DNA is a tricky thing when you are starting out.

I did it again. I took another dna test with 23andme. I wanted my sister to also take the dna test, and she chose 23andme, so to get any sort of decent comparison going I decided to take it too. We also would like our nephew to take this test, but don't you know, he can't have it done. Oh, he is willing enough, but because he lives in Maryland, he can't take the test through 23andme (or Ancestry.com I bet). Seems there is another firm in MD that has the dna testing service all sewn up in that state. Which is a bummer for us, as he is the only direct line male left in the our Mack family. I hope 23andme gets that sorted out sooner than later.

So, I did get different results. Probably because the test wasn't identical to the Ancestry.com one. Oh, I am still about 99.9% European, but my British and Irish percentage has dropped to 15.4%. No Persian/Turkish/Caucasus. But 1.4% Scandinavian, 1% French and German, 72.4% unspecified Northern European, .5 non-specific Southern European and 9.2 nonspecific European. Oh and 2.7 Neanderthal.

My sister only shares 50% of my dna. And she is 3% Neanderthal. It's very interesting to compare our genetic makeup.

 I have four bonafide cousin matches with people on Ancestry.com - one first cousin I already knew about her - we grew up next door to each other- and three other folks I did not know about. We share 4th great grand parents, mostly. There are a lot of matches of surnames on Ancestry.com, but the locations are way off. It will be challenging to find the exact relative that we are supposedly connected by.

The matches on 23andme are more obtuse. The genealogy isn't touted as the most important. But one can see that we are indeed matched genetically. But finding the connection beyond the gene is a much larger challenge. I do like the health report aspect, and I am glad that I have participated in the surveys and contributed my dna results that may positively impact folks health-wise. Luckily I am a relatively healthy person, and the stats show that if I behave myself, I will have a good future health wise.

As for figuring this dna stuff out.... I hope those who have will continue to write about it and publish their thoughts online. It really helps. So thank you all who have, and all who will in the future. Just be sure of your data, and don't make things up please, I am really tired of all the nonsense that has made it to the internet.

I made a promise to myself...

... every day that it rains too hard to go outside, instead of going weeding the garden, I will scan some of the many photographs in my collection into the computer. A different kind of weeding shall we say?

Trying to organize (again) my digital genealogy data, I've decided on Family file folders nested into Surname file folders. I also have Census, US and Census, NS folders for records that are not already filed away in the family files. And, lastly - if I can't remember what file to use - I have the catchall Miscellaneous folder, the General History folder,  a General Map folder and a General Data folder. It might work - if I keep up with it with a weekly "sort and file-it-properly" day, that is.

In the midst of scanning photographs, I did learn a few new things. This particular batch of photographs came from my mother's desk. I always knew my mother had a quirky sense of humor and a decidedly artistic view of the world, but many of the photographs that she took of her children and grandchildren were pretty artsy. She seemed to have preferred a low-light from the side and a straight on shot - or a profile not quite silhouette, but pretty close. She definitely thought her grandchildren were interesting, as she often chronicled them doing things like this - an activity she totally instigated - she loved to get the grandkids outdoors and looking at neat things:

 Ian, Ives and Sarah out and about checking out some really cool 

stuff while their mothers are at work, ca. 1988?

The next find was a small bible - pocket sized and in a box. It is a bible given to my grandmother and grandfather on the date of their wedding. Clifford Ives Stoddard and Mildred Russell Dikeman were married on Saturday the 13th of October in 1906 in the New Haven Diocese of the Protestant Episcopal Church. James D.W. Perry Jr, the Rector of St. Paul's Church performed the ceremony.

Primary source ;-)

My mother didn't talk much about her years at Rollins College in Winter Park Florida. From what she did say, she really enjoyed the time spent there. She was a small town girl from Connecticut who ventured out of her element into Winter Park, FL and obviously flourished. The graduation ceremonies - apparently lasted a week from the few remnants I found - were held in 1940 and my mother received a few honors and participated in the ceremonies as well.

The headline below shows Joe Justice being awarded major honors...the reality is my mom shared being selected as an outstanding atheletes of the year. 

                                                                                            

Mom also made outstanding achievement in the study of art. Growing up, we could not look past our noses without seeing something Mom had created or designed. Although she did work for a while for an advertising company, after she married Pop, she gave up her work to become a mother, and created what she could while moving around the country and raising kids. She wasn't much of a writer, sadly; I would love to read what she thought of things. She did leave lots of little touches that so exemplify who she was and what was important to her.

 

The last photo is a mystery. There I am peeking over the back of a donkey. I know who owns the Mustang convertible, but for the life of me, I don't know where we are or what we are doing in the midst of these donkeys. Or are they mules? And how the heck could I forget an experience this out of the ordinary for me? I remember most of my travels - I even kept diaries during the momentous journeys, but this one has me stymied.

My guess is that it is in New England somewhere - that would tie in with the Mustang and its owner. Aviator type sunglasses dates it around early 70's. Maybe a spaceship scooped me up and gave me a drug to make me forget this?

I have no memory of this at all, but I do have the evidence. I expect, as the years roll on, there will be many more instances of forgotten photos. That is why I am in such a hurry to scan my photos!