The Mystery of Population Y

This fabulous portrait by celebrated photographer Carlos Monforte shows an Aborigine elder in Darwin, Australia in 2017.  Monforte specializes in images of indigenous cultures and people as well as scenery, especially in Asia and Oceania. …
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Going to the Promised Land!

Each January, the genealogy world turns its attention to Salt Lake City.  That's because the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) holds its annual series of educational courses during the month and hundreds of hobbyists and professionals…
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The Hafslo Connection

"Nurse Betty," an aunt of mine whose DNA I manage, recently forwarded an email she received from someone who matched her on FamilyTreeDNA.  I will refer to him as "Mr. Anderson."  My aunt and Mr. Anderson share 118 centimorgans (cM) of DNA. …

Hiatus I

I'm going to take a holiday break from the blog.  It's Christmas season and we have some travel plans this month.  Also, I need to catch up on other projects. Please look forward to the following blog topics in 2019: Bønsmoen Farm …
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The Perils of Norway Research

I made an error in my last post.  It's the statement that Laura Olsdatter Bohn (1853-1923) immigrated to the United States in 1887, arriving in New York City on the S.S. Island on 8 July. After I posted, one of my SLIG instructors, Finn…

Bønsmoen It Is!

One of the mysteries of my Norwegian ancestry has been the question of the Bonn surname: how did it originate and from where exactly?  In Norway, the family name and location often go together, based on the old tradition of giving every farm…

Deconstructing the Tabele Family

This discovery is actually a couple years old, but I wanted to document it here.  I also have an important new lead to discuss.  It is a nice example of discovering new ancestors whom you never knew about before.  For our family, that's pretty…
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MyHeritage DNA Results Are In

I won a door prize!  It was a DNA test kit from MyHeritage DNA, which I received while attending the Association of Professional Genealogists conference in Kansas City last month.  It was funny because all four of the men at the conference…
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Projects, Plans, & Accomplishments: 2018 – 2019

Every genealogist's path to becoming professional is different.  Like many others, it began for me as a hobby.  But once I retired in 2016, I got more passionate about it - and more serious.  My first year of operation as a professional has…

Who Were the Parents of Stephen W. King (1824-1865)?

  In 2016, I wrote a series of three articles published in the Minnesota Genealogist regarding my 2GG Fred A. King (1857-1920).((Steven Nelson Jonnes, “Searching for the Parents of Fred A. King of Saginaw, Michigan,” Minnesota Genealogist,…