife as either unknown or Sarah Stevenson. I am unsure if Stevenson was her maiden name as well as her married name. I am also unsure if she died in Ireland or Scotland, which complicates the search. As a result of this uncertainty regarding Sarah, I have been unable, so far, to locate any possible siblings for Robert.

There have been other discoveries, and of course there are more brick walls. I plan to write about some of those in the near future. Until then, thanks for reading! 

AncestryDNA Search

Today's entry is related to the previous post about my dna results (you can read it here http://islandgenealogy.blogspot.ca/2016/01/wow-i-had-no-intention-of-going-more.html). I've been asked how Ancestry DNA has helped in my research, so I thought I'd fill you in on my experience. I hope I explain it well enough so it's not too confusing.

Shortly after receiving my dna results, I availed of a free online course at the Ancestry Academy titled DNA 101: An Insider's Scoop on AncestryDNA Testing found here https://www.ancestry.ca/academy/course/ancestry-dna-101. I found it extremely helpful, and learned a few tricks that I was able to put to use to locate living relatives based on my dna.

Before I get into how I was able to do that, I should say that Ancestry provides you with a list of people who have also taken the test and who have some dna matching your results. The greater the genetic match, the greater the likelihood of a closer relation. Additionally, if you both have a family tree on Ancestry with the same data, it can determine whether you both have the same person in your respective trees. I had one such genetic match that showed me exactly which couple someone else and I are both descended from, based on our tree data. But otherwise I was a bit overwhelmed at the prospect of going through dozens (or more) genetic matches to see if I could find a match manually since nobody else had similar data to mine.

Here's where the online course became very beneficial! One of the topics covered was how to use the search feature specific to genetic matches. I hadn't availed of the search feature until that point, but once I did I found it extremely helpful. You can search by surname or location, or both, so that you get a short list of genetic matches who also have that search criteria in their trees. Searching through 1 or 2 results is much less daunting than the prospect of searching through dozens!

As an example, I entered search criteria "Ireland" and "Murray", the surname of my great-great-grandmother Mary, which resulted in one matching tree. When I had a look through that tree, I discovered it contained a William Murray from Ireland whose parents were Thomas and Mary. My Mary had a brother named William, and her parents were Thomas and Mary, so I had a look at other information including spouse name, birth and marriage dates and more specific locations. I was able to determine that the person who posted the tree and I were not only genetic matches, but I had located the specific family we were both descended from, thanks to the search feature. I sent the contact a message, and we've been able to further share information, including documents and photos, via email. This has been mutually beneficial, as we are both able to fill in some missing information for each other, and if we had not both taken the dna tests, we may never have been in contact!

As I am able, I intend to enter each of my known ancestors' surnames and locations to see what other contacts I can make. Once I receive the results of my close relatives' dna (currently being processed), I intend to do the same with their results. I look forward to gaining new insight and information through these additional dna results!

Heather

Wow, I had no intention of going more than 3 months between entries, but it's hard to set a new routine when life gets in the way! I'm going to make more of an effort going forward.

In the past 3 months, a lot has happened for me in regards to genealogy! I've received my dna results from Ancestry DNA going back roughly 1000 years, am currently awaiting results for two more relatives, I'm enrolled in my final two courses of my Professional Learning Certificate in Genealogical Studies, and I've had some new genealogical discoveries and made new contacts.

So the big thing I want to get into tonight is my dna results. I'm very pleased with my experience, from the time frame it took to receive the results (less than a month), to the results themselves which more or less confirmed I was on the right track, with just a couple of very minor intrigues: 44% Ireland, Wales and Scotland, 38% Western Europe (mainly France, Germany, Spain), and 11% Scandinavia. I was somewhat, but not overly, surprised to see trace amounts of European Jewish, but I was much more surprised to discover trace amounts of Middle Eastern. I initially suspected this may have been from the Crusades, however, I recently read an article about Middle Eastern dna being extracted from a skeleton near York, in a Roman mass grave. Theories on who the men were include gladiators, soldiers, or even criminals. Having a couple of Yorkshire lines myself going back centuries, this is very intriguing! The UK, Irish and Scandinavian percentages all sounded about right, based on my current research and lore passed down through the generations, and the Western European percentage seems to confirm some family lore and speculation, as well as some research.

One of my branches were the Buffetts of the south coast of Newfoundland, who allegedly originated in France. While I have no doubts that they were from France, my own research is not yet back that far so until I can confirm it myself, I cannot say that with certainty. Other related families on the south coast of Newfoundland (of whom I'm also descended) have mixed origin stories, with some being France and others England, so again, until I can locate information for myself I cannot say with any certainty.

Another of my lines is Gates, and I've read two differing origins on the surname. One being that they were of the Briton people, and they got their name because they lived at or near gates. This is completely logical, given that many British surnames were based on locations and landmarks. However, the other origin is that many Gates were descended from Gaetz of Germany. Given the very prominent, bright blue eyes in our Gates family, we believed our family to be of the latter group. My high percentage of Western European dna would indicate this is a good possibility!

More lore says that multiple lines were descended from Scandinavia. A great-grand aunt said we were descnded from Scandinavians, though it's unclear whether she refered to the Stevensons or Duncans. I believe it to be the Duncans who were quite tall and fair, with the men standing over 6' tall even in the 1800s, much as you might expect a Scandinavian (but again, no proof so far). Another line is allegedly descended from one of the MacDonald clans, and based on what I've read, the clan's history included descent from a former king of Scotland, who married the daughter of a king of Norway, and he in turn became king of Norway.

Finally, more family lore says that my grandfather's great-great-grandmother was a Spanish woman, who wore a red cape and a black poke hat. While the lore states that her husband was a paymaster sergeant in the army, I have no names, and unfortunately, have not yet traced those lines back far enough. But having Spanish ancestry would also up my Western European percentage, and could definitely also explain the trace amounts from the Iberian Peninsula.

It will be fantastic to receive the results of my relatives (hopefully in the next couple of weeks) to see how their results compare to mine!

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