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1) Most of it lined up exactly with my known family history (my dad was into genealogy).
2) I am the whitest person I have ever known. So much for the "Indian princess" myth. Same with Jewish ancestry - not a whit of it showed up.
3) I found out that many of my northern European ancestors were apparently Vikings and that I have Scandinavian ancestry, which is cool.
4) My hunch was correct when it comes to mental health - it IS largely genetic. My mother and my brother were/are mentally ill, seriously so. My mother's family is rife with it. I am 59 years old with no mental health issues, so I feel safe. However, my mental health "risk" genetically is 11 percent, while the average is 2 percent.
5) No other physical DNA risks showed up, thank goodness.
6) I have a lot less German DNA than I thought, and that's mixed with French (I did know that). But I showed up as nearly 90 percent British Isles. I have a German maiden name! But apparently these German dudes just kept marrying women of British ancestry. Oh well. Yay, I guess. Who knew?
7) It makes me wonder about my brother, who looks a lot more "Germanic" than me, and is also really into German history (I've always been an unabashed Anglophile). I wonder if he got more DNA from that branch of the family - is that how it works?
8) I am a Neanderthal. LOL
I think it's interesting for me personally, in part because I am so into history in general and this sort of fleshes things out for me. For instance, my grandmother was of Scottish ancestry, but her people had moved to and lived in what is now the US since the early 1700s so of course she considered herself to be American, period. But a few years ago, I FINALLY made the trip to northern England, where much of my family is from (my grandmother's family was from all over Scotland and the border region of northern England - Northumberland and Yorkshire), and I was immediately struck by, of all things, the cooking. Much of it, my grandmother had been cooking, as she'd learned from her mother, and her grandmother, and great grandmother, down the line. Also, I recognized many of the mannerisms of the people. I kept thinking "Grandmother would love it here."
My English side was from Yorkshire area too. We visited the british isles a few years ago and it was interesting to see that it felt good...like an old slipper. I felt totally comfortable. Next stop, Lord willing....Sweden and Norway.
I wonder if an instinctual pull is real, or imaginary.
People are born and die. It is, pretty much, pointless existence.
Gives someone psychological comfort to know, that he is part of a certain centuries lasting family.
Think of it this way. Imagine tree without roots. Wind blows and it falls. Tree with deep, developed roots, can withstand any storm.
Also, there was major marketing push to develop that into all present hobby. That is not a free service, aye? It became a fashion of a sort for stay home people that have nothing else to do and internet available.
My mother had a major thing for history that rubbed off on me.
To answer your question of is genealogy narcissistic? I can see that. There are people who want to tie into royalty, and in fact, fake it to get there, and then brag about it — I think that’s might be a little narcissistic. Even though I wouldn’t mind it because that branch would be done.
I ran into a guy who had his tree back to the great Viking god Thor. That was a head shaker, and yes, I would call that narcissistic.
But, in fact I would think that it would be more that some narcissists do genealogy, and not that genealogy is narcissistic. Sort of a semantics thing, but I think you get my drift. You can’t put the blame of a psychological trait on an inanimate hobby for the persons personal failures.
The people I know who do genealogy are actually just very interested in history. And genealogy ties very nicely into that. When you are taught history, it feels like it happened in a vacuum. X happened because of Y and Z. But when you have people that lived back in that time and made the decisions that they made it makes that history real. And, as my eighth grade history teacher proved, when you make history real and personal, the student learns it better, and retains it.
My English side was from Yorkshire area too. We visited the british isles a few years ago and it was interesting to see that it felt good...like an old slipper. I felt totally comfortable. Next stop, Lord willing....Sweden and Norway.
I wonder if an instinctual pull is real, or imaginary.
You know, I don't know but wow, I felt TOTALLY at home there! Totally at ease. I could have moved there and been fine.
Like most hobbies, it's not for everybody, I would think of knitting and crocheting as a boring hobby, but I'm sure some love it!
I started back in October 2018 because I was curious about my ancestors and wanted to build a family tree from scratch.
I think of it as solving a vast multi-layer, multi-dimensional puzzle, while being a detective at the same time. Does it change who I am, not really, does it give me better insight of what my ancestors did and what they had to go through when they were alive, surely.
I also love geography and looking at old maps and new maps and seeing how my ancestors moved from place to place and where they came from.
3/4 of my ancestors came over from Eastern Europe in the early 20th Century and while I know where they were born in the "old country" that's about all I know so far, and one day I would love to visit all of those places and see where they grew up.
The other 1/4 of my ancestors, came over to America in the 1600s and 1700s, I might even be a Mayflower descendant! Right now I've been jumping from branch to branch on this quarter section of my tree.
I'm current working on my 6G-grandfather who lived from 1710-1778, he was murdered by 3 soldiers of the PA Line for refusing to serve them liquor in his tavern, near Seely's Grove, Lower Smithfield Township, Pennsylvania. The three were subsequently executed by hanging the following year.
His great-great-grandfather, my 10G-grandfather came over to America in 1630, ten years after the Mayflower in 1620, and was one of the first settlers in Connecticut. I find it fascinating, but I totally understand your point of view, like I started my post off with, it's not for everybody!
You hit two points.
First, my wife is a knitter and a weaver, She loves it. What she loves is the whole process of the creation, especially when making things that she designed, identified and resolved the details and problems the of that design, and then figured out how to make it real. Once she finishes something, she either wears it or gives it away (I mange to land an item every now and then).
I do the genealogy, for many of the same reasons that you do. I enjoy the research, and how you feel when you find something that, as a researcher at the Family History Library once said, "sometimes that person does not want to be found." I also enjoy history and being able to see history played out by my ancestors. I sometimes think of it as my own diorama of American history being displayed for my pleasure. I've also created family histories for my wife and two cousins. None of them is considered done, just resting for now.
Not everyone is cut out to do genealogy. Often it takes a particular question or mystery to get you started and then, before you know it, you are hooked.
On my dad's side of the family it was all a secret and we were told never to ask. So, of course you ASK! This was back in the '90s when I started because I had my first computer. Before that all I knew was paternal family came from Yorkshire and maternal side came from Vermont. HA! what little did I know.
Before that, I would have had to go to England or write letters or something, but when home computers were new to us, there were many genealogy groups online that you could join. I only wanted to answer my uncle's question of what was his grandfather's name because no one would tell ever tell him. Joined the Yorkshire group online and OMG. Those people were wonderful, so helpful, so professional, so knowledgeable. I got my answer too, thanks to SMS (some kind soul) who looked up an old English census.
If it is something you always wanted to know, you nearly fall off your chair when the news comes across the screen. In genealogy, especially in those pre-Ancestry days, I learned more about Yorkshire and history than I ever dreamed of. It's called putting the meat on the bones. A lot of people only want to know Hatched--Matched--and Dispatched, but in our large international group we discussed old fashioned recipes, old sayings, funny jokes and stories, general ideas of what our area's people were like, the geography, the local history, the national and world history...we had a great time. It wasn't like studying it either; you just sort of soaked it up. I learned what it means to freeze the balls off a brass monkey, lol. I mean, that's the kind of stuff we were blabbering about along with the serious information.
Our group in Yorkshire even held a reunion of "all the children of Yorkshire." That was us and we came from all over the world. It was very emotional and a lot of fun too. I got to see the villages my family had lived in and I saw the mills that they had to work in and the row house type of living. I even met distant cousins who had connected with me through the group.
I guess you're either interested or you are not. I became hooked and was a complete genealogy addict for several years. I met wonderful people and I picked up a few new interests (like making Yorkshire pudding, lol). It was a good hobby for getting you out on day trips to archives and local landmarks and other places that pertain to your interests. Even though it was England, it still led me to libraries and historical societies that were interesting. Every time I return to England, it feels emotional and meaningful, and it's like going home.
My other side is old New England so that's Mayflower, French & Indian War, Revolutionary War, Civil War, migrations to tiny towns and establishment of new settlements. Those are actual places that I can go any time and yes, for some reason, on that side of the family, I do feel as though I've been there before. With the English side, I felt comfortable and at home, but on the New England side it was spookier, as if I had lived there before, like having a sixth sense.
OP, it helps if you have an interest in history, a curiousity about your family--maybe even as to why they got so "crazy", and if you have a bit of detective in you. You are Sherlock Holmes, solving mysteries. One thing to remember is that if anybody goes back far enough they will find good and bad. You may find a knight who came over with William the Conquerer but you may also find ancestors who were thrown into the dungeon for fornicating on the street. You may find people with wealth and power beyond your wildest dreams, living in ancient, massive stone estates and you may find your ancestors starving.
One of the most interesting aspects is how you fit into the history of the entire world. Now these migrations and wars and governments and traditions make sense. It's like putting together the pieces of a puzzle and when you're finished (well, you're never really finished) but when the picture begins to fall into place, a lot of things make sense to you. World things, family things, you get these "Aha!" moments and you think to yourself, "no wonder!" Now it all makes sense to me. Genealogy is fulfilling. The DNA part is interesting and helpful and Ancestry has made access to the records a lot easier, whereas it was almost impossible before, but if you like history and you have curiousity, and a bit of the detective in you, it's a great hobby.
KathrynAragon said---"4) My hunch was correct when it comes to mental health - it IS largely genetic. My mother and my brother were/are mentally ill, seriously so. My mother's family is rife with it. I am 59 years old with no mental health issues, so I feel safe. However, my mental health "risk" genetically is 11 percent, while the average is 2 percent.
5) No other physical DNA risks showed up, thank goodness."
I have a niece whose primary interest in genealogy was the medical aspect. It is also a major interest of the genetic testing companies.
"What the search engine is to Google, the Personal Genome Service is to 23andMe. The company is not exactly hiding its ambitions. “The long game here is not to make money selling kits, although the kits are essential to get the base level data,” Patrick Chung, a 23andMe board member, told FastCompany last month. “Once you have the data, [the company] does actually become the Google of personalized health care.” The company has lowered the price of the kit again and again, most recently from $299 to a mere $99, practically making it a stocking-stuffer. All the better to induce volunteers to give 23andMe the data it so desperately wants. (Currently, the database contains the genetic information of some half a million people, a number Wojcicki reportedly wants to double by year end.)
What does 23andMe want to do with all that data? Right now the talk is all about medical research—and, in fact, the company is doing some interesting work. It has been sifting through its genomic database, which is combined with information that volunteers submit about themselves, to find possible genetic links to people’s traits. (The bright-light/sneeze genetic tag is a 23andMe discovery.) More promising are 23andMe’s attempts to recruit people who suffer from certain diseases, such as Parkinson’s and a few types of cancer. Simply through brute-force pattern matching, the company has a chance of finding genetic causes of these ailments, which could lead to a way to combat them. (And perhaps a blockbuster patent or three.)
That’s just the beginning, though. 23andMe reserves the right to use your personal information—including your genome—to inform you about events and to try to sell you products and services. There is a much more lucrative market waiting in the wings, too. One could easily imagine how insurance companies and pharmaceutical firms might be interested in getting their hands on your genetic information, the better to sell you products (or deny them to you). According to 23andMe’s privacy policy, that wouldn’t be an acceptable use of the database. Although 23andMe admits that it will share aggregate information about users genomes to third parties, it adamantly insists that it will not sell your personal genetic information without your explicit consent." https://www.scientificamerican.com/a...he-fda-thinks/
Interestingly, Google is also interested in mining the health information for analysis---
'Nightingale Project' to Turn Over Millions of Medical Records to Google
"Google is secretly transporting data to its own servers without patient knowledge or consent," the whisteleblower claims in the video.
The video goes on to explain that the project has four stages. The first two move patient data, with patients' names, to Google's cloud.
During stage three, Google uses Ascension's data to build a framework in the cloud.
Then during stage four, Google will mine Ascension's patient information to run analytics and AI algorithms, sell or share data with third parties, and create profiles of patients that can be used for ads targeted to the patients' healthcare issues." https://www.technewsworld.com/story/86353.html
I do find genealogy fascinating, but I've never found the time to make it a hobby. My family in America began when Charles Woolverton sailed from England to Delaware in 1682. He sailed on William Penn's ship "Welcome" as he and Penn were good friends. I have a complete family tree which was written in longhand over the centuries. I also have one of my ancestor's discharge papers from the Civil War. There are entire websites and many books devoted to the history of the Woolvertons, so there's not much for me to do but read it.
I've gotten really into it lately. My mom told me about familysearch.org and I was hooked from then on lol...it's super addictive for me for some reason. It's like a big mystery at times and you get such a "high" from finding a missing piece of the puzzle. Of course, the other side of that is finding out the not so fun facts...such as when I found out my husband and I are 9th cousins. Upon further investigation it appears to be accurate too. Not sure how I feel about that fact haha!
My mother had a major thing for history that rubbed off on me.
To answer your question of is genealogy narcissistic? I can see that. There are people who want to tie into royalty, and in fact, fake it to get there, and then brag about it — I think that’s might be a little narcissistic. Even though I wouldn’t mind it because that branch would be done.
I ran into a guy who had his tree back to the great Viking god Thor. That was a head shaker, and yes, I would call that narcissistic.
But, in fact I would think that it would be more that some narcissists do genealogy, and not that genealogy is narcissistic. Sort of a semantics thing, but I think you get my drift. You can’t put the blame of a psychological trait on an inanimate hobby for the persons personal failures.
The people I know who do genealogy are actually just very interested in history. And genealogy ties very nicely into that. When you are taught history, it feels like it happened in a vacuum. X happened because of Y and Z. But when you have people that lived back in that time and made the decisions that they made it makes that history real. And, as my eighth grade history teacher proved, when you make history real and personal, the student learns it better, and retains it.
You explained this so well, I could hug you! You said stuff I wanted to hit on, like history not happening in a vacuum...which to ME, is a fascinating thing. And genealogy tends to 'fluff out' all those dry historical facts. Gives LIFE to those facts.
For instance...
On my paternal side, my great great great grandfather met my GGG grandmother on the trail of tears. He was Scots/Irish, she was Cherokee, and widowed, with 2 small children. He was in the army. They got married, and had a bunch more kids, in Oklahoma. As you can probably imagine, they had no great love for the Federal Gov, and didn't trust the Federal Gov. (Not just my ggg grandparents...all the folks who took the trail of tears.)
Jump ahead some years, and it's the Civil war. My kin had no love for the federal gov. and were confederates. My GGG grandmother is now a widow (again) and trying to keep her younger children safe from union soldiers trying to "conscript" her younger boys into the union army. Of course they wouldn't be conscripted. They would be killed, so they couldn't grow up to become Confederate soldiers. She died in a prison, of pneumonia, at the age of 42, because she wouldn't tell where she hid her boys.
Again...no love for the Fed. Gov.
Civil war ends in 1865, and 65 years later, it's the great depression. Also, it's when the 'great' gangsters were active. Bonnie and Clyde, Barker Gang, Pretty Boy Floyd, John Dillinger, etc.
Throughout the Midwest, many people considers these gangsters as folk heroes. These guys were "sticking it to the man." Robbing banks during the depression? What did the average Joe care? It wasn't until civilians started getting killed, that the average Joe started caring.
Ma Barker was married to my G uncle's best friend, George, in Oklahoma. They went to Indian School together. Ma Barker and her husband were never divorced, but she wanted a life of adventure, and she took off with her 4 criminal sons. My G uncle was also the Barker gang's lawyer. It's unclear if he was forced by the gang to represent them, or he did it of his own volition.
Ma, (her name was Arizona) and her son, Fred, died in a shoot-out, in Florida. Their bodies laid in the local morgue for months. George didn't have 2 nickels to rub together, but it tore him up that his wife and son were laying in a morgue, as no one would claim the bodies.
Finally, my GG uncle quietly brought the bodies of Ma Barker, and her son Fred, back to Oklahoma, where they are buried in our Family Cemetery
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