my genealogy life

Family stories are my buried treasure

Tracing ancestors in Canada, England, Scotland & Ireland

Sharing my love of digging through old documents, uncovering family stories, that bring our ancestors back to life.


Tag: genealogy

  • Off on a Genealogy Research Trip

    Off on a Genealogy Research Trip

    I am leaving in a couple of days to attend Blaine Bettinger’s DNA talk hosted by the Toronto Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society. I will be bringing my mother and after the 2 days of learning, we are embarking on a road-trip to locations in Ontario where her family lived. Where do we go? Narrowing…

  • Ethnicity Reports in Your DNA Do Offer Genealogy Clues

    Ethnicity Reports in Your DNA Do Offer Genealogy Clues

    I have already done DNA testing on my mother and her brother. Both tested at Family Tree DNA and I really have been one to ignore the Ethnicity reports. But read on as there are clues given in those reports that can be very telling. I recently asked my mother’s sister to also take a…

  • Triangulating DNA With MyHeritage

    Triangulating DNA With MyHeritage

    This weekend at Rootstech MyHeritage introduced a new option to view your DNA matches. To get started (assuming you have already uploaded your DNA for FREE to their site) hover over the DNA tab at the top of the page and select Chromosome Browser. You will get to this page where you can start selecting…

  • A Name Gone, but Not Forgotten

    A Name Gone, but Not Forgotten

    This week is Favorite Names prompted by Amy Johnson Crow. Melody is a surname that my family would not let die, a homage to our petit but feisty ancestress Bridget Melody. She was born in 1864 in Galway, Ireland to parents Michael Melody and Dorothy Guinnessy/McGuinness. Her parents would have experienced first-hand the Irish Potatoe Famine and…

  • My McMahon DNA Breakthrough

    My McMahon DNA Breakthrough

    A DNA whirlwind of discoveries I am researching two very common names on my maternal side, McMahon and McNamara, the place, Clare, Ireland. After searching through wills, land records, civil war records, death, baptism, cemetery records, tombstones in Canada. I was no closer to where in Clare they were from. Once the Catholic records went…

  • Gedmatch – Quick Tip

    Gedmatch – Quick Tip

    Exploring our DNA matches is so much fun. A quick tip when looking at your one-to-many matches at Gedmatch change the selection to the X on the page and see who is matching you on your X Chromosome. The X has a different inheritance pattern if you are a man you received your X solely…