Month: February 2017

Are you interested in genealogy? Are you interested in DNA? Are you interested in Alaska?

You didn’t really say “no” to any of those, did you??

Heritage Books, a leader in the world of genealogy publication for four decades, is again hosting the Annual Heritage Books Genealogy Conference and Cruise! This year’s cruise on Princess Cruise Lines is in Alaska! The cruise departs from Seattle, Washington on September 17, 2017 and arrives back one week later on September 24, 2017.

And just look at this itinerary!

• Day 1 – Sep 17, 2017 (Sunday) – Seattle — Departs at 4:00 PM (First one-on-one session)
• Day 2 – At Sea — Genealogy Sessions (Sessions 1-6)
• Day 3 – Ketchikan, Alaska — Arrives at 6:30 AM and departs 3:00 PM (Second one-on-one session)
• Day 4 – Juneau, Alaska — Arrives at 12:30 PM and departs 10:00 PM (Sessions 7-8)
• Day 5 – Skagway, Alaska — Arrives at 6:00 AM and departs at 5:00 PM (Third one-on-one session)
• Day 6 – At Sea — Genealogy Sessions (Sessions 9-14)
• Day 7 – Victoria, British Columbia — Arrives at 7:00 PM and departs 11:59 PM (Sessions 15-20)
• Day 8 – Sep 24, 2017 (Sunday) – ​Seattle, Washington — Arrives at 7:00 AM

Great Speakers

This year’s cruise has a terrific line-up of speakers, one I am incredibly honored to join.

• Debra Mieszala, CG – Debbie is a BCG trustee who specializes in forensic genealogy, 20th-century research, and the Midwest. She conducts genealogical research for the military to locate relatives of service members missing in past wars.

• Pamela Boyer Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA – Pam is a coordinator and teacher at SLIG, IGHR, GRIP, and Boston University’s genealogy certificate program; former NGS director of education and publications; and former board member, NGS and FGS.​

• Rick Sayre, CG, CGL, FUGA – Rick is a course coordinator and instructor for IGHR, SLIG, and GRIP. Areas of interest include, urban research, maps, government records, law, land, military, and technology.

• Craig R. Scott, MA, CG, FUGA – Craig is the author of The ‘Lost Pensions’: Settled Accounts of the Act of 6 April 1838 (Revised) and Records of the Accounting Officers of the Department of the Treasury, Inventory 14 (Revised). He has authored seventeen books and several articles in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly Family Chronicle, and other genealogical publications. He is the President and CEO of Heritage Books, Inc., a genealogical publishing firm with over 5,300 titles in print.

• Blaine Bettinger, Ph.D., J.D. – I’m an intellectual property attorney by day and a DNA specialist by night. I’m the author of the long-running blog The Genetic Genealogist, and I frequently give presentations and webinars to educate others about the use of DNA to explore their ancestry.

A Special Offer – Book Now Through February 28th, 2017!

I really want you to join me on this cruise; the more the merrier! From today through February 28th, 2017 only, if you sign up for the cruise and send me proof of your booking (also dated between today and February 28th), I will send you a FREE and SIGNED copy of The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy! ... Click to read more!

Are you attending NERGC in Springfield, MA this April 26-29th?

The New England Regional Genealogical Conference (NERGC) is one of the largest – if not THE largest – genealogical conference in the Northeast. NERGC is only held every other year, so you don’t want to miss this!

Genealogical conferences are an absolute essential for genealogists at every level, from newbie to experienced to professional. With so many educational opportunities, conferences push your knowledge and help you find records you may never have considered looking for.

Just as important as the education, meeting new people or seeing old friends is so much fun. There is NOTHING like spending a few days with people who share your passion!

NERGC 2013 was a great event; I presented several DNA lectures, and had between 35 to 100 attendees in each lecture. They were terrific audiences! ... Click to read more!

About a month ago I created The X-DNA Inheritance Project to study recombination of the X chromosome. To do this, I requested grandparent/grandchild GEDmatch Kit Numbers submitted via a portal (https://goo.gl/forms/gg2n9SSUUKQSt5KG3).

I’ve received numerous submissions, but I would love to have many more. The preliminary data in this graph is based on 150 submissions (thus analyzing 150 meioses), but I’d like to get the number up to 500 to have more confidence in the data (even though 150 took hours!).

A huge THANK YOU to everyone that has submitted!

As of TODAY, The Genetic Genealogist is 10 years old!

Ten years ago today on February 12, 2007, I published my very first blog post, called “New estimates for the arrival of the earliest Native Americans.” Ten years have flown by faster than I could have imagined, and yet my life is so different that it was back then!

Since that day in 2007, I’ve written 594 blog posts (that’s about one a week), totaling a mind-blowing 289,319 words! See below for more stats and information about the first 10 years here at The Genetic Genealogist.

To thank my readers, including all of your incredible encouragement, comments, tweets, and emails, I’m hosting a sweepstakes for my 10th Blogiversary! I have one copy of each of my genetic genealogy books (including Genetic Genealogy in Practice co-authored with Debbie Parker Wayne). These are the very first copies of these books that I ever signed! ... Click to read more!

I posted a graphic online yesterday showing chromosome paintings for three generations, from a grandmother to her son to her grandson. I think these types of graphics are very interesting, but I shared this particular graphic because it – rather dramatically, I think – shows the loss of numerous African and Native American segments through just those three generations.

The grandmother has approximately 4% African DNA and 6% Native American DNA:

This 10% of non-European DNA, for example, quickly dwindles to almost non-existent in the grandchild, as shown in the images and tables below.

Since I’ve actually tested two of the grandmother’s grandchildren, below are results for both.

Grandchild #1:

Grandchild #2:

... Click to read more!