On Wednesday night, my uncle called my mom to let her know that her ancestors were on ABC’s Nightline. You can imagine the surprise to find that indeed, my great-grandparents and their children were featured in a segment on the possibility that in 150,000 years flaws in the Y-chromosome will render men extinct.
The story is titled Envisioning a World Without Men: Scientist Says Female-Only Reproduction Is Only a Few Years Away and the video clip is available online. It features geneticist, Bryan Sykes, who is the author of The Seven Daughters of Eve and Saxons, Vikings, and Celts: The Genetic Roots of Britain and Ireland.
The story is interesting in and of itself, but imagine our surprise to see our ancestors featured in it! We’re not sure how ABC got the photograph, but since it has appeared in several Ancestry publications, I’m guessing it must have made it into a media kit.
The photograph is of the Dyer family and the girl in the bottom left corner is my grandmother. Behind her is the aunt who raised my mother. I like to think that Pop Dyer would be pleased that his family photograph was shown around the world. He was very photogenic and we are lucky to have quite a few photographs of him, from his early days, to his later years as he posed in his swimsuit when he was older. Here’s another photograph of Pop looking quite chic in his suit and holding his bowler hat.
Many of you have probably heard or read about the entry of Ancestry into the genetic genealogy world. And some of you may have also heard that one of the first in line to get tested by DNA Ancestry was Chris Haley, Director of the Study of the Legacy of Slavery in Maryland at the Maryland State Archives and –oh, yeah–the nephew of Alex Haley.
The Haley Line
While we strongly associate the Haley name with “Roots,” the classic book that has inspired so many avid genealogists, that particular book isn’t actually about the Haley line. But “Queen,” a later book by Alex Haley and David Stevens, gives a brief accounting of this branch of the family tree:
“Following the common custom among slaves, Alec had taken the name Haley from his true Massa, although his real father’s name was Baugh. William Baugh was an overseer . . .” (more…)
Wow! Who knew there were so many terrific books out there with a genealogical theme? A thousand thank you’s to all of you who posted recommendations or emailed me with suggestions after my last article (http://blogs.ancestry.com/circle/?p=461)! Looks as if I have a homework assignment that could last for life!
I haven’t yet had a chance to go on one of my book-buying binges with the shopping list you all contributed (don’t worry – I’m going to “force” myself to snag some soon!), so I hope you can tolerate another article with a couple of books from my current stash. Once again, I’ve decided on a pair of non-fiction books with something of a genealogical theme. (more…)
When it comes to genetic genealogy (which I often refer to as genetealogy), Y-DNA is by far the most popular type of testing–and understandably so. Since Y-DNA is passed from father to son down through the generations (just like surnames) its application is fairly obvious. But over time, mitochondrial DNA (usually shortened to mtDNA) testing has been gaining in popularity. (more…)
Ron Martin-Dent sent us a note telling us about an interesting article he found online that says that a common ancestor for all humanity may have lived more recently than we might think. Read more in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
Thanks to Ron for sharing this with us!
Let me start by putting my bias right out front. In case you don’t already know, I’m a strong proponent of genetic genealogy (which I like to shorten to genetealogy). I’ve been participating in it since the early days – which is to say, oh, about five-and-a-half years now – and I co-authored a book on the topic.
A Little History
At first, genetealogy was greeted with a healthy dose of skepticism. For the first couple of years, it was challenging to get editors and conference organizations to accept articles or lectures about DNA. Around 2003 or so, that started to change and the genealogical world became more curious, and ultimately, receptive.
So in December 2003, those of us immersed in genetic genealogy were thrilled to learn that Popular Science was running an article on our hobby! Many of us were frustrated, though, when Putting the Gene Back in Genealogy (by Rebecca Skloot) ran. Our reaction stemmed from the article’s critical, almost “gotcha!” tone, suggesting that testing companies were guilty of overselling genetic genealogy. Shortly thereafter, I addressed this in the book I co-authored, Trace Your Roots with DNA (p.100), when I wrote:
“Regrettably, a few critics have dismissed genetic genealogy as misleading at best (it only represents a small part of an individual’s family tree), and harmful at worst (it could reinforce oversimplified or false notions of race and cause identity problems). By contrast, our experience has been that those who involve themselves in genetealogy are well aware of the limitations and more aware than most of the ambiguity of race. In spite of concerns that we don’t grasp the fact that a particular test may only provide insight into one branch of our pedigree, or that another test may only reflect our heritage back a few generations, we are curious to learn what can be learned.” (more…)
