Join in the Quest for Family History

My family history includes Mayflower and other early families in New England, Dutch settlers in New Amsterdam, and Germans and Swiss who arrived in 1710 and the mid-1800s. While I am very pleased to have traced many of my lines to these immigrants and sometimes to their European villages, there remain questions, even mysteries.

This blog will focus on news of interest to genealogists and on my ancestral lines. Hopefully, it will aid in breaking down some brick walls for all of us -- with your help! You are welcome to add your own mysteries as comments to any posts below. As genealogists, we know the value of sharing information and working together.

We pool our resources, work together to solve family puzzles... and readily admit that our work is never done. There will always be new information that can upset our carefully drawn conclusions and our cherished history. We carefully consider all the "facts," weigh all the evidence, base our assumptions on only the best logic... and sit back and wait for the long-lost manuscript to be rescued from a garage sale or an aging relative's attic. Let's work together to unearth that old manuscript, or letter, or diary, or bible -- or scrap of paper -- that strengthens our family history.

Will you help? I promise to share everything I know or believe is true, as well as the mysteries and theories, but only for nonliving people. You will not find living people in my online data.

Remember to add your own mysteries to the Comments section! Everyone is welcome to participate. Maybe you too will have that exciting breakthrough.

Happy ancestor hunting!

Thursday, September 06, 2012

Breakthrough in Human Genome Studies

The New York Times' lead story today is about the incredible advances just announced in the study of human disease and traits. The story can be found here. Another excellent story is in Discover magazine. The discovery of "switches" in what was once considered "junk DNA" that control how cells, organs and other tissues behave may finally lead to understanding the complexities of cancer, depression, high blood pressure and many other health issues that are difficult to predict and treat.

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