Gratitude, Family, Thanksgiving, and Health Histories

 In the United States, the fourth Thursday of November is celebrated as Thanksgiving, gathering loved ones, family, and friends to share a meal reflecting upon the past year's events and the challenges and blessings received. Expressing gratitude has become a topic of scholarly study, and they have found that gratitude can improve physical and psychological health, decrease aggression, and enhance empathy, increase mental strength. One may wonder where the tradition began. Most children learn it started with the pilgrims; however, it didn't become a National Holiday until 1863, when President Lincoln made a proclamation commending the citizens of the war-torn nation for asking God to care for all those who were widows, orphans and heal the nation's wounds from the civil war. Thanksgiving was celebrated on the final Thursday in November until 1939, when President Franklin D Roosevelt moved the holiday up a week to assist with sales during the Great depression. The movement of the date by President Roosevelt met significant opposition, and two years later, in 1941, a bill was signed making Thanksgiving the fourth Thursday in November.

Thanksgiving is a time for family gatherings and an excellent opportunity to gather family stories, pictures, traditions, and other information. You may want to interview the older people asking about stories from their lives and the lives of their parents, aunts, uncles, and cousins in your gathering.

You may want to consider creating a medical family history.  Your first thought may be, why? Why would I need to create a Medical Family tree? How does this help my ancestor? The simple answer is it really doesn't help your ancestors, but it can help you, your children, grandchildren, and descendants. FamilySearch has a helpful article regarding Family Health History you can access here. 

I created a Medical Family Tree you can use for ideas of questions you may want to record. If you are interested in receiving a downloadable file, please feel free to reach out to me through the Contact me page, and I will send it to you directly.

November 11, 2022 - A Day to Reflect on Those Who Served Their Country

November 11, 2022 - A Day to Reflect on Those Who Served in War and those in our own families who have served to allow us the freedoms we now enjoy! We are grateful for those who have served and continue to serve.

While searching on CWGC, I discovered one of my ancestors by the name of John Trotter Clelland was a private in the East Yorkshire Regiment and died at the age of 40 on the 9th of April 1917, leaving behind his wife Alice Leeson and their little girl Kathleen Clelland. He has been remembered with honor at the Arras Memorial. 

If you search the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records and find one of your ancestors, please tell us about them in the comment section of this post. The world owes much to those in the armed services and their families worldwide for their service and sacrifice; they need to be remembered. The philosopher George Santayana (The Life of Reason, 1905)  stated: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Thank you!

Findmypast Record Collection

Findmypast Entire Record Collection is open for free from November 10th - November 14th for researching one's heritage. This is a beautiful opportunity for researching your family and to see what they have to offer and determine if you want to have a subscription. Also, you this opportunity may help you with a brickwall. Check it out at Findmypast

Remember it only lasts from November 10th through November 14th.

Honoring the Navajo Code Talker

I saw this video of Peter MacDonald, a Navajo Code Talker in World War II. The following video is an interview of him reminiscing about his time in the service, which begins around the 9-minute mark. We are indebted to them for their service in helping with World War II. Thank you.

If you have grandparents or parents who have served in the military, you may want to ask them about their life and experiences and possibly record it for yourself and your posterity.

 

The Joiner Marriage Index

 I attended a Zoom genealogy class where the presenter introduced us to a website where one can research the Joiner marriage index, which focuses on records before 1837. The current online searchable marriage records are 3,154,329 from 5,581 parishes in 38 counties in England and Wales. 

The search cost begins at Ł2.29 for a single marriage record up to a max of Ł52.19 for 500 marriage records. The site notes the information provided is an index of the marriage records from parish registers and no marriage certificates. 

If you are new to genealogy, you may wonder why you want to use an index when you cannot access the marriage certificate. Indexes may provide you directions on where to obtain the marriage certificates.

If you have hit a brick wall in your research, you may want to check out this site to possibly have a breakthrough. You may access the site by clicking The Joiner Marriage Index. 

DNA and Holidays

You may think to ask what the Holidays have to do with DNA. As we inch closer to the Holiday season and sales, it's the time of year when most home DNA companies have sales or will have their Black Friday sales on the companies' DNA kits. These kits can be given as a gift for the holiday if you think the recipient would be interested in this type of gift. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid are the genetic building blocks determining what you look like, how your body works, etc. You could consider companies like 23andMe, Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, My Heritage, and Nebula Genomics.

The DNA testing currently available includes Maternal Ancestry, Autosomal, Paternal Ancestry, Health Traits, or a combination of these. Maternal DNA or mtDNA tests are for both biological males and females. It can be used to determine your direct matrilineal ancestors and can provide your maternal haplogroup. Paternal Ancestry or Y-DNA is explicitly tested for biological males to have the Y-DNA tested, which can help verify your direct paternal ancestry.

The companies and types of DNA testing they provide are below:

1. 23andMe can give both women and men the mtDNA, in addition to the ancestry and traits or Health and Ancestry. 23andMe also has a Premium option which includes premium reports and features throughout the year. The Ancestry + Traits service is $99.00, the Health + Ancestry service is on sale for $129.00, and the 23andMe+ Membership is $129.00 plus $14.99 to provide the one-year prepaid membership. If you are interested in learning more about these tests, click here.
2. Ancestry uses only the autosomal DNA test contains DNA from both the maternal and paternal lines. However, a maternal or paternal haplogroup is not provided in the reporting you receive once the specimen testing has been completed. The offerings from Ancestry are on sale and include the following: Ancestry DNA at $59.00 (Basic testing); AncestryDNA+, which includes Ancestry DNA and a 3-month Ancestry World Explorer subscription at $60.00, and Ancestry DNA Traits + All Access Membership includes the Ancestry DNA Traits, and a 3-month Ancestry all access including Newspapers.com and Fold3 military records for$149.00. If you are interested in this test, click here.
3. MyHeritage DNA and Health Test uses an autosomal DNA $89.00 test is on sale at $49. If you are interested in this test, click here.
4. I recently discovered another DNA testing company Nebula Genomics. The founder of Nebula Genomics is George Church, a Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and Health Sciences and Technology professor at Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The exciting way this company approaches DNA is they claim they do "Whole Genome Sequencing" in comparison to any of the other three companies listed above. If you are interested in checking out this site, they have a fall sale going on at this time. They have 3 types of testing with the costs varying from the Basic Whole Genome Sequencing report at $99.00, Deep Whole Genome Sequencing at $249.00, and Ultra Deep Whole Genome Sequencing at $899.00. If you are interested in learning more about this company's tests, click here

I always suggest you thoroughly review the privacy terms for each company you are considering sending your DNA sample to before purchasing.

Pioneer Heritage Research

I have been researching for one of my 4-great grandparents who immigrated in 1854 to Utah and came across this website and thought I would share in hopes it might help someone in their research. The Utah Education Network, in partnership with the Utah State Board of Education, has a unique website focusing on Pioneers coming to Utah in the 1800s and some Modern Pioneers. 

The website is titled Heritage Gateways and has searchable stories and journal entries regarding specific pioneers from 1847 to 1868. Daily journals are also readable for a few people. If you have Pioneer Heritage, you might want to check out this site. Everything on it is free to read and has excellent insight into what it was like to be a Pioneer. Unfortunately, I didn't find anything on my ancestor on this site, so my quest continues. If you want to see if you have any of your Pioneer Ancestors or wish to learn more about the Pioneer experiences, click Heritage Gateways.