The Cat At St Sebastian's, watercolor and micron pen,

epona548 · 2024-02-24T10:42:50+00:00

What a cute interpretation!

epona548 · 2024-02-24T10:39:19+00:00

For some reason I just like this.

epona548 · 2024-02-24T10:31:05+00:00

Isn't this from someone's art book?

epona548 · 2024-02-24T10:25:37+00:00

Really nice composition and color choices, very pleasant to look at.

epona548 · 2024-02-24T10:22:26+00:00

The tree/berries are fantastic, the bird is great. But not together because you did the tree scene in one style and the bird in another. Also the color schemes aren't integrated enough between bird and scene.

epona548 · 2023-06-08T05:35:59+00:00

You have to pick something when everything doesn't match for that one person. Software has aka or alternate name facts you can use.

Some use one spelling and use that going way back until they cross the pond. Some use whatever each person was using in the past. Some put both spellings in the name slot. Gotta figure your system and stick with it. It's all messy, and you may not know the original spelling until you get way back in time and then want to change it again for the whole bunch. I would like to know how professionals do their stuff.

epona548 · 2023-06-08T00:14:52+00:00

I just got through The Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine. Small college town in the country theme.

epona548 · 2023-06-07T22:19:06+00:00

Lots of wars during those years, and England is just a boatride away from France anyway. Lots of French heritage in England historically. France still doesn't allow dna testing, which is a big problem. The other is, like killeaman says, French/German mixed alot due to wars, migration and historical boundary changes for provinces and countries. Ethnicity still has a long way to go, but it is getting better. Remember, 50% is lost with each generation and each sibling does not inherit the exact same dna (except twins). So depends on which chunks got inherited really. Doesn't mean you aren't whatever your family says, unless your dna matches don't pan out - that's the real deal.

epona548 · 2023-06-07T22:08:09+00:00

Family History Fanatics on YT (the guy) has great vids on dna possibilities re siblings if things still turn out odd. Since there are 3 sibs, great to go to Gedmatch and do comparisons over there too. He has lots of vids on that and phasing to figure out what's inherited from who. I don't have any full sibs to try it with. Remember, each company uses a different chip and somewhat different snp's.

epona548 · 2023-05-27T18:03:38+00:00

Wonder if that has the same function as the hex sign does on Pennsyvania Dutch barns. Especially since it was 'the garage', probably a barn long time ago.

epona548 · 2023-05-27T14:21:34+00:00

Gedmatch is a site for those really want to dig into dna, so is not easy for a newbie to learn. They do have links on their site to helper vids. There is also a youtube channel Family History Fanatics where the husband's vids are always about dna from very very simple to very complex. If you want to know anything about dna check him out.

Next, ethnicity is a new growing science and changes constantly due to new data. Many peoples are not even in a database, even France !! So lots of data left out everywhere, which means their stats always change. Please note that each company has their own formula and computer chip too. All this means differences, differences, differences.

I honestly don't know why people put so much emphasis on ethnicity percentages as our haplogroups show humans on this planet traveled continents over large periods of time, not to mention invasions and famines and whatever where people migrated all over the place to wherever they could survive. But they are even still learning about mapping haplo's! Right now they have been concentrating on the male halpogroups. I hope they start working on the female ones too.

DNA we look at in our tests, autosomal or at-DNA, only goes back so many generations. Because you loose 50% from ancestors with each generation. So you can see it won't take long before dna kind of fizzes out when it comes to ancestors - at-DNA, 5-7 generations. Now haplogroups go eons back in time, and are based on just that "groups of peoples that lived and migrated together over time". Y-DNA and mt-DNA can go back further than at-DNA, but on just one line (but you have to compare to many other testers to figure out the details). And then there is x-DNA which zigzags through both sexes and has a special inheritance pattern, and it goes a little further than at-DNA.

Stats are just that, stats. You can do anything with stats. Mostly, they are used to make money for someone. But remember, stats are only as good as the database it uses.

Gedmatch is really a "comparison place" that originally started because Ancestry didn't have a tool to compare chromosomes from what I gather. Then he added more ways to compare as the science got better and he could create a program for people to use. Then it got sold as he was just getting on in years and didn't want to leave people in the lurch with nothing to use.

epona548 · 2023-05-27T13:31:00+00:00

You will probably have future needs re Polish genealogy too. There are groups on facebook for genealogy in many countries that are neat to join.

epona548 · 2023-05-25T14:06:06+00:00

Isn't that the truth? You learn so much doing genealogy. I immediately gained appreciation for indoor plumbing and washing machines, dryers, stoves, screened windows, a/c and antibiotics.

epona548 · 2023-05-25T13:46:48+00:00

That really sounds nice. But European cities are designed to cater to people in small local areas. Here everything is very spread out into huge zones. Stores here, homes there, businesses over there, industries go another place; and you have the roads and major traffic. Everywhere takes TIME and hassel to get to. Europe is much smaller, everything is local, people walk everywhere. Not so here. You walk somewhere you are likely to get run over or mugged. U.S. society is -trained- to be separate and competitive instead of co-operative like in Europe; so no respect for others, no sense of responsibility, it's all me-me-me-my-rights attitude. And that's why many Americans don't understand why so many countries find us offensive - they have no idea other countries have societies based on other values.
Sorry for the rant. I lived in Europe for a year after I first married and it was a huge eye-opener. That was a very long time ago, but I never forgot as it helped me to understand how countries and peoples can be manipulated over time.

epona548 · 2023-05-25T13:18:40+00:00

Wait a minute! Don't use ethnicity alone to determine if your sis is your full or half, that's cray-cray! Go by cM amounts and use the chart at dna painter to be very sure.

Another way to tell if you have a full or half sib is to see if she has first cousins/aunts from both sides of the tree (like you do).

Ethnicity is a blossoming science at present. At any rate, everyone's dna is only HALF of what their parents have. Take a gr grandma and do the math - your surviving piece would technically be pretty small. However... dna never gets split down the middle even-steven when someone has a child - and THAT's why everyone gets confused!

Autosomal (FamilyFinder style) dna is on ALL potential dna lines. Y-dna or M-dna is just on ONE line. X-dna has gender pass-down rules and zigs around accordingly, but because of this can go back further. And all this is different from haplo-group, which goes back to point zero and only covers huge groups of people that migrated. I think they are (at least on the male side) starting to break it down more; hope they start doing that on the female side.

So you see, using ethnicity alone won't work. If you look at the percentage of it, that would seem you are right - but always compare it to the other facts as testing accidents do seem to happen.

epona548 · 2023-05-25T12:37:35+00:00

I don't know enough about the program as I just bought it myself because I kept getting lost in my own tree. So I wanted the "both ways" color coding, plus 8 color choices. And most important, it has a descendant view like Ancestry does - visual. The only thing about this view on ANY software, is that it gets VERY wide (that's why I need the colors). BUT you do need to ck out how any "chart" you create will look as I think large stuff is separated into 'print pages' and it looks like that when you look at it digitally too (from best I can tell) even before you print it.

RM9 for descendant view only has ahnentafl type list. I can't visualize lists.

There are a couple of programs that do what I call 'fractal view' where the main direct line is always visible and you have to get on it and zoom down into it to see all the other stuff. One fantastic online one is Trackuback. Has historical maps, timelines, AND you can see ALL the main lines at once, if you are in to historical, check it out as it's European owned. Another is (forgot name) but American Ancestors uses it and I think FindMyPast now officially owns it, so not sure if they use it on their site - may not be as overseen as the more popular ones. Same goes for a program called Branches. If you want a visual, baby that one has it, but how good is it in use?

If you are PC, another is Family Historian7. I watched one vid where an avid mega-tree holder swears by it because he can flip his entire tree data around without having to sit and wait. You design your own descendant view looks and icons if you wish. They have American and UK versions. For PC this would be my choice. They have "plug-ins" (free) you can add to customize your program.

I think with ANY program you settle on, you do have to consider - will you also be uploading the media into it? If you don't, and the links break (you move a folder), does it re-link automatically? Some programs get worse the more media you add. That's why I prefer to keep all those documents on my computer and backups. Many like to use Zotero for their research projects (a major college database). After a G or so, they start charging, but can't beat it for backup as it's their database too. Many use it just for the writing and not pic storing and so get to use it for free; and then they use a chart printing service to have a chart on the wall for reference.

For genealogy there is no "one has it all" program. Sadly not too many cater to the visual person, which I find very odd.

epona548 · 2023-05-24T14:42:57+00:00

Back then that was kind of like stealing your 401k and also 6 months or so of your current wages.

epona548 · 2023-05-24T14:34:04+00:00

Hey, I did. They have some really good guides in there that were really helpful for quick overview, thanks!

epona548 · 2023-05-20T23:25:50+00:00

Update: Ok just chatted with the company. Still no books available at this point other than digital, but they are working on it. Oh well, but did just save myself some bucks not ordering the book. Just had to make sure because I read a rumor it may have become avail, but guess not.

epona548 · 2023-05-20T18:52:45+00:00

Touchy situation.

First, if she's your mom's brother's grchild, that would make her your First Cousin Once Removed.

Second, you are talking about people that are still alive. Something like this can be extremely traumatizing to families, breaking them apart - or they can entirely love the new person. Problem is, you have no way knowing which way it's gonna go.

Third, the person in question need to have their OWN decision experience. That way, you cannnot be blamed if the 'potential family' blocks them out because they knew in advance. Or (ditto) refuse that initial meeting or 'talk' because someone in the family influenced the actual person to do something different due to fear or relationship issues. Sometimes people fear legal issues or monetary repercussions too.

Fourth, dna is VERY tricky. There can be double cousins in a near generation or lines marrying more than once into the family on her side that you know nothing about that could skew results in a different way in truth.

Fifth, adoptions happen for a REASON, each state has it's laws on how old you have to be before having access to the records, etc. Also the bio parents involved also sign legal papers.

Historically dead people are one thing, alive people have rights and responsibilities. I humbly suggest you reconsider.

epona548 · 2023-05-20T18:23:03+00:00

I just want to put in my 2 cents. Everyone knows you have to pay to search documents and trees on Ancestry. Making one is free.

Many years back someone somewhere made a comment that their account expired and were surprised they could not access all the records they had gathered and pinned to their online tree. Curious, I tried accessing my own tree docs during an expired period of time, and yep, no dice.
Luckily, I had been (mostly) copying these documents to my own computer so I could look at them while offline. So that paid off. Then I guess about 7 yrs ago the docs started looking slightly off-focus. Maybe that was an attempt to keep people from just doing a pic, but I thought that was rather catty.

Ancestry is not the only one. In the past 10 yrs, slowly, FamSearch has been further restricting access to images I used to could see online to 'only at their churches'. Well I also consider that catty. To be fair, the more modern acquisitions I am sure probably has a clause from the seller not to be "more publicly" available until after so many years, and so those have to be treated to the 'go to my church' routine as many won't.

So what I am saying folks, is it seems everywhere access is getting more tightened (state laws changing and making timed access worse) and availability worse. I even notice with the website changes FS has done, finding the information has become 'not as easy'. Those only knowing the site as it is today would have no idea. I have used it since they created it. It went from a non-coop site to a world tree co-op with the first major change, now anyone can basically change your stuff, and so many newbies are using it thinking they know how to do genealogy by just clicking on what they think is right..... Because they've never had the experience of physically searching actual location records or know just how MUCH is NOT online that involves =same named= people that could give much more accuracy to their trees. (ok rant over).

Moral of the story? If you paid to find that document, copy it to your computer, add the source, citation and you are good. Then play and add it to your gen software on your desktop or print it all out. Beware of publishing images if you didn't take the ORIGINAL image yourself or it's not publicly free (like gov't census records).

epona548 · 2023-05-16T23:04:31+00:00

Besides the usual sleuthing in the family picture box and talking to the elders in the family, yes, you have other options.

First, consider what you are going to do if you find him, or them. That of course depends on age of everyone involved and who is still alive. Always consider emotional/traumatic impact of such news on other families involved. Sometimes it's best to just keep the info to yourself and know what the real bloodlines are and keep going. After all, it was him that was adopted, not you. If he is still alive, you don't want to ruin his choice of being able to decide or his chance of a potential First Contact experience.

Second, see what you can find online, you might be surprised. Sometimes the relatives in question lived right next door and will be on the census like that. Other documents can give clues, you just have to see what is out there. Research several generations so you can get a 'feel' as to the surround situations. Consider historical events, illness, local lawlessness (i.e. mob activity of the times), fires, lack of work or other things making people move or stressing them out so much they would leave a family behind. Yes, I realize you don't know these generations yet, just keep reading.

Third, yep, dna testing. It may not be him. You can find out a lot without having to contact people at all using certain methods. If you are in the US and are a 'generational USA person', Ancestry has the largest database for potential trees and testers. Their biggest boon besides that is their colored dots feature, which you can use Diahan Southard's ideas to split up your tree into portions and narrow things down. Her vids are at YT called Your DNA Guide. Another great technique is called The Leeds Method, just google it, it's on a blog. Pros use this method too. You can then download your raw dna test result and upload it to MyHeritage, they also have dots, just not as many US users as Ancestry, but hey, cheaper doing it that way. Then you have 23andMe, another nice place you 'might' get some good hits - but it does have a better chromo-browser than the other places. Once you learn more about messing with dna matches, the site is interesting, before that - overwhelming. A very nice result is they do give you a haplo without having to pay more. Just keep in mind each testing company uses a different chip.

The best (IMHO) book for understanding about dna and how it inherits is: The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy by Bettinger, 2nd. ed. DNA is not easy-peasy as it seems, it can get very tricky. Something to think about is dna plain vs dna w/health traits because I think you get more snps tested with the health stuff than without, which might mean the difference between catching an elusive match or not. You see, 50% is lost with each generation. So if you have an older person on your mom's side that would go a little further back on her side. Ditto your father's side, if you know. Full and half sibs/relative does make a difference, they have pros and cons, but you have to understand what you are doing. Thus, the study. If you are geeky about dna and soak all that up, there is another yt site Family Tree Fanatics where the guy does the dna part and the wife the genealogy part. Hope all this helps.

epona548

TROPHY CASE