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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,…
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New Jean Manco Book is Out

I just found out that author Jean Manco passed away earlier this year, so I thought I would due her some credit by blogging about her books. Manco is a British building historian with a background in architectural preservation.  In later…
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Y-Chromosome Adam and Mitochondrial Eve

Although Autosomal DNA is beginning to become better known as more and more people test their DNA, Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) probably still dominate the popular imagination. The reason is because of Adam and Eve.  No, I don't…

It’s Official – We’re Going to Norway Next Year!

In 2019, my wife and I are planning to realize a long-held dream - to visit Norway, one of my ancestral homelands. The entire trip will span about three weeks, beginning with a week touring Britain with another couple who are good friends. …
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Are You Sure That’s How You Spell Your Name?

The Minnesota Genealogist just published a short item in their Autumn 2018 issue about the spelling of my surname: Jonnes.  We were always one-N Joneses going back to the 17th century.  Indeed, our original patrilineal immigrant ancestor was…

Redoubt #10 at Yorktown

Okay, so here's our first sojourn over to my father's side of the family tree.  Sit up, Jonnes cousins! One of my father's favorite ancestors was Sgt. William Brown (1761-1804), arguably the most illustrious soldier in our family history. …

Ethnicity Estimates Revisited

I completely forgot about looking at the percentage ranges when I wrote my last post about the new AncestryDNA ethnicity update.  They are important because they emphasize how approximate the percentages remain, even if the updated profile…
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My Ethnicity Estimate Just Changed!

Talk about good timing. I just mentioned in a recent post that DNA ethnicity percentages are rough estimates and should be used with caution.((Steven Nelson Jonnes, "Understanding DNA Testing," Jonnes Genealogy Blog, 25 August 2018 (https://www.jonnesgenealogy.com/understanding-dna-testing/),…
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Applying DNA Tests to Family Trees

There are 4 types of DNA for which you can receive test results: Autosomal, Y-DNA, X-DNA, and mtDNA. To better understand the differences, it may be useful to visualize these different DNA tests and how they apply to genealogical research…