Genealogy Roundup, March 26 – Megan Smolenyak

Genealogy Roundup, March 26 Consumer Watch: Delete Your DNA – lighthearted reaction to 23andMe’s difficulties #GeneticGenealogy New DNA Technology Helps Identify Missing WWII Aviator – For those who have been asking about this. Pace of identification should pick up! #geneticgenealogy Photo Credits: rychlepozicky.com under Creative Commons license and University of Michigan SEAS under Creative Commons license Source:…

http://nedhamsonsecondlineviewofthenews.com/2025/03/26/genealogy-roundup-march-26-megan-smolenyak/

It's official...
23&Me has filed for bankruptcy.

The company has been rejecting any buyout attempts, but their Board of Directors is now saying that a Court-supervised sale is the best path forward. Part of the reason for their financial troubles was a 2023 #DataBreach that affected millions of customers and hurt their credibility in the marketplace.

Yesterday, California's A.G. reminded consumers that they have the right to demand their data be deleted and that 23&Me destroy any genetic samples. (I would add that you also have the option of downloading your #DNA data and then uploading it to #GedMatch .)

@geneadons #Geneadons #Genealogy #GeneticGenealogy #23andMe #dnatestingfirmintrouble #DNAtesting #DataPrivacy #DNAdata #DNAdatabases

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/dna-testing-firm-23andme-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy-sell-itself-2025-03-24/

If you missed CeCe Moore talking about her involvement with the #PBS show Finding Your Roots at the recent RootsTech conference, then you should check it out!

#FindingYourRoots #DNA #GeneticGenealogy #Genealogy #RootsTech #FamilySearch
https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/telling-stories-with-dna-case-studies-from-pbs-finding-your-roots

This is one of the more unusual stories regarding #DNA solving #ColdCases...

A skull was found inside the walls of a Batavia Illinois home in 1977 (this is in the far suburbs of Chicago). Using #GeneticGenealogy, it was recently identified as belonging to Esther Ann Granger, who died in 1866 at 17 years old, as a result of childbirth. It is believed she was the victim of graverobbers.

With the permission of a surviving descendant, her skull is being reburied in Batavia. [Her #FamilySearch profile, KZ6J-K48, has been updated to include this video.]

Esther Ann Granger's daughter was named after her. Esther Ann Peck [FS ID# LWJR-1JH] married a man named John Matheson. They had five children. Sadly, Esther Peck died in 1897, when her youngest child was just around six months old.

#ColdCase #GeneticGenealogy #WeirdNews #Genealogy #Geneaogists #Geneadons @geneadons @genealogy@a.gup.pe @genealogy@chirp.social
@genealogy@genealysis.social #CBS2News @genealogy@fedigroups.social #Chicago @FamilyHistoriesPod@toot.community

https://youtu.be/QWHyTUNWEdM?si=5TKXzkr8fNQqrTta

Genealogy Roundup, October 9 – Megan Smolenyak

Trace Your Roots with DNA: Using Genetic Tests to Explore Your Family Tree – I’m glad I whipped this up earlier as I’ve got other things on my mind today, but yeah, “Trace Your Roots with DNA” is celebrating its 20th birthday today! Still in print! #GeneticGenealogy Soldier Accounted for from Korean War (Edwards, W.) – Welcome home, Pvt. 1st Class Willard Hoyt Edwards. Honored to have researched your family. #hero #Korea…

http://nedhamsonsecondlineviewofthenews.com/2024/10/09/genealogy-roundup-october-9-megan-smolenyak/

"Genealogy was a fun brain game for those with European ancestry, finding histories that told them what their 9th great-grandparents were doing in the Georgian era. For nearly everyone else, it was a painful awakening to lost stories, erased histories and generations of trauma."

HuffPost: My Whole Life, I Embraced My Latina Identity. Then I Took A DNA Test That Changed Everything.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/dna-test-results-surprise-ancestry_n_66bceeabe4b03da4fc01cba9

@leomcy if you really want to find the repost with these tags
#GeneticGenealogy #geneticists #genealogy @isogg

Working from her California bungalow, #MargaretPress, 77, leads a pioneering team of volunteers in the field of #GeneticGenealogy. Thus far, they’ve identified the remains of more than 100 Jane and John Does.

A #MysteryWriter planned to retire. Now she’s leading a team of #GeneticDetectives – and giving murder victims back their names
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/13/forensic-genetic-genealogy-cold-cases

@james not really all that cool. But there are some cool things on it. Including 20 years of my great grandmother's #diary in #sanfrancisco, The Beginner's Guide to Genetic Genealogy, Writing Prompts, Family History stories etc https://wheatonwood.com/ a good story is the Tale of Two Soldiers about my 2 #CivilWar ancestors: 1 Union, 1 Confederate. Or the ancestors who helped on the #UndergroundRailroad in Michigan. #FamilyHistory #Genealogy #GeneticGenealogy

#dna #GeneticGenealogy #YDNA #genealogy #Geneadons #Fgc22501 what ten years of research has done #humandiaspora https://wheatonwood.com/2024/05/22/the-journey-of-one-4000-year-old-celtic-y-snp-rfgc22501-ten-years-of-discovery/ #prague #bohemia

Arvo, Toots! Haven’t mentioned #GeneticGenealogy in a while, have I? I’ve been researching, with another family member, my 2nd Great Grandmother - and how she came to Australia from Ireland. We knew her father, but her mother’s name was confusing, (Johanna or Judy?) BDM Records didn’t help, & we lost sight of her parents and siblings in Australia (they didn’t all come at once.) Looking through my DNA matches on #Ancestry, I found a 4th-6th cousin - & yes! Much info unlocked! #FamilyHistory

Well, Happy #StPatricksDay to all who celebrate! For what it’s worth, since I’ve been doing this #FamilyHistory (and #GeneticGenealogy) stuff, I’ve recently discovered I have far more Irish heritage than I knew - which is very odd, considering the extremely #Irish name I chose for myself all those years ago! Research backs up the #DNA testing - but Irish records are tricky to track down, for various reasons - common names, and the records office being burned didn’t help.

But will the new regulation matter if the Chinese govt controls the company that owns the data? (Chinese puppet firm #Blackstone owns #AncestryDNA.)

#DataMining #Data #Privacy #DataPrivacy
#Genealogy #GeneticGenealogy #Geneadons @geneadons #AncestryDotCom @drewharwell

https://mastodon.social/@drewharwell/112008671889762880

Arvo, Toots. In recent #FamilyHistory and #GeneticGenealogy news from me: I took the plunge and sent in my #DNA (regardless of how you feel about this, it was my choice, after a lot of pondering, don’t @ me.) The most exciting thing so far is a link to relatives in my Great Grandfather’s birth family, confirming research I’d done through archives and other sources. I’m getting closer to solving a mystery that my Dad has wondered about for many years: Frank was a D’Arcy by birth.

@divya If my remains last 5 or 10 thousand years---I am absoluetly fine with DNA testing of them, display, reinternment whatever. love cemeteries.Especially if its for #history or #science #dna #GeneticGenealogy I remember reading about charnal grounds. Where people's bodies are hacked into pieces and left for the vultures. The body is a vessel. Ashes to ashes dust to dust...

#genetics #evolutionaryGenetics #circadianrhythm #GeneticGenealogy Fascinating research on latitude, ancestry, sleep wake patterns. https://academic.oup.com/gbe/article/15/12/evad203/7457904?