Family History Foundation Blog

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Understanding Basic Genetics: Making Sense of Genes, Genomes, and Chromosomes

If you wiki the terms Gene, Genome and Chromosome you’ll be in a world of confusion as neither definition is succinct nor static. Making sense of basic genetics revolves around understanding these terms as they permeate every aspect of genetics from the morosely academic to the basic ancestry DNA test. I’m going to show you […]

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Do You Have Neanderthal DNA? These Results Might Surprise You

There’s a 2.7% chance that you do! We all want to know where we come from in the distant past, but would YOU want to have Neanderthal DNA? Are they even human anyway? Misconceptions abound with regard to these grunting, ugly, fugly, cavemen, often hurled as an epithet of derision. First of all, according to

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Family Tree DNA or Ancestry DNA: Which Is Better?

Answer the following question and you’ll know which is better, Ancestry DNA or Family Tree DNA? “What is the scope of your research?” You see, each site offers a slightly different menu of choices and both DNA establishments have their own proprietary recipes to he consumed. No pun intended. Well, I take that back because

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“Between Shades of Gray” by Ruta Sepetys [Book Review]

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys reveals the grace and strength of the Lithuanian nation in one of its darkest hours. The story of Lina and her family is one of the most powerful I have ever read and is at the same time a tragedy of epic proportions and a triumph of the

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How To Use Ancestry City Directories Like A Pro Genealogist

Don’t overlook Ancestry City Directories in your research! Here’s how to mine the often mundane data in them like a pro genealogist! Squeezing every last drop of information out of City Directories can be tedious for sure; however, you can make major breakthroughs with what I will show you. Ancestry City Directories are like the

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How to Find Free Declaration of Intention and Petition for Naturalization Records

I wanted to share a GENEALOGY tip that I recently discovered. I found the mother lode of free Declaration of Intention and Petition for Naturalization (also in some cases Certificates of Arrival) scans on Family Search! These particular records are for New Haven, Connecticut for the years 1906 – 1945; however, the method I discovered

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My 2016 Reading List

A list of books read in 2016 in bibliographic format. My 2016 reading appetites continued along the historical from my 2015 Reading List but also saw a shift towards highlighting specific personalities in terms of monographs and place-based histories. Among my fascinations were Eleanor of Aquitaine, Alexis de Tocqueville, the Vikings, and a foray into

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My 2015 Reading List

A list of books read in 2015 in bibliographic format. 2015 was really a continuation of 2014 for me in that my reading interests were focused primarily on history and books relevant to my genealogical research. 2015 reflects a narrower focus on historical contexts, especially medieval England and the southern United States. Judging by the

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Do You Know Your State Flags?

Vexillology is the study of flags! I’ve always loved flags and their design, the colors and the pageantry involved in the symbolism of both state and national flags. Above is a map of the United States, our southern states are colored orange. This article will feature the state flags of the southern United States, there are

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Which States Make Up The South?

Our nation is not very different from other nations around the world in that there are geographic divisions that also represent cultural divisions. Saying “north” or “south” invites a concomitant cultural designation. However, the two are not coterminous. So, which states make up “the South?” We know Yankees come from the north (lol), but can

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The Battle Of New Orleans, The Battle That Never Should Have Been!

The Battle of New Orleans was a battle fought as the culmination of the War of 1812. The War of 1812 is an interesting conflict in American History because, in many respects, it was an offshoot of the American Revolutionary War in that postwar tensions, as well as the ongoing animosity between France and Great

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