DNA Data and Ancestry.com

Today I received an email from FamilyTreeDNA.com.  I am not sure if I had been notified of this before but according to FamilyTreeDNA.com, Ancestry.com is getting out of the DNA database business.  They are no longer doing DNA testing AND  the Ancestry.com DNA data will no longer be available to me after Sept 2014. Yecks...Wow... Really...I never guessed that would happen several years back when I did the DNA test. Ancestry.com was such a big site.  Oh shoot...that means I had better do something about preserving my data.

I never really got the results I was hoping for through Ancestry.com.  I got a few emails from people  with inquires but no real Smith matches... All my matches were for people with other surnames! I think what happened was that most people used different sites for their testing or did no testing at all.  As far as Ancestry.com was concerned, the DNA database was an under-utilized ancestry.com option so they decided to get out of it all together.

SO...I had mine done in 2010.  NOW what?   Back in 2010 and early 2011, I was able to add my results to several other DNA databases but not to FamilyTreeDNA.com without having to have the test rerun.  Well I was not going to ask my brother to that so I just dropped it.  I learned today that FamilyTreeDNA.com is letting you transfer you data...of course for a fee! A few years ago I was able to enter my data in another site called http://www.smithsworldwide.org.  And through this site I did get a match.  Joseph Smith...which was very helpful. I think I also added it to the National Geographic DNA site too.  I need to verify that ASAP.

So after getting the email today, I went ahead transferred my data...for a fee.. Not wanting to loose access to it and to have it available in a database somewhere so it can help me and other family members in our search. I realized that I really needed to sort this out tonight so I went in search of the other databases that I had entered my data in.  Going back through old emails which I had saved....I found the login information for http://www.smithsworldwide.org and several correspondences with a Deb Harper. After logging on there it appears that they may be an affiliated to or somehow connected to FamilyTreeDNA.com site ...Oh I hope I did not spend money I did not need to spend...

OK, one thing is for sure...I will have more work to do here.  I need to do some genealogy house cleaning and sorting.  This mess is my own fault.  I should have been more organized from the beginning but I never thought this would become such a large life long project!  I have to write these databases down somewhere after I get this all sorted out. I also realized that I had saved much of this kind of info in old emails in folders in an my local email account.

I have had the same email now for nearly 20 years now.....quite a number of years ago I added an @yahoo.com account  and tied the two account together because of my genealogy work...I don't want to lose this information.. I have been advertising my @yahoo account when needed ever since but the original @ameritech.net account will be the one that will go away when I move one day and it is that account that I have saved all this data to...Since my house is currently on the market and we have had a few potential buyers come to look at it....the move could be sooner rather than later.  I will be moving to an area that ATT does not provide service for... So I am not sure what to will happen with my email ID... I had tried to prepare for this event because I knew would happen some day, but now I am wondering if I did the right thing.  I guess I need to call ATT to find out what will happen..... sooner rather than later...like tomorrow.

What a headache this could turn into! Stay tuned and I let you know how it all works out!

Happy Hunting

Tombstone Tuesday - June 9, 2014 - Melba Jackson Goshorn

Melba Jackson was the oldest daughter of Oscar and Vesta (Bowersock) Jackson.  She was born on November 23, 1917.   Her birth record was recorded in the Allen County Vital records Volume 2 D-J, Book CH-7 , Page 212.  In the 1920 and 1930 censuses, she is listed with her parents in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She married Glenn E. Goshorn but so far I do not know an exactly date. She appears in the 1940 Federal Census with her husband and they are listed together in a Fort Wayne Directory in 1939.  SO I can assume that it was likely in 1939.  I need to call her sister, Marjorie and visit with her. She probably can tell me when.  I do not have an obit for her but I do know that she died June 12, 1981.  She is buried in Covington Memorial Garden in Fort Wayne, Indiana along side her husband Glenn E Goshorn.

Melba and her family repeated visited Smith family members in Flint.  I have several photos of them during these visits.

This photo was taken at Frank Smith's home in Flint.  It is of the Jackson family and Frank Smith family.   From left to right standing in the back row is : Dora Smith Jackson, Frank (Francis) Smith, Pearl Dehner Smith, Vesta Bowersock Jackson, Oscar Jackson.  Seated on the ground are the daughters of Vesta and Oscar Jackson:  Dora Jane Jackson, Marjorie Jackson, Melba Jackson.

I had meant to get this done earlier today but my day got away from me,

Happy Hunting,

Jan

Tombstone Tuesday - June 3, 2014 - Jay Morgan Densmore

Jay Morgan Densmore was born on October 9, 1903.  He was the 6th child born to Mary Morgan Hainer and Charles Densmore.  He was born in East China Township Michigan.

This is a photo of the Charles Densmore Family around 1914 or 1915.  Jay Morgan is on the left in the back row. From left to right in the second row are : Jay Morgan, Elizabeth, Charles Ray, Addie, Dorothy (she died in 1919) From left to right in the front row are: Mary Kathryn, Mary Morgan (Hayner), Harry Hayner, Charles S. Densmore holding Alan Glen,  John Reynolds.

Jay Morgan married Edna M Horton and they had two ; Marian Elizabeth and Jay Morgan Jr.  Edna M. Densmore died on may 25, 1956.  Margaret is Jay Morgan's second wife.

Jay Morgan Densmore died on June 5, 1981 in Marine City, Michigan. He is buried in the Rosehill Cemetery in East China Township near Marine City, Michigan.

Happy Hunting,

Sorry for the absence...

I am back to work at Home Depot and the month between Mother's day and Father's Day is the busiest month for the whole year in the garden center!  So  I have been a bit tied up.  I had hoped to get a few blogs in anyway but it just has not happened.  I will try to get some blogs written. I have a couple in progress that I will finish and hope to write some new.  In the meantime, I am also planning to get back at Tombstone Tuesday....Beginning today..

Happy Hunting!

Jan