52 Ancestors/52 Weeks, Week 1 - Wallace Kinder

For my first "52 Ancestors/52 Weeks" entry, I'm going to discuss one of my wife's ancestors - her grandfather (my children's great-grandfather), Wallace Kinder.

I never had the opportunity to meet Wally, as he passed away long before I ever knew my wife, when she was a child, but I have many stories about him from my extended in-law family, and he seems like he was quite a character.

Wallace Kinder was born 9 July 1918 to Otis Harry Kinder and Lillian Mae Eisnaugle. He had one sibling, an older brother Donald, who died 20 February 1926 at the age of 10, when Wally was only 7.  I'm told that fact and the death of his father were the formative events of his youth.

His father died 27 November 1934, when Wally was 16. Family lore says that Otis died of a heart attack after going out on a cold day to kill a chicken for dinner after Wally refused to do the deed. I was told that Wally carried guilt from this event for many years.

He married Janet Louise Reeg on 8 August 1936, and like so many men of his generation, he served in the Army during World War II.  After the war he worked for Rockwell International building "clean rooms".  In a story told by one of his daughters, in the late 1950's he traveled to Roswell, New Mexico for work.  He would never discuss the particulars of this trip, which was out of character for Wally, who loved to tell stories - he occasionally asked why someone would need television or radio if he was around to tell stories.

He died 28 January 1989, after a battle with cancer.

At the beginning of this post, I stated I never met him.  This might not be entirely true.  The house I grew up in until the age of 10 had a small path behind it for utility access.  This path also got used by residents for quick trips to the convenience store and local pizza place.  On the other side of the path, directly behind my house, was the house where Wally and Janet lived - effectively, he was my back fence neighbor. It is more than likely that at some point in the years I lived there that I saw or spoke with Wally and Janet, at least in passing.  I just had no way of knowing at the time that he would be the grandfather of my future wife.


A note on this entry - I acknowledge that this post is lean on source citations.  Hopefully, that will improve as the year progresses, particularly as I discuss people more remote in time.  Thanks.

A New Year, a New Approach

I've done resolutions for the last few years, with varying degrees of success.  I could analyze why they have or have not succeeded, but that won't further my genealogy, so I'm not going there.  What I am going to do is take a different approach this year and participate in a weekly blogging challenge - 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.  This challenge has been going on since at least 2014, started by Amy Johnson Crow (www.amyjohnsoncrow.com) (but I could be mistaken about that and will gladly attribute the correct person if necessary).  The plan is to make a blog post on this challenge every Wednesday starting January 13th, with an extra post somewhere to make up for starting a week late.  I plan to have other posts as well, and I'm hoping for more activity in general in 2016.

I'm also going to be doing the year long "Genealogy Do-Over", a program started by Thomas MacEntee (www.geneabloggers.com) of the Geneablogger web site.  There should be at least one post near the end of each month going over what was accomplished on the progaram.  I' already behind on this, so I need to get moving on that.

 

Looking back at 2015 for a few moments now.  I'm not going to sugar coat it - 2015 was a year of stark contrasts.  We took our first real family vacations this year with my little dudes, building great memories and having lots of fun.  This was tempered, however, by the death's of my father and both maternal grandparents within the span of three months.  I've tried to write a few times about them, but each time, I've found it to be too soon.  The 52 Ancestors will be in no particular order, so it seems likely I'll include them at some point in the year.

Here's looking to a great 2016, full of family fun and good genealogy.

The year in review

Life is always interesting, and interesting usually means busy.  In early fall, we decided to aceelerate some plans we had made to move from spring 2015 to right away, and by the end of October, the clan was in a new residence.  It's taken some time to adjust, and we are still settling in, but on the whole, the new place is working out well and should be a good fit far into the future.

One significant benefit of the move is an upgrade in my office space, both for work and for genealogy. I'm not in the basement or wedged into a room the size of a large walk-in closet (my final office space at the old house), but have a proper room with enough space for discreet work and genealogy spaces.  It will be nice once I get it organized- the work space got situated immediately, the genealogy space has taken a little longer, but it is getting there.

Last year around this time, I posted a list of "Genealogical Resolutions".  Let's see how I did, and what I might do better.

First, I resolved to blog twice a month, more or less.  

-I did OK on this one through March, then my production fell off a cliff.  For 2015, my variation on this is a bit more modest - at least one blog post a month.

Second, I resolved to get my sources fixed and my database moved into Legacy Family Tree 8.  

-I did manage to fix some sources, but, this resolution has been made somewhat moot by two factors. First, I've switched from Legacy to RootsMagic, as I think RootsMagic is closer to true multi-platform portability than is Legacy, and otherwise the two programs are comparable in terms of features and usability.  I also have some concerns about the Microsoft Access database underlying Legacy, so, for as good a program it has been, for now, the choice is RootsMagic.  The second factor is that with the change to a new software platform, I'm starting a new filing/organizational system and am basically hitting the reset button on my genealogy - fresh database, proper citations and source analysis.  This covers my third resolution from last year as well - the use of Clooz or Evidentia to analyze source documents.

My fourth resolution from last year was get my workspce organized.  As described above, this is a work in process.  

My fifth resolution from last year was to photograph and transcribe a few local cemeteries.  This didn't happen, and probably won't in 2015 - I know my limitations in terms of time, and this just doesn't fit in.

Lastly, I made a number of resolutions concerning genealogical DNA testing.  Those are all still in play, as I made little progress on them.

That's 2014 - lets move on to 2015.

The Results Are In - AncestryDNA

The news of the day is that my AncestryDNA results are in. I'm guessing a big batch of results were posted yesterday (3/19), because quite a few of the genealogy folks I follow on Twitter were reporting that they had results in too.

The test results comprise two components - the Ethnicity Estimate and your Matches. Both parts are interesting in their own way and deserve some discussion.

First, the Ethnicity Estimate.  No surprises here.  My estimate is 97% European, with the remaining 3% spread out over other categories. 

The breakdown (in descending order of prevalence) :

• Europe West (37%) - Primarily located in: Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein
• Most of my ancestors on my paternal line (with the exception of my surname line and a few others) are from the German speaking areas of West Europe - many early German immigrants ended up in south-central Pennsylvania, so most people who have roots in that part of the country will have deep German roots
• Ireland (27%) - Primarily located in: Ireland, Wales, Scotland
• Between this category and the one to follow, this covers pretty much entire maternal line as well as the Irish components of my paternal line.
• Great Britain (25%) - Primarily located in: England, Scotland, Wales
• My maternal line is largely predominated by that group of immigrants known as the "Scotch-Irish" or "Scots-Irish", early settlers from Northern Ireland, originally of Scottish and English origin.  More than a few of these immigrants ended up in what is now known as Appalachia.

 These three categories make up 89% of my estimate, based on the averages that Ancestry has calculated (Ancestry describes the methodology used to calculate these numbers in some detail, and I'm not going to try to explain it in detail here, but  the averages are based on a number of trials which define a potential range of values, the listed value being an average of the values in the range).   The remainder of my Estimate is composed of what AncestryDNA calls trace regions - regions that have a positive average but where the range begins at 0% and which could thus appear by chance.

Trace Regions (in descending order with no commentary:

• Iberian Peninsula (4%)
• Scandinavia (2%)
• Finland/NW Russia (1%)
• Asia South (1%)
• Europe East (< 1%)
• Africa Southeastern Bantu (< 1%)
• Melanesia (< 1%)

So, according to AncestryDNA, that's my genetic heritage in a nutshell.

Now, we turn our attention to the Matches component.  At the time of writing, I have 252 pages of  matches, ranging in predicted degree of kinship from second cousin to distant cousin (5th cousin or more distant) - most in the last bucket with verying degrees of confidence.  I have not had the chance to review all of my matches so far, but i've at least browsed most of my closer matches.  I haven't initiated contact with any of my matches, but two of my matches have contacrted me - one whose user name I recignized as a known cousin and a second who AncestryDNA pegged us as 4th cousins, but who has no recognizeable paper trail to connect us at this time.

Some observations:

• I'm seeing a lot of matches on my maternal line, and in quite a few of those the degree of kinship is overstated, primarily due to the presence of Barnabas Curry as a common ancestor. I have, I believe, three Curry lines that trace back to him, so even though he is either my 4x great or 5x great grandfather, his impact on my DNA is somewhat disproportionate
• I need to do more work on my Ancestry Family Tree, particularly on my maternal side to facilitate matching
• I think I need to come up with a handful of templates to use in contacting prospective cousins, one or two for each of my maternal and paternal lines

All in all, still lots of work to do.

One final note - I have located a folder that documents a potential family unit for Christopher McNally back in Ireland.  In the very near future, I'm going to document that on the blog and tie that in to the Y-DNA testing I have going on FTDNA.

Book Review - "Finding Your Roots: Easy-to-Do Genealogy and FamilyHistory" by Janice Schultz

I read a lot of books, both fiction and non-fiction, and one of the main varieties of non-fiction that I read are genealogy books, whether on general instruction or specific themes (such as DNA, sourcing, particular record types, etc.).  With the volume of genealogy books that I read, close to one per month, I thought that I might add a book review as a semi-regular feature to the blog.

The first book to be reviewed in this feature is "Finding Your Roots: Easy-to-Do Genealogy and Family History" by Janice Schultz, published by Huron Street Press, an imprint of the American Library Association. According to the biographical blurb, prior to retirement in 2013, Ms. Schultz was the genealogy librarian/branch manager for the Midwest Genealogy Center at the Mid-Continent Public Library.  I've never been to the MGC, but I know it is a major genealogical library.

"Finding Your Roots" is a reasonably comprehensive and up-to-date genealogy how-to instructional book, suitable for beginners to genealogy, but with enough information to serve as a solid refresher for more experienced practitioners. In the preface, Schultz states that her original intent was to update Ray Wright's "The Genealogist's Handbook", originally published in 1995. (A good book, by the way, one which I read some months ago and recommend.)  The weakness of Wright's book is that it set in the pre-web world of research, and Schultz does a fine job of bringing the concepts into the 21st century.

What I'm always looking for in an instructional book is some nugget that I wasn't aware of before, even something so small as a mention of a resource I wasn't previously aware of .  For example, in a section about military records, Schultz mentions a periodical concerned with Confederate veterans that published between 1893 and 1932 called "The Confederate Veteran" and that it is available at FamilySearch.  I know of at least one Confederate veteran in my wife's tree, so I'll be taking a look at that resource in due time.

There are a few small issues I saw - the discussion on sourcing your research is an afterthought rather than a proper section in its own right, and I believe that she is factually mistaken when she states that New York passenger arrival records are extant from 1820, as I distinctly recall seeing something in print from NARA that there are missing passenger arrival lists for the port of New York prior to 1850, but I cannot put my hands on that document at this time, so I could be mistaken.

Overall, "Finding Your Roots" is a solid effort, worthy of a place in your genealogy library if you do not already own a good how-to book or at the very least, a check-out from your local public library.

Grade:  B+

A Brief Update

I received my AncestryDNA kit in the mail yesterday, so today I activated my kit, spit in the tube and put it out in the mailbox to make its way back to Utah for processing. In order to make the most of the test, it looks like I need to at least put up a skeleton of a pedigree chart, minimally showing my direct ancestors. 

To date, I've put almost no effort into my Ancestry tree. I am continually frustrated by the number of bad actors and name hunters that poach from the Ancestry trees and call the work their own without any attribution (or even fact checking).  Additionally, I've done considerable work gathering documents and evidence that cannot be found on Ancestry.com, and I have no desire to let Ancestry monetize my work product.  End of rant.

So you can add to my resolutions updating my Ancestry tree.  I won't be posting any outside documentation, and my source citations may not be Evidence Explained approved (my Legacy database is another matter), but names, dates and relationships will be there.  

See you on the web.

A few more genealogical resolutions

For Christmas 2012 (or maybe for my birthday, it falls close to Christmas) I was given the gift of Y-Chromosome DNA testing, in order to try to make the McNally leap back across the ocean.  I chose the Family Tree DNA service, based in part on their extensive history and deep member base.  I received my swabs, took my samples and sent them back to see what would happen.  

A few weeks later, I received my results (in stages, due to the number of markers I had tested).  Between sending my samples and getting my results, I had enrolled in a handful of relevant studies to try to find matches, hopefully still in Ireland who might be able to trace back to Christopher McNally's ancestors. 

When my full results were finally back, I had one good match, a young man in Ireland who carries the McNally surname.  I sent off on e-mail of introduction and waited for his to respond, which he did after a week or two.  He only had information back to his great-gradfather (I think he has an aunt that is the genealogist of the familiy) but he was willing to exchange e-mails and share information as it came available.   We e-mailed back and forth a few times, the last time back in July of 2013.  After that, my genetic genealogy project languished, solely due to my lack of effort.  

Fast forward to last week.  I received in the mail an advertisement for the AncestryDNA test for $79.00.  The AncestryDNA test is an autosomal test, which covers all lines of ancestry, both paternal and maternal, rather than a direct line test unlike the Y-DNA test I have on the books (the Family Tree DNA analog would be their "Family Finder" test"), so I decided to give myself a late birthday present and give it a go.  I have not received my testing kit yet, having just ordered it, but I'll keep the blog updated on that progress.

After looking over my last post, I realized that I had included no resolutions related to my genetic genealogy endeavours, so here they are.

First - I'm going to follow up with my Irish contact to re-open the lines of communication and see if he has learned anything new.

Second - I'm going to be more active at the FTDNA website and on the studies that might be relevant.  

Third - I'm going to be a bit more proactive in trying to confirm or deny a theory I have about Christopher, starting right here - In March of 2012 I proposed a theory about Christopher McNally's parentage, that he might be the son of a Laurence McNally and Mary Dillon.  I would encourage any male McNally's that can prove a line of descent from Laurence and Mary to contact me.  In a subseuent blog post I will post all of the information I have about this family to aid in this.

Fourth - The book "DNA and Social Networking" by Debbie Kennett has some fabulous suggestions about how to make genetic genealogy more effective, so I'm going to re-read the DNA part and follow up on some of her ideas.

Finally - I'm going to do whatever I can with the Ancestry test to cast a wider net for relatives in my extended family to share with and learn from.

Here's to making 2014 a good genealogy year.