Wisdom Wednesday: Faster, Please

Some days it seems like I don't know a blasted thing. Then other days the knowledge comes at me like a freight train and it's all I can do to keep alert. It's Wednesday again and I'm using GeneaBlogger's blogging prompt called Wisdom Wednesdays so that I'm sure to take time and evaluate how this beginning intermediate genealogist is doing. If I don't do this the learning will likely be willy-nilly and random so this feels like it keeps me focused, more or less.

Have to confess that I kinda like the knowledge coming at me fast. Keeps me moving along and on my toes. But here's the thing: I'll be working on a project, like the Biggerstaffs right now, and then my DNA results come back from 23andMe and I am on the freight train again. But that's a good thing, right? Here's what's been happening this last week, in no particular order.

OMG! DNA! My results came back from 23and Me. So much information and I want to devour it all at once. Must resist. Am using some measure of self-control and taking it one feature at a time. Have explored the "DNA Relatives" tool, which you can read about here. And before that checked out the "Countries of Origins Tool" and you can read about that here. Getting results back is an information 18-wheeler, but if you just chunk it down there's no reason to be overloaded. It's all right there and the learning tools are easily accessible so that you can explore and learn as you go. See a new report? Look, the tutorial link is there on that same page. This morning I've received the first reply from my DNA matches and will be getting back to her immediately so that we can compare ancestors. Will use Mom's Big Tree on Ancestry to do this. Handy to have it there:)

Cousin Bait Blog. At the beginning of the year set out a goal and crafted a strategy (sort of) to build in more cousin bait and you can see that popular post here. One of the best things I did was start doing a Surname Saturday post. Not only does it give me an opportunity to review our research, see holes, and take a close look at theories, it's the perfect cousin bait! Something is working because a Whetstone cousin contacted me last week and we immediately got on to discussing the biggest "argument" about the Whetstones. It was so much fun!! Cousin bait is working:)

Am reading Oh, Beautiful, a wonderful book by John Paul Goedes. Can't put it down. It flows from page to page, story to story, family to family. I've read a couple of family history narrative books before and I get into them and eventually find myself thinking, "I really should finish reading this." Not with this book! Each evening I can't wait to read the next section and stay up way too long doing so.

Got thinking about cemeteries and tombstones because of the first chapter of Oh, Beautiful. Part of the beginning is set in a remote mountain village in Italy where the people all live close together and are closely connected. When someone died and was buried all felt that they could go "visit" that person at the graveside, discuss issues of the day and review problems. So they were gone, but still connected. We've, many of us, lost that. Cemeteries for the general population are often the setting of spooky Halloween movies. I like it when an insight like that comes up unexpectedly in something I'm reading.

Looking forward to participating in RootsTech online this week. The Armchair Genealogist, who gets a big e-hug from me for the Family History Writing Challenge and a lot of other stuff, has a brilliant post about how to participate online which you can see here. I think that having your conference open to those who can't be there for whatever reason is exceedingly expansive and generous of spirit and is in the vein of all that is wonderful about the greater sharing posture and good will of the genealogy community, and why so may people are drawn to it. My Mom is 94 and she can't be there but she is online and can participate. I can't be there this year but I want to enjoy and benefit from it as I can, and I'll be watching online too. So thanks and an e-hug to RootsTech. Have a wonderful conference and I'll be watching the sessions as well as looking for blog posts from all the bloggers in attendance!!


Photo of the Day from the Archive:

Dad's Sisters: Chris, Helen, and Louise about 1989.

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/03/wisdom-wednesday-faster-please.html

DNA Monday: Cousin Motherload?

Still playing around with my DNA results from 23andMe and wandered into what I had been looking for all the time: cousins! Right now I'll just share an overview because I'm that excited and later as I figure out more stuff I'll share that too:)

The main thing is how to navigate to this information. You need to set up your profile with surnames and locations but that will take only a few minutes. Then off to the cousin races! Here are the two pertinent screens that will guide you to the goods.

First look at the drop down menu under Friends and Family at the very top to find "DNA Relatives".  It takes a moment to generate the report. It looks like this and below I've blocked out names.

See Drop Down Menu to Select DNA Relatives under Friends and Family Tab.

DNA Relatives Main Page

These are your closest matches, You can see here that my closest are not that close and fall into the category of 3rd and more degree cousins. At the very top of that page, and too bad you can't see it in this screen shot, is a blue "?" with three choices to the right: List View, Map View, and Surname View. List View is the above image. Surname View is the image below.

 



DNA Relatives Surname View

As you can see this is way cool! I clicked on Williams and came to a page that lists all my Williams surname connections. I'm not showing that here because it would just have too many blocked out areas to be useful to you. The list is organized similar to the DNA Relatives Main Page, above.

Now my task is to think through how to approach these Williams people and how to word an introduction email. My best result would be to find the family of Daniel Williams, my GGF, after they came to America some time after 1870. That would be DNA heaven for me!


The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/03/dna-monday-cousin-motherload.html

DNA Me: Results Are Back

3.1% Neanderthal and Proud!

Sitting patiently and waiting is not my best feature. I have been all prickly every time I read anything about DNA lately ever since I sent in the 23andMe sample back at the end of January. Sunday I received an email that the first wave of results were ready and popped immediately on over to see what was there. It was all of the health results.

Must say that it's smart of them to give you the health results first so you (meaning me) can review the information first. When I got the email I was excited and, frankly just between us, a bit scared. What if it did say something horrid? Now I'd pretty much thought this through and concluded that I'm a proactive person and would want fair warning about any predisposition to a medical condition and that I'd be thrilled at the chance to take some sort of action to give myself the best outcome, so I was super surprised to feel that tiny butterfly in my gut just before clicking through to log in.

Here's what I saw once I got past the log in screen.

 

 

See that blue area, Health Overview? That's where I went first. So now I know that I have a propensity for gallstones at 21.7% when the average is 14.3%. Asked Mom about this when we spoke today and she said that she did have trouble with gallstones and follows a low fat diet and I do too. Age related macular degenration and exfoliation glaucoma are higher than average as well, which I guessed because both Mom and Dad were diagnosed, so no news there.

 

But there was a line that really caught my attention, and that was on the Inherited Conditions page. It listed me as having a variant for Medium-Chain Acyl-CoA Dehydrogenase (MCAD) Deficiency. What's that you say? Here's the page with a full explanation. A person needs this variant from both parents before it's an issue and it seems that I have only have one variant. It says this about that:

 

Has one mutation in the ACADM gene linked to MCAD deficiency. A person with one of these mutations typically does not have MCAD deficiency, but can pass the mutation to offspring. May have other mutations in the ACADM gene (not reported here).

 

Here's the screen below with the linked page information which I must say was very informative!

 



Bottom line is that I've always had a problem maintaining my blood sugar for as long as I can remember with no obvious cause. It's puzzled me and it's kept my docs a tad mystified. If this connection bears out and I do have a variant not tested per se, then I might have the reason why and this is something I will be sharing with my health care practitioner.

Monday I check back and saw that my Ethnic and Ancestral Roots info was ready. And from there I clicked on over and get the break down of chromosomes. I saw that I'm 99.9% European and .1% Sub-Saharan African. Was hoping for something more interesting than that:) Oh, well, we are what we are.

 

 

 

 

Then I clicked the drop down menu in the middle top and see Ancestry By Country and this is very fascinating.

 



I find that I can mouse over each line on the score card on the right to get any further info about that grouping and watch as specific chromosomes for that population group get enhanced on the bar chart on the left. Very cool! But I'm surprised that there's not more British Isles and German components to the chromosomal mix. Hmmm. I see our work is not done, Mom, and we need to dig deeper into those tree branches.

There's so much more! Am super glad to be signed up for CeCe Moore's workshop locally at the Chula Vista Genealogical Society on March 30. Talk about timing!

This is the best $99 I've ever spent on genealogy, and possibly the most fun! Now Mom and Brother are going to do it, so tripple the fun:)

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/03/dna-me-results-are-back.html

DNA Me: A Good Spit Is Hard to Find

Well I'm off on my DNA adventure! Before the holidays I selected 23andMe to do my DNA test and just after New Year ordered the kit. It came in less than a week and it had been sitting on the table waiting for me to do something with it. Finally the little box was opened and I got on with it.

The first step, as instructed by the lid of the little plastic box in a box - and must comment that the packaging is well designed - is to register the test kit as yours. So off to my browser and input the unique code for my kit. I made note of the code in a safe place in case it's needed later.

After registration, there is the terms of agreement to read, and check off as read and agreed to before completion of registration. After reading recent comments about terms and how one should read them to be sure you are not really buying a timeshare or committing to monthly billing, these terms got a special going over. And it was attention grabbing because it concerned the possible sharing of my survey data, if I decided to participate in their surveys, which I have not done.

The one survey I looked at was all about medical information and I'm not sure quite yet that I want that floating about in a data base. Must confess that I'm not usually one to read terms of use but I will from here on out. Plus, it was encouraging that it gave the choice to opt out. I opted in, just in case I change my mind and do want to share medical data for their research later. Honestly, if I answered the medical survey questions first before getting the test results I might not feel that the results were entirely honest... but that's just me.

Next, spit! Some kits want a cheek swab, but 23andMe wants plenty of spit, or saliva. You can not have had anything to eat or drink in the 30 minutes prior to spitting in the tube. Sounds easy, right? Then why, oh why, is it that if you tell me I can't have anything to drink that is the very moment I'm as parched and dry as desert? But I waited like a good girl and then started to spit.

Now here is the really hard part: you have to spit enough to fill the tube up to the line. Oh, golly! It must have taken me five full minutes to fill it up, but fill it to the line on the tube I finally did. I do envy people who spit copiously. It wasn't until well after I mailed the package back that I noticed on the email confirmation at time of purchase the suggestion that you rub your cheek a couple of minutes to increase saliva. Would have been a helpful addition to the package, and a good tip for anytime you want to drum extra spit;)

The lid comes down on the tube proper and that releases the liquid in the lid. Then take that lid off and screw on a cap, shake for five seconds, and put the tube in a plastic peel-and-seal bag. Back in the box it goes. Done! It really was easy.

The box has an address in Los Angeles on it but the 23andMe web site says that it could take up to two weeks for the lab to receive the sample. Because LA is just north of San Diego where I live, it will be interesting to see how long it does take to get first word back.

As I wait I'll keep on reading and looking at information about DNA for genealogy. I have so much to learn. But I've learned this already... it's really hard to spit that much!

Photo of the day from Aunt Betty's Archive:

Wouldn't they marvel at the wonders of DNA testing?
That's my GGF, Daniel Williams and his family.

Pictured are:

Daniel Williams, 1852 - 1920

Charles Williams, 1899 - 1979

William Williams, 1884 - 1964

Jane Williams, Daniel's wife, 1862 - 1939

Grands, Dan, Lillie, Hilda, and Bessie

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/01/dna-me-good-spit-is-hard-to-find.html

My Best Shot at Matralinial DNA

It's always fun to check out Randy Seaver's SNGF, or Saturday Night Genealogy Fun, at http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/01/saturday-night-genealogy-fun-your.html

His Fun for last Saturday (yes, I'm about a week behind, oh golly) is about Mom's patralinial line and male descendants. It gave me pause... which of my living male relatives might be the carrier of my matrilinial line DNA?

I followed the logic, going back a couple of generations, with the objective of then reaching out to male relatives still living. Suddenly it hit me like a ton of bricks: Cousin JC!! He's Mom's brother's son. And I guess that qualifies... although I'll be the first to admit that I know very little about the DNA stuff. If I have it correct, my brother is the carrier of Dad's patrilineal DNA. But on Mom's side, the DNA carrier must be a direct male descendant of the Williams line. And that's cousin JC. His Dad was Camey Junior and Camey Jr's father was my Mom's father. So male to male to male.

Now I know where to find Cousin JC... next step is to find out more about this DNA stuff and how that testing works. Think I might have to chase him down the street with a swab kit grabbing at his cheek;)

Cousin JC and his brother Mike, 1958.