DNA GENEALOGY and THE BRYAN KOHBERGER MURDER CASE : IS THE DNA ENOUGH? CAUTIONS ON THE USE OF DNA SERVICES

DAILY MAIL UK - KOHBERGER IDAHO TRIAL UPDATE 

I've been following this murder case, perhaps uncharacteristically so, since the four college students in Idaho were found stabbed to death in their close-to-campus rental house late last fall.  Bryan Kohberger, a graduate student in criminology at another university across state lines but only about 20 minutes away by vehicle, was arrested as the only suspect about a month later.  The crime-investigation buffs all over the world, including several who run crime-oriented YouTube channels immediately got interested in the case. My concern was and is that almost everything I have heard and read has him guilty before being proven so.  Can he get a truly fair trial?  I read that there have been over 40,000 articles and videos about him and even those that have people who should know better - such as FBI agents and police detectives - talk about him as if this were so.

It's IMPORTANT.  Any of us could be arrested for a crime we did not commit and lack the resources for our legal defense.  Any of us could be falsely accused of anything. So this is a test case for what happens in today's world of easy information and world wide coverage.

Meanwhile there are literally many thousands of unsolved murders in the United States that get no attention. 

Bit by bit his defense attorney or his defense has provided information that would indicate that Kohberger may very well be innocent of the crimes. Seems as if a tiny bit of DNA that was taken off the metal button of a knife sheath left at the scene is now being refuted.  The party house, one in which parties went on when none of the renters were there to host or keep control, was one in which strangers could easily attend. DNA from others was found there. In addition, there was reported (and i can't verify) that despite what was said to be an extremely bloody scene, no blood evidence was found in Kohberger's apartment, car, or parent's house...

In the article above, which I'll excerpt from below, the difficulty of being sure of results is stressed.

*** 

Excerpt:

A poor quality kit might have too few matches or it just might have phantom matches that are not real measures of relationship,' the document reads.

Larkin notes that sites such as AncestryDNA, 23ndme and MyHeritage prohibit forensic/investigative genetic genealogy in their databases, but there isn't really a way to enforce it.

'In the absence of effective oversight, forensic genetic genealogists are on an 'honor system' to obey the Terms of Services and the Department of Justice Interim Policy on forensic genetic genealogy.'

Larkin explains that the science used by these sites is not perfect, and 'any given centimorgan amount can represent more than one possible relationship.'

She notes one example that has nearly 20 possible relationship lines listed for a match - and says that's considered a close match.

Larkin points out that unlike DNA tests that find an individual, which are standard forensic STR tests, genetic genealogy testing identifies possible relatives. 

She then goes on to note cases she's allegedly aware of where genetic genealogy has been wrong, as well as cases where the databases were used improperly by authorities.

HOW TO DEAL WITH SURNAME MYSTERIES #2 THE RATHER RECENT NOTION OF SURNAMES : JEWISH

HOW TO DEAL WITH SURNAME MYSTERIES  #2  THE RATHER RECENT NOTION OF SURNAMES  : JEWISH

In the history of humans, the need for surnames is rather recent. 

We live in a world where just about everyone has two given names and a surname that, if a person desires a change, must be changed legally, which can be expensive. This formality and recent exactitude is one of the reasons we think that spelling the name as we know it to be when using a database, is the only thing to do. In genealogy though, in searching for those documents that proof our research work, we have to see it to believe it and here is a lot of missing information or inaccuracies to deal with. We have to make a judgement call sometimes on to accept or reject what we found and know why we did so in order to explain that process in our publication.

The use of surnames rose up with population increases, and the ability for people and governments to keep documents and often the decision a government made to start with demands for legal surnames has much to do with - you guessed it - statistics meant to be used to plea for funding or taxation.  

Handwritten records came first, of course. Sometimes only the educated - the priests and nuns - the nobles and aristocrats - went to school to learn to read and write. For some time the highest ranking people did not learn to read and write but considered this the role of scribes or servants. Then came the printing press, then the typewriter, then the word processor, and now here we are with computer.

***

By the way, those questions of the census' 'Do you read and write?' don't mean that the person was fluent or actually read much. Being able to sign your name might be enough to indicate that the answer should be yes. Remember that census may be the backbone of American genealogy but there can be misinformation on it. To this day no one is hooking you up to a lie detector or asking you to put your hand on the Bible when you answer the enumerator's questions. (And your landlord or neighbor may be the one reporting and not know what they are talking about!)

Unlike today in the United States, when we have education that is provided free and the majority stay in school through twelve years of education, back in the day it wasn't at all uncommon for children, especially children in agricultural regions where they actually worked from a very young age, to not go to school at all. Even a third-grade education was sometimes considered enough. The child would learn the basics of reading and arithmetic (math) and it was up to them to pursue advancing their knowledge in these basics by using what was taught. We had child labor, even in the coal mines. Even in the 20th century, some people made it through the eighth grade and then went to work, into service,  Becoming a live in nanny or a maid was considered good training for a girl who would become a wife and mother. Others quit high school to go to work and help support the family. 

Another aspect of education that is culturally significant for many of us is that there was a system of apprenticeships and trade guilds in place. A boy, usually not a girl though there were exceptions, would be taken underwing by other men, often his father or an uncle, to teach him the trade and a way to support himself and his future family. Now people who want to learn a trade go to a school and hope they can do an internship and then get paid employment for someone they are probably not related to. Factories took over so much production that was hands-on, such as leather work and the making of shoes, that there are not so many tradesmen left and the guilds have been replaced at best with Unionization. 

***

Surnames evolved and may not be consistant.

EXAMPLE

In Eastern Europe, Jewish people lived in their own religious culture, mixing with people of other ethnic people in the market, in commerce, and in other ways - certainly there were friendships - but generally returning to their own when it came to personal life and choices - such as in marriage and the practice of their religion. Within their culture, everyone who mattered was known to them, and the tradition was to identify a child by also mentioning the first name of their father or even simply using a nickname. So, your friend Izzy, formally Isaack, whose father was Yosef, back in the village in Poland, might go with the name Yosefowicz but in the United States go by Josephson...

It is common for us also to assume that 'Jewish" names are identifiable as German or German Jewish, but Jewish surnames were adapted by the country the person was living in, the dominant culture at the time. As an example, when some Jewish people left Southern Poland and went into Hungary, they Hungarian-ified their surnames. (And a note here that Sephardic Jews had surnames that are Spanish or Portuguese in origin.)

Sometimes taking on a surname had little to do with taking one of your own choice at all.  Surnames were sold and paid for in some places - and there might not be an extended family agreement on the name. If you had the money, you might end up with generations of your family being able to use the surname Diamond, Sapphire, or Ruby, or if you were a tradesperson (i.e. what we call Blue Collar now) you might go with a surname that reflected your profession - some form of Carpenter or Weaver or Baker, but if you were poor, if  you had no money, some person - an official  maybe a snob - might give you one of the free surnames that reflected your poverty and lowly position in life.  What a good reason to change your name upon coming to America!

Now that we know that we not only have to check the spelling for meaning, but also check the language for meaning, we might also realize that some people changed their names when they came to America for a new start. (The often repeated "changed at Ellis Island" is a myth both the official web site and I deny. I believe that individuals simply changed their own names for a variety of reasons, including ease, to put an end to the discrimination they had experienced in the Old Country, or to blend into the new culture.

Some people decided they just were not that into being Jewish anymore. I've met several researchers who found out someone in their heritage was Jewish along the way and without a DNA test which was surprising to them. Back in the day to be Jewish was to be Orthodox or Hassidic, not Reform, and sometimes a person just didn't feel so religious.

If you are doing Jewish research, you will also want to work with the Hebrew names granted children at birth, which are not the same as the public name the person used. If unable to read it yourself, you may need someone fluent in Hebrew to decode certain records and old tombstones with Hebrew letters on them often give up lots of good information. ***

This post is one of a series on the subject.  Click on the tag Surname Help - AWG to get to the posts.

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All Rights Reserved including Internet and International Rights

image from Graphics Fairy

*** A note here on my fairly recent Opinion piece about tombstone projects and allowing the dead and the alive relatives of dead people to rest in peace rather than have their information revealed on the Internet or in Databases.

PRAGMATIC MARRIAGE and DEATH

Pragmatic marriage - matchmaking or introductions - and no contraception.  Children dead from diseases now conquered through vaccinations and antibiotics - Fragile beings.  Or because their mother was malnourished during her pregnancy.  Or had too many children close together to actually recover between births.  Or they wore born without a father to support the family. Or their mother had no milk.

Today we talk Grieving.  We say it takes time to heal.  We have psychotherapy.  Then?

They had religion -informed world views. Children born as replacements (but not reincarnated) for previously born children who died. It seems to me that our ancestors had a whole lot to grieve as intimate family members, wives and husbands, parents, siblings, as well as friends and people they surrounded themselves died.  Reminding them that they too would and that life had many risks.

They often remarried - pragmatically  and quickly- as they might have the first time around in youth - and there were blended families due to death rather than divorce (which we think is another form of death.)  A woman without a husband needed another one quickly.

Were they so different than us?  Did they always have to carry on and get to it?

Villagers in Europe were often quite genetically related.  

Children on farms worked young.

Girls were left uneducated more than boys.  Even well-to-do families thought education - reading and writing - though educating a girl was handicapping her, making her a less desirable and dependent wife.

This was socially acceptable.

I think of the brides of pre-contraception and modern medicine days as especially brave.  They all knew that pregnancy and childbirth could kill them. 

As I try to understand my ancestors, I'm glad for the choices that modern medicine has given us.

And that be it them or me, life is short.

C 2022 Ancestry Worship Genealogy

FEELING YOURSELF TO BE OTHER THAN YOUR DNA ETHNICITY OR CURRENT FAMILY GROUP

I've encountered so many people who simply feel out of place with their DNA ethnicity or current family group.  For instance, many Americans have so many intermarriages between ethnic groups in their heritage that they identify as "American," yet others relate to the ethnicity of their surname or the ethnicity of some family member who dominates the group.  (In some cases learning little about their other lines.) Others cannot relate to any of their lines.

I consider that memories from other lives, DNA, and other factors may result in feeling yourself to be, say Greek, rather than Irish. There are people who have never felt they belonged to the family they know though they certainly were born to the parents they have.

ASK YOURSELF HOW ALIKE OR DIFFERENT YOU ARE FROM THE STEREOTYPES OF AN ETHNICITY.  What ethnicity were you raised to be part of?

DO YOU LIKE FOOD THAT IS OUTSIDE OF YOUR CULTURE OF ORIGIN OR UPBRINGING?

DO YOU SEEM TO GRAVITATE TO OTHERS FROM ANOTHER CULTURE, feeling more comfortable with them?

Multiculturalism is apparent in so many countries, especially the United States and Europe, and it brings challenges but also some wonderful sharing.  

IS THERE A DIFFERENCE IN ATTITUDE ABOUT GENEALOGY IN GREAT BRITAIN VERSUS THE UNITED STATES?

I think so, but only because just about everyone I've talked to about this seems to think so.  The difference is this.  Americans seem to be much more focused on the immigration to a new country, and how much their ancestors earned their Americanism; the wars they fought, that they were pioneers, how the first and second generation suffered so that the next generations could succeed and have more opportunity, or the pride of the ancestor portraits on the wall that each come with a story of endeavors.  Supposedly in Great Britain and other European countries people do their charts without the connected stories and say "this is so." 

But since I enjoy differing with the opinion, may I suggest that perhaps it's simply because Europeans, in particular those in England, GREW UP KNOWING THE STORIES, CONSIDER THEM FAMILIAL and PRIVATE - or COMMON KNOWLEDGE WITHIN THEIR SET, and think they will bore others and be rude if they tell on their ancestors.  In other words, is it the NEWNESS OF KNOWING THE STORY that makes American's so into the stories?

As a genealogist, I find my own familial stories and the stories that others tell me very interesting, and maybe that's one of the reasons I pursue this study, because I've never been bored by it.  I think I've learned so much more about history and cultures through ancestors and the research surrounding them than I ever did sitting in a classroom or lecture hall.

THE TYPE B NEGATIVE BLOOD MYSTERY and THE CRAZINESS SOME PEOPLE BELIEVE

I got to talking to a sweet lady the other day, while I was out walking my dog, who looks a lot like her dog.  The conversation went from dogs and fleas and itchy dog skin, to dog breeds, dog hair and dog shampoos, to human DNA, Blood Types, and genealogy. 

It turns out that this sweet lady has spend the last 6 months doing research on the Internet, kind of like a lot of people do when they first find the subject fascinating and want to know more about their families.  She has been looking at postings in genealogy groups, hoping to link up with relatives who know more than she does, who have maybe done years of research and are giving it away for free. 

With experience, I feel I can say that this research is of the type that I find is usually a lot of time wasting speculations, and usually includes posts that possibly endanger the privacy of others in their attempt to be "helpful" because some people thoughtlessly post about people who, if asked, would say no to the post and even be infuriated that they or their family is being discussed or entered into databases without their knowledge and permission. 

It's not that I've never been there or not wasted time.

So after she gave me some free shampoo to try on my itchy dog, I gave her some strong advice on genealogical research. I told her to start her own research, to document everything, to not take leaps without documentation because, one does not know that the information they find in groups is even correct;  I've even met someone who did that and ended up spending TEN YEARS researching the wrong family.  Rarely are you going to find the actual documents posted to support the gossip. 

I told her about some records she can get for FREE without having to have a subscription to a genealogy database and where the local genealogical society has a club house.  I told her that if she ever intended to submit her research for inclusion in certain societies, someone else would be going over it looking for each item to be proofed so she may as well try for those professional standards even if she was just starting out.  And she listened.

But when she told me that she has B- (B Negative Blood) and had been reading on the net about how this blood type came from a breeding program begun by alien visitors to our planet, I knew this sweet lady had encountered some of the same groups and posts that anyone who begins reading around DNA and Blood Type does.

There is just a lot of hooey attached to B- negative blood on the Internet and other media.

Some of these include :

The "fact" that because human fetus have "tails" that proves we humans are "reptilian" and that the B- blood people have extra vertebrae and small tails on them.  (The truth is that many animal species that never develop tails look to have tails when they are only a fetus and that this is simply a stage of development of the spine.  A tiny percentage of humans do have a more prominent tail bone or an extra vertebrae.)

The "fact" that people with B- blood are more often abducted by aliens, that aliens prefer them.  (Yummy!  Though I'm open to the idea that there is life on other planets that we would consider to be alien, and am even open to the idea that some people have had close encounters of the 3rd kind with alien beings,  I would love to know who took the abductee poll and how and when!  That must have been some census!)

The "fact" that people with B- blood are more psychic than other people with other blood types. (I think all people have some capacity for having the 6th sense and that it might be innate like a talent or developed as a skill but there is simply no proof that type B- people, due to their blood type, are more psychic.)

"The "fact" that people with B- blood are EVIL and that the origins of this blood type come out of a place called the "Draconian" Caves.  (...as in Dracula - who by the way WAS A FICTIONAL CHARACTER...)

There are plenty of maps and charts showing the distribution of type B+ and B- blood all over the world which do, with changes in population, vary from year to year.  Granted some places such as Northern India - have higher rates, but overall B blood is rare and AB blood is even rarer.

The "fact" that people with B- blood also have higher IQ's that everyone else.  (Again, who, when, where, and how did someone take that poll? I know some people who would like to boast about it!)

The "fact" that humans in general were bred by aliens who ruled the earth, gods, or God, to be slave labor, in particular to mine gold, or that the female primates who were on earth at the time were inseminated for this purpose or the purpose of making man in the image and likeness of God...

(And if that is the case, so what?)

HERE ARE SOME FACTS CIRCA 2015 about B- blood that you can count on:

B blood is RARE blood.  B- blood is RARER than B+ blood.  In the United States, depending on which chart or map you look at, and because of who has and is immigrating here, the rate for B- is about 2-3% of the population but it might be higher or lower in your particular city or state. Therefore most Blood Banks are always looking for B blood/plasma donors.

Scientists do not yet know how it is that blood types developed or mutated but they feel that a variation in blood types probably happened due to mutations and they sure do want to know so they are working on it. The most prevalent blood type on earth is O as in Original Blood type and it is extremely prevalent. DNA studies of migration may prove useful to figuring it all out.

It is possible that at one time the B blood type was far more prevalent but due to some disease that effects B blood type people more than other blood types more of those people could have died off.  It's true that some diseases seem to be more prevalent in certain blood types.

Type AB blood is even rarer and seems to have developed or mutated only a few thousand years ago. 

Science is clear that DNA mutates and that blood type is in our DNA.

B blood is sometimes called "The Asian blood type" but B- blood seems also be a Middle Eastern or Central Europe blood type.  B- blood is prevalent in Northern India while B+ blood is associated with some of China.

If you are looking to prove paternity in court, DNA tests today are far more accurate than previous Blood Type proof.

So to all you evil, psychic, genius UFO abductees with tails out there... Sorry!

Negative blood is associated with "the Rhesus factor" as in the Rhesus monkey, another primate, but that doesn't mean that people with negative blood come from a long lineage of monkeys (and certainly not reptiles).

July 2019  As an update to this post, I recently came across posts about  Dragon People that had a lot of similar information, Included in this was that they have a higher copper content in the blood.  I don't know if this is true or not.  I'm very willing to accept that each of us is a unique biological entity, as DNA tests reveal, and that each of us may react or respond to various medicines differently as a result.


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ABANDONED IN A DUMPSTER AS A BABY - ROBIN BARTON NOW READY TO MEET HIS GENETIC FAMILY

YAHOO NEWS - DUMPSTER BABY MEETS BIOLOGICAL PARENT  full article by Avianne Tan re Good Morning America

WHAT A STORY!  This one made me cry...

Robin Barton was found in a dumpster recently after birth with his umbilical chord still attached and covered with garbage by a police officer, who is now retired.  A recent reunion with the officer who saved his life lead to his BIOLOGICAL FATHER contacting him!

Buenina is the officer who found him.
Meza is his biological father.


EXCERPT:

Barton always knew he was adopted, but only recently did he ask his adoptive parents to tell him the whole story, Buelna said. After Barton learned what had happened, he called the Santa Ana Police Department right away to get reconnected with Buelna and to thank him, Buelna added.

The reunion made the local news. Meza saw it on T.V., and he called the police department, which verified he was the father before allowing him to meet with Barton on Sunday, Buelna said.

Meza told KABC he had been searching for Barton for years.

"For 24 years, I always said I would like to find him, and I finally did," he said.

Barton, who was raised an only child, now has five sisters from his biological father and more relatives who he's thrilled to meet, Buelna said.

“I’m going to meet as many family members as I can,” he told KABC.

Buelna is also making plans for Barton to finally meet his biological mother, who is currently in Tijuana, Mexico, he added.

Barton told KABC, "I forgive her because she was a young woman in a very compromising position."

 

PRINCESS DIANA'S MATERNAL LINE GENETICS - LINK TO INDIA SIX GENERATIONS BACK

ABC NEWS PRINCESS DIANA'S ANCESTRAL SECRET

Eliza Kewark (Indian) born about 1790
Katherine (sent to England)
Jane
Ruth
Ruth (another Ruth)
Frances
Diana (Princess of Wales)

EXCERPTS:

Eliza Kewark is Prince William's great-great-great-great-great-grandmother. She has long been described as Armenian, but Kewark was at least half-Indian, the genetic ancestry testing company BritainsDNA announced today. ... BritainsDNA says it is confident of Kewark's lineage because it traced Williams' mitochondrial DNA, or mtDNA, which is passed down from mother to child. BritainsDNA took saliva samples from two unnamed members of the royal family and traced it back seven generations to Kewark, who was born around 1790. ...

Kewark's mtDNA is so rare, BritainsDNA said, that it has only been found in 14 other people, all but one of whom was Indian (the other one was Nepali). ...According to the biography "The Real Diana," by Lady Colin Campbell, Kewark's background was known but kept quiet by a family that was full of Europeans descended from royalty.

"Eliza Kewark was a dark-skinned native of Bombay who had lived, without benefit of matrimony, with her great-great-grandfather Theodore Forbes while he worked for the East India Company," "The Real Diana" reads.

WATCHING "FINDING YOUR ROOTS" : DNA GENEALOGY A GREAT FEATURE OF THESE SHOWS : OPINION by ANCESTRTY WORSHIP GENEALOGY

Recently I borrowed the PBS genealogy series, called FINDING YOUR ROOTS, featuring Henry Louis Gates Jr. and a great number of famous people with diverse backgrounds.  Watching a TV series one show after another is a different experience than tuning in once a week, and I wrote down my impressions.

1)  I have a lot of respect for Louis Henry Gates, Jr., especially since he has flat out stated that Africans SOLD other Africans as slaves.  There has been a lot of denial on that issue. He has said that the stories of people being captured and taken away while out in the bush are greatly exaggerated - generally just not true.  I note that this is part of the story in the book and TV series Roots.

2) There is an underlying anti-racism theme in these shows and a lot of pride about what ancestors, especially Jews, have suffered.  A great many of the featured famous people have some non-white ancestry, so a person who is completely or mostly white is a rarity, and some are learning about their Jewish, Asian, or other than white ancestry.  A fact is a fact, DNA research has progressed rapidly, and my suspicion is that it's actually very difficult to find a lot of people today who don't have some non-white ancestry.  That's because it is a myth that white people dominate this world.  So this underlying theme is about people trying on the fact that somewhere in their past, documented or not, someone reproduced with someone of another race.  Sadly this often means rape.

3)  Lots of historical references that put the ancestors in their historical context is terrific.  I've always loved learning history through the characters in the story and think this is essential for writing your own family history.

4)  Cutting edge DNA is used and explanations of how it works is very helpful to understanding the possibilities in research.  For instance in Gates own family tree, no one knew the name of his white ancestor but through several DNA tests one particular match came up, and now he gets to explore that through documents, interviewing, etc.

5) It's always obvious that the show plugs the Ancestry genealogy database company.  That's OK but remember there are many other electronic resources that can be of great use and that we can still hire professionals, go to archives, historical societies, graveyards, and so on that are NOT up on any database.

6) I have a couple more DVD's of the series ordered, but so far there has not been one person from a Polish, Hungarian, Slovak, or other Central-Eastern European background WHO WAS NOT JEWISH.  If there is a sub-theme of the ancestors suffering, Catholic, Christian, and other religious people of Europe also suffered.  It's not all about slavery in the United States and the WWII era Holocaust!  (Update April 2 2015:  Just watched a show about Martha Stewart who does have Polish Ancestry and it turns out some Moslems in Poland too! - So, OK, she's the exception.)

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DNA AND INCEST - WILL FAMILY SECRETS BE DISCOVERED IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM ?

DNA is the most fascinating subject to me and I read articles that mention it in every category from True Crime, Animal Husbandry, and of course, Genealogy and Family History.

One night I decided to research DNA and incest.  Some very interesting websites and news came up and basically, there are many companies offering the test.  More often than an individual wishing to discover if they are a product of incest, a child is hospitalized and doctors order a DNA test to help diagnose the child who has a rare or strange disease, and up it comes that the child has double or missing DNA proving it is the product of incest!  incest can increase the chances of certain diseases.  (At the same time if a community that is free of certain illness, say a mental illness, intermarries, such as in the Amish, that community will stay free of that illness.  In some communities in which there were cousin marriages and close village marriages over time, such as is the case with many Eastern European Jewish people, certain diseases are amplified.  In order to no longer have those diseases some Jewish communities are actively testing for genetic diseases and avoiding marriages with others who carry it!)

In a college anthropology class I once learned that the subject of incest came under a theory of TABOO.  At the time scientists didn't think that there was much else wrong with incest but that so many cultures around the world made it taboo for their own reasons.  After all "primitive" societies were not savvy about DNA or genetics and attributed a lot of things to forces in nature such as Spirits or Gods.  Whole social structures were developed to avoid intermarriage with brothers and sisters, first cousins, parents, aunts and uncles, though we know that brother-sister marriage was practiced to keep blood lines (and inheritances) "true" in other cultures. Such was the case with Cleopatra of ancient Egypt, for instance.  I personally have met people living today whose parents were first cousins in Italy.  Missing or duplicate Genes did result in one of the sisters in such a family being developmentally retarded.

There are many articles on the Internet that ask the question of what a doctor should do if while treating a patient he or she discovers they are the product of incest.  What is the ethical and moral thing to do in 2014, this culture?  What about the people who DO NOT KNOW THEY ARE CLOSELY RELATED when they met and have children, such is the case with children born of sperm donations or who were adopted.  Makes you think...

Well, the scientists are also saying that SMELL has a lot to do with who we pick as a sexual partner, and well, we don't  feel attracted to people who smell too much like us!  There are also those who say that taking the contraception, "The Pill." cannot smell so well.

19 MONTH OLD BABY DROWNED ON TITANIC IDENTIFIED WITH DNA OF SHOE

THE STAR - TINY SHOE ID'S TITANIC BABY  link to full article

"New DNA evidence and a toddler’s shoe kept in a drawer for decades have solved the mystery of the Unknown Child from the Titanic who lies buried in Halifax.
 

Sidney Leslie Goodwin, 19 months old, drowned when the “unsinkable” ocean liner sank off Newfoundland on April 14, 1912. With him were his mother, father and five older brothers and sisters, all third-class passengers bound for a new life in Niagara Falls, N.Y.
 

“It was the shoe that tipped it,” genetics researcher Ryan Parr, vice president of Mitomics Inc. in Thunder Bay, told the Star on Wednesday.
 

Clarence Northover, a Halifax police sergeant in 1912 kept the shoe after helping guard the bodies and clothes of the few recovered Titanic victims. The idea at the time, said Parr, was to burn the clothing to thwart souvenir hunters. But Northover didn't want to burn the tiny shoe, so he put them it in his drawer at the police station...."

70 YEAR OLD TITANIC SURVIVOR HOAX SOLVED WITH DNA

SNET : DNA SOLVES ONE OF THE TITANICS OLDEST MYSTERIES\

"DNA has helped solved a nearly 70-year-old hoax -- one that has haunted a family and its ancestors in the debacle over the identity of a girl who was said to have died on the Titanic. ... 

In 1940, 28 years after the Titanic went down, a woman named Helen Kramer appeared on a radio show claiming that she was Loraine Allison. She had an intricate story of being saved by the ship's designer and builder Thomas Andrews, who was also thought to have died on board. Kramer said she was raised in England before going to boarding school in the US.

For more than 50 years, Kramer adamantly lobbied the wealthy Allison family trying to prove that she was kin. But, for the most part, the family was skeptical of Kramer's claims and held her at arm's length."

DNA GENEALOGY BRINGS US TO THE SCIENCE OF DNA

DNA GENEALOGY is so fascinating.  It seems that every day the scientists are able to lead us to our genetic and ethnic heritage, though I've met more than one person who was surprised.  If we're going to trust that science, we're probably going to want to know more about it, and what information about HUMANITY AS A WHOLE IS BEING REVEALED.

IBTIMES : OLDEST DNA 400,000 YEARS OLD


"The bone, found in a cave in northern Spain known as the “Pit of Bones,” is the oldest human mitochondrial material ever sequenced. But rather than reveling in their discovery, scientists are getting frustrated.....

Svante Paabo, the director of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Antrhopolgy in Leipzig, Germany, added that the results “show that we can now study DNA from human ancestors that are hundreds of thousands of years old," adding that the discovery was “tremendously exciting."

The reason scientists are flustered? Researchers were expecting to uncover DNA from a Neanderthal, which once inhabited Europe and parts of Asia. But the DNA actually turned out to be very similar to a different kind of prehistoric people, the Denisovans, who lived thousands of miles away in what is now Siberia. First discovered in 2010, the Denisovans were a genetically distinct group of people who are known only by a pinkie bone and a tooth..."

RESEARCH YOUR FAMILY, HONE YOUR SELF KNOWLEDGE, HAVE A SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE! ANCESTRY WORSHIP - A GENEALOGY

Welcome to Ancestry Worship - genealogy, a Google Blogger! 

As you may notice if you begin to read past posts, and go into my archive, I'm a serious and experienced genealogist and family history researcher and writer.  I love to help others break through blocks, and believe in proofing your research, holding to professional standards.

My interest in genealogy and family history includes a broad range of related interests such as history and cultural studies, anthropology, archeology, and the science of DNA.  Spiritually, I am intrigued by past life regression (hypnosis) and reincarnation. Is it possible that our souls come to this earth many times in search of experiences that will move us to divinity?

I find genealogy is sometimes a spiritual quest.  You may ask, How So?

I'm not a member of the Latter Day Saints though I do know that they believe our ancestors can help us with our genealogy research and I try to respect their beliefs which are centered around family life and healthy living. 

One of the goals of research for members of the Latter Day Saints, a religion that originated in the 19th century, is to Baptise the Dead.  In this temple ceremony or ordinance, live members of the Church welcome those who have gone before the opportunity to be Baptised in their faith so that they can be unified as a family in the After Life.

I do believe we may be reunited with others in the After Life!  But then maybe some of them have reincarnated or have moved on spiritually.

Though I do not pray for help from Divinity or Ancestors in advance of my research, I've experienced some compelling synchronicities leading me to information and the right people.  I've even felt at times that I was being guided or watched.  I've even had dreams that helped me move in the right direction.

Those who are regressed through hypnosis for a myriad of reasons, including curing illness of the body or mind, sometimes find themselves going back in mind or memory to another life where the problem began. These days children seem to be remembering their past lives well enough to be taken seriously by their parents;  truly fascinating!  (I have a couple new books on order right now and hope to report into you!) 

Another aspect of genealogy research for the individual who is researching their own family is that when you better understand your ancestors you may just come to understand your own life and yourself better.  This is especially the case when the family has been broken, perhaps not for any other reason that immigration. Some of us have never even seen a photo of someone who is part of our genetic lineage and who looks like us!

Over the next few posts, I'll be linking to sites about DNA.  DNA is revealing so much to us and so much more quickly than even the scientists anticipated.  Those who have a problem with evolution or DNA science are simply not compatible with my point of view.  They are welcome to keep their beliefs, as am I.  Simply, I see no conflict with the notion of a Creator God or the notion of Creation and evolution. I know that conscious life is amazing and that the universe is intelligent.

HEY THANKS FOR READING ALL THIS!  Now let's go forward!

PARIS JACKSON'S DNA : THE CONTROVERSIAL JACKSONS AND FAMILY

You don't have to be a fan of Michael Jackson to be enthralled with the Jackson family drama, and most recently in the news, another law suit by the Jacksons and another law suit to the Jacksons, and the suicide attempt of Paris Jackson, Micheal's daughter by Debbie Rowe. 

Some people think that they spin all their personal business just to make more and more money, becoming more famous for being famous than for talent!

I want to see what the best lawyers can do for rich people in the courts of this nation.  So every day I checked in to see what was happening in the trial. 

Then came the news that daughter Paris had tried to commit suicide.

So much speculation why.

Paris is coming into her adulthood with great advantages and disadvantages.  She is high profile, like it or not.  I suspect she doesn't like it so much.  For me this brings in questions of Fate versus Self Creation and, of course, reincarnation - spiritual stuff. 

Also  there's speculation on her relationship with her birth mother, then the legal wife of Micheal Jackson, who may have treated Ms. Rowe as a surrogate, and the true parental heritage of the children, with more than one man having admitted to donating sperm to Michael Jackson's cold storage long ago. 

Can the Jacksons and Rowe keep this private business or will AEG's lawyers try to use that information to make the Jackson children to appear to have less right to any winnings?

I read a number of web sites that prove and disprove this heritage with photo comparisons. I came across one that was very convincing that Micheal is the genetic father of  all three children.  This site showed that the media lightened photos of the children's skin color and then provided photos of many famous people who had at least one self-identifying Black parent who looked White.   Let's just say that Michael had very distinctive feet which all three seem to have inherited.  Feet!

DNA...

Where do I stand on all this?

I don't think who the kids parents are genetically has anything to do with who their legal parents are - it's if they had been adopted - and it should have NO BEARING WHATSOEVER on them being more or less deserving of any money won in the suit.  So I see no need for it to be brought up.

This is not a trial over parentage or heredity but about if Micheal Jackson was responsible for his own addiction and death or his doctor was and who was behind the doctor - Jackson or the company that was paying him for a final tour.

Debbie Rowe also fascinates me, especially because she breeds dogs and horses on her ranch, which she bought after selling her Beverly Hills house, and has been out of the children's lives by Michael's command, for many years.  She strikes me as a Fertility Goddess, an Earth Mother, one who accepted she would not raise the children or be in their lives too much.  Over the years Debbie has rallied when her concern over the children was tweaked by other law suits.  I suspect Micheal was not just the Love of Her Life but also a Big Heartbreak.

What teenager heading towards womanhood would not want to know her birth mother, especially because grandma Katherine is a senior senior citizen, sorry, just too old to be dealing with teenagers!  Are you like me, kind of rooting for Debbie here, hoping that she can be and do more?

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ARE YOU A CHIMERA? (Do You Have Eyes That Don't Match?)

The other day, my brown eyed dog and I were taking a walk when we encountered a person with a white pit bull that had one blue and one brown eye?  His name was Bruce.  I said his name should be Bowie, as in David Bowie, who has one blue and one brownish eye. Got to talking and I remembered a set of twins in my neighborhood growing up, a girl and a boy, who were not identical but looked a lot alike.  The girl had one blue eye and one hazel.  I'm leading up to this:

A CHIMERA is a person who has TWO SETS OF DNA! 

Here is more about it from SANTA CRUZ HUB PAGES! People-with-Double-DNA-An-Overview-of-Chimeras 

When I heard about this, I thought about all those TV shows in which DNA tests are administered to reveal truth or lies about the paternity of the children.  Almost always the mother is absolutely right about who the father of her child is, even if he's in denial.  In the cases where there was not a match, I wonder if another test has to be made!

NEADERTHALS DID NOT RAISE PINKY WHEN SIPPING TEA!

Most of us have used the term NEANDERTHAL to describe an uncouth person, a man or woman with no manners, or sometimes a person who seems to be a "throw back" in their attitudes about the opposite sex...


DISCOVERY : NEATHDERTHALS LACKED SOCIAL SKILLS

OZZY OSBOURNE'S GOT NEADERTHAL DNA? : ARE WE SURPRISED? (OZZY HAS A GREAT SENSE OF HUMOR!)

OK, I read Ozzy's book a few months ago, ust because, and he was very very funny!  Even though I never watched the Osbourne family's reality TV show and am not a fan of Heavy Metal music or people who behead bats on stage with their own mouths, so, so I still found his book truly funny.  In it he wondered why he was still alive.  Guess some scientists were wondering too!

Here's the article from Scientific American  Ozzy Osbourne's Genome Reveals Some Neandertal Lineage By Katherine Harmon

EXCERPT: "For a long time we thought that Neandertals didn't have any descendents today, but it turns out that Asians and Europeans have some evidence of Neandertal lineage—like a drop in the bucket. We found a little segment on Ozzy's chromosome 10 that very likely traces back to a Neandertal forebearer.


Ozzy, of course, was tickled to hear this."

DNA OF VANESSA WILLIAMS SHOWS MULTIETHNICITY

VANESSA WILLIAM MAIL ODER DNA TEST from HUFFINGTON POST  link to full article.

EXCERPT" For Williams, her genome revealed this mixture: 23 percent Ghana; 17 percent British Isles; 15 percent Cameroon/Congo; 13 percent Finnish/Ural/Volga; 11 percent southern European; 7 percent Togo; 6 percent Benin; 5 percent Senegal; 4 percent Spain/Portugal."

This article presents results from three popular DNA testing companies which overall show some difference between overall results of African Americans, but which are more conclusive than not.