Saturday Serendipity (October 12, 2019)

The following are suggested reads for this weekend .  .  .

1.     With the advent of genetic genealogy, genealogists have been given a powerful new tool for researching their biological families.  Use of the DNA tool has been growing exponentially since at least 2016 as found by two different MIT Technology Review articles.  In 2017 the number of people who had their DNA tested by direct-to-consumer genetic genealogy kits more than doubled -- and then in 2018 more people purchased consumer DNA tests than in all previous years combined! But as we have all read or heard by now, genealogists and those merely interested in the entertainment value of discovering their ethnic make-up are not the only ones fascinated by genetic gnealogy.  Law enforcement has entered the era of forensic genealogy for purposes of solving otherwise unresolved crimes.  In one high visibility case, that of the so-called "Golden State Killer," genetic genealogy led to the arraignment of Joseph James DeAngelo, age 73, for the kidnapping and murder of thirteen people.  Since the famous break in the Golden State Killer case, dozens of rapes and killings have now been resolved through the use of genetic genealogy.  This has prompted both privacy and constitutional questions -- and in at least one early case using genetic genealogy techniques one man was misidentified as a murder suspect.  For those interested in this topic, a must read/listen is last weekend's radio broadcast of The Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal News.org presentation of "Catch a Killer With Your DNA."  Follow the link to either read the transcript or listen to the radio broadcast.

2.     If the issues surrounding use of genetic genealogy and the links above intrigue you and you want to learn more about the fallout from law enforement's discovery and use of genetic genealogy databases, then you should also read an article highlighted in the most recent Weekly Genealogist by NEHGS.  "The Messy Consequences of the Golden State Killer Case" recently published in The Atlantic can be read here.  The article reviews how genealogy and crime fighting make for an uneasy mix and the reaction and actions taken by some genetic genealogy sites are presented.

3.     And if you are still interested in pursuing more genetic DNA stories, The Weekly Genealogist brought another DNA story to our attention this week.  The piece is a feel-good story that also raises yet another case of first impression and novel issues as fallout from the advent of genetic genealogy.   A woman in Chicago, who is now 45, met a young man, 25, for the very first time after she took an AncestryDNA test in 2017.  The results showed she was an exact match for an unknown man to whom she had no known family connection.  He was not a biological son and there was no known genealogical connection .  .  . and yet the DNA test was accurate, there was no testing error.  They had the same shared DNA -- and the DNA originated with the young man.  If you are intrigued, read the article here.  

4.     If you have (or perhaps wonder if you have) ancestors or relatives that graduated from Lowell High School in Lowell, Massachusetts around 1837 - 1878, then you should be aware that the New England Historical Genealogy Society (NEHGS)/American Ancestors just annouced the addition of a new database containing the names of more than 25,000 students at Lowell High School (LHS) during the 51 years between 1837 and 1878.  LHS was the first integrated co-educational high school in the country.  The database images list the LHS students and other information such as class rank, teachers names, and names of administrators. You can learn more and see the search application here.

5.         While Russell Worthington, aka "Cousin Russ" of Family Tree Maker User blog has been posting about the newly released FTM 2019 for a while now, the pre-ordered downloads have begun rolling out in the order the early purchases were made.  Earlier this week I received an email notice that my order was available for download.  The download is on my to-do list for this afternoon.  For those who already use and pre-ordered FTM 2019, this is a reminder that the orderly release for pre-orders is underway.  If you did pre-order or if you intend to order FTM 2019, I suggest you check our the various posts about FTM 2019 on Family Tree Maker User blog.  You can start with Russ's post "FTM 2019 -- Before You Install" and then surf to his other posts about some of the new features in the upgrade.  [Links are easily found in the alphabetical listing of topics on the left side of the blog page.]

6.     It has been quite a while since I mentioned a very interesting and informative blog called Heirlooms Reunited by Pam Beveridge.  Pam's blog is self-styled as a way for her to "bring to life the heirlooms [she] has collected over a lifetime."  The blog has an easy search engine and Pam goes to the effort to make surname and geographical locations simple to locate and get to.  Often she does research to discover more about the people associated with the photographs, autograph books, bibles, family registers, correspondence, etc. that she has and posts about.  Many of the items she has are available for purchase.  [I have no connection to Pam or her blog other than I like to browse it and see items that could relate to some of my ancestors or relatives.]  I recommend a visit when you have time to get drawn into purusing the site.  You never know what you might find that connects to your genealogy!  The most recent post from today can be viewed here.

7.     Janine Addams of Organize Your Family History blog had a post this week that provides excellent advice about using census records in your research.  I'll admit that some years back it took me a while to develop the simple little habit Janine addresses, but it one that any user of census records should absolutely adopt.  Curious what the simple habit is?  Find out here.  [Oh, and be sure to read the comments for more good advice.] 

8.     And finally for this week, Bill West of West in New England blog has a nice post about contributing memorials and information to Find-A-Grave.  Bill joined Find-A-Grave eight years ago and soon began taking gravestone photos.  He then began creating memorials of older graves where none had been posted before.  Bill has developed his own rules for making Find-A-Grave contributions and they are well worth reading whether or not you contribute yourself.  You can read Bill's post here.

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Copyright 2019, John D. Tew
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