In 2010, I started an online diary for my family search, which had been thwarted by a lack of basic information and resources but was about to get easier due to the proliferation of internet content and genetic genealogy. Conveniently, the family I was most confused by was the male-line Thompson family, and a consumer Y DNA test made a lot of sense. That got me started on genetic genealogy and, in the long run, somewhat changed the routes I took to get information and the kind of information I wanted to get.
In August of 2010, I was struggling to find coherent census records for my paper trail 2nd great grandfather Albert Thompson from Indiana. Indiana is a few miles south of me right now. Yesterday I was hunting through trees and looking at DNA relatives for clues to my 3rd great-grandmother, Louise Tank from Prussia. I was digging through U.S. and Prussian immigration records, not necessarily because of my abiding love for my Prussian heritage, but because her DNA is still measurably floating around in my body, and I don’t have any genetic relatives that triangulate to her specifically.
Most often now, it’s less about identity and more about making things add up, which is at odds with where I started. Back then, I was specifically looking for community and identity. The “Who are we” question. I wanted to know more about and validate the identity I inherited (working class, Irish plus various euro-trash immigrants with an unknown Native American tossed in). My parents and immediate family handed me that identity, and it’s not completely wrong, but it’s not completely right either. My genes contain a lot of perfectly valid people that don’t necessarily fit that narrative. Identity is cultural and complex.
Prussian laborers who came to the U.S. in the 1860’s and died Farmers and Rail Road workers in Michigan in the 1900’s are suddenly on my list for genetic triangulation. Their DNA is relevant even though their country of origin no longer exists.
Toss them in with Germans that moved to the southern slave states in the 1700’s and a huge swath of colonial English that I didn’t necessarily expect to find. Add in a dash of Native Americans that I didn’t find in any record or DNA, and It’s easy to see that genetics and identity don’t always go hand in hand, and genetics and official documentation don’t always go hand in hand.
Now, 14, almost 15 years in, it continues to hold my interest when something seems off or doesn’t add up in my family and in others. It’s still meaningful to me to line things up as best I can, even though the biggest discoveries for me personally are probably in the rearview mirror.
I had a friend who put together hundreds of small model historical battleships. He put a lot of care and research into them. I imagine he still does even if he’s probably slowed down with age. I admire his collection and devotion of time even though I don’t share his interest.
Anyway, I’ve been told that My Heritage attracts more non-U.S. citizens. I’m off to look for relatives of Johann Gotlieb Shultz and Louisa Tank from Schwachenwalde, Brandenburg, Prussia, there. I’ll see if I can’t dig up a possible sibling or cousin for them among my genetic relatives.