It’s Veteran’s Day today. My brother, David Estes, was a Marine, a veteran and he gave his life earlier this year as a result of his tour of duty in Vietnam. A tail gunner, Dave was shot down in Vietnam, … Continue reading
The final goodbye might not be what you think it is, or when. It certainly wasn’t what I expected. I thought the final goodbye was when I buried my loved one. Or maybe the final goodbye was the goodbye just … Continue reading
Are you confused about DNA matches and what they mean…different kinds of matches…from different vendors and combined results between vendors. Do you feel like lions and tigers and bears…oh my? You’re not alone. As the vendors add more tools, I’ve … Continue reading
Well, this certainly wasn’t at all what I intended to write about for week #3 of 52 Ancestors, but we’ll let synchronicity have a run here and go with the flow. This amazing mystery has turned from a search for the nameless son … Continue reading
Welcome to the second in our series of articles about how to search for unknown family members. I introduced the series in the article, DNA: In Search of…New Series Launches. This article addresses the question of “How did this happen?” … Continue reading
USMC Veteran, William Tully Brown, Navajo Code Talker, wearing his uniform for the last time when he swabbed to provide his DNA for posterity. What a legacy this man leaves, literally from the beginning of his life to the very … Continue reading
Ying and yang. I love genetic genealogy, but there is a risk, or allure, depending on your perspective, of unexpected discoveries. I’m definitely an “allure” person, not a risk avoider, but not everyone feels the same way. Everyone who takes … Continue reading
It was a stifling August day in 1994. I was visiting the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana to fulfill a promise – a contract actually – that the Embroiderers’ Guild Chapter in the city where I lived had … Continue reading
Back in September 2022, I ordered a Social Security lifetime earnings record for my mother by filing form SSA-7050, available here. In addition to wages, it also lists employers which would tell me where she was working. This form is … Continue reading
Edna was my sister, but I didn’t know that for the first two decades of my life. Over time, I caught slight drifts that a sibling existed, in very vague terms, but nothing more. Edna was listed in our father’s … Continue reading
