Happy Fathers Day to those who celebrate. For those of you who had a kind, caring, or attentive father, I am in awe and wonder what it was like to grow up with a supportive parent.
I know some of you don't celebrate, and I get it. Even if you had no relationship, or a turbulent one, the DNA is still there inside you. I want to know my DNA origin story. I'm especially curious why the spelling of the family surname changed numerous times.
Now and then I meander over to FamilySearch to see what I can find there. FamilySearch is a free site maintained by the LDS church. You won't have access to many records as with Ancestry, but there are a few, and if you're lucky, you'll happen upon a distant relative who will share what they know. There I learned my dad's paternal grandfather had two wives, and several children with each. His first wife died, likely as a result of childbirth. The children he had with his first wife remained in South Carolina while he, his second wife, and oldest son moved to Texas. The oldest son remained there, while my grandfather, who was a child of the second wife, came to Alabama and farmed.
If genealogy is something you're interested in, Ancestry is running a special on its' DNA test kit for Father's Day. You can get the test plus three months of access to all of Ancestry's records for $50. The sale runs through tomorrow and I'm debating if I want to splurge. I'd like to know more about these other family members spread all over the southeast. I'll lose interest after a month or two so this is a good option for me - as long as I remember to cancel the auto-renewal. You can also access Ancestry for free at many public libraries, so if you still have one locally, call and see if they offer that service.
In case you're wondering, I'm not being compensated for this. This is merely one of my hyper-fixations. Maybe it's yours as well.
Or maybe you have one of those dads who will be grateful for the tie that looks a lot like all the other ties you gave him in the past. Not because of the tie, but because you gave it to him. If your dad is or was like that, I hope you know just how fortunate you are.
No comments:
Post a Comment