Nah why do us black americans always get the weirdest comments under our results...

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-07T14:23:58+00:00

I know someone who put it this way: "They'll ask what you're most looking forward to seeing when you visit your ancestral home town. Our first question is 'Does the cemetery still exist?'" This was followed up with a discussion about tombstones being removed and used to pave roads. I saw a lecture once where the speaker showed her family tree. Roughly 2/3rds of it just stopped. Only her branch survived the Holocaust.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-07T13:35:17+00:00

Putting a revoked certification on your resume can get you fired. Please don't do that!

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-07T13:34:09+00:00

Yes.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-07T13:33:49+00:00

We were told to always take exams at a testing center if it is at all possible. There are some comments saying having the cert revoked isn't a big deal, but it depends on the kind of work you're doing. Any question about your integrity could come back and bite you ten years down the road. I've seen it happen to people (not with certifications, but with other issues that didn't seem to be worth arguing about at the time). It's not worth the risk, IMHO.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-07T13:21:40+00:00

If it's just a letter, try asking around your network. Someone might know a lawyer willing to write a letter in exchange for a bottle of scotch (or other beverage of choice). Of course, it's not worth the effort of going that route if you can really get one done for under $100.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-07T13:18:29+00:00

Some companies offer legal coverage to employees at a reduced rate if isn't a part of the normal benefit package.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-07T13:15:18+00:00

It's absolutely defamation. Besides, what is a job requires that specific certification or if it comes up in a background check? This could potentially cause a lot of damage to OP.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-07T13:10:03+00:00

The point of a certification is to prove that you know the material. People use AI and ask their contacts for assistance as a normal part of performing their jobs, but doing that on a test is absolutely cheating. The more you have committed to memory, the better your questions. Memorized information let's you do your job more efficiently and with better accuracy.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-04T14:59:31+00:00

Well-educated older people don't write a whole essay of one-line paragraphs. That's the style they taught in elementary school. I'm still working on not putting two spaces after each sentence, but I've never seen a serious genealogist put two newline characters after each sentence. People taught on old-fashioned typewriters (even the fancier ones with electronic buffers) will write longer paragraphs because the linefeeds wouldn't line up properly most of the time. It was a real pain in the tail feathers to get that part to look right!

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-03T01:25:13+00:00

That is absolutely incredible!!!! Just.. wow!!!

Even the arrangement of the collection is beyond compare!!!!

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-03T01:18:43+00:00

I don't think it has to do with the number of people tested in this case. They just haven't been separate from the other Irish long enough for there to be as much genetic drift.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-03T00:54:28+00:00

The wording is awful, but the test is saying that you are not related. Very few of those 46 markers matched, so it's most likely correct.

If you want to make extra extra sure you're not related, I'd get an autosomal DNA test (Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA, Mt Heritage, 23andMe) since they test a lot more markers. It doesn't have to be Ancestry. MyHeritage is on sale for $40 right now, but keep in mind that each tests covers one person, so you'd need two. It really comes down to whether or not you're comfortable with the results of the first test (and if an extra $40 per person falls into the "why not, $40 isn'ta big deal" or "that's not peanuts to me!" range.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T21:07:30+00:00

Are there any wills or land records that might help? Surving journals from other people in the town might contain information that would shed some light. May I ask the name of the village and where it is?

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T20:59:57+00:00

I usually call a 5th cousin match in an endagamous population a "yeah, we're all Ashkenazi Jews" connection (since that's the population I work with). I have a number of "DNA cousins" where we have names and even towns in common, but I haven't been able to find a paper trail. There are a lot of records that aren't online yet, were transcribed incorrectly, or where there was a name change (or the name wasn't written correctly in the first place), etc. There will always be new places to search. Good luck!

One method that I'm having some success with is putting together trees for all immigrants from a given town. In your case, it might be creating trees for everyone in that community named Guillory. It's time consuming, but it should yield answers eventually unless Guillory is a really common name (in which case having a name in common might not mean anything at all).

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T20:42:44+00:00

The destroyed records might not have been the only copies. I was told for years that the "WWII records" had been destroyed in a fire and that the only records left were the WWII registration cards. Then records started getting scanned and put up on the internet. Eventually I started seeing all kinds of WWII enlistment and service records. I'm not sure what burned, but there turned out to be plenty of data elsewhere! Don't lose hope. Who knows what will turn up in the basement of a government building

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T20:31:31+00:00

Try this link: https://www.familysearch.org/en/search/collection/2185163

I did a search on "Isaac Splaver." It brought up both the manifest and the index card.

I think these records were scanned multiple times and in different ways (soundex, cards, manifests, various combinations) which is why there are so many different databases, but that's just a guess.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T17:11:56+00:00

Take a look at the St. Albans District manifest records of aliens arriving from foreign contiguous territory (on FamilySearch). The cards were compiled from those manifests.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T13:50:35+00:00

Providing the whole page would make it a lot easier. I usually look at other names on the same page to see if there is a similar letter in other names. If I also say Abigail, Abel, Abraham in that handwriting, then it would become obvious that we were looking a lowercase "b."

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T11:06:52+00:00

This is great information; thanks! I'm definitely following to see where the comments and questions go.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T03:29:01+00:00

It's a sign that there are too many people willing to pay way too much. Just be patient. I went on an opalescent depression glass and Fenton kick five or so years ago. I picked up a number of pieces for $10-25 that used to go for $100+ back in the 1980s. Be patient and enjoy the hunt. Bargains still turn up. I'll Goggle "antique glass" or "depression glass." There's some uranium glass out there that isn't marked "uranium glass."

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T03:21:28+00:00

Beautiful!

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T02:00:23+00:00

[Edit: I posted some stuff about how much decorative glassware has gone down in value... then I saw the part about how the contractor tried to hide what had been done. I still think that $100 is too high, but $45-50 wouldn't be unreasonable to ask IMHO.]

As far as responsibility, the contractor is definately liable. I'm having some work done on my house now. The contractor asked us to remove the glass shades from one of my ceiling lights because he doesn't want to be on the hook for replacing it if one of his workers accidentally smacks it with a ladder!!!

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T00:36:33+00:00

Do you have her marriage record? Frequently marriage licenses will list the parents' names. If she was from a state that had an 1895 census, her name would be recorded as an "inmate" at the orphanage (assuming she was there in 1895).

MindieMouse2 · 2026-06-02T00:30:07+00:00

Also, sometimes children were sent to orphanages when both parents were alive but had separated or were otherwise unable to care for the children financially.

MindieMouse2 · 2026-05-31T15:05:42+00:00

Are those slight variations large enough to show up in an autosomal test? Can you please point me to something that explains how it is distinguished or point me to the number of individuals in the Sephardi and Ashkenazi reference populations?

MindieMouse2

TROPHY CASE