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Anyone into genealogy here or get interesting results from a DNA service like Ancestry or 23 and me?
A couple of years back, my daughter got me a 23 and me test for my birthday. Honestly, I thought it was sort of lame at first but it was the beginning of a bit of an obsession.
My grandfather was always a mysterious person. He was abandoned at birth and labored on a farm picking cotton and tobacco. He didn't know his parents, didn't know where he came from, who he was- nothing. If you asked him about it, he'd get annoyed and you learned it just wasn't something he wanted to discuss.
So naturally when I got my 23 and me results, that was what I looked at first. Turned out I had a second cousin on there that connected through my grandfather. I sent her a message asking if she knew anything, we went back and forth about when he was born and the other tiny bits of info we had and it turned out that my grandfather was a sad story in her family. Supposedly my great grandmother got pregnant not long after she was widowed. She was catholic and this was in the early 20's so a bit scandalous. She had my grandfather in a catholic home for unwed mothers. My cousin told me the story was that my grandfather was stillborn and apparently the whole family thought that, but it seems that was just how my great grandmother got people to stop asking. He has a nephew that is still alive. A lifetime of mystery solved in about an hour of conversation.
We also found his paternal family the same way, they were Italian and one of his cousins was the first leader of the Black Hand in Milwaukee and much of his family was involved in the Milwaukee mafia.
I had family who were key players in the Salem Witch Trials (honestly one of my relatives sounded like an asshole) and also am a direct descendant of Steven Flanders, who is a big deal with genealogy nerds.
Its been a great way to kill spare time.
Anyone else interested in this stuff? Share cool family stories.
A couple of years back, my daughter got me a 23 and me test for my birthday. Honestly, I thought it was sort of lame at first but it was the beginning of a bit of an obsession.
My grandfather was always a mysterious person. He was abandoned at birth and labored on a farm picking cotton and tobacco. He didn't know his parents, didn't know where he came from, who he was- nothing. If you asked him about it, he'd get annoyed and you learned it just wasn't something he wanted to discuss.
So naturally when I got my 23 and me results, that was what I looked at first. Turned out I had a second cousin on there that connected through my grandfather. I sent her a message asking if she knew anything, we went back and forth about when he was born and the other tiny bits of info we had and it turned out that my grandfather was a sad story in her family. Supposedly my great grandmother got pregnant not long after she was widowed. She was catholic and this was in the early 20's so a bit scandalous. She had my grandfather in a catholic home for unwed mothers. My cousin told me the story was that my grandfather was stillborn and apparently the whole family thought that, but it seems that was just how my great grandmother got people to stop asking. He has a nephew that is still alive. A lifetime of mystery solved in about an hour of conversation.
We also found his paternal family the same way, they were Italian and one of his cousins was the first leader of the Black Hand in Milwaukee and much of his family was involved in the Milwaukee mafia.
I had family who were key players in the Salem Witch Trials (honestly one of my relatives sounded like an asshole) and also am a direct descendant of Steven Flanders, who is a big deal with genealogy nerds.
Its been a great way to kill spare time.
Anyone else interested in this stuff? Share cool family stories.
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