DNA - A Brief Introduction

 

I’m not a DNA expert and would never hold myself out to know more than the basics. But, like many people, I’ve spit into a tube, sent my DNA in and received results about my ethnicity, learned of over 400 potential relatives, and even been in contact with some. Today, I wanted to share a few things I’ve learned from doing my DNA.

Even with my limited science background and interest, I know that I receive half of my DNA from each parent. Each of my siblings also receive half from each parent. But, unless I am an identical twin, the mix we children receive from each parent is not the same.

We don’t look identical, don’t have the same eye color or nose shape, or height. But we have some of the same characteristics. You can tell we are siblings. We just received a different mix of that 50% from each parent.

My two brothers and I each took an Ancestry DNA test. One of our parents is from Swedish descent; the other from Bohemian descent. Neither, of course, is 100% Swedish OR 100% Bohemian, but pretty close!  And what they passed on to us is also not exactly 50% of our makeup.

I’m 43% Swedish; one of my brothers is also 43% Swedish; the other brother is 64% Swedish. Yet, we are full-blooded siblings. It’s important to recognize that the mix of DNA received will not be identical.

I recently attended a Zoom genealogy meeting on DNA and learned that, within 5 generations, we probably have errors in our family trees, based on the paper research we have done. Even the best of researchers cannot help but have errors. That’s because we don’t really know what was going on in the lives of our ancestors. Was a direct-line descendant born out of wedlock, yet raised by the people that we see on all paper records as the parents? Was one of our ancestors raised by a neighbor after a tragedy struck leading us to believe through the paper trail that the parents are the biological parents? Were mistakes made by the census taker or the local minister? There are so many reasons why the paper records might be incorrect. Thus, the reason for DNA testing.

My reason for doing DNA testing was to break through a couple of brick walls. For example, my third great-grandfather, Carl Johan Lundblad, father to Catherine Lundblad Linn, was born out of wedlock in 1793 to Ingeborg Ingedotter. Our tree on Carl’s father’s line, stops at Carl and his mother. I have no way through paper records to definitively find his father. Going back 3-4 generations through my DNA test is not likely to show results because I would only receive about 6.25% of my DNA from Carl Johan Lundblad. Do you see the problems? Carl’s biological father, the person I’m trying to find, would only be responsible for 3.12% of my total DNA. But still, it has been my best hope for breaking through that brick wall.

Last summer, I was back in Iowa and was so very fortunate to have time to visit with Uncle Merlyn and Aunt Shari at their 60^th wedding anniversary celebration, see cousins I hadn’t seen in decades; Uncle Ivan who took me as his “date” to the celebration; Myron and I also visited with Veryl Olofson.

I had purchased two more Ancestry DNA kits with the hope that I might get a generation older, closer to Carl Johan Lundblad, to test. And Ivan immediately said yes. Veryl also did the same to help with the Olofson line, being a generation farther up our tree on that side.

In Ivan’s case, Carl Johan Lundblad would be his second great-grandfather, and Ivan would have inherited 12.5% of his DNA from Carl, 6.25% from Carl’s biological father. This can make a difference, assuming the right people also test their DNA. I’m still hopeful that another descendant of Carl Johan Lundblad’s biological father will test and will lead us to a breakthrough on this tree line.

Through Veryl’s DNA matches, I’ve communicated with cousins I’d never met and enjoyed sharing stories and a few photos.

It's always important to remember when doing your own DNA test or having other members of the family take DNA tests that surprising results can happen. You know what I mean. So, it’s important to tell people that they should be prepared, even if they are CERTAIN there will be no surprises, that there could be a surprise. I have seen so many of these “events” in my genealogy groups, a couple of parent or sibling surprises with my friends, and even was contacted by someone from Ancestry who did match our family and had been adopted as a baby.

I manage five DNA tests and can also view 2 others on Ancestry. I’ve also uploaded my husband’s DNA results to another online site, FamilyTreeDNA, because we are working on a Scottish “event” in his family line, and that site has more results for him as a Scot than Ancestry does.

My Ancestry results show that I’m 43% Swedish, 24% Czech, 11% Norwegian (yes we Swedes got around!), 6% Baltic, 6% Germanic (probably related to my Czech), 5% Finnish (probably Bertil Monsieur I wrote about in the 2018 blog), 3% Wales and 2% England and Northwestern Europe (no idea how those got in there!).

An additional thing I have learned is that some of the low percentages might not be/probably aren’t related to people in our tree. They could be from characteristics that are attributed to a geographical area. As more and more people test, my mix of percentages changes a bit. For now, I feel comfortable saying I’m about half and half Swedish and Czech.

If you are interested in doing your DNA and you post it on Ancestry, I’d be happy to be another pair of eyes to look at matches. The more people who test, the better chance we have of finding our way through brick walls. After all, our mixes are not identical. You may hold the key.

 

LaVonne June 5 Visitation and Service

 To my friends and family,

Thank you to those who were able to come to either mom's visitation or cemetery service and those who sent flowers, cards, and donations. We are so appreciative of everyone's hugs and tears and stories about mom that have made us smile.

In a few days, I'll start posting again about our Linn and Olofson ancestry. I have two interesting ones that are just about finished: one about an adoption in our Linn family, and another about DNA (non-scientific, I promise!).

But today, I'd like to share a few pictures from Saturday. If you would like to make a donation in LaVonne Halligan's name to the Czech and Slovak Museum in Cedar Rapids, you can go to https://ncsml.org/ and make an online donation OR you can mail a check indicating it is in memory of LaVonne Halligan to 1400 Inspiration Place SW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52404.

Ivan and Diane; Diane, Merlyn, Myron; Karrie, Randy, Becky, Merlyn and Shari; Myron, Diane and Randy; Randy and Ivan; procession to mom's resting place; mom's beautiful casket.

LaVonne Helen Pliner Linn Halligan

Our mom peacefully passed away last night, moving on to her well-deserved rest. I'm sharing a portion of the obituary I wrote for her that gives just a short synopsis of her life.

All of you knew mom and have your own special memories and stories of her. I know that my siblings and I would very much enjoy hearing your memories. Would you please share with us on the blog, not through the email, so we can all learn about your relationship with this special lady.

With heavy hearts, the family of LaVonne Helen (Pliner, Linn) Halligan announce her passing at age 95 on May 27, 2021.

LaVonne was born on September 2, 1925, on a farm in Elkhorn Township, Webster County, Iowa, to Jeffery and Bessie Pliner, joining her older sister Irene to make the family complete. She attended Elkhorn #8, a one-room schoolhouse, and graduated from Moorland High School in 1942.

In 1946, LaVonne was united in marriage to Rolland Linn at Lundgren United Brethren Church and together they had four children who are left to grieve her loss. Myron (LeAnne) of Adel; Diane (Rocky) of California; Marcia of Ankeny; and Randy (Becky) of Grimes. She also leaves 9 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren.

Until 1957, the family lived on a farm just two miles outside Dayton, Iowa, when the family moved to Des Moines.

Always known as a hard worker, LaVonne held many jobs, sometimes three at a time. From cashier to government worker, lunch lady to home typist, farmer to waitress, she demonstrated to her family and friends the value of doing your best. LaVonne had a very creative side, being able to make something useful, if not always beautiful, from just about anything. Her family will also remember with smiles how she glued macaroni on just about everything and spray painted the item gold. LaVonne enjoyed gardening, crocheting, sewing, singing, and was an active support to her children in all of their activities. She loved to dance anywhere, anytime, an activity begun at a very young age at the Bohemian Hall that her parents ran for over 30 years. LaVonne was a 50-year member of ZCBJ Lodge #39 and an active genealogist, who appreciated her Bohemian heritage.

After being widowed for 13 years, LaVonne reconnected with her high school sweetheart, the love of her life, Robert Halligan of Lenox. In 2011 they were married and had 4 loving years together until his passing in 2015.

With hope and faith, her family sends LaVonne to her well-deserved rest in heaven.

ADOPTION OF THE HAGERTY BOYS

I wish I knew the entire story. Today I’m sharing what I do know in the hope that one of you may have information that will help me complete the research on this family.

This is an interesting tale of sadness and joy, of love and sacrifice, a few lingering questions, and a portion of the Linn family.

Roy Oscar Hagerty was born on December 14, 1890; brother George Cleveland Hagerty followed on June 10, 1893; and John Henry Hagerty on May 21, 1895. They were born to Harry Hagerty and his wife Josephine Dorothy Wretling Hagerty. Josephine was born Thea Josefina Wretling in Frotuna, Stockholm, Sweden and came to the United States with her family in 1880 when she was just 9 years old. Her family eventually settled in Kansas where she met and married Harry Hagerty, a naturalized citizen from England or Ireland.

Roy, George, and John were all under the age of 10 when, on December 26, 1899, their parents surrendered them to the Christian Children’s Home in Holdrege, Nebraska. This home had opened in 1888 under the care of a pastor in that town. You can read more about the history of this home at the following site:

Christian Children's Home

From the accounts I’ve read, the Christian Children’s Home was clean, orderly, and disciplined, but not cruel or abusive. The three Hagerty boys would have attended school and church activities and had a group of other young children to play with.

Below is the first page of the intake papers for the 3 Hagerty boys in which we see that the parents have been counseled and believe “that it is for the best interest of the children that said adoption be made”.

We don’t know the complete reasons the Hagertys placed their 3 young sons in the Christian Children’s home, or how they came to select a place in the middle of Nebraska when they had been living in Oklahoma. But we can speculate that perhaps their marriage was troubled, it was too difficult to provide for a family of 5, there was abuse, or even that the parents were ill-equipped to be good parents. Whatever the reason, the day after Christmas in 1899, Roy, George and John Hagerty became the wards of the home. And in 1902, the mother Josephine remarries.

It wasn’t long after the boys were placed in the Christian Children’s Home that the eldest, Roy Oscar Hagerty, was adopted. His new family was William Rinquist and his wife, Charlotte Linn Rinquist. Charlotte (Lottie) was the daughter of John and Sarah Linn, thus our Linn connection to this story.

William Rinquist was born in Sweden in 1847 and came to the United States in 1871. Lottie, we know, was born in Iowa to John and Sarah on January 29, 1857. The couple married on July 3, 1884, in Denver, Colorado and moved to Kansas. They had two children, but only one survived.

We see in the 1900 US Federal Census for Diamond Valley, Kansas, William Rinquist, a farmer, his wife Lottie, and their two children Maria Edna Rinquist, born in July of 1890 in Kansas, and adopted son Roy Oscar Rinquist, born in December 1890. He and Maria were the same age. The census also states that Lottie had given birth to two children but one had died. I have no record of that other child.

We also see in the 1900 US Federal Census the listing for the 2 younger brothers, George and John Hagerty, listed as “inmates” at the Christian Children’s Home in Nebraska:

These two Hagerty boys didn’t have much longer to live at the Christian Children’s Home. In 1901, they were adopted by Carl and Betty Hord. In the 1910 US Federal Census, John is 14 and living with his adoptive parents in Plumgrove, Nebraska. George is listed as a 16-year-old hired hand on a farm in Union, Pottawatomie County, Kansas.

The boys’ biological mother, Josephine, remarried in 1902 to William Quilliam who became a captain in the Salvation Army until he was investigated for embezzling money from the organization. It appears that Josephine didn’t have great success with her husbands!

Several interesting facts surround these 3 young men as they grew up. From the article below, you can see that they all had contact with their birth mother. She knew where they were and additional articles show her visits with at least one of her sons.

I’ve tried to find additional info on the biological father, Henry Hagerty, but I’ve been unsuccessful.

John Henry, the youngest, used the last name Hoard/Hord as far as the 1910 census when he was 14 years old living with Carl and Betty Hord, but by the 1920 census, he had returned to using his birth name again, John Henry Hagerty; and he used that last name the rest of his life.

When William Rinquist died in Fresno, California in 1912, his will stipulated that his adopted son Roy Oscar would receive $50; his biological daughter Mary received $3,000.

Were there difficulties in the homes where these young men were raised? At the time, would there normally be a difference of money given either to men and women in a will or to an adopted child? I have no way of knowing as only facts are generally available to the family historian. But it does make me curious about the warmth and contact the 3 had with their birth mother, Josephine, the use of the original last name by one of the boys, and Roy Oscar Rinquist remaining in Kansas while the rest of his family moved to Fresno, perhaps leading to a breakdown in that family and a nominal inheritance.

Our Linn relative, Roy Oscar Hagerty Rinquist, served in World War I, enlisting on December 14, 1917, and discharged on October 3, 1919. Before entering service, he was a streetcar conductor in Kansas City. He was in the Aviation Corps, served in France and, on October 5, 1918, Roy was admitted to the hospital in Lorient, France, for a short stay and was dismissed on October 28 and sent to USN Base #19.

When he returned to the United States, Roy married in 1919 to Olivia Nordenberg and continued his work as a conductor. In 1927, the couple made an ocean trip back to Sweden, coming back through New York on September 5 of that year.

Sometime after the 1940 US Federal Census, the couple moved to Miami, Florida, where Olivia died in 1969. Roy remarried in 1971 to Hilda Nelson; and he died in April 1974. Roy had no children with either woman.

Roy and his brothers are not close relatives, second cousins twice removed. But their story is interesting to me; and at this point in my research, I’m much more interested in the life stories than in collecting more and more names and dates. These stories, I hope, show the humanity, the problems and joys, the lives of those who came before us.

If You're Happy and You Know It ...

Have you seen any studies that have shown who is the happiest? Maybe you’ve read an article about the happiest state, small town, occupation, number of children, marital status. These, of course, are fun to read and maybe hold some truth. Do we inherit a “happiness gene” or “happiness tendency”? Can we find happiness by where we live?

Recently, my cousin Alan sent me a YouTube link about a study that has been repeated every year since 2012, ranking the happiest people in the world, based on GDP, education, corruption, and more. It might surprise you to know that Scandinavian people are among the happiest in the world. While Sweden ranks #7 when one looks at the top 10, 5 of top 10 are Scandinavian countries. And the United States is nowhere to be seen.

Our Linns, Olofsons, Lundblads, Carlsons and more have been in the United States for almost 2 centuries, so how much “happiness” we inherit from our ancestors’ time in Sweden is questionable. However, when I watched the YouTube video, I saw a couple of cultural happiness traits that I saw in my Swedish grandparents. I wonder if you do, too.

Being happy is probably a complex issue, one that I'm not prepared to discuss with any authority. But  happiness probably includes many factors including the general attitude of the people, the weather and geography, religion, the influence of the government, and more, many of which we see in the YouTube. 

The video also made me wonder about other characteristics I may have inherited, not because I’m Swedish or Bohemian, but because of the qualities that were passed down from parents, grandparents, great-grandparents. Hard work? Honesty? Musical ability? Impatience? Alcoholism? Frugality? Independence? Worry-free? Responsibility?

And while I didn’t think of it when I visited Sweden, now that I reflect on my three trips there, I do see much of what is shown in the YouTube is in the Swedish culture that I witnessed.

Here's the link to the video, about 25 minutes long if you speed past the ads.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=e6oAQlTd67k&feature=share

I thank Alan for sharing this thought-provoking video. I wonder what your ideas are about traits or characteristics you may have inherited through our Swedish culture or upbringing. I look forward to your comments.

Family Sayings

Today is Mother’s Day and so I start this post with a hug to all the moms, grandmas, aunts, sisters, cousins and other special ladies in our family. My 95-year old mom is physically doing fine, but her mental capacity is gone. She rarely remembers any of her children, and it’s not possible to carry on a conversation with her. Today, while I remember my mom, it is with a sense of sadness that 70-years of my life, talking with her, sharing genealogy information with her, arguing with her, cooking with her, laughing with her, and having my feet rubbed by her are gone.

It also seemed fitting that today we remember some of the sayings our moms and other family members used to say to make a point with us growing up. And so, today I think about and share a few of those family sayings:

We all have them. Family sayings that have a message but are often skirted in humor.

As children, when we left a door open, my mom would always say “Shut the front door. We’re not heating for the birds.” I can still hear her say that, and I will admit that I never leave a door open, even though I live in southern California where it is never cold enough to want to heat for the birds.

The Linns were/are great card players. Put the Linns together with a pot of coffee – or two – and a card game will break out. If you were with the Linns when Pete and Maude hosted a night of cards, you heard Grandma Maude Linn say “Give me some kings, give me some aces, give me some cards, I’m going places.” And if I remember right, she had to be facing the way the bathtub faced for good luck. I still say this phrase and I think my brothers do as well. Where did Grandma learn these phrases and superstitions?

In our family, we also heard “I got a hand like a foot (playing cards)” and “I’m so mad I could crush a grape.”

Grandpa Pete Linn would often finish a story with “That’s what makes me so slick.”

To the boys in our family, mom would say “If you don’t tuck in your shirt, I’m going to sew lace on the bottom.” I imagine that worked quite well!

I always said “shoot a pickle,” a phrase I learned from a college roommate. And that phrase kept my language in check! Somewhere I learned to say “flush that puppy down” and passed it on to our grandsons for when they finished their bathroom duty. They think it’s hilarious!

What family sayings do you have, do you remember? Your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, or great-grandparents? Let’s share a few, especially if they are from our Linn or Olofson folks. I’m sure you heard and remember some that I don’t recall, and I’d love to hear them.

 LaVonne, 1925

                                 LaVonne, High School Grad

LaVonne, 2018

HALFARDSSON HOME

 

My 6^th great grandfather on the Olofson line is Anders Halfvardsson, born on January 16, 1687 in Ytterhogdal Parish in Jamtland County in northern Sweden. He moved to Farila Parish in Gavleborg County where he married Cherstin Zachrisdotter who was born in June 1691 in Farila Parish. They raised 5 children including a set of twins.

I found the following picture and description of their home in Karbole, Farila Parish where you can see Anders and Cherstin’s names mentioned.

 This description (at least the parts I can read) gives us a look at how this house was handed down in this family from one generation to the next for a very long time. I can also partially read that a baby grand piano was moved to its present location in 1895. Some animals are mentioned: 1 horse, 11 cattle, 2 pigs. The farm previously covered 1,147 ha. (some measurement), but about 250 were sold in 1890. The land has been in the family as far as you can trace back in the church.

Anders Halfvardsson and Cherstin Zachrisdotter passed the home on to my 6^th great uncle Halvard Andersson and his wife Marta Jonsdotter. Why didn’t my 5^th great grandfather Olof Andersson, inherit the property from his father? Because he wasn’t the eldest son. His brother Halvard Andersson was.

Halvard’s son, Anders Halvarsson, my first cousin 6 times removed, lived there next with his wife Ingrid Persdotter. Later, their son Per Andersson and his wife Anna Andersson lived in the home. Their daughter Marta Persdotter and her husband Olof Ersson lived in the home, followed by their sons Per (who used the last name Sundstrom) and Olof.

While I had already researched and found the birth and death dates of these ancestors, along with their spouses, this was a great source for confirming what I had found and would also help someone who hadn’t filled out this part of the family tree. But what was new to me was how this property had stayed in our family for generations.

• Halvard Andersson was the eldest child of Anders Halfvardsson.
• Anders Halfvarsson was the eldest child of Halvard Andersson.
• Per Andersson was the only child of Anders Halfvarsson.
• Maria Persdotter was the only child of Per Andersson.

Do you see the pattern? Eldest or only child in the family inheriting the family home. This was the tradition. And this helps explain why some family members had to move, to immigrate to other countries, to find another path. They would never own property that had been in their family.

And when you look at people like Gus, John, and Peter Linn, the 3 youngest of a widowed mother, their opportunities to own land would only be available to them through immigration. Thus, one important reason why these 3 Linn brothers immigrated to the United States.