17 Nov Ancestry search- Obituaries, Cousins, DNA, witches and more
Good morning mortals,
With my profession, I read more obituaries than most folks. None of us like to think about how someone is going to explain what we did during the “dash” as in John Smith lived from XXXX – YYYY. Unless you’re a serious planner, likely someone will have to write one for you. Have you ever wondered, who writes them?
Obit writers: Deadly serious about their craft
At ObitCon, members of the Society of Professional Obituary Writers talk about the privilege of honoring lives well-lived. Mo Rocca reports on the annual gathering of obit writers, and their awards ceremony, where they hand out the Grimmys
Read in CBS News: https://apple.news/AOUXh7ZYpTZuzpae84f0g7A
BTW- so you don’t have to worry anymore to remember the Dan-cestors “dash”, our website has changed from www.dan-cestors.com to www.dancestorsgenealogy.com. We’ve added a video testimonials section, check it out!
If you want to find the obituaries of your ancestors or what happened during their dash, from many generations ago, reach out to Dancestors. You’d be surprised by what we can find!
Here’s a great cousins chart that you can use to understand how to define your relationships with other relatives:
https://lifehacker.com/second-cousins-once-removed-and-more-explained-in-1661572056
If you’ve done a DNA test, did you get any surprises like these folks?
If you’ve done a DNA test, you may have got a notice that the results were updated. It’s not because your DNA changes, it’s because the sample size and accuracy continues to be honed. Below is a personal example of mine and my family’s results changing and Ancestry.com’s reasons for the results changing below.
https://dancestorsgenealogy.com/explained/are-you-being-responsible/
I had a personal experience in that regard that takes it from theory to an actual example. My grandfather Nelson was 100% Swedish. Therefore, on average each of his grandchildren would end up with 25% Swedish ethnicity in their DNA. My dad only ended up with 34% Swedish DNA (now 33% Swedish/Norwegian), so he got 66% of his DNA from his mother’s side (she had no Swedish ancestry). I ended up with only 8% Swedish DNA (now 19% Swedish/Norwegian). That doesn’t mean that I didn’t end up with 50% of my father’s DNA as he and my mom had lots of shared ethnicities, just not much of the Swedish part. My kids both ended up 4% Swedish (now my oldest daughter is 14% Swedish/Norwegian, and my youngest is 13%), but that likely was boosted by my wife having about 4% Swedish ancestry (now 0% Swedish- no wonder I couldn’t find Sven in her tree, I even checked the neighbors). It’s likely that one of my grandchildren has less than a trace amount of Swedish DNA, so in a matter of 5 generations, 100% of an ethnicity disappeared from the DNA.
The link below has Ancestry’s answers on how this can happen:
https://www.ancestry.com/cs/dna-help/ethnicity/faq
The client I am currently researching had to get in on the “witch” action. The client is descended from the sister-in-law of my wife’s “witch” ancestor.
https://dancestorsgenealogy.com/explained/days-of-the-dead/
8 times Great Grandmother of my wife Mrs. Dancestors (editor-in-chief)- Mary Towne Eastey (bap. August 24, 1634 – September 22, 1692) was a defendant in the Salem “witch” trials in colonial Massachusetts. She was executed by hanging in Salem in 1692.
One of my clients shared after the last note, that if you had an interest in following up on the “witch” heritage, here’s a recommended book that they’ve read and enjoyed. Puritan Witch; The Redemption of Rebecca Eames: Book One of the Puritan Chronicles
Lastly, if you watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, look for us in the stands in front of Macy’s where we will be watching Mrs. Dancestors march in the parade. They’re the largest band in the parade!
Let us help you preserve your legacy!
Dan Nelson
