Speaking at the Georgia Family History Expo: Mr. Paul Adjei

     I'm excited about the upcoming Georgia Family History Expo this November 9th and 10th. I received the following press release in conjunction with my role as an Official Blogger.  As my parents can attest, I'm always trying to get them to record stories, so I'm excited about the oral history discussion presented by Paul Adjei and Bernie Gracy.  Read more about it below:

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Kumasi-Ghana Oral Historian Speaks At Georgia Family History Expo

     DULUTH, Ga. -- Paul Adjei of Kumasi-Ghana, Africa will present at the 2012 Georgia Family History Expo Nov. 9-10 at the Gwinnett Center, 6400 Sugarloaf Parkway, Duluth, Ga. Following is a schedule of his presentations.

     Friday at 6:30 p.m. Adjei will present, “Africa the Root of Our Ancestors.” This class will help family historians understand Oral histories to be key resources on both sides of the ocean. “Oral genealogy is the systematic collection of living people's testimony about their own experiences. Oral history is not folklore, gossip, hearsay, or rumor. It is the passing of information from one generation to another for preserving the root,” Adjei said.

• Saturday at 10 a.m. Adjei will teach class participants to discover the records available for African research. The class is titled, “Echoes from Africa.” 
• At 2:30 p.m. Saturday Adjei will team up with Gracy for a panel discussion to highlight the importance of DNA and oral history in genealogical and family history research. 

     An advanced reservation is recommended for this event. Register at www.familyhistoryexpos.com prior to the Expo for significant savings. Individual courses can be ordered for $20 each.

Old Money

     One of the good things about working in the service industry is the money. Not the pay, that's not all that great, but working with the money that the customers bring in. Somewhat often they end up paying with old coins and bills. I can buy these out of the drawer and collect them.

     Above, you can see some of the pieces that I've bought over the years. The most recent is the $5 bill, which I got a few days ago. It might be worth a little more than $5, but it's not the value that I'm after - it's the age. I love that a bill printed in 1963 is still in circulation.  And a barber dime from 1916, a Peace dollar from 1923, a JFK half-dollar from their first year, 1964, and Eisenhower half dollars from the bicentennial.

My Longest Unbroken Line of Ancestral Gravestones

     This week, Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings challenges us to post about our longest unbroken line of ancestral gravestones.  How far back can we go and do we have photos.

     I have to think about this for a second. I know it's not my direct maternal line or it's offshoots: my Great-Grandmother Ruby Waters Huyler does not have a headstone.  Other lines have much older headstones, but have missing generations in between. Some have memorial markers, but not actual gravestones. So, what's the longest line?

     It's a tie! Both my Albea and Powell (via Craft) lines have graves with known locations and markers.  Both lines go back to my 5x Great-Grandparents. On the Albea line, that's Thomas Albea who was born in 1778 and died in 1844. On the Powell line, that William R Powell who was born in 1772 and died in 1847.

     I visited the graves of all but one of these ancestors. Wiley Powell died in Virginia during the Civil War and was buried at a veterans cemetery there. A FindAGrave volunteer kindly sent me a photo.

Roy Albea (and Betty Huyler)	Thomas Craft (and Sarah Britt)
C Vernon Albea  (& Auline Witt Albea Wilson)	BE Craft (and Ruth Evans)
William Albea (& Nina Sprouse)	Effie Powell (and G "Bob"Craft)
Thomas Albea	John Powell (and Emma Taylor)
Tilman Albea (and Julia Glaze)	Wiley Powell (and Mariah Adkins)
Thomas Albea (and Rachel Johnson)	William R Powell (and Sarah Franklin)

My Response to Today's AncestryDNA Survey

     Today I received an email from Ancestry.com, asking me to take a survey about AncestryDNA. I thought I'd share my responses on my blog.

     My responses were influenced by the fact that I had tested with other DNA companies (ftDNA and 23andMe) prior to Ancestry.com.   Based on what the AncestryDNA test currently offers in the way of results, my responses were low.   I think that those without experience with other companies would probably give more positive answers.

• Overall satisfaction? 4 out of 10.  I had higher expectations for such a leader in the genealogy industry. This test is missing many features available from other companies.
• Value for the money? 6 out of 10. It is much less expensive that the tests at other companies. But, you don't have the features.
• Would you recommend it? 3 out of 10. Although it's cheaper, the other companies provide a better product. If you only have $100 and don't think you can save $300, go for this one. If you are more concerned about quality, save up.
• Increased my satisfaction with Ancestry? 2 out of 10. Again, I expected better. This product actually lowered my opinion of Ancestry.com as a company.
• Website is easy to use. 5 out of 10. It is easy to use (almost too simple) but it is slooooooow.
• AncestryDNA website clearly represents my results. 1 out of 10.  This one needs a bit of an explanation. Yes, the website is pretty simple. But, as I said above, it is almost too easy. I understand the info they give me, but I don't learn anything. Based on their website, I have no idea how they came to these conclusions. I just have to hope that Ancestry.com got it right. Sorry, but I want to know the science behind it all.

On the other hand, I did give them a few high marks:

• Test was easy to do. 9 out of 10. Spit. Done.
• Test was easy to ship and register. 9 out of 10.  It was pretty simple.
• Test result turn around. 10 out of 10. It took less than a month. Hard to beat.
• My results are kept private. 10 out of 10. Private? I don't even know all of the info behind my results.

     I would love to see more detailed results from AncestryDNA. Raw data, chromosome data, ability to triangulate matches and, simplest of all, a search function.  Let's add those features and I'll give a higher score.