Search

Filling the silences in family stories − how to think like a historian to uncover your family’s narrative

<div class="theconversation-article-body"><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrea-kaston-tange-1417052">Andrea Kaston Tange</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macalester-college-2632">Macalester College</a> Great-grandmothers. We all have them. But most of us will never know them except through glimpses of fading bits of paper: sepia photographs, recipe cards, letters in handwriting traced by a fountain pen dispensing cocoa-colored ink. What does it take to build coherent stories out of such tantalizing fragments of lives? I face this question routinely in my career as a <a href="https://www.macalester.edu/english/facultystaff/andreakastontange/">professor of 19th-century literature and culture</a>. Recently, I’ve turned that experience to writing a book about my own family. When I inherited my great-grandmother’s diary, a repurposed teacher’s planner in which she chronicled the family’s 1926 move from Michigan to Miami, I found a wedding portrait tucked inside. The angled profile showcases her youthful skin and a dress too elaborate for a Midwestern schoolteacher’s daily wear. It is easy to imagine that she took pleasure in inscribing her new name on the picture’s reverse: Faith Avery. I stared at her beautiful image for years, as if details of her satin gown could explain why a woman widowed in 1918 would, for the rest of her life, refuse to admit to having had that first husband and yet carefully preserve this portrait. And then, because archives have been at the center of my scholarly work, I turned to research. I located marriage records and draft cards, pored over maps, found family members in censuses and obituaries. Within those documents lay answers both surprising and poignant. What did I look for? How might anyone with a half-told family story begin to uncover more truths? And what does it take to make sense of them? <h2>The digging</h2> Questions that begin with “why” can rarely be answered easily. Researchers thus often prefer to start with “who” and “when” and “how,” locating a person in one spot and then tracing them through time. This adventure down a rabbit hole follows a method. Make a list of unknowns. These may be facts or enticing tidbits of incomplete family lore. My mother, trying to be helpful, told me things like, “Faith always said there was a horse thief in the family, but she was too mortified to reveal his name” and “I think Aunt Harriette (Faith’s sister) was married once briefly.” Do precise, not general, searches. Typing “horse thief Avery” into Google yields nothing useful, but many other sources contain rich information about old-fashioned exploits. The New York Public Library’s <a href="https://www.nypl.org/blog/2019/03/25/genealogy-guide-books">guide for family research</a> introduces some options. The <a href="https://www.loc.gov/pictures/">Library of Congress print and photograph collection</a> can also help you envision your ancestors’ world. Physical libraries contain historic photographs, maps, local records and digitized newspapers not available online. Historical societies and state universities typically allow free, in-person use of their collections. Know that sometimes you will fail and need to change course. I spent several days looking for the horse thief to no avail, much to my mother’s disappointment. But when I turned to Aunt Harriette’s marriage, I found a character no less fascinating, one I now think of as “Four Wives Frank.” Read old documents knowing they were produced by a patchwork of individuals who took information on trust. The handwritten birth, death, marriage and <a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/census/about">census records</a> of past centuries relied on self-reported data that required no verification. They can be plagued by carelessness in the name of efficiency. One hurried census-taker recorded Faith’s mother Cara as “Cora,” another renamed her brother Horace “Harris.” Frank offered up a variety of birth years, countries of origin and maiden names for his mother as he worked his way west. He must have been charming. Who but a charming man could have convinced woman after woman to marry him, each thinking she was, at most, his second wife? Marriage register officers and census-takers, not to mention his trail of brides, were none the wiser. Which leads me to this: Cross-check information. I knew I had the right Frank because he had the same three sons in multiple records. Inconsistencies across those records, in conjunction with the trajectory of his life, made this conclusion inevitable: The man purposefully reinvented himself. <h2>The assembly</h2> My academic work has taught me that most <a href="https://doi.org/10.2979/victorianstudies.63.2.02">archival answers lead to more questions</a>. As a result, I expect multiple phases of collecting. I gathered everything I could find about Faith’s early life, in hopes something might explain her reticence about her first marriage. As her story emerged, I periodically hit holes in the narrative that sent me back for more digging. Understanding people is easier if you are familiar with their world. For background, I read histories of Miami in the 1920s and researched details in Faith’s diary that might reveal her personality or motivations. Exploring her reading lists showed me a woman who enjoyed popular entertainment, such as 1926’s blockbuster “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0016598/">Aloma of the South Seas</a>.” Primers of <a href="https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1920-1929">1920s wages and prices</a> explained the family’s economic worries. As I got to know Faith, I revisited documents with new questions. To figure out whether Harriette’s husband Frank had anything to do with Faith, I made timelines for both sisters. To ponder the emotional underpinnings of those events, I reread Faith’s diary, paying particular attention to entries about Harriette and about Faith’s second husband. Because every pile of documents contains multiple stories, the key to a coherent narrative is locating a through line that addresses the biggest conundrums while identifying the tangents. I let go of the horse thief. <h2>The results</h2> The detective-style plots of what I call “<a href="https://www.writersdigest.com/be-inspired/lilly-dancyger-memoir-as-detective-novel">investigative memoir</a>” may inspire you to do your own family research. Genealogy sites such as <a href="https://www.ancestry.com/">Ancestry.com</a> and <a href="https://www.familysearch.org/en/united-states/">FamilySearch.org</a> can help. But it’s worth remembering that secondary reading will add richness to any family story. And local librarians are extraordinary at helping patrons navigate the search process. Improbable as it might seem, Four Wives Frank helped me understand the extent of Faith’s secrets and that she harbored them in hopes that her children’s lives would be easier. Such self-sacrifices are common for mothers. And yet, their particulars are as individual as the faintly silvered portrait of the soft young woman who married Harold Avery in 1911, and whose story requires an entire book to tell properly.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/234341/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/andrea-kaston-tange-1417052">Andrea Kaston Tange</a>, Professor of English, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/macalester-college-2632">Macalester College</a> Image credits: Shutterstock This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/filling-the-silences-in-family-stories-how-to-think-like-a-historian-to-uncover-your-familys-narrative-234341">original article</a>. </div>

Family & Pets

‘He was horrific!’: Nearly two thirds of family historians are distressed by what they find – should DNA kits come with warnings?

<a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/susan-moore-1446031">Susan Moore</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/swinburne-university-of-technology-767">Swinburne University of Technology</a> In 1853, my great great grandmother Charlotte died giving birth to her 13th child, in a tent on the banks of the Yarra River in what is now South Melbourne – but was then an overcrowded, muddy hellhole known as <a href="https://blogs.slv.vic.gov.au/our-stories/canvas-town-a-floating-city-devoured-by-the-sun/">Canvas Town</a>. The baby, William, died shortly afterwards. Researching Charlotte’s story made me both sad for her loss and angry at the powerlessness of women’s lives then. I’m not the only one to have experienced intense emotions – both negative and positive – while researching my forebears. On Facebook pages, in <a href="https://time.com/5492642/dna-test-results-family-secret-biological-father/">media stories</a> and <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-series/who-do-you-think-you-are">on TV</a>, you’ll find a flood of hobby genealogists discovering shocking things about their ancestors – or even their own identity. My recent research revealed about two thirds of family historians have experienced <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5778/7/2/26">strong negative emotions</a> like sorrow or anger through their hobby. And nearly all respondents had experienced strong positive emotions such as joy or pride. <h2>Passionate ‘kin keepers’</h2> In 2019, Doreen Rosenthal and I surveyed 775 Australian hobbyist family historians to examine their <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Psychology-of-Family-History-Exploring-Our-Genealogy/Moore-Rosenthal-Robinson/p/book/9780367820428">motivations</a>. They were adults aged between 21 and 93, but most were older and the median age was 63. The majority (85%) were women. This seems to be typical of hobbyist family historians. Women often take on the role of “kin keeper” – and have the time to devote to it when they’ve finished rearing children and have retired from paid work. Survey respondents described why they were passionately engaged with their hobby – and how it made them feel. Some 48% “sometimes” felt strong negative emotions about what they found, while 15% did “often”. There were five common distress triggers. <h2>1. Ancestors behaving badly</h2> The first and most common distress trigger was the discovery of ancestors who had behaved badly – either as individuals, or by profiting from unjust social conditions. Finding these forebears made family historians feel confronted, shocked and sometimes ashamed. They said things like: "[The worst thing was] finding the bigamist! He was horrific!! Very confronting thinking that I have some of his blood in my veins!" And: "[It was] difficult finding that ancestors may have been involved in unsavoury behaviours or events. The problem is trying to understand the context of how they were able to do things that are socially and legally unacceptable today and not things I can be proud of." <h2>2. Ancestors treated cruelly</h2> It was also distressing to discover ancestors who had been cruelly treated. This elicited disturbing, even “heartbreaking” feelings – and, at least implicitly, indignation at injustice. Many were deeply moved by what their ancestors experienced. As one survey respondent put it: "What is unexpected is the relationships that can be formed with those who are no longer with us. That I can be moved by the plight of my paternal step great great grandmother who was incarcerated in a mental institution from 1913 to 1948 without review, without visitors, to get her out of the way." <h2>3. Sad stories</h2> Sadness was often specifically mentioned. As in the case of my great great grandmother who died in childbirth, sadness was usually a response to the hardships and tragedies ancestors faced in more challenging times. Women commonly did not survive childbirth, neonatal deaths were frequent, people died of diseases medical science has now conquered. Poverty was rife and war a constant threat. "[It was difficult] discovering the tragedies encountered by my Irish ancestors who came to Australia and their struggles and heartbreaking stories of survival for the next three generations." "[It is distressing] to uncover particularly sad and desperate times in some ancestors’ lives. For example, a destitute widow who admitted her child to an orphan asylum for three years, only to have her child die of typhoid fever within two weeks of returning home." <h2>4. Family secrets and betrayal</h2> The fourth distress trigger was a belief by the family history researcher that they had been betrayed by other family members: through secrets, lies and feeling their lived experience was ignored or denied. This is particularly likely for those who discover “secrets” about their parentage – for example, the late-life discovery of adoption, parental infidelity or previously unknown siblings. Trust is damaged. If family members can lie about these important things, what else might they lie about? As one woman commented: "My mother’s half-sister did not accept that she shared a father with my mother. My great grandmother lied about who my grandfather’s father was. My great great grandmother also lied. All these lies were very distressing." <h2>5. Moral dilemmas</h2> Finally, several respondents expressed doubt and confusion at the moral dilemmas they faced on discovering information that could greatly distress other living relatives. Should they tell or not? An emotional burden attaches to withholding potentially distressing information of this kind. Yet there is also guilt and fear about the possible outcomes of sharing it. "I knew an aunt had an illegitimate child before she married. Through DNA I found her granddaughter. I have yet to inform this girl who she is. I don’t feel it’s my right as she has absolutely no idea of any adoption of her father." "A really distressing find was that my great aunt’s husband had committed a terrible murder. I have not been able to speak about this with the descendants of the couple." <h2>Healthy outcomes from bad feelings</h2> Sometimes these distressing feelings can promote healthy, growth-enhancing outcomes. After the initial shock, some traumatic genealogical discoveries lead to a greater understanding of the past and its influence. Placing ancestors’ maladaptive or distressing behaviours, or their misfortunes, into historical and social context can help with acceptance and forgiveness, and stimulate emotional healing and personal growth. Initial feelings of distress about past injustices and tragedies are sometimes replaced by admiration for the strength and resilience of one’s forebears. This can positively influence personal wellbeing and resilience. <h2>How can family and professionals help?</h2> I processed my great great grandmother’s story by writing it down and sharing it with family members. We reworked our sadness at her fate into a positive family narrative, emphasising her bravery and the strengths her surviving children showed. Support can mean just disclosing these stories to family members, friends and other family historians. But for some, it may be helpful to discuss these topics privately with a counsellor or therapist, especially if they’ve led to a breakdown in family relationships or an assault on one’s sense of identity. Counsellors and psychologists should develop strategies to support clients distressed by genealogical findings – and encourage them to use their new knowledge for personal growth and greater understanding of family dynamics. Should providers of genealogical research products (especially DNA tests) educate their customers about their products’ potential to cause distress? Trigger warnings might be overkill. But they could issue lists of support resources for those who are upset or disoriented by their findings. As more people gain access to more genealogical data – with the potential to challenge identity and uncover family secrets – it’s worth thinking about.<img style="border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;" src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207430/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" /> <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/susan-moore-1446031">Susan Moore</a>, Emeritus Professor, Faculty of Health, Arts and Design, <a href="https://theconversation.com/institutions/swinburne-university-of-technology-767">Swinburne University of Technology</a> Image credits: Getty Images This article is republished from <a href="https://theconversation.com">The Conversation</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://theconversation.com/he-was-horrific-nearly-two-thirds-of-family-historians-are-distressed-by-what-they-find-should-dna-kits-come-with-warnings-207430">original article</a>.

Family & Pets

Julia Roberts learns shocking family secret

In an interview with Ancestry's Finding Your Roots series, Julia Roberts discovered a shocking fact about her connection to the Roberts family, dating back over 150 years ago. Dr Henry Louis Gates Jr dug into her family tree and discovered that Julia Roberts' real name should be Julia Mitchells. The revelation came after Dr Gates found that Rhoda Scuttle, the actress' great-great-grandmother, had an affair. "Digging into Georgia's County archives, we discovered that sometime in the 1850s, Rhoda married a man named Willis Roberts," Dr Gates said. "Julia carries Willis' last name, but Willis passed away in 1864, over a decade before Rhoda gave birth to Julia's great-grandfather, John, leading to an inescapable conclusion." That conclusion was, "Willis Roberts could not possibly be your great-great-grandfather. He was dead." The Pretty Woman actress was left at a loss for words, "wait, am I not a Roberts?" she asked. Dr Gates then explained that he dug deeper into her history, using her DNA and found that she and her other relatives are linked to one man: Henry McDonald Mitchell Jr. "We found a cluster of matches that tie Julia and her cousin to one man," the ancestry expert said. "So, we're Mitchells?" Julia responded in disbelief. Dr Gates confirmed that her real name should be "Julia Mitchells". Image: Getty

Family & Pets

Women discover after 55 years that they were switched at birth

Two women are suing the hospital where they were both born in 1964, after they discovered they were switched at birth. Jill Lopez and Tina Ennis, both 57, discovered the mix-up at the hands of the Oklahoma hospital after learning the truth from an at-home DNA test through Ancestry.com. The women were both born at Duncan Physicians and Surgeons Hospital on May 18th 1964, but somehow claim they were each handed off to the other's biological parents. Jill and Tina went 55 years without knowing the truth, until Tina sent her DNA off to Ancestry.com and received confusing results. With the help of her daughter and extensive internet research, Tina tracked down Jill, who took her own DNA test and confirmed that she is the actual biological daughter of Ennis' mother, Kathryn Jones. The two women are now suing the hospital they were switched in for recklessness and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Both families had no idea about the devastating mix-up until recently, and are now left struggling with the revelation. Kathryn Jones said one of the worst parts of the discovery was realising her grandchildren were not biologically hers either. "It was like somebody had ripped out a part of my heart,' Jones said. 'I just couldn't deal with it." Since the news broke, Jill has been spending time with her biological mother, leaving Tina heartbroken when she realised her biological parents, Joyce and John, had both passed away. "Jill got to be with my real parents, and now she gets to be with my parents I grew up with," Tina said. "I didn’t know what to think about it at first, but the more I think about it, it makes me really sad." Together with Kathryn Jones, Tina and Jill have filed their suit against the hospital, who are fighting back. Image credits: Facebook

Family & Pets

You can now get travel recommendations based on your ancestry

There is a common wisdom that says travelling is about finding yourself. That can soon be reality, with a new partnership between Airbnb and genetic testing company 23andMe. The two companies are looking to tap into the heritage travel industry by helping tourists connect to their roots and plan a visit to their homelands. “We’re proud to team up with 23andMe, the leader in helping people learn about their genes and ancestry, to make it easier for travelers to plan trips as unique as their DNA,” said Joe Gebbia, co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Airbnb. According to <a href="https://www.cntraveler.com/story/airbnb-and-23andme-will-help-plan-a-trip-to-your-homeland">Condé Nast Traveler</a>, this is how it will work: you can take a DNA test with 23andMe, and in three to five weeks Airbnb will recommend a custom mix of accommodations, tours and classes based on your results in the countries your genes trace back to. For example, if you were found to have Southern Italian ancestry, you might be suggested to stay at a trullo in the region of Puglia. On the other hand, those with Mexican roots could receive recommendations to go on a mezcal tasting journey in Mexico City. If you have taken a similar genetic testing before this, worry not – you can still access the recommendations. The website has opened dedicated pages that correspond with 23andMe’s genetic populations in Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and West Asia, Central America and Mexico, South America, East and South Asia, and the Caribbean and Europe to allow travellers to “easily plan an end-to-end heritage trip”. Airbnb said more and more people are taking trips related to heritage or ancestry, with 500 per cent increase in travellers using the online platform to trace their roots since 2014. The growing popularity of at-home genetic tests like 23andMe also helps make it easier for people to explore and learn more about their ancestry. The move could be seen as an example of the changing face of travel, where personalisation and service convergence are the main considerations for travel merchants in designing travel experience for customers. According to a <a href="https://us.epsilon.com/pressroom/new-epsilon-research-indicates-80-of-consumers-are-more-likely-to-make-a-purchase-when-brands-offer-personalized-experiences">2017 Epsilon survey</a>, 87 per cent of people say they are more likely to do business with travel websites or apps that offer personalised journeys.

International Travel

Casey Donovan's "eye-opening" family discovery

When Casey Donovan was invited to be a part of the SBS ancestry series Who Do You Think You Are, she did not expect to learn some surprising facts about herself. The singer-songwriter said appearing on the show’s tenth season was a cathartic experience that answered the questions she had growing up around her identity. “The experience was eye-opening for me,” the 31-year-old told <a rel="noopener" href="https://celebrity.nine.com.au/tv/casey-donovan-parents-family/26500dde-8c0a-47e8-9458-977c63a057ca" target="_blank">9Honey</a>. “To learn about my family and who I am as a whole was really interesting.” She said she was especially excited to learn about her mother’s lineage, which she “had no idea” about. “I guess back in the days our parents were old-school. English parents didn’t really speak about their upbringing.” The show’s experts found that Donovan’s biological father – who left when she was two years old – is of Aboriginal descent, while the ancestors of her mother could be traced back to the English convicts. Donovan was also discovered to be three per cent Swedish. “I now understand my heavy love for flat-packing and IKEA,” Donovan told <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/life/culture/article/2019/05/26/weight-has-lifted-casey-donovans-journey-discovering-her-family-history" target="_blank">SBS Life</a>. “I was just expecting Indigenous and English – but Swedish was a surprise.” <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx-7UYKHVu6/" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx-7UYKHVu6/" target="_blank">For most of my life I have struggled to find who I really am, there has always been a part of me that felt like I didn't really belong... Last year I had the opportunity to be on Who Do You Think You Are? And get some of those questions answered. It was honestly one of the most special and rewarding things I have ever done! Finding out my own DNA, going on adventures to find out about Myself, my bloodline and who my family were/are was so exciting and eye opening, but at the same time scared the shit out of me! It's hard to put into words how special this whole experience was! Thank you to the whole #wdytya crew on the ground and team behind the scenes for finding what you did and for being such an amazing crew to work with! Many revelations (and a few tears) were made on this journey and Because of you, I'm a little less lost. From the bottom of my heart, Thank You! Tune in tonight 7:30pm @sbs_australia #whodoyouthinkyouare #sbs #sbsondemand #tonight #family #dna #ancestry #mystory #tunein</a> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/caseydonovan88/" target="_blank"> Casey Donovan</a> (@caseydonovan88) on May 27, 2019 at 3:45pm PDT </div> </blockquote> The series saw the musician reconnect to her paternal Indigenous roots in Gumbaynggirr country on the mid-North Coast of NSW, where her great-great-grandmother Florence Randall was credited with helping to keep the Aboriginal group language alive. “All the women in my family are very strong, so that was very interesting,” Donovan said. “When you come from a broken family and you grow up with all these questions that rarely get answered... after not knowing who I was and struggling with my identity, to do the show and have these answers given to me, it really was a weight taken off my shoulders,” she shared. “At the end I was in tears because it was such a beautiful thing. All the doubts I had about who I am, am I good enough, all of those thoughts went away because of the questions that were answered.”

Music

How DNA ancestry testing can change our ideas of who we are

Have you ever wondered who you are or where you come from? I think it’s a fundamental human desire to want to know this. One way we’re seeing this curiosity play out is in the rise of the at-home DNA ancestry business. You’ve probably seen the ads for tests like 23andme and Ancestry DNA: you spit in a tube, and then receive a report breaking you down into neat little slices in a pie chart telling you that you’re, say, 30% German and 70% English. As a population geneticist, I find this fascinating. But how does our collective interest in ancestry testing interact with our ideas and conversations about race? 'No borders within us' Earlier this year, a Mexican airline, Aeromexico, ran a tongue-in-cheek ad campaign, called “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sCeMTB5P6U">DNA Discounts</a>” with the slogan “there are no borders within us”. For the ad campaign they gathered a group of North Americans who were willing to take a DNA test and get their results on camera. This group contained some members with, let’s just say, a somewhat negative view of Mexico. In the ad, the airline offered rewards to these people based on their DNA results, in the form of a discounted airline ticket to Mexico. The size of the discount depended on the amount of Mexican ancestry. If their test showed 15% Mexican ancestry, that meant a 15% discount. The footage of people getting their results on camera is pretty funny, and some of them seemed somewhat surprised, and maybe even upset about their reported ancestry. <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/aeromexico-dna-ad-discounts-commercial-trump-mexico-us/">More than half</a> of those tested appeared to have Mexican ancestry, even though they weren’t aware of it. The slogan “there are no borders within us” has an element of political commentary related to Donald Trump’s border wall. But the ad also teaches us two important things. It shows how DNA testing can challenge not just our ideas of race and identity, but our notion of being. Your genetic ancestry might be completely different from your cultural identity. Just ask the folks in the ad. Beyond this, it also highlights how mainstream this kind of science has become, and how much DNA ancestry testing has entered into pop culture. Recent dark past I think we humans have always been interested in our ancestry, but it hasn’t always been a healthy interest – sometimes it’s been much darker and more sinister. And we don’t even have to look too far into the past to see that. The <a href="https://pged.org/history-eugenics-and-genetics/">eugenics movement</a> was part science and part social engineering, and based on the idea that certain things – such as being poor, lazy, “<a href="https://acluva.org/en/news/shameful-history-eugenics-virginia">feeble-minded</a>” or criminal – were actually traits that were inherited in families. These traits were often linked to certain ancestries or racial groups using <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-1809.2011.00649.x">biased</a> methodology. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1127045/">Eugenics</a> was the idea that humanity could <a href="https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/buckvbell/74/">engineer</a> a better future for itself by identifying and regulating these groups using science and technology. In the United States in the early 20th century, eugenics became a recognised academic discipline at many prestigious universities – even <a href="https://harvardmagazine.com/2016/03/harvards-eugenics-era">Harvard</a>. By 1928, <a href="https://yalealumnimagazine.com/articles/3456-god-and-white-men-at-yale">almost 400</a> colleges and universities in America were teaching it. In 1910 the <a href="http://library.cshl.edu/special-collections/eugenics">Eugenics Record Office</a> was set up to collect ancestry data, literally door to door. It then used this data to support racist agendas and <a href="https://library.missouri.edu/exhibits/eugenics/immigration.htm">influence</a> things like the <a href="https://history.state.gov/milestones/1921-1936/immigration-act">1924 Immigration Act</a> to curb immigration of southeastern Europeans, and ban <a href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5078">most</a> Asians and Arabs altogether. Although we may think of eugenics as something linked with Nazi Germany in World War II, Hitler based some of his early <a href="http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/1796">ideas</a> about eugenics on these academic programs in the US. There was a fear of “pollution” of the purebred genetic lineage, and that the “inferior” races would contaminate the “superior” race. Many Nazi defendants at the Nuremberg trials claimed there wasn’t much difference between the Nazi eugenics program and the <a href="https://law.jrank.org/pages/2888/Buck-v-Bell-1927.html">ones in the US</a>. Racism with flawed science The events of that time are still relevant now. More than seven decades have passed and we’re seeing the rise of far-right groups and ideologies – the world of Trump, and the return of restrictive immigration policies. We’re seeing a mainstreaming of ideas about race that we rejected not long ago. We’re once again seeing the science of genetics being misappropriated to support racist agendas. Late last year, the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/17/us/white-supremacists-science-dna.html">New York Times reported</a> on a trend among white supremacists to drink milk. Most people of northern European ancestry have a version of a certain gene, called a <a href="https://www.nature.com/news/archaeology-the-milk-revolution-1.13471">lactase</a> gene, that means they can fully digest milk as adults. This is due to a genetic mutation several thousand years ago, around the time of the first cattle herders in Europe. The article described how people from the far right have taken this scientific result and run with it – producing bizarre YouTube videos in which people chug milk from 2-litre containers, swigging it and throwing it around in celebration of their supposed “genetic superiority” – and urging people who cannot digest milk to “go back”. Comedian <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YGB8gvYOPY&t=115">Stephen Colbert</a> even picked up on this story (in his words: “lactose is their only form of tolerance”). The white supremacists took this bit of science and twisted it to suit their needs. But what they have ignored is research showing that a similar version of this gene evolved among cattle breeders in <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4700599/">East Africa</a> too. DNA does not define culture It’s not just popular culture: DNA ancestry has also entered political culture. The right-wing Australian nationalist One Nation recently called for DNA ancestry tests as a <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2019/03/11/one-nation-aboriginal-indigenous-dna">requirement</a> to prove Aboriginal identity to access “benefits”. I don’t want to give this dangerous idea any more oxygen, and as a geneticist I can tell you it <a href="https://junkee.com/one-nation-aboriginal-dna-testing/197354">won’t work</a>. Cultural identity is much more than simply what is in our DNA. Aboriginal communities are the ones who determine who is and who is not Indigenous. I think this episode highlights a worrying <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/us/politics/elizabeth-warren-dna-test-2020.html">trend</a> for genetic tests to be seen as the ultimate decider of race and identity in public debates. So how does the marketing of the DNA companies themselves influence our thinking about ancestry? These ancestry companies use the language of science in their marketing, and present their results as being highly scientific – which people interpret as meaning accurate and factual. The process of estimating ancestry from DNA is scientific, but people may not realise it can also be a bit of a blurry process, and actually more of an estimate. When you look at your slice in the pie chart and it says 16% German, it is not a fact that you are 16% German. It’s an estimate, or an educated guess, of your ancestry based on statistical inference. I think representation of our ancestries in pie charts is not helping our conversations. Twins got different results Recently, two <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/dna-ancestry-kits-twins-marketplace-1.4980976">identical twins</a> put five DNA ancestry companies to the test, and this provides a really interesting look at how this process works. The raw data for each twin was more than 99% identical, which shows that the way the companies produce the raw data is indeed quite accurate. The shocking thing was that the companies provided each twin with noticeably different ancestry estimates. From one company, the first twin got 25% Eastern European, and the second got 28%. Just to be clear, this shouldn’t happen with identical twins because they have the same DNA. Even more surprising, one company said the twins were 27-29% Italian, but another said they were 19-20% Greek. A lot of this difference would be based on the size of the databases that the companies use as references and who is in the databases, and – very importantly – who has been left out of the databases. These factors would be different between the different companies, and change through time. So the results you get now could be different to the results you might get in, say, six months when the databases are updated. Estimating our ancestry is hard, and the main reason it is hard is because our ancestry is much more mixed up than some people might have thought. It’s not really so clear-cut as a pie chart might suggest. The statistics are blurry because our populations are blurry. The bigger picture that’s emerging from DNA ancestry testing is that we’ve underestimated the extent of mixing between ancestral groups throughout human history. Looking at the pie chart might give you the impression that there are discrete borders within you and boundaries between your different ancestries, but as Aeromexico so eloquently put it, “there are no borders within us”. <div class="grid-ten large-grid-nine grid-last content-body content entry-content instapaper_body"> This article is an edited version of a story presented on <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/ockhamsrazor/dna-ancestry-testing-and-race/10943576">ABC’s Ockham’s Razor</a> and delivered at the World Science Festival, Brisbane in March 2019. </div> <div class="grid-ten grid-prepend-two large-grid-nine grid-last content-topics topic-list">Written by Caitlin Curtis. Republished with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-dna-ancestry-testing-can-change-our-ideas-of-who-we-are-114428">The Conversation</a>.</div>

Technology

Patti Newton discovers dark family secret

When you delve into your family’s history, you never know what you might find. But Aussie icon Patti Newton had a sinister inkling about what she could potentially discover – and she was right. Patti, who will feature in an episode of the upcoming season of the SBS series Who Do You Think You Are?, recalled the horrifying moment she learned the dark truth behind one of her family members. “Every time someone would mention the series before I did it, they’d say ‘I wonder what they’ll find?’ And I’d say, ‘Oh, they’ll probably find a murderer and I’ll die.' And they did,” the 73-year-old teased to the <a href="https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/television/patti-newton-discovers-dark-family-history-in-new-season-of-who-do-you-think-you-are/news-story/e34525bf4995889b35791d1fe013dd60?login=1" target="_blank">Herald Sun</a>, referring to a relative charged with manslaughter after the death of a baby in the family. Patti also revealed that her husband, TV legend Bert, was originally asked to appear on the program. “Bert was asked to do it first, a long time ago. There’s usually overseas travel involved so we didn’t think that would be good for him. So when they asked me, I was quite excited about it because I know a lot about my mum’s side of things, but not my dad’s side of the story.” In her episode, Patti’s main focus is on finding out more about her mother’s great uncle “Billy” Maloney, who she had known was an entertainer but had little idea about his career or personal life. “I do remember when I was little and had started dancing, he sent some music to my nana and it was called Every Street Is A Boulevard. He wrote, ‘I think this would be good for Patricia.’ I did everything in top hat and tails back then, as he did when I saw the photographs they found of him.” But despite some of the dark secrets about her family coming to light, Patti said the experience was an incredibly valuable and positive one. “You are amazed, sometimes good, sometimes not. With my mum, I felt going where they went, I loved it. But with my dad, I had no idea that it would be so dramatic ... it’s very moving. “For me, it’s been fabulous. My daughter [Lauren] has four children so I just think it’s good for them to know the history of their great grandad. It’s something I never would have found out myself but this is all done for you.” Image credit: Patti Newton/Instagram.

Family & Pets

A beginner's guide to creating a family tree

First thing’s first, to begin research into your family is to collect basic biographical details about the people you want to find out about. To do this, you should start with the events that are shared by everyone – birth and death. In many cases, marriage will also be on the list. By compiling these preliminary facts centred on these events from legal or church records, you can then continue to build out other aspects of your family tree.FIRST STEPSTalk When starting to create your family tree, the first thing is to talk to as many family members as possible. This way you can obtain the crucial first-hand accounts, memories and stories that will set you on your way, especially from older generations. They can often provide you with details of names, dates, and key family events - although you should never take anything at face value, as it will be your job to investigate family myths. You may uncover skeletons in the cupboard as well - sometimes the most interesting part of your research.Look Now it's time to look through old family correspondence, photos, heirlooms and other material that can find its way into trunks, drawers, attics or cellars. You will be amazed how much information you can extract from these objects to obtain vital clues as to who exactly your blood relations were, when they were born, when they died, who they married and about their children.  While doing this, be sure to note down any key figures in your family, as this will play an important role when you start looking further afield for relevant records.GETTING STARTED Visit a records office The best place to start your research is at an archive or records office – think state libraries or your local registry for births, deaths and marriages. Read the relevant leaflets and information available to you at these offices and on their websites. A good place to start is at the enquiries desk or help/introduction section on a website. Summarise what information you want - be it a birth certificate, record of baptism or a will - and who the person is that interests you. This way you will probably receive a much clearer answer than if you fall into the trap of recounting your entire family history. Just remember, there are usually fees involved for requesting information from such offices as well as fees if you want print outs of documents.Many records offices have compiled basic name indexes. Check these first, in case you uncover immediate references to an ancestor. Work from known facts and move backwards from the most recent piece of information. Then you can use other catalogues and reference works, to identify material that might contain information on relatives. You can then ask to see the original documents and work through them, looking for the information you think might be there.Seek out organisations and events There are many established professional organisations of genealogists of all levels of experience or services like Ancestry.com.au – a family history website which offers members access to one billion searchable Australian, New Zealand and UK family history records. Another resource out there is the Society of Australian Genealogists.Family-history societies can also provide a ready-made support network of other genealogists working in your area. Most of these societies hold regular meetings and welcome new members. They hold activities and events, such as talks by members on their own research, visiting speakers and professional genealogists, and even excursions to record offices or other institutions.Family history fairs are another popular way of finding out more about genealogy and are designed to allow researchers to meet representatives from major organisations. Many of the larger fairs are accompanied by lecture programmes and are great fun for beginners looking for inspiration.

Family & Pets

A checklist for family history research

Before you get started researching your family history, there are few simple steps you should do first:<ul><li>Ask the family</li><li>Do the groundwork</li><li>Contact an archive before visiting</li><li>Work from known facts and move backwards from the most recent piece of information.</li><li>Never assume a link between individuals, just because the place or name seems right - always look for concrete proof of a link.</li><li>Establish a clear set of objectives when you visit an archive. Ask yourself: What do I know? What do I want to know? Where should I look? Why should I look there?</li><li>Remember that everyone comes to a halt from time to time. When this happens to you, societies and professional organisations can assist you, as can specialist magazines.</li><li>Check source of internet data and its validity</li><li>Establish copyright</li></ul>

Family & Pets

Hot tips for family tree research

Building a family tree can be a huge task to take on. Ensure your experience is as seamless as possible with these top tips. Be specific Consider searching by category when you’re looking into your family tree. For example, a search through census or military records. Or, if you know where and when you’re looking for your ancestors, you may want to look into particular record collections.Think local Start your search by looking for records in the relevant country. Then move your search wider as you need to.What’s in name It is not uncommon to find that names were spelt differently in the past, so search under the first and last names. However, also take the time to search for other possibilities yourself (for example Mark and Marks), as this can be more effective.Movers and shakers You’ll often find that your ancestors moved across towns. So as well as focussing your search on the town/region that you entered, you should consider any bordering areas.Family members Consider that they may be many Colin Smiths on record, but far fewer who were married to a Mary, and fewer still with a daughter names Katherine. Alter your search to include other relatives.Think outside the box If you’re finding you’re coming up against road blocks searching a particular person, another option is to simply search for a different person in the same household. For example, say you can’t find Colin Smith? Try searching for wife Mary or other family members with more unusual names, and see if you can spot Colin elsewhere on the record.

Family & Pets

Our Partners

Over 60

News

Shop

Catalogues

Contests

Entertainment

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Property

Games

Information

Keep up to date

Search

Filling the silences in family stories − how to think like a historian to uncover your family’s narrative

‘He was horrific!’: Nearly two thirds of family historians are distressed by what they find – should DNA kits come with warnings?

Julia Roberts learns shocking family secret

Women discover after 55 years that they were switched at birth

You can now get travel recommendations based on your ancestry

Casey Donovan's "eye-opening" family discovery

How DNA ancestry testing can change our ideas of who we are

Patti Newton discovers dark family secret

A beginner's guide to creating a family tree

A checklist for family history research

Hot tips for family tree research

Our Partners