“Finding Your Roots” , “African Ancestry.com” & “Who Do You Think You Are?”

Amazing views into who our ancestors are.  How lucky we are to live in a time when Genealogy is so popular and so welcomed.    Do you feel a boost to be able to discuss genealogy where ever you go now?

This weekend I was working at a scrapbooking conference.   We had a box for names & email address.  I noticed many of the names as they were filled out.  I commented on a gal with the last name of May.  She had some knowledge into the name.  To me I thought it was shorten from the name “LeMay” of  Quebec fame.  However she informed me that the name “May” is from the Mc Donald clan. It was fun to hear of her knowledge.

I was so excited when on “Finding Your Roots”  they spoke with the creator of  “African Ancestry.com”.   How cool is that that if you have African Heritage you can pinpoint exactly where and which family group you came from in Africa with DNA test.  Just a cheek swab.

 My dad had his Maternal line DNA tested a couple of years ago.  This line is his mothers, mother, mothers line  all the way back 10,000 years.  It let us know the Halo-group and where the origin of where the original mother geographical home land was.   It was really cool.  I was looking for a shorter time period of 300 years.  I was looking to prove or disprove one of my theories.

The reason the African Ancestry.com test is so accurate is that they went to Africa where they tested & sequenced many of the different African kinship groups.  They produced a large data base.  How lucky the creator had figured out a way to produce such results of geographical accuracy by having a large data base to start.

So now I say to my self if only these other companies would do the same so that we non-African descended people should be able to find out closes ties to our ancestors then 10,000 years.  I know I would like a 300-400 year window of the ancestors too.  Especially since my 2^nd great was adopted.  

On “Who do you think you are”  Rob Lowe made such a astounding finds.  I was enthralled with each phase of his discoveries.  It is intriguing to know that the DAR & SAR have such a vast collection of Genealogy information.  I never knew they had such sources at the finger tips.  

My story is, if you have read my other post concerning my discoveries some of this might be a repeat, I knew I was French Canadian, Irish, Dutch, Belgian & French Canadian Indian.   I never suspected I had ties to 1. The Civil War & 2. To the Revolutionary War.  In 2008 I set about my fathers mothers fathers lines.  Oh what a load of insight I carry with me now.

The Civil War was a part of my Ancestors lives.  My 3^rd Great Granddad Simeon Caryl served in the Civil War.  As well as his first cousins, sons of Simeon Caryl fathers brother Russel Carroll,  Grant Carroll & Obed J. Carroll of Lynn, MA.  Both of these cousins died in Andersonville Prison.  There may have been another of the brothers to have also perish in the same way.  

Once I was knee deep in these New England lines and I was paying attention to dates of birth and death of my male ancestors I then began to think oh maybe I do have a Revolutionary War member.  Into several lines of the Caryl line I have several but since I cannot prove Joel Caryl as the father of Simeon Caryl I cannot prove them for a DAR membership. 

I do however have many other ancestors back in the Babbitt line to give me a chance at the DAR.

To me it’s great to know that I do have great heritage in the United States.  That I am a descendant of Patriots.  

What Patriots have you discovered in your research?