Category Archives: DNA

DNA Institutes in Salt Lake City

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There are many ways of gaining further education from watching webinars such as the GSQ webinar series or the LegacyFamily Tree webinar series to reading to attending formal classes whether at a society, university or institute. I am a strong advocate of continual education and for having an education plan. Part of my plan this year was to attend a DNA institute. An institute is a week long course on a topic. We don’t see these in Australia but a … Continue reading

It made my (Viking) blood boil

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by Bob McAllister So, I had agreed to take a Christmas break from my single-minded focus on family history. (Don’t you think that single-minded is a much nicer word than obsessive.) Apparently, most “normal” people devote time in mid-summer to watching television and browsing magazine articles, so that what was what I would do. Unfortunately, our friends at Ancestry DNA see seasonal holidays as an ideal time to advertise their wares on TV, so I could not fail to notice … Continue reading

New Year, New Website

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Welcome to 2017, a New Year with lots of research possibilities and a brand new GSQ website!  Doesn’t it look good! I don’t like the term “New Year Resolutions” as there are so many negative connotations with those words. This is because so many people make them and they don’t last the distance.  I do like the idea of setting some goals. One of the problems is to set attainable goals and Amy Johnson Crow has written a great post … Continue reading

Family history revealed through death certificates

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Many researchers consider it important to trace their ancestors from birth through marriage to eventual death and final resting place. My focus has been more on my ancestors’ birth, family, including parentage, and what they did during their life. As long as I have a date of death or burial, I haven’t always bought a death certificate to find out actual cause of death or sought out a final resting place; UK certificates are not as informative as Australian ones. … Continue reading

A Super-gene?

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Current DNA research suggests that the descendants of plague survivors share certain genetic changes, described as super-genes, that may extend life expectancy by providing protective immunity and resistance to certain cancers and auto-immune diseases.  The theory interests me because two of my Italian ancestors may possibly have died of plague,  My 8x-great-grandfather Michele and his son Giovanni died on the same day at ages 85 and 54, respectively. Their deaths could be attributable to factors other than plague – an accident of some … Continue reading