• Archives
  • Feb20

    My 23andme Ancestry Composition Chart

    Click image for larger version.

    23andme recently released a new Ancestry Composition tool that “tells you what percentage of your DNA comes from each of 22 populations worldwide.”

    It is a nicely designed chart – although according to discussion on their forums and even my own results, the specificity seems to affected by the current size of the comparison data set.

    My ancestry is 50% Irish and 50% Czech and I can name the exact towns where 6 out of 8 of my great-grandparents came from. My 99.6% reported European ancestry is purported to be in the “sweet spot” of their data – however my results have a fair amount of “Nonspecific” percentages. They also show what I think is probably noise in their analysis with tiny amounts of South Asian, Middle Eastern and North African in there as well.

    With 23andme’s big push to reach a database of a million people, it will be interesting to see how this composition chart changes over time – assuming they update it regularly as new information becomes available. (Some other reference info on the site has not seemed to keep up with the times.)

    Overall, I am quite happy with the service and hopefully I’ll find a match one day that will help me find where them long lost Tierneys came from back in Ireland.

  • Feb5

    Horse Drawn Carriage Driver's LicenseAt right is my grandfather Joseph Vanac’s NYPD “Traffic Warning Card” for a a “Horse Drawn” vehicle, circa 1922.

    I am happy to report that Grandpa had a clean driving record. Not sure how clean the horse was on the streets, though.

    Calvary Cemetery, Queens, NY
    In the 1920 census he lived near the Queens cemeteries where he worked as a stone mason. His entire enumeration district contained only two pages – probably hundreds of times more people buried in that area at the time than lived there. Also: horses.

    (Photo source: Wikimedia Commons.)

  • Feb1

    Affected Through Excessive JoyYes, I know I have not posted anything particularly genealogical lately, and I apologize. I hope to remedy that situation soon.

    For now, here’s another random news article with a last line that tickled my fancy:

    “Since she saw him, Mrs. Woodruff’s heart has been affected through excessive joy and she is ill.”

    I do hope she recovered. and still had the $1,000 to repay the insurance company.

    Special to The New,York Times. (1910, Jun 22). ” Dead” brother reappears. New York Times (1857-1922).

  • Jan28

    This method was successful. Your outcomes may vary.


    Dearest Mother

  • Jan24

    Wants Baby Sent By Mail

    I don’t know about you all, but I send all my babies by stork. But some people have different ideas:

    “Sir: I have been corresponding with a party in Pa about getting a baby to rais (sic) (our home being without One.) May I ask you what specifications to use in wrapping so it (baby) would comply with regulations and be allowed shipment by parcel post as the express co are to rough in handling. Yours”

    Source:
    Wants Baby Sent By Mail (1913, Jan 17). New York Times (1857-1922). Page 13.