Lots of people have stopped and asked me how did I get started in this fun world of blog writing about my ancestry and historical events in general..... It sort of evolved from the stuff I have collected all of the years,
I have always been interested in history, a trait I probably picked up from my dad, who is an avid war history buff (though he does like history in general as well). In my research, I have come to find out his dad was an officer in the history club at his high school, so hey, I know it's at least inherited! But my mom also loved hearing family stories and to this day loves telling me about her own family memories, so I get the trait from both sides.
It helps that I am still very much the type for whom research is fun. I love the thrill of being immersed in words and documents. I also love reading, as I grew up immersed in a world of books (thanks to both Mom and Dad).
Anyway, I digress.
I should probably start with my own genealogy journey first.....
My Journey
In May of 1999, my mom's mother, my grandmother Jean Cox Waldspurger, passed away. I was a senior in high school at the time, so while I didn't fly back for the funeral with my parents, my mom brought me a copy of a small family tree her cousin Pat had created. Pat also was into history, and loved the family tree stuff, and her family tree sparked something in me. Since I always loved history, and took every history class at the high school I could take, it was just a natural progression for me to start filling in the blanks on the tree with what information I could find.
That was nearly 21 years ago.....
I made plenty of mistakes in the beginning. I collected a great deal of information, but one huge thing I didn't do was cite my sources. The researcher in me was even in college at the time, and learning all about MLA and APA and Chicago/Turabian style citations due to the nature of my degree, but I didn't record where I got the information on a death date for my great-grandmother.... or the distant cousin on the tree. So when others asked me where I found the information, I wasn't able to tell them. And when my information was challenged in light of new information, I wasn't able to prove anything. In fact, one whole branch of my original tree has been erased in light of the fact that I had name collected (I just added names and dates without checking first if they were accurate or "mine"), and the name collection information was entirely inaccurate.
I also put blinders on. I would collect names and then birth, marriage and death dates, but really nothing more, which made for a boring read at times.
About 15 years ago, I started to change my thinking about how I do genealogy. I got serious about redoing my entire line, starting at my parents and working my way backwards. As I did this, I only focused on my own ancestors, not on any of their children or siblings, so I know now I missed a great deal of information, but the information I did collect was useful, and cited properly.
At the end of 2015, the family tree software program I was using on my personal computer, Family Tree Maker, was discontinued by Ancestry.com. While later the software was picked up by another company, I decided to jump ship with FTM (at this point I also removed my vast trees from their site as well), which I had been using in its various forms since 1999, and go with a new genealogy program (RootsMagic7 for those who are interested). Making the switch threw all of my sources into disarray, as it converted them into weird formats (which likely meant I didn't format correctly when switching). This actually was a blessing in disguise, which I will get to in a minute.
Also around that time, I decided to get very serious about making sure sources were cited in the "correct" format, meaning the way any professional genealogist would do it (I am not advocating that everyone do it this way though. I tell others that they should "do you" when citing stuff. This way just works best for the perfectionist in me.) So I started to re-do ALL of my research once more. merging sources from the old program into the newly created and updated (and correct) sources in the new program and going through each of my ancestors, their children and their siblings and redoing EVERYTHING on them as well as adding new information.
I now track just about anything I can about my ancestors... where they lived and worked, how they were described on certain documents, what property they owned, what illnesses they were reported having, etc. etc. etc. For my Hangman Ropemaking ancestor Jacob Bupp, it means also that EVERY rope he made has its own event, each with the sources I referenced in his series.
It is a great deal of work, but when it comes to families such as my Woods, where there are FOUR Burris Doudney Woods, or my Vautiers, where there are various William Vautiers (among other repeated names), this kind of thing helps me track exactly which Burris Doudney Wood or William Vautier I am looking at when I find a record, because I not only have name and dates of vital information, but also where they were known to live and what occupation they may have done (also likely nicknames for them as well). The information sheets I send to family members often overwhelms them, but I like to make sure I have documented everything (plus it helps me out when writing these blogs when I have a timeline to follow on my program). I have uploaded the aforementioned Jacob Bupp's Individual Summary that can be viewed here for those interested in the kind of detail I try to get.
It's been four and a half years since I made the switch, and I am still working on this kind of in-depth research. Remember when I said the messing up of my sources was a blessing in disguise? It now helps me figure out what branches of my tree haven't been updated and verified with the newest information. Some of those branches I may never get to (a number of them are collateral lines.... lines that married into mine or distant cousins that I was merely name collecting in the beginning). While some are important, others are not as important to me, and will likely remain on the back burner indefinitely. It's not that I don't ever want to make sure they are "correct," it's just merely the fact that this is a side hobby for me, not my main job (I still have two!), so I don't have all the time in the world, especially in this ever increasing digitization of records, as more information to help genealogy keeps coming online. I am still finding out all I can about the FANs of my own ancestors.
About three years ago, I started to write little stories about each ancestor for my family members. My dear husband suggested I start sharing them with the world, and so this blog was reborn. I like writing about the different journeys my ancestors have taken, and finding out all I can about the places they lived and the social issues of their day.... it helps to breathe life into them in a way I never could have imagined 21 years ago!
How To "Genealogy"
I get told by people they wish they could do what I do.... but they don't know where to start.
Start by writing down what you know, then asking questions of living relatives. I do a great deal of interviewing of people, via email or phone calls or even face to face conversations. I write stuff down, or print out emails, and yes, I do use them as sources too. Find a genealogy program you would like to use - there are free ones out there as well as ones to purchase - or just write stuff down on paper. I still have the early trees my mom and I made for our lines back in 2000.
Then take to the internet. I do use Ancestry.com a great deal, as I have an ongoing subscription (note, this is not a plug for their services - I am not receiving compensation from them!) but I also use FamilySearch (where I recommend people actually start since it is free and there is a great deal of information here) as well as local history societies and library resources for where ever I am researching. West Virginia has a vast collection on their Archives and History site and my own local library has a collection of local history books in their genealogy section that I use heavily while working on my church history. Other sites that have been useful to me are FindMyPast, Fold3, and Newspapers.com (the latter two being part of my Ancestry subscription)
Also, search engines are great tools to look for other resources. I tend to do that a lot to find the more obscure stuff or when I am moving my research from one location to the next, especially the books that are being digitized on sites like Google Books, Haithi Trust and Internet Archive. Google is my primary search engine, and I also use it often to define word for me while researching, look up places (I recently wanted to know what county in Kansas a certain city was) so I can fill them in better, and even search "How to use" guides for certain websites. FamilySearch's Wiki is also very useful for finding just about anything on genealogy.
Like I said before, just because I am VERY precise with my citations doesn't mean that everyone has to be. Some in the online communities I belong to use simpler sources (finding what works for them), but they do cite where they got information from. This is a good idea because it can help you keep track of where you got information from already. There are "how to" guides for this as well (Evidence Explained is the one I use, but there are many different guides out there). Citing information also helps because if you are challenged about research (I have had cousins argue with me over things in my research) you can then go back and actually find the records that help prove your research to be correct inasmuch as you know it to be.
Don't overlook the old fashioned pen and paper research. I planned a trip to Philadelphia almost three years ago just to get to THREE different archival repositories since they had records that weren't online (but the indexes were). After requesting information in person, I paid for copies of that information, and it helped out a great deal.
A tip I tell people is get creative when searching for documents and learn to accept that the way your name is spelled now may not have been the way it always was spelled. For years I was told my maiden name of Wood NEVER had an "S' on the end of it. While that is very true in the era of standardized spellings for surnames because of Social Security and birth certificates and the like, it wasn't always the case. Before the 20th century my ancestors tended to flip flop between Wood and Woods, once even in consecutive documents.
Don't insist a name HAS to be spelled a certain way. Often, remember that a number of sites use volunteers to index things, so names might not be spelled correctly in the index because the volunteer reads something different. A number of my Vautier relatives are indexed Vantier because the cursive U looks like a cursive N. I found my great-great-uncle Jesse Sperry's death record by searching for just his death date, which I had, and discovered he had been indexed as "Jennie Spring" because that was what the volunteer read (I have since submitted a correction), so try date instead of name, or broaden your search by other means.
Each family has a different journey, and finding information to document that journey can be a fun task, if you love to research....
I am more than willing to help others in their journey, if anyone ever needs help. Whether it's offering guidance with how to find materials, being another set of eyes to comb through a resource, or just offering some support or encouragement, I can help.
I've often been asked why I don't do this professionally. I merely state that this is a fun hobby for me, but not something I would want to be paid full time to do. I am happiest doing this when I don't have looming deadlines over me (because I am a bit of a procrastinator when I can be), and I have other pursuits that I enjoy doing as well, so while on occasion I do research on friends' lines for a bit of compensation, I can't ever see myself doing this on a full time basis.
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
Showing posts with label research. Show all posts
02 March 2020
01 March 2019
Documenting Family Trees with Vital Records.... or not?
I belong to a number of genealogy groups on Facebook and via mailing lists. Often, I read the following statements:
"I would like to locate a birth certificate for my John Doe, who was born around 1850 in Pittsburgh. Can someone help?"
"I am looking for a marriage certificate for my ancestors Simon Johnson and Jane Doe, who married sometime around 1800 in Philadelphia."
"I need a death record for my great-great-uncle 2 times removed, who died in Western Pennsylvania around 1840. Why can't I find it?"
(Yes, I know there is no such thing as an uncle 2 times removed.... and I use Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas as an example because I am most familiar with those records.)
The modern day notion that EVERYONE was issued a birth certificate, a death certificate, or a marriage licence is just that, a modern notion. Many births, deaths, and even marriages were not registered by a civil government at all, and often the records may not exist even at a church level. Often time, one may not find what they seek because they don't know the history of the area in which they are seeking and the history of vital records themselves.
BIRTH RECORDS
Let's start with birth records.
Before the United States were born (and in some places in the United States, long after the creation of the country), birth records were limited to baptism records done by churches (often with baptism dates standing in as proxy for birth dates since the birth date wasn't registered). Some colonies, like Massachusetts, had implemented laws instituting the registration of births as early as 1639, although actually enforcing and following the law was a seemingly foreign matter since most births took place in private homes and ministers thought the idea of the government getting into the birth and baptism registration business was a matter to raise eyebrows at.
Philadelphia required births to be registered in 1860, but in practice not every birth was registered. For example, my great-grandmother Julia Ann Vautier had ten siblings, and while I have registrations for nine of the siblings and my great-grandmother, the tenth sibling, Miriam Crosby Vautier, who was the fifth born child, doesn't appear to have been registered at birth. (Sister Laura's birth return is pictured below).
Even though a number of high population cities had created some sort of registration of births to help track population, most states didn't even implement birth registrations as a whole until the advent of the 20th century. An Act of Congress in 1902 created the permanent office of the Bureau of Census. In that Act on 6 March 1902 was included a provision that gave the Bureau the authority to create birth registrations and certificates. Even the idea of having a semi-universal birth certificate wasn't fleshed out until World War Two, when people needed to prove their identities to be able to work in defense related plants and register to get social security. An example of one of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's birth records (for one of my great-uncles) is pictured below.
So keeping all of that in mind, sometimes it is important to realize that the elusive birth record might not exisit because the birth happened in a place where either registration wasn't required or during an era when records just weren't kept. One has to get creative when looking for records of births sometimes because civil registrations just don't exist.
MARRIAGES
The idea of civil marriage licenses, on the other hand, is practically an American invention. Before the institution of marriage became a civil matter, it was a church matter (a point that some religiously minded people make when they argue that marriages in America should go back to being religious in nature only). But America was a forerunner in making sure registrations were done civilly.
That same Massachusetts legislation that required births to be registered also required marriages to be civilly recorded, and for one reason or another, registering marriages came easier to the same people who balked at registering births. Perhaps it was because unlike births or deaths, marriages joined (usually) unrelated people and their property together in legally binding contracts.
By the mid 19th century, most counties and states in the United States had some sort of marriage registration or another. In 1885, ALL counties in Pennsylvania required marriages to be civilly registered, although the larger cities, like Philadelphia, had begun requiring registrations of marriages as early as 1860 or before. My great-grandparents' marriage return is an example of what could be found.
If a marriage record can't be located, don't despair. There are other ways to find such records besides civil registries....... one just has to look.
DEATHS
Death records are in the same boat as are birth certificates. Before the modern death certificate, churches kept records of burials, which often, like baptisms, stood as a proxy for a death date. Why people died often was a mystery before the advent of modern medicine, so death records were just merely records of when a person was buried.
In fact, the modern death record can be attributed to an English practice of issuing a Bill of Mortality when someone died, a practice that had roots in the Great Plagues of Europe in the 16th century.
Often, the same jurisdictions that required birth registrations at particular times in history also required death registrations, but the concept of a actual death certificate is about as modern as a birth certificate is. Death records in a number of jurisdictions actually precede birth records, especially in large cities such as Philadelphia, which had a form of death registration as early as 1803, though there are gaps. Below are two different jurisdictions for the same death of my ancestress, which demonstrate that even in death differing registrations could be made, recording facts in many ways.
Deaths were more likely to be recorded in earlier days than were births, given that death statistics were tracked with far more watchful eyes than were birth statistics. Given that diseases and natural disasters wiped out a vast number of people in a relatively short amount of time, some sort of registration and acknowledgment of those deaths needed to be made.
NOW WHAT?
Something to keep in mind while searching for vital records.... especially in the early days of such vital record registering, some people were suspicious of the government getting involved in vital record keeping and as a result they purposely would not register their births, marriages, or deaths. There was also the issue that not everyone thought everyone else was equal, and therefore did not count as being someone who needed a registration of a vital statistic.
Another thing to remember is that even the modern day system of vital records in the United States also relies on the fact that information being reported to whatever jurisdiction is being consistently reported by a number of people, including doctors, parents, registrants themselves, or funeral home directors. What happens if information isn't reported or is reported incorrectly?
"I would like to locate a birth certificate for my John Doe, who was born around 1850 in Pittsburgh. Can someone help?"
"I am looking for a marriage certificate for my ancestors Simon Johnson and Jane Doe, who married sometime around 1800 in Philadelphia."
"I need a death record for my great-great-uncle 2 times removed, who died in Western Pennsylvania around 1840. Why can't I find it?"
(Yes, I know there is no such thing as an uncle 2 times removed.... and I use Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas as an example because I am most familiar with those records.)
The modern day notion that EVERYONE was issued a birth certificate, a death certificate, or a marriage licence is just that, a modern notion. Many births, deaths, and even marriages were not registered by a civil government at all, and often the records may not exist even at a church level. Often time, one may not find what they seek because they don't know the history of the area in which they are seeking and the history of vital records themselves.
BIRTH RECORDS
Let's start with birth records.
Before the United States were born (and in some places in the United States, long after the creation of the country), birth records were limited to baptism records done by churches (often with baptism dates standing in as proxy for birth dates since the birth date wasn't registered). Some colonies, like Massachusetts, had implemented laws instituting the registration of births as early as 1639, although actually enforcing and following the law was a seemingly foreign matter since most births took place in private homes and ministers thought the idea of the government getting into the birth and baptism registration business was a matter to raise eyebrows at.
Philadelphia required births to be registered in 1860, but in practice not every birth was registered. For example, my great-grandmother Julia Ann Vautier had ten siblings, and while I have registrations for nine of the siblings and my great-grandmother, the tenth sibling, Miriam Crosby Vautier, who was the fifth born child, doesn't appear to have been registered at birth. (Sister Laura's birth return is pictured below).
 |
| Laura Elizabeth (Vautier) entry, Return of Births in the City of Philadelphia 1860-1903, Doctor's Returns: Return of Births September 1890 for Mary Leichsenring, midwife, Philadelphia City Archives, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. |
 |
| Pennsylvania, Birth Records, 1906-1910," database online with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 4 January 2017), Entry for James Newton Cox, born 30 October 1906; certificate number 136053; citing Pennsylvania (State). Birth certificates, 1906–1908. Series 11.89 (50 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. |
So keeping all of that in mind, sometimes it is important to realize that the elusive birth record might not exisit because the birth happened in a place where either registration wasn't required or during an era when records just weren't kept. One has to get creative when looking for records of births sometimes because civil registrations just don't exist.
MARRIAGES
The idea of civil marriage licenses, on the other hand, is practically an American invention. Before the institution of marriage became a civil matter, it was a church matter (a point that some religiously minded people make when they argue that marriages in America should go back to being religious in nature only). But America was a forerunner in making sure registrations were done civilly.
That same Massachusetts legislation that required births to be registered also required marriages to be civilly recorded, and for one reason or another, registering marriages came easier to the same people who balked at registering births. Perhaps it was because unlike births or deaths, marriages joined (usually) unrelated people and their property together in legally binding contracts.
By the mid 19th century, most counties and states in the United States had some sort of marriage registration or another. In 1885, ALL counties in Pennsylvania required marriages to be civilly registered, although the larger cities, like Philadelphia, had begun requiring registrations of marriages as early as 1860 or before. My great-grandparents' marriage return is an example of what could be found.
 |
| Charles W C Wood and Birdie B. Fielding Marriage License and Certificate, (23 April 1901), Allegheny County Marriage Licenses: File Number 13279; Department of Court Records, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania. |
If a marriage record can't be located, don't despair. There are other ways to find such records besides civil registries....... one just has to look.
DEATHS
Death records are in the same boat as are birth certificates. Before the modern death certificate, churches kept records of burials, which often, like baptisms, stood as a proxy for a death date. Why people died often was a mystery before the advent of modern medicine, so death records were just merely records of when a person was buried.
In fact, the modern death record can be attributed to an English practice of issuing a Bill of Mortality when someone died, a practice that had roots in the Great Plagues of Europe in the 16th century.
Often, the same jurisdictions that required birth registrations at particular times in history also required death registrations, but the concept of a actual death certificate is about as modern as a birth certificate is. Death records in a number of jurisdictions actually precede birth records, especially in large cities such as Philadelphia, which had a form of death registration as early as 1803, though there are gaps. Below are two different jurisdictions for the same death of my ancestress, which demonstrate that even in death differing registrations could be made, recording facts in many ways.
 |
| "Pennsylvania, Death Certificates, 1906-1963," database with images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 July 2016), Entry for Sarah V. Fielding; died 4 October 1907; Certificate number: 95518; citing Pennsylvania (State). Death certificates, 1906–1963. Series 11.90 (1,905 cartons). Records of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, Record Group 11. Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania |
 |
| Sarah V. Fielding entry, Allegheny City Registration of Deaths, volume 15: page 95, Allegheny County City County Building, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. |
Deaths were more likely to be recorded in earlier days than were births, given that death statistics were tracked with far more watchful eyes than were birth statistics. Given that diseases and natural disasters wiped out a vast number of people in a relatively short amount of time, some sort of registration and acknowledgment of those deaths needed to be made.
NOW WHAT?
Something to keep in mind while searching for vital records.... especially in the early days of such vital record registering, some people were suspicious of the government getting involved in vital record keeping and as a result they purposely would not register their births, marriages, or deaths. There was also the issue that not everyone thought everyone else was equal, and therefore did not count as being someone who needed a registration of a vital statistic.
Another thing to remember is that even the modern day system of vital records in the United States also relies on the fact that information being reported to whatever jurisdiction is being consistently reported by a number of people, including doctors, parents, registrants themselves, or funeral home directors. What happens if information isn't reported or is reported incorrectly?
Also, just because some counties, states or even countries have their vital records available for research doesn't mean the next county, state, or country will. Different jurisdictions will have different rules on who can access their vital records and how one can access them. For instance, only births from 1906-1913 and deaths from 1906 up to 1968 can be accessed for genealogical reasons via the Pennsylvania Museum Historical Commission. Births and deaths before then (from about 1893 onward) are located at county level in Pennsylvania, and again, some cities (Pittsburgh, Allegheny City and Philadelphia in particular) can be found for years even earlier.
The best way to research whether or not vital records are available for a certain time or place is to use a search engine like Google, or FamilySearch's various free Wiki Research guides.
Some other good sources to help you find what you might be looking for:
Sources Referenced to Help with this Research
Blakemore, Erin. "The History of Birth Certificates Is Shorter Than You Might Think." History.com. August 08, 2017. https://www.history.com/news/the-history-of-birth-certificates-is-shorter-than-you-might-think.
Brumberg, H. L., D. Dozor, and S. G. Golombek. "History of the Birth Certificate: From Inception to the Future of Electronic Data." Journal of Perinatology 32, no. 6 (2012): 407-11. doi:10.1038/jp.2012.3.
Schulz, Katheryn. "Final Forms." The New Yorker, April 7, 2017. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/04/07/final-forms.
Siri, Michael J., and Daniel L. Cork. Vital Statistics: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2009. https://www.nap.edu/read/12714/chapter/1.
"United States Death Records." FamilySearch Blog. January 17, 2019. https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Death_Records.
"Unlocking the Past: Marriage License History." Marriage.com. October 30, 2017. https://www.marriage.com/advice/license/unlocking-the-past-marriage-license-history/.
"What Every Genealogist Needs to Know about American Marriage Records." Findmypast Blog. October 13, 2017. https://blog.findmypast.com/what-every-genealogist-needs-to-know-about-american-marriage-records-1785493041.html.
The best way to research whether or not vital records are available for a certain time or place is to use a search engine like Google, or FamilySearch's various free Wiki Research guides.
Some other good sources to help you find what you might be looking for:
- U.S. Vital Records Overview on FamilySearch
- Finding The One: The Search For Vital Records on Ancestry.com
- A Guide to Using the Records of Civil Registration from Society of Genealogists at the National Family History Centre (Great Britain)
- Marriage Records : Types of Marriage Records for Family History Research on Thought.co
Sources Referenced to Help with this Research
Blakemore, Erin. "The History of Birth Certificates Is Shorter Than You Might Think." History.com. August 08, 2017. https://www.history.com/news/the-history-of-birth-certificates-is-shorter-than-you-might-think.
Brumberg, H. L., D. Dozor, and S. G. Golombek. "History of the Birth Certificate: From Inception to the Future of Electronic Data." Journal of Perinatology 32, no. 6 (2012): 407-11. doi:10.1038/jp.2012.3.
Schulz, Katheryn. "Final Forms." The New Yorker, April 7, 2017. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/04/07/final-forms.
Siri, Michael J., and Daniel L. Cork. Vital Statistics: Summary of a Workshop. Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2009. https://www.nap.edu/read/12714/chapter/1.
"United States Death Records." FamilySearch Blog. January 17, 2019. https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/United_States_Death_Records.
"Unlocking the Past: Marriage License History." Marriage.com. October 30, 2017. https://www.marriage.com/advice/license/unlocking-the-past-marriage-license-history/.
"What Every Genealogist Needs to Know about American Marriage Records." Findmypast Blog. October 13, 2017. https://blog.findmypast.com/what-every-genealogist-needs-to-know-about-american-marriage-records-1785493041.html.
28 February 2019
Finally foraying into my DNA
So I have been researching as a amateur genealogist for the past 20 years. I have gathered several generations of ancestor and have compiled a great deal of data. I have spent countless hours perusing microfilms at archives and libraries, and have pent more than enough time putting pieces together via online databases and my personal computer. I have spent hours listening to and recording family stories, and years sharing that information with anyone who has wanted it. I have amassed more information than I thought I would when I started twenty years ago.
But one think I have been reluctant to do is DNA testing.
I have been reluctant for one major reason... yes the idea that my DNA isn't private is a concern, but for me the major reason why I have been afraid to take the leap into DNA testing and genealogy is that I am afraid that my all of my research will be found to be void, that it will be proven to not be true. And while I know there are mistakes in my genealogy that I am constantly correcting, but they are small ones. What if my DNA results don't match what I have gathered?
But I finally took the leap.
It took a nudge from my sister. For Christmas, as a surprise, she sent me a 23 and Me DNA kit as a gift. It took until the beginning of February to actually do it, as every time I tried to log in to register my kit before then, the website was very slow and/or crashed (I've a feeling they were inundated with Christmas gift DNA kits). But I did it. I sent in my sample, it was processed, and I am now waiting for them to genotype my DNA.
I also stated that I did not give permission to save my genetics for research. My hope is that will help with some of the qualms I have about privacy issues
I am curious to see where this will lead me, even though I also have my hesitations. What has been done though has been done, and we will see where it goes.
But one think I have been reluctant to do is DNA testing.
I have been reluctant for one major reason... yes the idea that my DNA isn't private is a concern, but for me the major reason why I have been afraid to take the leap into DNA testing and genealogy is that I am afraid that my all of my research will be found to be void, that it will be proven to not be true. And while I know there are mistakes in my genealogy that I am constantly correcting, but they are small ones. What if my DNA results don't match what I have gathered?
But I finally took the leap.
It took a nudge from my sister. For Christmas, as a surprise, she sent me a 23 and Me DNA kit as a gift. It took until the beginning of February to actually do it, as every time I tried to log in to register my kit before then, the website was very slow and/or crashed (I've a feeling they were inundated with Christmas gift DNA kits). But I did it. I sent in my sample, it was processed, and I am now waiting for them to genotype my DNA.
I also stated that I did not give permission to save my genetics for research. My hope is that will help with some of the qualms I have about privacy issues
I am curious to see where this will lead me, even though I also have my hesitations. What has been done though has been done, and we will see where it goes.
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