DNA reconnections

I am thankful for DNA

In the past year I had contact with a fairly close DNA match - turns out they knew my Nan and my mother...but my mum had lost contact with some of that family.

Family is really important to my mum as she lost her father in an accident when she was eleven. As time goes on, many of her family have now gone - there is noone on her father's side that she knew now and few on her mother's side.

The greatest gift for my mum and the DNA matches mum was the fact that on Christmas Day they spoke for the first time in many years (50+). This person is about 13 years older than my mum.

Then last month we had the opportunity to take mum to visit her. What a lovely reunion it was. The older person in her mid nineties is still as sharp as a tack and we spent some time, listening to stories and she identified some people in photos that my mum had. This was an added bonus as I now have names to faces that we never would have known.

We are now planning another visit sometime in September!

So my suggestion is, when you have reasonably close DNA matches and you cannot instantly or easily work out where they belong - email them. Just write something quick and simple

"Hi my name is xxxxxxx and I noticed that we have a DNA match that is quite close - I would love to work out how we are related" I have now used this several times and in all instances have received a quick reply that they would be happy to work out where our DNA crosses. Within 3-4 emails exchanging surnames we usually have had it narrowed down and can then determine the match to the Common Ancestor. 

Whilst this does need to then be followed up with the appropriate research, it is a quick and easy way (especially for those that are older) to join those dots before it is to late!

A Review - A Venator Cold Case - The Sawtooth Slayer by Nathan Dylan Goodwin

 I am prefacing with apologies to Nathan, like a couple of others blog this has remained unpublished for some time.....

For those that are uninitiated into the works of Nathan Dylan Goodwin, I will introduce this entry by saying he writes different types of fictional work. I have read two of these types, one is the Forensic Genealogist series where you travel with Morton, the other is the Venator Cold Case series. 

This review is on the second book in the Venator Cold Case series. I will note however, that if you are at all interested in genealogy/family history and DNA you will enjoy Nathan's books!

Also be aware that Nathan Dylan Goodwin also has several Nonfiction books to his credit!

I would suggest that you read The Chester Creek Murders first, as it will set up the characters that continue with their lives in this new offering. However, if you don't you would still find this a very good read.

The Sawtooth Slayer is set in America during April 2020, during Covid pandemic restrictions. It begins with a current murder crime scene at Twin Falls Idaho, that appears to be yet another victim of a serial killer. The police engage the services of Venator, the investigative genealogy company based in Utah to assist to locate the perpetrator before another victim is added to the count using DNA.

Throughout the novel Nathan is able to weave the Venator's staff personal & work lives with details of the crime they are investigating perfectly to deliver a story that is hard to put down. Simultaneously enlightening the novice reader, somewhat, to how DNA clustering is used to join the DNA dots! (Not that it will make it any easier for those of us new to DNA, but interesting still).

Here is the link to Nathan's site

Genealogical Mystery Crime Novelist | Nathan Dylan Goodwin

I would welcome feedback on what you thought of his works so feel free to leave a comment!

Opportunities

 I recently visited an older relative with my mother. My "Aunt" was doing genealogy long before I became interested she did the hard yards, visiting State Records and building the story backwards piece by piece.

The wonderful thing is is that she has produced a family history for part of my ancestors that goes back to England and she didn't just concentrate on the direct line, she spread out and looked at siblings.

On the last trip to visit we had spoken about what she had and I was directed to a number of folders where the information was contained. Well it was contained, my excitement was far from it! Inside these folders were photographs with names and birth, marriage and death certificates as well as confirmation cards. 

This recent visit I took my flippal and asked if I could take the folders with me overnight to go through and scan - she was happy to entrust them to me! What treasure I found there (which I now need to download and sort) for my files. Due to the volume of information I am planning another trip to organise to borrow the folders in daylight hours and get documents photocopied!

Whilst in the area, we also visited another "Aunt" who had been going through her photographs and had sorted some from her mother's album to give to my mother. Talk about a treasure trove! The best was a photo of my Great Great Grandparents! But in going through what had been put aside there was a service record for one of her ancestors which she knew meant nothing to her children. She asked if it was of any use to me, I said I could definitely include it in my tree information and she handed it to me.

On returning to visit the first "Aunt" I showed her this document, it was on parchment! She was just as excited to see and feel it as I was! The person it was concerning is not directly related to either of us but that did not matter it was the understanding of the history that we held in our hands. The 40 odd year gap in our age melts when things like this come up....we are both like kids in a candy store!

(I found a number of blog posts that I have not published so am just doing so now. This one is from 21 June 2022)

Claiming the children

There are inevitably skeletons in every tree and by skeletons I mean - things not spoken about. Every family knows that when an older relation says the past should stay in the past or you shouldn't worry about what happened before that there will be something in that closet.

This post is going to look at two - both babies, who until my research, had been forgotten, not acknowledged and alone.

The first would have been my Great Uncle Arthur Oscar Edward Phillips born in 1895 and died a year later. This was four years prior to my Grandfather being born, so he would not have known about him and obviously it was never discussed. When I found his records I felt saddened to think this small person was not a part of our family tale, my mission find where he had been buried and claim him!

The second child Albert, belonged to my Great Aunt, she appears to have had a shotgun wedding just two days after his birth and sadly he died at26 days weeks old. I knew my Great Aunt and had a lovely relationship with her, but she never spoke about having a child and even my mother who had grown up next door to her was unaware of his existence. His tale I felt more tragic than Arthur's as her siblings would have known about the child but he appears to not have been recognised once he had died. She would remarry, but have no children and her husband would tragically be killed. I feel sad for her too that she never felt she could talk about her son, not even in her late years. Albert needed to be found and connected back to the family too.

Fortunately for me both boys were at Rookwood Cemetery, so on Thursday April 21st 2022 I set out with my daughter to find them. We located both of their plots, Albert's resting place was a rough guess given the nearest grave with a headstone that we could check for positional reference is about 2 plots up. Arthur's however was positioned that I know I was standing right in front of it and as I did I told him (as I had Albert) that we had found him and we would connect him to our family, he was no longer forgotten. The thing that surprised me on the rainy Thursday afternoon was that as those words left my mouth, for the second time that day, I became overwhelmed with a sense of grief - tears flowed. It was emotional - I had not expected that.

On leaving the cemetery I felt at peace that they had been located and now I can go about the process of having their graves marked and a memorial put there so others know that they belong to someone, they have a family, even if it has taken over 100 years for it to be put in writing.

War and the impact on a family

 As we reflect at ANZAC day, on our those who have gone to war, today while listening to the local service I reflected and compared the sacrifices made by many.

In recent months we have watched the devastation in Ukraine by Russia, but it is not our soldiers who have gone to assist. I understand this, as it would mean a World War, but Australians in the medical field have. Currently, for example, a mother and daughter((Lab technician and Paramedic) have gone, but they are not alone others are working for Christian Aid Agency - Samaritan's Purse. 

Ukraine: The Aussie medics helping refugees in war-torn Ukraine (nine.com.au)

This is what I began to reflect on, in World War 1 nurses from Australia went to war, they saw the most terrible sights but do we really acknowledge them or the nurses who then volunteered for the other conflicts that came after? Their roles were crucial not only to provide the medical care but also for the positivity that they gave in the gravest of situations to the soldiers. A number of years ago there was an attempt to raise the awareness, but I feel like that has gone.

Then there were the women who worked in the munitions factories, some in important war offices and other factories that kept the countries moving, for many this must have been a strange opportunity in World War 1, given the women's role was in the home! This would again occur in World War 2.

Lastly there are the wives and mothers, those who did what they could from their homes to support their soldiers - making ANZAC biscuits, sending care packages with knitted socks and a note, raising money for the 'cause'.

I do not have any nurses in my family, nor as yet any factory workers, but I do have mothers and wives.

Today I thought I would post about my Great Great Grandmother Emma Ellen Jansen. Born in 1853, a twin, in England she moved to Australia in 1911. 

In World War 1 Emma would have six sons actively in service, and her youngest (not pictured) enlisted but sent home just prior to embarkation, as the army felt she had given enough. Two of her sons fought for England the others for Australia, miraculously six returned home. Leonard (middle right) would be the only one not to return home, dying on 21 Sept 1918.

Some of these sons were married with families, but for now I am just concentrating on the impact for their mother.

Leonard and Richard (middle left) were both ANZACs, I imagine Emma reading the news of the battle and cannot imagine how she felt knowing that they were both there.

John (top left) did not join up for World War 1, he was already in the Dragoon Guards and had been in India and also South Africa for the Boer War.

Robert (top right) had been enlisted in England in the Middlesex Regiment and was a trainer at Bathurst initially before going to the front in the Engineers.

06 Aug 1915 - MRS. EMMA JANSEN, OF ANNANDALE, AND HER SOLDIER SONS. - Trove (nla.gov.au)

During the war, Emma had to wonder every time there was a knock on the door, whether that was someone with bad news. But she did not just sit back and not support the war effort. She raised money (I believe it was for the war effort), using pictures of her sons displayed behind her, on the streets of Sydney with others..she had a sign "I gave these, what will you give". 

By all accounts she was a determined, no fuss woman and this does not surprise me.

The newspaper account in the Daily Telegraph is not entirely accurate however, she was not a widow (her husband was back in England but it appears they were estranged). Her son Laurence was in the British Navy. 

So, when we think of those who died for our freedom, served for our freedom spare a thought for those who 'gave' for our freedom. 

Even today, the families that have been impacted by the 'peace keeping' missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, have given...for some the impact on the family as their soldiers return can be devastating and unfortunately are still not given the support that they need.

Lest we forget!

Technology and being left behind

I have missed blogging, however the difficulty has been not in not having the time nor the lack of things to blog but technology.

My laptop was purchased prior to 2008 and at the time was way ahead of what was available BUT it began not being able to cope with the technology as it could not update to Google Chrome due to the operating system. 

My Toshiba Satellite still functions really well, as long as I do not want to view my blog page, Ancestry items or Find my Past items and most recently, view more than the basic areas of the DNA sites. I can't even get Facebook or Messenger to load properly.

So, I had to wait until my technology was updated - which it now has. But I refuse to part with my trusty Toshiba so it will do all the photo work and word processing (because I really do not like Windows 10) and the new laptop will become the Genealogy computer.

So I have uploaded Family Tree Maker, that I purchased at Rootstech in 2021, and have decided not to sync with Ancestry as I am in the unique position of being able to ensure that all my research has been sourced. So I entered my details and I am going back one step at a time, one generation at a time and looking at what records I have and finding what I need or what I have misplaced. If I do not have the supporting Primary documentation then that is as far as I go...until I find it!

It is also enabling me to look with fresh eyes on information I collected many years ago but was unable to research further. For example, I have been able to look up my Grandfather's baby brother's burial at Rookwood on their deceased search and now know where he is buried.

The other advantage is that I have been able to set up folders for each person, so that relevant documents can be scanned and stored there. Giving a lot of consideration to how this system would work I decided to set up Surname folders and then sub folders within for each person. For females I have named their folders under their maiden name and put their married name in brackets. In some cases they have two names in brackets as they married twice. So far this system seems to be working well.

I need to get busy with scanning documents too as many I only have a paper copy for. This will be a lot of work but will organise all my files. (I hope anyway).

While I haven't been blogging, I have been on Twitter!

The 1921 Census has been released...so I will have something to blog about on that shortly!

Norfolk Island - Walking in the footsteps of the past

We often hear from conference speakers or speakers who come to our societies that you need to put your ancestors lives in context. To put flesh on their bones. We research documents, read newspaper accounts of the day, look at the advertisements in the papers to see what life was like, read books about the era, read journals of people who were alive at the time. If we are lucky we visit areas they lived in, even though they can be much changed from what they were.

For many years now I have believed that to put my ancestors lives into context for three sets of my grandparents meant that I needed to physically go to Norfolk Island.
Why did I think that? 

Well some background on my ancestors
I am descended from First Fleeters - two female convicts, one seaman, one marine they were involved during the first settlement at Norfolk Island, they were married there and one set of these grandparents gave birth to my next generation grandmother on Norfolk Island.
I am also descended from a soldier who was on Norfolk Island for the second settlement with his wife and family, they also had a daughter on Norfolk Island who would be my next generation grandparent.
So as you can see - I had reason to go!
In 2019 I decided to share this trip with my husband and youngest daughter and organised it for two weeks I did not want to experience it on my own.
The timing - 230th Anniversary of the Sirius shipwreck - I organised for the first week to do the week long tour with Cathy Dunn ( http://www.australianhistoryresearch.info/, ) while my husband and daughter could do their own thing. The three of us organised to do things together on the times I was free during week one. Week Two was planned for us to explore and enjoy.

We left Sydney Airport on March 13th (Covid 19 was not quite a huge deal, this would change within 4 days), as we descended and landed on Norfolk Island I burst into tears - yes this was more of an emotional journey than I had realised - I had finally made it! I also felt like I had arrived home and this feeling was one that got stronger daily and even now on my return to the mainland, my heart is yearning for that dot in the ocean.

We were picked up and taken to our accommodation Seaview- we had a stunning view of Phillip Island from our windows. This was heaven! It became even better when we worked out we were just up the road from Kingston.







Week 1 Began with meet and greet and dinner as tour participants arrived from Brisbane and Sydney, I even had a cousin arrive that I did not know about! 

Then Monday we had a Cyclone, who could have planned that! We were safe in our accommodation but my mind wandered to what it must have been like for my ancestors to weather a storm like that without a sound building to live in and to be so close to the sea - terrifying.


For the rest of the week, I attended the Sirius Week events culminating in a wonderful luncheon event down in Kingston to mark the 230th Anniversary of it being shipwrecked. This occured within view of where the Sirius lay on the reef!

During this week I had walked around Kingston on my own, soaking in the views, walking in their footsteps, imagining life here for the first & second settlements. (Both very different from the other)

I was seeing the view that they would have seen, that is context!



Kingston is a World Heritage Site, contains four museums and a research centre. It is a place that time has stopped enough, for it to not be a stretch for your imagination to put yourself back into their time. Forget the buildings that were built and just see the land, imagine the arrival of the first ship passengers, imagine them watching goods being transported from the Sirius to shore prior to it sinking.

 Then skip forward to the second settlement time, imagine people in the buildings, soldiers walking around, good and bad Commandants. I went into the buildings, looked out the windows at the different views, views that they would have seen.
Yes, this putting your ancestors lives in context really did need the trip here, I could not have felt/imagined the space and view and feelings of Kingston had I not stood and walked there.

Week 2 arrived - time for the family adventure to begin, but still on the hunt for ancestor footsteps.

One of my grandfathers had been given a 60 acre land grant (one of the first) so we headed off to find it, lucky for us the grant paperwork was very specific with geographical landmarks and the map also clearly defined it with the boundary being a stream. We drove around and worked out where we thought it was and then ventured back a couple of days later to explore it properly. I walked on it, photographed it, took video from it. It is not all a flat piece of land it is quite steep in places, but he made his farm work here!                                                          

I hugged a great big Norfolk Island Pine because I knew it would have seen them! I imagined their daughter playing under it when it would've been a deal smaller!
I did not walk the entire 60 acres, but enough of the land to feel connected! To imagine them looking out of their home at the ocean, their daughter running around playing.
While we were on Norfolk Island a ship came in with supplies for the island and offloaded at Cascade Bay, now this is an event! 
It takes skill. It involves four boats to offload and forklifts on the boat at sea and at the pier a crane, forklifts and trucks. So the three of us headed up to watch for a while. Whilst watching the boat I put myself in the grandmother's shoes who had been on the Sirius when it offloaded her and her son onto the island...it is not an easy place to come ashore, then it is up a huge hill (would have been very difficult in a long dress) and then realising that they walked to Kingston...we had driven on a road and it took us between 5-10 minutes, not flat road, hilly road and it has been cleared somewhat. How tiring this journey must have been for her and her young child. How daunting on arrival!
Just to view this, to put myself into her shoes and imagine what she must have thought - worth the trip. Definitely enabled me to put her story into context, that just looking at photographs of the area never would have done.

During the remainder of our time we did a few more walks, drove around a bit more and spent time snorkeling in Emily Bay. 

                                                                            

I wondered how they had felt, when they left, were they sad to say goodbye? Excited for the journey ahead and what awaited them in the colony of New South Wales?
As we prepared to leave and head back to NSW we were filled with dread/fear at what we were returning to, since leaving change had happened, the state was in lockdown, people were working from home, schools were encouraging students to work from home. We wanted to stay, Norfolk Island felt safe...did they have similar feelings?