ManyRoads

All of us have DNA. Even if we do not know the names of our ancestors, we have DNA. Our family has decided to gather and analyze its DNA materials (matrilineal and patrilineal lines) and see what these DNA lines have to say. We have elected to do this through the genographic project, a partnership between the University of Arizona Research Labs Family Tree DNA association, National Geographic Society and IBM rather than to switch to the program offered by Ancestry.com.  Our reasoning is fairly simple; my father-in-law’s DNA is with NatGeo.  Also, the Genographic program is older and more established; and, this seems like the lowest risk approach. Information…

Acknowledge your sources! Today I received a note from a very important genealogy friend. She asked me if I hadn’t perhaps confused two family members who had similar names thereby giving erroneous credit to the ‘wrong’ person rather than the ‘right’ one. A very important question. It is absolutely essential to provide good and clear attribution to those from whom we source our data. It is important to be as correct as possible in any quotations, images, bibliographies and links. Accuracy requires proofing by your readership (proof-readers, if you are lucky enough to have them) and modification by the family genealogist to reflect appropriate corrections, etc. It is also, unfortunately,…

Over the past few days my email has been clogged with questions about whether or not anyone- everyone was related to royalty.   Well being the geek that I am, I decided to a quick bit of research and here’s what I found out  (these are excerpted for the articles noted at the end of this posting… feel free to read them in their entirety). [A] mathematical study of genealogy indicates that everyone in the world is descended from Nefertiti and Confucius, and everyone of European ancestry is descended from Muhammad and Charlemagne.- Dick Eastman …everyone of European descent has royal ancestry. – Steve Olsen The mathematics of our ancestry is…

PART I JOSEPH YON (JOSEPH DEYO) 1805-1880-PLUS INTRODUCTION Joseph Yon was born around the year 1805. His parents, Ignace Yon (Guyon) and Marie Suzanne Gervais were of the Parish of St. Marc sur Richelieu. It is believed Joseph lived in the area of St. Marc until his marriage at about the age of twenty three. He was a furniture maker of legal age when he married Julienne Denys, daughter of Ignace Denys and Julie Fall. The marriage took place on June 22, 1828 in the parish of St. Cyprien of Napierville, Quebec, Canada. With all the information available it would appear that Joseph and Julienne (Denys) Yon/Deyo had a total…

The [following] was [written] by the author Rita Campbell. We share common ancestors, Moise Dupuis and Ann Christiansen. The story is based on the few facts known about Moise and Ann and general knowledge of the area and times in which they lived. Attempting to tread the paths of a man who passed this way almost 300 years ago is both thrilling and nostalgic; when this man is an ancestor of your family, the task becomes a labor of affection and personal satisfaction. The life of Moise Dupuis is filled with adventure, danger, human frailty and tragedy, but in his own humble way he contributed to the history of his…

Norway offers exceptional internet research facilities for genealogy. Although we have not been working in the Sivertsen family line very long we have uncovered some very helpful web-tools. Thus far we have unearthed several excellent, dare I say indispensable,  tools: Norwegian Historical Data Centre (a wonderful repository) – The Norwegian Historical Data Centre (NHDC) is a national institution under the Faculty of Social Science at the University of Tromsø (UiTø). Our main aim is to computerize the Norwegian censuses 1865 onwards together with the parish registers and other sources from the 18th and 19th centuries. National Archives of Norway – Digitalarkivet (Digital Archives) is the Norwegian National Archives’ channel for…

I have begun in earnest working on Becky’s side of the family.  This means research in both Norway and Sweden has started for me.  As one might expect the available references and information are a ‘tad’ difficult for non-native language speakers; and my German is not really very close to either Norwegian or Swedish! Having said that I must say that the available resources are quite exceptional. I find those from Norway to be a bit more advanced and easier to use (not to mention free!).  Sweden’s are less complete, more awkward technologically and they cost money; unless you go to your local LDS Family History Center for free access.…

Yesterday was a wonderful research day for me. I began seriously researching materials and information to support the work my father-in-law (Robert Henss) had done on the Johansson family line (Becky’, my wife’s, matrilineal line).  With a photocopy of his work in hand, I bravely proceeded into uncharted territory (for me). To assign quanta to my success, I found 17 original source documents.  I’ll post images of them on ManyRoads for me to admire quite soon. In all honesty, I must admit that the bulk of the 17 source documents were actually from the Norwegian side of the family (Sivertsens); there were but a handful from the Swedish (Johansson) side. …

As hard as it was for me to believe, our Deyo family name is not from the Netherlands and/or Huguenot communities as I had earlier thought but rather it comes down a more circuitous, and I might say “interesting” route. Let me explain what I have thus far unearthed: Leona Deyo, my grandmother (father’s mother) was born to George Deyo and Exina Minor in upstate New York in 1906. Her father, George Deyo, was born in 1868 of Mary Ann Burnah (Marie-Anne Bonin) and John Deyo (alternately known as: John Deo, John Dion and Jean Baptiste Dion). Jean Baptiste Dion was born in 1838 in Rouses Point, New York of…

Yesterday while working on my genealogy, I accidently got carried away.  Hard to believe but true.  Here is what I found myself doing, then questioning and finally fixing. I was conducting initial research on Ancestry, seeking the basics about who was born of whom and where.  As is typically the case, I was using the Ancestry hints as pointers on where to look and attempting to ascertain what was real versus imaginary, in terms of facts, individuals and data. You may or may not be aware, but when you research this way on Ancestry, Family Tree hints indicate whether or not a “user family tree” contains sources, stories, images, etc. …

Genealogical research always presents dilemmas. These dilemmas almost always have significant impact and represent important family history decisions. I will try to provide some examples. First every family historian or genealogist needs to decide their role and its potential impact: Are you simply trying to gather bunches of names and places -or- are you doing your best to identify the path of your family through history? Do you expect that others might wish to leverage off of your work -or- are you planning on keeping everything closely held and secret? Is this a serious effort -or- are you involved in a ‘flight of fancy’. Obviously I can’t answer these questions…

Some names can be confusing! I think the title of this post bears that out. Recently I received the following note from Gloria Cusson Pratt of the Northern New York- American Canadian Genealogical Society. Her note informed me of the following: John married as Jean Baptiste Dion to Marie Bonin on 2 July 1866 at St. Ann’s [Roman Catholic Church in] Mooers Forks, NY.  Deo/Deyo/Dion are all dit names [synonyms] for Deo.  Most of their children are listed in the St. Ann Book, Moeers Forks, NY. His parent’s are Joseph Dion and Julia Lafaille/Faye. Gloria With this information in hand, I am now able to add numerous avenues of research…