Lately in Geneaology

The last two weeks have been kind of a whirlwind of activity for me where genealogy is concerned - without a whole lot to blog about in great detail (yet).

First, after tons of research on various companies and having had it on my list of "stuff I want" for quite some time I got my DNA done at 23andme.com.  Their price dropped to $99 and it was an offer I just couldn't bypass. I'm really impressed with the process so far and I'm itching to get my results back.  It could take another month or so.  I'm curious what it turns up in the way of surnames and I'm really interested in learning more about my mitocondrial haplogroup and migration across the globe.

I rescued some family member's memorials at Find a Grave and touched them up with accurate names, dates, family members and bios.  I love that Find A Grave has such a broad network that I was able to find some family headstones that I didn't have before.  I went on a local graveyard excursion to get a picture of some headstones for some strangers on Find a Grave too... it was surprisingly rewarding.

I ordered some death certificates from Florida and Georgia for my grandparents that have passed.  I would like to have hard copies of them.  From there, I think my next step will be to order my great grandparents - although several of those were available online.  It's funny to me that they are so readily available after a certain number of years.


I have also begun the membership application process for United Daughters of the Confederacy.  I have two confederate soldiers in my family, that I know of.  One on each my paternal and maternal sides of the family.  I have a fairly strong chain of proof to one and a relatively weak chain of proof to the other so I'm sticking with the strong one for now.  The lady I'm working with at my local chapter has been super helpful and patient with my million and one questions.

I have been researching one family member in particular who my family swears is descended from William Clark of Lewis and Clark.  To this point, I haven't had a whole lot of luck though.  Do you have any idea how many "James Clark"s there are in Tennessee around that period of time?  I'll save you the trouble of counting.  Hundreds.  But to my knowledge, none of them are on the William Clark family tree - so the search continues.

I've also begun researching family health issues and causes of death to learn more about our family health history. After my melanoma treatment a couple of years ago, I found out that two other members of my family had had it and I didn't even know.  That would have been good information to have BEFORE my own experience.  So, health information is up next.

And up next as well is sorting through tons of newly acquired death certificates and headstones to record all of that in my legacy family file.  It's daunting even WITH software... which  makes me appreciate  my grandmothers painstakingly handwritten notes all the more.