Tag: genealogy

  • Genealogy update — 01jan26

    Photo by Warren Umoh on Unsplash

    Those who have been around here know that my mother was born out of wedlock and fathered by a man whom I only have the barest of information about. While it might have been nice to know more about him over the years, the only real incentive to fining out more about him was the surprise DNA results my mother got back, putting her at 33% Finn, something none of us suspected.

    Running her DNA through an algorithm, there was an additional surprise: That some of that Finnish background may actually be Sámi, the reindeer herders of the area. So I set out to see if I could find out more about my grandfather, who’s ghost seemed to be hellbent on avoiding discovery. I eventually gave up the hunt as a lost cause when all roads ended up in dead ends about the man.

    Until Andrea showed up in one of my DNA services.

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  • mystery home

    a smaller world i found today--
    catseye azure in my palm
    stained in beartooth red,
    trimmed in carbon and coal 
    painting what i sought 
    to know

    river washes over ford
    time washes granite
    carrying the mystery home

    Be careful for what you seek, lest you find it.

  • A close hit

    Photo by Warren Umoh on Unsplash

    Chatting with my mother last night, she mentioned that she had seen a new close relative that she didn’t know on a DNA service we both have used in the past. Color me intrigued, mostly because my mother knows distant relatives intimately, so it seems impossible that a close match could avoid her knowledge.

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  • Looking backward

    Photo by Warren Umoh on Unsplash

    I recently received a message from a distant relative that I had contacted back in December. She seemed to be my best way to link up to my maternal ancestors via DNA because not only did she share the genetic origin that was distinct to my mother (unrepresented in my father’s DNA), but she had access to a huge family tree of 2500+ members.

    She only now got back to me about the research I had asked her to perform using her access to the extensive family tree, having given her my grandfather’s name (assumed or otherwise), his approximate age (from court records), and possible residence or port of entry.

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