Genetic Ethnicity from my Ancestry.com DNA Analysis

Wow, it's been awhile since my last post! April was a very busy and celebratory month filled with baby showers, bachelorette parties, birthdays, and bridal parties. With all the big changes quickly approaching (twin baby girls due late July) my posts will probably become a bit sporadic, but I will not give it up!

I first shared my interest in Ancestry.com's new venture in DNA testing for genealogical research a few months ago, read my post and reader comments. At the end of November I swabbed my cheek and sent my DNA sample to Ancestry.com. Just 4 months later I was SUPER excited when I finally got the email notification that my test results were available. Since Ancestry DNA is still in it's Beta stage, there are disclaimers that results may not be as accurate as possible at first. They warn me that as more samples are processed and more samples are added to the database, results will become more accurate. This might be due to under or over representation of certain ethnicities.

How is ethnicity determined?

From ancestry.com-

"Your genetic ethnicity is a prediction of your ethnic background. We take segments of your DNA and compare them to our ethnicity database, which contains one of the most comprehensive collections of DNA samples from people around the world. We group individuals with a well-established family history in a given place (British Isles for example) and then compare your DNA to each unique group in order to identify overlap. And as our database continues to grow, you could receive updates with new information.

DNA changes slightly with each generation, and over time any group of people that are relatively isolated (by geography or culture) develop unique genetic signatures that we can look for. It’s this aspect of DNA that makes our ethnicity predictions all possible.

We expect that over time, as the science continues to evolve, we'll be able to show more granular ethnic regions—even regions within a specific country."

I do wish they had the ability to break it down into specific country, but I understand how challenging that is with constantly changing borders! A big mystery I'm looking to solve in my family tree is the birth place of my great grandparents who are from Galicia, a region within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They might be from Poland, Hungry, or Austria.

Anyways, back to my results. They found my genetic ethnicity to be 44% Eastern European, 41% British Isles, and 15% Scandinavian (BIG surprise there). I expected the eastern european/british split (mother's side/father's side), but I have no idea where the Scandinavian comes from. I also expected some German in there, from census records I've found my ggg grandfather Jacob Grimm would have been born in Germany and so were both of his parents. TBD!

This is how my results are displayed:

Did you participate in Ancestry.com's DNA project? Do you have an interest in DNA testing for genealogy? I'd love to hear from you! I am VERY novice when it comes to DNA and genealogy, but I want to learn more! 

How to Search the 1940 Census Online at the National Archives

This has been a very exciting week in the genealogy community with the release of the 1940 census. It's still a little early for you to be able to search for your ancestors by name, websites are working to get states up with a searchable name index asap. For now, I've had the best results using the Enumeration District information with the National Archives. Want to learn how?

 Search By Location

Do you know the street where the person you are looking for lived in 1940? If so, you can search by location. Simply enter their State, County, City, and Street. If it's a long street split into numerous districts, you will have the ability to enter a cross street to narrow your search results. What you'll get after you search is 1 or more census schedules that street can be found in. If you're looking at a residential street in a smaller city, the better you're chances you'll only have 1 census schedule to search through. The longer the street, the bigger the city= more census schedule results.

Search by Enumeration District

If you have the 1930 census record of the person you are searching for in 1940, pull up their census page and in the upper right hand corner you will find their Enumeration District. The National Archives has this great tool that will figure out the 1940 Enumeration District from the 1930 Enumeration District you entered. So easy! Same thing as before, you might wind up with a few different census schedules to search through. I really didn't have much trouble with this issue though. If you are using the 1930 district number, don't forget to click on the 1930 tab!

Here I searched with the 1930 Enumeration District from East Orange, New Jersey 7-402. My result is a corresponding 1940 map of the district, 2 census schedule descriptions, and 2 census schedules.

The map will show me a map of the city of East Orange in 1940. The descriptions will detail the boundaries of each census schedule. The census schedules are the actual pages of the census where I might find my family! What I usually do is open a new tab with the street address of the house I am searching for. I then click on the census schedule and start checking the addresses from the census to the map of my address. I then kind of walk with the census taker, going page by page through the census schedule, checking the streets they hit to and follow their path to my intended street.

Remember, they will sometimes do blocks and jump from street to street or work only on one side of the street. So don't be worried if you see the street you're looking for but not your house number. Keep going! They will come back to it. And don't be intimidate when it says 38 pages or something like that, it goes surprisingly quick! When I find the house and family I'm looking for it feels SO good! You feel like a detective who just solved a mystery.

Where do I see the street/address on a census?

Just in case you're not quite sure where you find the street and address on a census. Look on the left hand side of the census and you'll see the street name written vertically in the left hand column. If you don't see the street name written, you might want to check the pages surrounding your page to find it. Sometimes if it's a long street they don't write it on every single page.

 Good Luck!!! And if you don't know where your family lived in 1930 or 1940, just give it a little time and you'll be able to search for them by name in the 1940 census. 

Questions? Comments? Happy Friday!!!

Only 2 more days!

Are you ready for the 1940 census?! The details of the 16th United States Census will be revealed for the first time Monday April 2, 2012! Thats just 2 days away!

This great video is from the National Archives. To learn a little more about the 1940 census, read my previous post!

Get Ready for the 1940 Census Release!

Picture from the US Census BureauI am so excited, in just 5 days the 1940 census will be released to the public!! For genealogists and others interested in researching their family tree this is a huge deal. Mark your calendars! On April 2, 2012, after the mandated 72 year wait, detail collected by the 16th United States Census will be available to the public.

Over the past 72 years America has really changed. The US Census Bureau has created an infographic displaying some very interesting comparisons of America 1940 vs. 2010. From population size, education, top industries, to details about housing- it was a different world! For example, in 1940 78.9% of rural/farm households had an outdoor toilet, only 17.7% had running water, and only 31.3% had electricity! Click here to take a look, I found it very interesting! This time period was a turning point in American history, just getting through the Great Depression and right before WWII.

You might be wondering what information can be found in the 1940 census. The standard census information was taken: address, name, gender, age, education, place of birth, and occupation. A new feature to this census was an indication (circled X after the name) of who in the family was giving the census information. Another interesting new feature is the additional questions for individuals on lines 14 and 29. If your ancestor just happened to be the person occupying one of these 2 lines of the census page, they were required to give more detailed information. Such as: birthplace of father and mother, language spoken at home early in childhood, if a woman- has she been married more than once? If so, age at first marriage. You will find this information at the bottom of the census page. I'm really hoping I find an person on one of these lines! There are 40 lines (or people) to a page, and as it turns out about 5% of the population were required to answer these additional questions. To download a blank 1940 Census Form and see the questions and format for yourself, click here.

How can you get your hands on the 1940 census? A few ways, for free! Ancestry.com will be offering the 1940 census for FREE through the end of 2013. You will be able to search through the 1940 census AND view the original images. On Ancestry.com you can always search for free, but unless you are a subscriber, you normally can't see the original document (where most of the details are located). Familysearch.org is another site you will be able to search for free. Both of these sites indicate that they are working to release the databases with a name index, meaning you can search through the records with a persons name to locate them.

The National Archives will also have the census available on April 2, 2012 at 9am, but here they will not have a name index. Instead, you will search by enumeration district. To know the enumeration district, you will have to know the individuals address. To learn how to search this way and how to compile this information before April 2nd, please visit the National Archives "Start Your 1940 Research" page. You might wonder why you would go through all the trouble of using this method for searching when ancestry.com will have a name index. Sometimes names are misspelled, either by the census taker or the person transcribing a document. So if you have trouble locating a person by name, go ahead and try using their address to find them!

After writing this and learning all this great information, I'm even more excited! I'm going to start getting myself ready for the release by making a list of everyone I"ll be looking for on April 2. If you have any questions, tips, or resources you'd like to share, PLEASE contact me or leave a comment!