GEDmatch reverses course
Law enforcement matching now opt-in only Informed consent is the essential underpinning of ethical DNA testing and results-sharing. All persons who test have the right to make their own individual choices about testing and about the uses to which their DNA results...
read moreFinding Margaret’s mother, part 2
The possible grandmother So The Legal Genealogist is off to put paid to one particular genealogical question this year: who was the mother of Margaret (Battles) Shew? Margaret is my 3rd great grandmother. My line comes down from Margaret's daughter Martha Louise, to...
read moreRest in peace, dear friend
Oh, to be in Delaware... There are times, like today, when The Legal Genealogist looks forward to a destination just like a little kid getting ready for a trip to Disney World. I've never been to the Wisconsin Historical Society, and today I will fix that with a tour...
read moreWithdrawing a recommendation
GEDmatch can no longer be trusted The Legal Genealogist's love for the third-party DNA tools site GEDmatch has always been clear. Just in the last year, I've written about its cool tool to create superkits[1. Judy G. Russell, “Superkit Sunday,” The Legal Genealogist,...
read moreReferencing legal Wisconsin
Badger State laws It has a long and rich history. Originally part of the original Northwest Territory, between 1788 and 1800, and then part of Indiana Territory from 1800 to 1809, Illinois Territory from 1809 to 1818, Michigan Territory from 1818 to 1836 before...
read moreThat legal demise
A suggestion of death The issue of death seems to The Legal Genealogist to be pretty much a black and white issue. Either you're dead or you're not. But the way that can be referenced in a legal document can be ... well ... downright odd, and perhaps a bit confusing....
read moreHappy mtDNA Day!
Mother's Day 2019 It is and will forever remain one of The Legal Genealogist's favorite photographs. Six women -- a mother and five daughters -- who all share my mitochondrial line. From left to right, my aunt Marianne, my aunt Trisha, my grandmother Opal, my aunt...
read moreAnd the letter L today is for…
A major loss The alphabet soup series here at The Legal Genealogist generally focuses on oddball terms that appear in legal documents and are often misunderstood by genealogists. But today's entry, for the letter L, has to be a little different. It could be for...
read moreAn uncrossable divide
The story behind the record In the ordinary course of things, in a genealogist's life, getting a copy of a vital record is a cause for rejoicing. But sometimes there's a story behind the record... And so it was for The Legal Genealogist late yesterday when a copy of a...
read more2019 alphabet soup: K is for…
The language of the law. Part Latin, part Greek, part law French, even part Anglo-Saxon. And all confusing. Five days to go. That's what's left for final preparations before one of genealogy's great annual parties gets underway in St. Charles, Missouri. Next Tuesday,...
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