DNA and Ancestry – Your Ethnicity Estimate

Announcements

LEGO MANIA was a huge success Saturday. We had around 250 kids and parents/guardians come. They had a blast. There are plans to do this again once a month through May. Watch our website for dates and announcements.

Computer Classes every Sat. mornings 10-12. "Open House" Whatever you need. Drop in anytime during those two hours.

Summer Reading Program will be starting soon. Watch for announcements on that and registration information. This is for ages Adults through young children! Come Join Us and explore new worlds.

Have you read “everything” we have? Come check out our new book display, now in the Main Hallway for easy access.

Check out our new blog on movies and music at: RPL's Movies and Music by Robert Finch

Do you have extra books at home and need to downsize? You can bring your donations to the library or take them to the Used Friendly Books store. If there are certain titles we are looking for, the book store helps us snag them when they come in. By donating you can help us and you can help yourself.

Genealogy tip for the day: DNA and Ancestry – Your Ethnicity Estimate

If you use Ancestry for this adventure, you will be notified by email that the results are in. To find your results, sign into ancestry.com and click on DNA in their menu line. This gives you 3 choices:

1. Matches/last reviewed match
2. View your DNA results
3. Your DNA Home Page

Your DNA home page has your name and the name that is linked to your tree. My name with my membership is different than what I put in the tree as it lists my maiden name. On the homepage you have the choice of Ethnicity Estimate and Matches, which is basically the same as when you check the DNA button on the main menu. So you can go directly to these two pages, or go to your DNA homepage first and then to the other two.

On the Ethnicity Estimate page, it gives you three choices.

1. The new Ethnicity Estimate (their new and improved analysis)

2. How the ethnicity is determined.

3. How the range and average is calculated.

These 3 graphics give more information. The first one is the ethnicity breakdown showing where your DNA traces back; the second graphic gives you information on how this is determined, and the third one explains how they come up with the average and range for your situation. On each of these, there is again further information that goes into much deeper detail for those who are interested.

In my case, the ethnicity estimate listed Great Britain as the primary ancestry. This was what I expected. Then it gave Western Europe as the next largest. This one was not specific as to what country, like the first one listed. I do know that I have German and Dutch ancestry, but it did not break that out. It also said I had Scandinavian roots, but apparently that's due to migrations of civilizations as the peoples of Britain came from those areas. I doubt very much that I'll get back that far in my tree!

In their white paper on the subject they mentioned that the Ethnicity Estimate gives information more of an “estimate of ancient historical origins.” This is less relevant than the suggestions for matches. However, there has been a big demand on having this information. So, this page doesn’t give you that specific of information, it is more generalized. Yet it is of interest.

Next time we will look at the more interesting results – the matches that Ancestry suggests. This is the part that most people are looking for. And, I might add, the more people that do this and put their trees on Ancestry, the more matches each person would potentially have. Have you done yours?

“History is who we are; Genealogy is who I am” sg

If any of these posts are helpful drop us a line in the comments section below. We just want to know if the information we provide to you is beneficial in anyway.

Today in History

February 24

786		Pepin the Short of Gaul dies. His dominions are divided between his sons Charles (Charlemagne) and Carloman.
1525		In the first of the Franco-Habsburg Wars, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V captures the French king Francis I at the Battle of Pavia, Italy.
1538		Ferdinand of Hapsburg and John Zapolyai, the two kings of Hungary, conclude the peace of Grosswardein.
1803		Chief Justice John Marshall, by refusing to rule on the case of Marbury vs. Madison, asserts the authority of the judicial branch.
1813		Off Guiana, the American sloop Hornet sinks the British sloop Peacock.
1821		Mexico gains independence from Spain.
1836		Some 3,000 Mexicans launch an assault on the Alamo with its 182 Texan defenders.
1895		The Cuban War of Independence begins.
1908		Japan officially agrees to restrict emigration to the U.S.
1912		Italy bombs Beirut in the first act of war against the Ottoman Empire.
1912		The Jewish organization Hadassah is founded in New York City.
1914		Civil War soldier Joshua Chamberlain dies.
1916		A film version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea opens in New York.
1921		Herbert Hoover becomes Secretary of Commerce.
1928		The New Gallery of New York exhibits works of Archibald Motley, its first show to feature a black artist.
1944		Merrill's Marauders, a specially trained group of American soldiers, begin their ground campaign against Japan into Burma.
1945		U.S. forces liberate prisoners of war in the Los Baños Prison in the Philippines.
1947		Franz von Papen is sentenced to eight years in a labor camp for war crimes.
1959		Khrushchev rejects the Western plan for the Big Four meeting on Germany.
1968		North Vietnamese troops capture the imperial palace in Hue, South Vietnam.
1972		Hanoi negotiators walks out of the peace talks in Paris to protest U.S. air raids on North Vietnam.
1991		General Norman Schwarzkopf, commander of the coalition army, sends in ground forces during the Gulf War.
Born on February 24
1500		Charles V, king of Spain and the last Holy Roman Emperor to be crowned by the Pope.
1786		Wilhelm Carl Grimm, compiler, with his brother of fairy tales.
1836		Winslow Homer, American painter.
1841		John Phillip Holland, inventor of the modern submarine.
1874		Honus Wagner, baseball shortstop known as "The Flying Dutchman."
1885		Chester Nimitz, U.S. admiral who commanded naval forces in the Pacific during WWII.
1887		Mary Ellen Chase, New England writer.
1909		August Derleth, writer (Still is the Summer Night, The Shield of the Valiant).

Word for the Day

Although a chiropractor and a surgeon may not see eye to eye, they do have something in common. They both are hand-workers, etymologically speaking. The two words take birth from Greek chiro- (hand) which, even though it's not immediately obvious, does appear in the word surgeon (archaic spelling: chirurgeon).

There are dozens of hand-related idioms that are part of the English language: from being hand in glove with someone to hand-me-down clothes; from handmaidens in a court to deckhands on a ship.
Some hand-derived words have gone far beyond their origins. Even though most manufacturing now takes place on automated machines and most manuscripts are now written on word processors, both these words come from Latin manus (hand).
We have enough words on hand to last a long time, but we'll have to limit them to just five words. Enjoy these hand-selected words this week, all of them with their origins in hands.

manumit

PRONUNCIATION:

(man-yuh-MIT)

MEANING:

verb tr.: To free from slavery.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Latin manus (hand) + mittere (to let go). Ultimately from the Indo-European root man- (hand), which also gave us manual, manage, maintain, manicure, maneuver, manufacture, manuscript, command, manure, manque, legerdemain, and mortmain. Earliest documented use: 1455.

USAGE:

"George Washington always intended to manumit those of his slaves who were his own to free (as opposed to the 'dower slaves' from his wife's estate) and he did free them in his will."
First Among Equals; The Economist (London, UK); Oct 21, 2010.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

A society that has more justice is a society that needs less charity. -Ralph Nader, activist, author, speaker, and attorney (b. 1934)

Today’s Recipe

February - Chocolate Lover’s Month

Classic Fudge-Walnut Brownie

Ingredients

• 3.38 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3/4 cup)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks, divided
• 1/3 cup fat-free milk
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, divided
• Cooking spray

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl. Combine 1/2 cup chocolate and milk in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave at HIGH 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds. Stir in butter, vanilla, and eggs. Add milk mixture, 1/2 cup chocolate, and 1/4 cup nuts to flour mixture; stir to combine.
3. Pour the batter into a 9-inch square metal baking pan coated with cooking spray; sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup nuts. Bake at 350° for 22 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 20 pieces.

February’s Recipes:

3^rd Molten Chocolate cake

4^th Chocolate Chip cookies – Alton Brown’s

5^th Chocolate Truffles

6^th Slow Cooker Chocolate Fondue

8^th Chocolate Sheet cake

10^th Brownie Tart

11^th Gooey, Decadent Chocolate cake

12^th Chocolate Covered Strawberries

13^th Chocolate Baklava

18^th Mexican Chocolate Cream Pie

19^th Chocolate Chunk Bread Pudding

20^th Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread

22^nd Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse

24^th Classic Fudge-Walnut Brownie

ENJOY!

Now You Know!