I've always* used my full name as my handle when doing stuff online. Yesterday, for the second time, I was contacted by a stranger with the same surname. Now we're trying to see if there will be a match in our family heritage tree.

Something worth thinking about, if you have an amateur genealogist in the family...

https://heatherburns.tech/2025/04/14/the-privacy-threat-model-sitting-at-your-dinner-table/

Blimey. I followed another line back to 600ad and found I'm a direct descendant of the king of Sweden! #FamilyTree #history (lots of cool viking names on the tree too)

on the occasion of the identification of the #Schinderhannes skeleton, I've rounded up his #familyTree. No obvious connection, although several familiar places. https://proseandpassion.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-robbers-family.html #familyHistory #genome #science #forensics

Heads up. Get your data out of 23andMe right now -- or try.

(Anyone who put it in there in the first place was a fool, I have to say...)

Let's see if the U.S. Government buys it...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/03/24/23andme-dna-privacy-delete/

@stevencudahy #WritingCommunity #CreativeWriting

#WritingChallenge #MastoPrompt #Challenge #Poem #Poetry
#Prompt: #Progenitor
#BattleOfSedgemoor #MonmouthRebellion #FamilyTree #History #Histodon

Researching my family tree,
I found out a very strange thing.
An old progenitor to me,
Once tried to overthrow the king.

[I found out that a direct ancestor of mine was involved in the Monmouth Rebellion and fought at the Battle of Sedgemoor in an attempt to overthrow James II]

Day One: Journey to Salt Lake City for #RootsTech2025.

https://youtube.com/shorts/yxI81SMo6L4

#Genealogy #RootsTech #FamilyHistory #Appalachia #FamilyTree #SaltLakeCity @wikitree @DavidR

Gah! #FamilyHistory is great but frustrating!

Struggling with too many Henry Gurr people in my tree, born around the same time (1750 ish), marrying different people. And to make things worse, Henry Gurr is on both sides of my family - in the same UK county! Argh!

Artist: #JOTALO (Jose Javier López) in City: #Madrid #Moratalaz /Av. de Moratalaz, 134 /Spain 02/2025 - Title: "El abrazo" ("The embrace" /"Die Umarmung") - #Art #Streetart #Mural #Artist #FamilyTree

This fantastically detailed document records the birth of Martha Cottrell, second child born to my 5 x great grandparents Samuel Cottrell and Ann Baker. The document includes the family’s address, the midwives present, the date and registration of the birth, and that the family were Protestant Dissenters.

On 3 September 1820, my 4 x great grandfather Matthew Cottrell was baptised at St Botolph’s without Bishopsgate, London. His parents, my 5 x great grandparents, Samuel Cottrell and Ann Baker were listed as a married couple. However, they were not married at the time.

I’m researching the life of my 5 x great grandfather Samuel Cottrell, born 11 July 1796 in Finsbury, London. Little is known about Samuel’s upbringing, but in 1819 he met Ann Baker, daughter of William Baker, cordwainer of Bishopsgate, London. In the spring of 1820, Ann discovered that she was pregnant. However, at that stage, marriage was not on the cards.

Street map of Bishopsgate

I haven’t been to the #MyHeritage website for ages. I was surprised that they’d changed my #DNA #ancestry & added new info.

My #Cornish ancestry, which is well documented via #FamilyTree & my family’s history, has vanished & they have added that I have Breton, French, Dutch & Germanic ancestry!

Hmmm. #Wiki tells me Breton includes #Cornwall & #Devon, so - I’m a #Celt.

#Scottish & #Welsh
27.9%

#English
25.4%

#Irish
21.8%

#Breton
6.8%

#Dutch
6.4%

#French
6.1%

#Danish
3.7%

#Germanic
1.9%

I’m researching the life of my 5 x great grandfather Samuel Cottrell. This will be an interesting challenge because Samuel, a non-conformist, managed to avoid all the censuses taken in the 1800s

Samuel was born on 11 July 1796 to John Cottrell and Mary Teek. He was baptised on 2 October 1796 at Saint Luke’s Old Street, Finsbury, London.

During this research, I hope to learn more about London as well.

I’m related to Elizabeth Taylor, not the actress, but a non-conformist born on 10 March 1735 in Westminster, London. Elizabeth and her husband John Teek were founder members of the Countess of Huntington’s Connexion, a society founded in 1783 by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntington (pictured). Non-conformism is a strong trait in my family.

https://youtu.be/x1Q4tYhLRvA?si=kCFCjOgOc4lDsazu

Mediaeval sleep patterns ... #BiphasicSleep

For the best part of 10 years or so I've had a split sleep pattern. The oh so common #4amClub.

My habit became to get up, have cereal, then go back to bed after an hour's #FamilyTree research or whatever.

Then drop off for the rest of the night.

I'd heard this was an ancient notion of first and second sleeps.

Tonight I heard it named as biphasic sleep.

Then looked up YouTube & found it's a "#Thing" ... #Aaaaaaagh!

:((

My grandmother's 90th birthday present ready: a chronicle of her family all the way to the late 16th century.
If you ever want something like that (in the Czech Republic), I can only recommend @rodokmeny/ @margo.