If a Berber Falls in the Forest...

I know I have not updated you much on the DNA front, but there hasn’t been much to share. I belong to a group at haplozone.net that has been gathering data on us (the artist formerly known as E3b) and doing some sub-clade predictions. All you really need to know is the prediction, which is E1b1b1b2 or M183 and you should also know that the work they are doing is completely voluntary and very super expensive and full of very amazing technology related items. This new name and predicted sub-clade doesn’t change our Berber-ness, it makes us more common Berbers, if there is such a thing among a group of people born in Michigan*. Wikipedia is saying that 80% of the Maghreb** can claim this sub-clade as well, which is substantial in a culture that is pretty much gone. I wonder what Juba would think of that? Well Juba II probably wouldn’t give a shit since he could not find anything wrong with being all kissy-kissy with the Romans. Juba Sr. was pretty serious about his loyalty so he would be really mad.

I just recently finished re-reading chapters one through four of The Berbers. The very first thing they do is beat to death the topic of what it means to be a Berber (or what it means to categorize someone as a Berber or what it means to speak a Berber dialect or what it means when you identify yourself as ohmygodshutup). So the decision seems to be made that there will be no decision or that the definition of a Berber could be one who speaks a Berber language (which as they point out actually defines them as possible variations of the words Tamazight or Imazighen but whatever, they’re the experts). They only touch on the dispute that the Romans (who would have liked to oppress Berbers but were only materially successful because the Berbers suffer some kind of weird self-oppression Xtreme complacency) called us Mazices, which could possibly have at some point translated into the words Free Man. This is only the most exciting discovery (for me anyway) since the results themselves came in. Anyway as much as I would like to get into how popular a past time it was to invade the North African coast I clearly don’t have the time or resources. I’m not sure how to research someone that nobody cares about. There are a few books available aside from my favorite so I’ll let you know what I find as I find it.
http://books.google.com/books?id=8Zcz91t29ukC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Berbers&client=firefox-a


Actual DNA non-discovery:

Originally I was going to tell you about the Gonzales’ from El Bierzo, Spain but
towards the end of this entry I began to check and double check my info and I realized that I missed one very important detail about them. I had to take my best paragraph out because of this oversight. I was going to tell you about these Gonzales’ and their kit number 30660/XJYA7 and how close of a match they were and how interesting that is and what it means for blah blah blah. To give you a better idea of distance and DNA within our haplogroup our Freeman matches hover around a distance of 3 at about 22 markers. Back to the important detail that I missed, the Gonzales’ have only tested 12 markers, which is no better than knowing your blood type, no better for DNA anyway. At 12 markers we now have 9 exact matches**** which sounds pretty neat but more common haplogroups (ah-hem R1b or whatever you are calling yourselves now) can have upwards of 100 of those exact matches. So at this point my opinions and the opinions of the psudo-science-mostly-genealogy community part ways. They think these 9 matches we have are totally insignificant. Well, easy for them to say when they have hundreds.



* That is going to be the name of my new quilting group, the Berbers of Michigan.

** I can’t find any other info on this statement aside from The Berbers since no one cares about Berbers except people who study DNA for family history purposes. There is pretty much no data for me to find…online.

***YSearch is a website database sponsored by (I believe) FamilyTreeDNA at which any person with their YDNA results can enter them for all the world to see (and compare).

**** Four Freemans, one Aviles, one Gonzales, one Lujan, one Lovato, one North African Test Group including 112 people from Algeria and one Magann.

Excellent resource from the Rootsweb Review

You have received your great-grandfather John MAIR's death certificate. The certificate tells you he died of "phlegmonous erysipelas." In reading your Grand-aunt Martha's diary you learn that her sister was afflicted with "ablepsy" and that your Uncle Alfred suffered from "dropsy." In the diary you also read that John MAIR worked as a "dyker" in his native Scotland. Martha's husband was a "cordwainer" and Uncle Alfred was working as a "huckster."
Genealogists frequently encounter archaic, foreign, regional, or merely unfamiliar terminology for causes of death and illnesses, as well as for our ancestors' occupations.

ILLNESSES, DISEASES, AND OTHER ARCHAIC MEDICAL TERMINOLOGY
The following websites are among many I've used over the years to learn the meanings of terms no longer in common use or with which I wasn't familiar:
http://rmhh.co.uk/illness.html (Illnesses.)
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~billingh/disease.htm (Diseases.)
http://www.neonatology.org/classics/old.terms.html (Terms concerning neonatology.)
http://www.antiquusmorbus.com/Index.htm (Archaic medical terms.)

DISASTERS—NATURAL and MANMADE
Sometimes the factors involved in ancestral deaths could indicate that family members died as the result of a disaster. Disasters should be considered when multiple family members died at exactly the same time. A disaster could be an earthquake, flood, fire, shipwreck, mining accident, train wreck, etc.
http://www.cyndislist.com/disasters.htm (Disasters.)

EPIDEMICS
Deaths of more than one person over a short time period (but not necessarily on the same day), especially when children are involved, might indicate an epidemic caused by the flu, typhoid, yellow fever, or any other contagious disease.
http://www.cyndislist.com/disasters.htm#Epidemics (Epidemics.)

OBSOLETE AND UNFAMILIAR OCCUPATIONAL TERMS
Unfamiliar occupational terms and obsolete occupational terminology often varies from country to country or even from region to region within a country.
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wiashlan/occupations.html (American.)
http://www.olivetreegenealogy.com/misc/occupations.shtml (Medieval English and early New World.)
http://rmhh.co.uk/occup/index.html (United Kingdom.)
http://www.worldroots.com/~brigitte/occupat.htm (German occupations and illnesses.)

A quick review of the websites referenced here reveals that your great-grandfather died of a severe inflammation and fever, Martha's sister was blind, and Uncle Alfred had swelling or fluid retention (edema). Your great-grandfather worked as a stonemason in Scotland. Martha's husband was a shoemaker and Uncle Alfred sold small wares.

Other Genealogy Blogs

Some Genealogy Blogs, I've put the title first and surname (when possible) in Parentheses.

Beyond Fiction (Spangler)

West in New England (Too many to list)

I Seek Dead People

BackTrack

Genealogue

The Register of Misdeeds

Change you can Xerox (Facts about Robert Wilson)

Haha, just kidding. I hate politics.

Robert Wilson (or The Mystery of the Family Doubles - Reuben Wilson Part Deux)


Robert Wilson is born in Rochester to Reuben Wilson and Lydia Powell.
Sources: Reuben Wilson's Pension File and Batch M017303


He married Minnie Strong, parents Edgar & Eunice in Rochester on 16 NOV 1893. She was born in Imlay, Lapeer on 09 OCT 1878.
Sources: Microfilm #974252 and Batch M017303


Robert and Minnie were married 16 NOV 1893 in Rochester, Oakland, Michigan. In Montcalm County in 1900 they live together with their son Willie who was born approx. 1899 in Michigan.
Sources: Microfilm #1295530 and 1900 Census (Bloomer, Montcalm, MI pg 2 Dist 119)


In 1910 Minnie is living with George White. George and Minnie were married on 18 SEP 1905 in Pontiac. Minnie and George have been married for three years. Children in the house are William (12), Bessie K (9) and three year old Kenneth. It should be noted that they are living on page 19 and Eunice and Edgar Strong (parents of Minnie) are living on page 16.
Sources: 1910 Census (Almont, Lapeer, MI pg 19 and 16, Dist 30) and Batch M018206.


Robert is living with his brother Jerry in 1920 in Pontiac. Robert is buried at the Mt. Avom Cemetery and died on 17 APR 1921.
Sources: 1920 Census (Pontiac, Oakland, MI pg 4, Dist 196) and City of Rochester

Newsletters

The Rochester Avon Historical Society has a newsletter, you can select the issues to view here. You can also be a member, information about that is here.

There is only one group I really ever considered joining and that is the published of the Oaks to Acorns, The Oakland County Genealogical Society. I have purchased a few things from them, the most valuable a list of veterans and veterans widows from the 1890 Census. Here's the membership application.

Here you can find information on the Oakland County Pioneer and Historical Society. I do have plans to contact this group and see what kind of pioneer information they have, exactly. I wouldn't call our dead people pioneers so much as I would call them very early settlers. No one (it seems) showed up alone, it seems like every original Oakland Family rolled into town with a relative of ours. John Powell and Eliza were in Michigan in at least 1838 where their first son John Jr was born. By the 1850 census they were planted in Avon, never to leave. John Sr is buried there as well as his wife Eliza and their children Lydia (Russell), Eliza (Cooper) and James and his wife Anna. Eber Hotchkiss (1788-1837) and his wife Ronda began their career as early Michiganders in 1835, they arrived just in time for Eber to die and for his probate to become one of our family's oldest public records.

DNA Companies

DNA Heritage is the same company that brought us the best (and only) tutorial available. Here is a page with their rates. They answer many Frequently Asked Questions in this section and this test would tell us enough about who we are to know if we are Russells or not.

Family Tree DNA is another group also available for tests. The FAQ is here and the prices are here. You can view information about the Surname Projects they host here.

Ancestry also has their own DNA test and it's cheaper than the others but price isn't the most important thing, accesibility is. If you have results for another company you can enter them here on ancestry. Their FAQs are available here. They even have the Ancestry DNA Blog! This is a blog entry about the number of markers available and what the differences are.

Mt. Avon Cemetery

There is no complete list of burials for the Mt. Avon Cemetery. The earliest records are no longer available but the cemetery is owned by the City of Rochester and you can call the Cemetery Sexton, Bruce to ask for more details on those interred. He can be reached at (248) 651-9061. Mt. Avon itself is located at 400 6th Avenue, Rochester, MI 48307.

List of buried courtsey of interment.net

The Michigan Tombstone Transcription Project's list of Mt. Avon Russell's. The rest of the Oakland Cemeteries can be found here. If you can't find a cemetery on this list or if there are no pictures, it could be because no one has registered the cemetery yet. If you think this is something you could do read this. If you are not in Oakland County maybe you can volunteer for a project in your area to help other researchers. This link should take you to the US Genweb Project, follow the links on the left hand side to the state you reside in to check on projects.

Family History DNA

If you have any questions about the DNA tests for genealogists this great tutorial should help.