Share Your Research in a Story

Have you taken the time to take your research notes 

and write a brief (or not so brief) history about 

the person you are researching?  

If your family is not interested, that’s okay.  

One day they might be! 

Submit it to a library or genealogical 

society that is located in the vicinity of where 

your “researched” ancestor lived. 

Family "With No Name" related to the Kolb, Garrett or Brooks families

of GA (including Troup County) and Ellis, Anderson or Houston Counties, Texas.

 Others researching that 

family may find it helpful someday!

At the least, it keeps your ancestor's story "alive"!

Happy Hunting, 

Revis  

NGS 2013 has come and gone!

National Genealogical Society's

2013 Family History Conference

has come and gone (May 8 - May 11).

I flew in early Tuesday evening and was 

ready to meet my friend, Susan, who is the

Stroud Y-DNA Surname Project administrator.

We were both first time attendees to the conference

and both Stroud descendants.

Day 1 - we got up early and got our 

registration packet.  Then headed to find a place for

breakfast.  After a long wait at the Paradise Cafe,

we ate and headed to the conference area to attend the

opening session.  

After opening remarks and memorials, and some 

drawings for prizes, Marion Smith spoke on People, Policy,

and Records: The Importance of Historical Background.

The opening session ended with Mariachis Los Bravos, a 

middle school mariachi band! 

We had tried to plan ahead on what session each of us

would attend, but choices made it hard!  My first day

choices were:

Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FNGS, FUGA:

Debunking Misleading Records.

Kimberly T. Powell: Genealogical Writing Made Easier With Scrivener.

Barbara Vines Little, CG, FNGS, FVGS: Understanding What They Wrote: Tricks and Tips for Deciphering the Unintelligible in Documents.

Craig Roberts Scott, CG: Genealogy Game Show: The Last Genealogist Standing.

We had a fun time in this game show session!

Day 2 - morning started at Paradise Cafe.  Another day of walking...and...walking...

and sitting...and sitting!

Barbara Ann Renick: Search Techniques for Computer-Indexed Sources.

Elissa Scalise Powell, CG, CGL, Warren Bittner, CG and David McDonald, CG:

BCG Certification Seminar - The Why and the How.

Craig Roberts Scott, CG:  Finding Females: Maiden Name Unknown

Lisa Louise Cooke: How to Create an Exciting, Interactive Family

History Tour with Google Earth

Day 3 - morning started at Paradise Cafe.

More walking.  Note to self: pack tennis shoes next time!

Joan E. Healey, AG: Overview of Native American Research.

[This was one of my favorite sessions].

Ugo Alessandro Perego: Building Global Y Chromosome

and Surname Studies.

Debbie Parker Wayne, CG, CGL: Going Nuclear: DNA

Discoveries to Trace All Lines of Descent

These 2 DNA sessions were great, especially since it

looks like I will miss the FTDNA Administrator conference this year.

And Debbie is also a Stroud descendant (from Texas) and it was good to see her again.

Next was lunch and I attended Boston University's luncheon.  Panel spoke on

forensic investigations of unknown dead.

Ugo Alessandro Perego: Dissecting Your Gentic Profile:
Finding the Heart of Your Ancestry Using DNA

Laura G. Prescott: Publish Your Genealogy Online

NGS Banquet: nice meal, awards given out.  I was happy

when I heard the announcement that Carolyn H. Brown won 

the Award of Merit.  I had met her and a lady from San Angelo, Texas, after the 

BCG Certification session.  Another exhausting day!

Day 4 - early breakfast at Paradise Cafe.

Bruce Buzbee: Research Tips in RootsMagic.

Brian Donovan: Landlords and Tenants: Land and

Estate Records for Irish Family History Research.

Good information. Maybe it will help in the search for my 

husband's great-grandfather's birth and family in Ireland.

Angela Packer McGhie: Researching in Federal Land Records.

Barbara Mathews, CG: Not Quite Right: Recognizing Errors 

The exhibitor area was near the conference area so during breaks

it was convenience to go in and do some "looking" and "buying"!

Family Tree DNA's booth was pretty busy.  There were a lot

of vendors; too many for me to remember all of them, but they included 

Ancestry, Ancestral Quest, RootsMagic, Legacy, New England Historical

Society, Archives.com, Association of Professional Genealogists,

Boston University-Center for Professional Education, Bureau of Land

Management-Eastern States, BYU, Center for Family History and

Genealogy,E-Z Photo Scan, Family ChartMasters, FamilySearch, FindmyPast.com,

Fold3, Fun Stuff for Genealogists, ICAPGen, Newspapers.com AND so many more..

I did not attend a last session on Day 4.  It was time for me

to catch a shuttle to the airport and head home. 

On the flight home, I sat by a lady who had attended the

conference and we had a good chat about it and genealogy in general.

It was a very busy, tiring four (4) days, but I

enjoyed the conference and learned quite a few 

new tips and techniques.  And I do plan on buying

several CD's of some of the sessions I wasn't able

to attend.  Too many good choices! 

NGS 2014 - Richmond, VA

Will you be there?

Happy Hunting,

Revis

DNA Genealogy - Blog by Kasandra Rose

I have been involved with genetic 

genealogy (DNA testing for you newbies) since 2003. 

There are several types of DNA testing and many people are confused about the tests.  This is not anything to be ashamed of.  Most of us are not geneticists or scientists. So asking what Y-DNA or mtDNA or atDNA will tell you is not a dumb question!

In a recent post on the 23andMe community blog, 
we discussed that some people testing believed that 
all their cousin matches (DNA matches) were coming from their maternal lines.  Not so! 

Fellow 23andMe member 
(and she is science smart!!) Kasandra Rose  

gave us a link to her blog DNA Genealogy.  You will want to read all her blog posts, but the one that deals with our discussion at 23andMe is Which Side of the Family Are We Related On? 

Here's the link to that post!

 DNA Genealogy 

Hope you enjoy! 

and 

Happy Hunting,

Revis 

Family Tree DNA 12 Marker Y-DNA Special

 

You've been waiting to test at Family Tree DNA

or some other testing company because of the cost. 

Well, this might be the time to take advantage of

the special FTDNA is offering.  As a supporter of 

Who Do You Think You Are? Live! in London (coming

this weekend), FTDNA has this special available! 

12 Marker Y-DNA test for $39.00! 

You can upgrade later!  

12 MARKER Y-DNA SPECIAL

Happy Hunting, 

Revis 

Do you know about GenealogyWise?

Have you checked out the
genealogy social network?

GenealogyWise

Here's a link to their FAQ page.

Happy Hunting! 
And may you find many new friends 
AND family!

Revis 

Cauble, Musgrove DNA Projects and Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE in London!

Who Do You Think You Are?  LIVE! is coming to
London February 22-24, 2013. 

Family Tree DNA will be there, along with

more than 160 other specialist exhibitors 

and celebrities from the TV series. 

Here's a link to Dick Eastman's blog

about the event!  

Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter

and check out the 

Who Do You Think You Are? link for even more information

ISOGG (International Society of Genetic Genealogy) 

will be there also in a stall (next to FTDNA)! 

Many of the Y-DNA

Surname Projects are offering free kits 

if a participant tests on-spot.  These include the 

MUSGROVE Y-DNA SURNAME PROJECT 

and the CAUBLE Y-DNA SURNAME PROJECT 

Hope you can make it to London!
Happy Hunting, 

Revis

Who was Mary Bell Dennis?

Stories in a family often times hold 

some truth OR a lot of truth OR none of the 

proceeding.  Think of how something you say 

today to a friend can be added "on to" as 

it passes from person to person.  The

same is true for our family stories. 

Marion Washington Dennis
b. ca. 1856-FL (or AL possibly)
d. 1906-San Angelo, Tom Green Co. TX

The Marion Washington Dennis family 

has such stories.  Which leads me to ask, 

"Mary Bell, Mary Bell, Who Really Are You?" 

Mary Bell was said to be the Mother of 

my 2nd gr-grandfather, Marion Washington

Dennis. What we know of her is very limited, 

and mostly from a letter written by Marion's 

daughter Hallie Dennis Nugent to younger 

half-sister, Mary Dennis Gardner.

The letter is hard to read.  

The punctuation and spelling is

not great.  The letter is old. 

Was the Mother of Marion named

"Mary Bell", with 

Bell being her surname?  Or was her 

name "Mary Bell _" with her surname being 

unknown to us after years of searching?

We have nothing to go on other 

than this letter.

Family stories passed down said that 

Marion's father was born in Ireland.  

After years of brickwalls, my Dennis uncle's 

tested in the Dennis Y-DNA Surname Project 

only to discover that we were not Dennis' at all, 

but rather descended from the family of 

men with the surname FREEMAN!  Surprise!

And then the biggest surprise of all - 

we carry the Y-DNA haplogroup Q1a3a, 

the only haplogroup given to Native 

American Indians in the Y. 

Only then did one of my uncle's tell 

me his grandparents always told him that 

the Dennis' were "black Irish".  

That is sometimes how people of Native

American Indian backgrounds referred 

to themselves in order to escape the 

stigma of being Indian. 

Several descendants of Marion's children

have tested at 23andMe

and at Family Tree DNA

in the Family Finders test.

We have hundreds and hundreds

of matches.  I feel sure some

of those matches come from

Marion's mother, Mary Bell's, lines.

We sure could use her last name

to help us out in our DNA journey!

Attached is the letter Hallie Dennis 

Nugent wrote to her sister, Mary.  

It also includes information relating to 

Mary's Mother's (Laura Smith of TX) 

families (Smith and Pendley).

The letter is hard to read, so 

here is the best attempted transcription 

done by one of my Dennis cousins 

who has the original letter in his possession.

May the journey go on and may we 

one day find out who "Mary Bell" really was! 

Happy Hunting, 

Revis