Jill's Genealogy Journey

Stories, Discoveries & Tips

Jill Holman

How to get started with genealogy?

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Where to begin with your family history?

There is a lot of advice out there and it can be overwhelming!

First, why do you want to do this? It matters. It can help you prioritize what you want to do and get through frustration when the going gets tough. For me, I heard that we had a Native American ancestor and I wanted to know more about that. It doesn’t seem it was exactly true, but I have continued researching because I like solving puzzles and feeling connected to my ancestors.

Know that there is not one right way to do this. You can choose your own adventure! Here are your first three decisions:

1 – Are you interested in a DNA test or traditional research first? (Hint: Doing both together gives you the best results!)

If you choose a DNA test as a first step, know that there are 3 different tests and 3-5 different major companies depending on who you ask. If your family has been in the US awhile, AncestryDNA is a good place to start. If your family is global, MyHeritage or FamilyTreeDNA might be a better choice.

Be ready for surprises! Know that you might learn something unexpected – here are some resources on that.

You can also start at AncestryDNA and transfer your data to other companies and this is a good strategy to find the most cousins. How to Transfer Your DNA to Other Companies.

If you choose traditional research as a first step, fill out this form starting with yourself.

And talk to your old people as soon as possible! We all wish we had asked more questions of our parents and grandparents before they passed on. In addition, you might discover cool things like scrapbooks, photographs, family bibles, diaries and letters.

2 – Want to save money or make fast/easy progress?

If you want to save money, FamilySearch offers a lot for free. And there are DNA Test Sales several times a year.

If you want to make fast/easy progress, sign up for a subscription at ancestry.com. (They do have sales sometimes too.)

Learn more here – Genealogy Websites Comparison: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch, Findmypast and MyHeritage.

3 – Are you OK working online only or do you want software on your computer to store your research? (Highly recommended)

If you are OK working online only, do you want to focus on collaborating with others or focus on your own tree? For example, FamilySearch has a collaborative shared tree and with Ancestry, you have your own tree.

Know that there is a lot of bad info out there on the various trees. You want sources to verify your family history. That’s why I like WikiTree and I am slowly moving my research over there. They encourage people to verify facts by providing sources, including DNA tests. As Roberta Estes says:

People often ask, “How can I preserve my research for future generations?” and WikiTree is certainly an excellent answer.

If you want software to store your research on your computer, you have several choices. However, if you want to sync with ancestry.com, you have 2 choices: Family Tree Maker and RootsMagic. Plus RootsMagic syncs with FamilySearch as well!

The number one thing I wish someone had told me earlier is to take a lot of pictures and notes. You cannot remember everything. We have all messed up here and have something we got early in our research and we cannot figure out where it came from.

Start now and keep going a little at a time. Baby steps really add up. And you will learn more as you go!

Start Now!

Family History Photo Project

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I have some time this winter break to scan in those old photos. I don’t want them to degrade any further. If I have photos you want, I will be ready to share them soon.

Do you have old photos? Even if your immediate family is not really interested in family history, someone might find them invaluable, like maybe your second or third cousin.

I will circle back later and report on the process and tools I used. Here are some articles to get you started:

For now, here is my wish list. These are ancestors where I do not have pictures and they might be out there somewhere:

  • Charles Holman
  • Isaac and Louis Belle Vipond
  • Isaac and Catherine Vipond
  • Lars Fjerstad
  • Buel and Almira Atchison
  • Johan and Anna Laitala
  • Teunis and Elizabeth Middensorp
  • Ubbe Reemts Iwwerks
  • Adeline Caza

If you have any of these photographs, please share them with me!

Box of old family photos

mtDNA – Part 2

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I finally ran the mtDNA test on my dad. This test looks at the maternal line and can be run on everyone, not just women. You might recall that I was able to hook into others’ research when I ran this test on my mom: https://jillholman.com/genealogy/marie-marguerie-and-mtdna/

No such luck this time – we don’t have any close matches yet (genetic distance = 0). And among the matches we do have, there is no agreement on earliest known ancestor, nor anything in common in trees that I can find. And of course there are a lot of missing trees. Hopefully more cousins will test and provide tree information back several generations so we can make progress here soon. (You might also recall that this family is tricky for traditional document research and we have had a bit of a brick wall for years: https://jillholman.com/genealogy/john-margaret-williams/)

So our maternal line back from Margaret Emma Jones is still a mystery for now.

Maternal line back from my dad

We can also learn a bit about our ancient ancestors from mtDNA. The T haplogroup is in the book The Seven Daughters of Eve by Bryan Sykes. See the chapter on Tara.

For our ancestors, scientists currently believe the mitochondrial haplogroups evolved something like this:

  • L – Africa 192,400 years ago (Mitochondrial Eve)
  • L1-6 – 170,000 years ago
  • L3 – 71,600 years ago
  • N – 70,000 years ago
  • R – South Asia – 60,000 years ago
  • R2’JT – 55,000 years ago
  • JT – Near East/Europe – 50,000 years ago
  • T – 33,300 years ago
  • T2 – 23,800 years ago
  • T2b – 10,600 years ago
  • T2b24 – 7,500 years ago

For the earlier date estimations, check out figure 6 here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2694979/pdf/main.pdf

For the T date estimations, check out S2_fig here: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0118625

Resources

And remember, get your old people tested as soon as possible!

Generations

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I really liked this book published in 2023. How interesting to better understand generational differences and how culture has changed in the last 100 years. I bet you will find something that surprises you! For example, Millennials are not broke. The data show they have actually done quite well financially.

The author focuses on the six generations living now and how technology has impacted each generation, as well as these two trends that have been developing over the years:

  • Individualism
  • Slower life

Be warned, this book is very long and detailed. The author used 24 data sets that included 39 million people. There are 282 charts in the book and it is 560 pages. Remember, you don’t have to read the whole thing to get something out of it!

I encourage you to check out the book. It is a great resource to help us understand each other better.

Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers, and Silents—and What They Mean for America’s Future by Jean M. Twenge

“Fascinating… an informative and insightful study of the dynamics at play in U.S. society today.” —Publishers Weekly

2023 Holiday Collection

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I made a couple more ancestor ornaments this year – what a nice way to honor our ancestors! See them up close here.

If you want more context on these families:

I also thought it would be fun to customize a notebook and sticky notes.

Picture of ancestor ornaments, sticky notes, notebook

P.S. You can even use these to get started and customize them yourself!

The First Peacetime Draft in the US

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I noticed all six of the Laitala brothers had draft cards dated October 16, 1940, so I had to look that up – it was the first peacetime draft in the US! All males between the ages of 21 to 35 were required to register. They called it R-Day and there were lines out the doors all over the country. Check out the pictures:

You can hear or read FDR’s radio address from that day: https://www.docsteach.org/component/ml_documents/document/fdr-selective-service-day

I made a table for the Laitala brothers and we get an interesting snapshot of them on this day. Only two were still in Chisholm. For the name of the person who will always know your address, all listed their father except Wayne listed their mother. They were tall, which I did not realize since my grandfather was the shortest one of the bunch. I met some of them when I was little, but of course everyone seemed tall to me then.

Information from the Laitala Brothers Draft Cards:

NameAgeLives inWorks atListsHeightWeightDraft DateNotes
William33ItascaMesaba Cliffs MiningHis father5’9″180Oct 16, 1940Crippled right hand
Edward30ChisholmNoneHis father5’11”190Oct 16, 1940
Sulo29MinneapolisDiamond Iron WorksHis father5’8”165Oct 16, 1940
Wayne26WaconiaSchool DistrictHis mother6’170Oct 16, 1940
Arvid24ChisholmFamily farmHis father6’155Oct 16, 1940
Veikko21MinneapolisElectric MachineryHis father5”10”160Oct 16, 1940

Then I had to check the Holman brothers. They were a bit younger, so only two of them had to register on October 16, 1940. The rest registered in the following years. Look at all the scars and such in the notes!

Information from the Holman Brothers Draft Cards:

NameAgeLives inWorks atListsHeightWeightDraft DateNotes
Luvern26OrtonvilleNone5’10”160Oct 16, 1940
Glen25OrtonvilleNoneHis wife5’7”158Oct 16, 1940Index finger on left hand cut off
Earl18OrtonvilleNP Ry CoHis mother6’2”193Jun 31, 1942Scar on right hand and right leg
James18MinneapolisPlymouth Bowling AlleyHis mother5’9”132Jan 2, 1946All fingers on both hands missing
Robert21MinneapolisNoneHis mother5’12”180Apr 1, 1946Scar on right and left cheek

Glen Holman’s WWII draft card
The Registrar’s Report for Glen Holman

Later that year, a Gallup poll reported that 92% of respondents said that the draft was being handled fairly.

If you want more information on our ancestors’ military service: https://jillholman.com/genealogy/military-service/

If you want to find the draft cards for other ancestors:
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_World_War_II_Draft_Records