Genetic Genealogy Category
How Do We Know What the Y-DNA is Telling Us?
Posted on April 21, 2023 3 Comments
NOTE this was written to the SHELDON DNA project but the information is relevant to other surnames I received an inquiry : “Someone was recently asking me how I knew I was related to John 13 [John of Kingstown], since we obviously don’t have the DNA of an ancestor from hundreds of years ago. I […]
New Speculations on the Origins of Robert WHEATON: Part One
Posted on January 30, 2023 Leave a Comment
Many years ago I wrote an article TItled Conjectures on the Origins of Robert WHEATON. At that time all of the indications were that he was descended from the Wheatons of Devon. This turned out to be 5 different DNA WHEATON/WHEADON/WHIDDEN lines in Devon, England: Wheaton of Sidmouth; Wheadon of Axminster; Whidden of Buckfastleigh; Wheaton […]
Family History or Family Fiction?: Exposing Secrets
Posted on January 22, 2023 5 Comments
Paul Chiddicks is my muse. Paul publishes popular articles in the UK version of Family Tree Magazine and also authors the Blog The Chiddicks Family Tree. He often writes something that is the impetus for my own blog posts. Such was the case this morning when I read his post Ethical Dilemmas and How To […]
Science as Religion
Posted on December 2, 2022 2 Comments
This may meander a bit but there is a point. This post was provoked in response to a Letter from the Society for American Archaeology and a recent article in The Smithsonian Magazine. I will return to those later. This post is dedicated to the memory of Marija Gimbutas who was a Lithuanian archaeologist who back in […]
The Human Diaspora: Illustrated through a Single Y SNP
Posted on November 30, 2022 8 Comments
At Family Tree DNA many of the Haplogroup projects are for very large Haplogroups (quite old) including thousands of members such as Haplogroup Q or R1b. The project I started is based on a single Y SNP that occurred in a man about 4,000 years ago who is FGC22501+, a descendant of the huge Haplogroup […]
Serendipity: Time Travel with the Romans with a Twist of DNA
Posted on November 27, 2022 8 Comments
“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.” T.S. Eliot I recently wrote about the unexpected connection between where I stayed in the French Alps (Saint Gervais near les Contamines and the Roman Road and […]
Comfort Laps: Writing Challenge
Posted on August 8, 2022 3 Comments
Our reminiscences are important parts of who we are. As we stitch them into narratives they connect us to our ancestors, sometimes in unexpected ways. I urge my readers to not shy away from writing about uncomfortable and challenging topics. My mother, for reasons that remain somewhat of a mystery, did not like to be […]
ANCESTRY DNA’s Beta Chromosome Painting
Posted on August 4, 2022 Leave a Comment
This one sneaked up on me—I didn’t know it was there! It’s a new feature at ANCESTRY DNA currently in BETA. If you have tested there you should check it out. My favorite part was probably the questionnaire where it asked whether I would want to see the segments of my matches? HELL, YES! We […]
Wheaton Wood 