I'm No Longer a Foote!

On August 1st of this year, I married the love of my life, Tim Zupancic, in the Manti Temple.  I couldn't be happier!  He's such a great man, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life and eternity with him!

Sherrie Yvette Foote Garner DNA Results

I got my mom's DNA tested, and here are the results:

Since my dad had a very low Scandinavian percentage, I thought that my mom might have more Scandinavian DNA since I'm mostly Scandinavian, but she's only 8%!  I find it very interesting that I'm 41% Scandinavian, but my mom is only 8% and my dad is only 5%.  I guess I'll never know where all this Scandinavian blood comes from!

Nancy Jane Riley Foote Photograph

I've been volunteering as a museum docent at the Provo Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum since April, and I've really enjoyed it!  A few weeks ago, I found this photograph hanging the wall in the basement:

Nancy Jane Riley Foote is my 4th great-grandmother through my paternal grandfather's line.  She was born December 17, 1830 in Canada and died on January 26, 1903 in Utah.  Her parents were John Riley and Diana Leslie.  Diana has proved to be a VERY difficult person to find any information on.  The only information I have for her is that she was born in 1808 in Canada and died in 1841.  I cannot find any information on her parents, which is also frustrating.  I keep hoping and praying that I'll be able to break through that brick wall and find information for her!

My Ancestry DNA Results

After working at Ancestry.com for nearly 4 years, I decided to finally get my own DNA tested.  I was completely shocked by the results!  I expected most of my DNA to be traced to Great Britain and that my test would look similar to my dad's:

But it turns out I'm mostly Scandinavian!  I suppose that explains my natural blonde hair and blue eyes.  I'll have to get my mom tested soon and see if that explains why I have so much Scandinavian DNA.

Daughter of the Utah Pioneers

Last month, I spent the afternoon at the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum in Salt Lake City.  I had never been there before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  

While I was there, I wandered into the Manuscript Department, and saw this picture hanging on the wall (sorry for the poor image quality):

I was very excited because I've never seen this picture before, but I immediately recognized my ancestor, Thomas Pass.  I spent the rest of the afternoon searching the DUP photo index looking for my ancestors.  I ended up placing a photo request for 39 people!  I can't wait to get them!

Claudean Lewis Garner's DNA Results

Back in December, I had my Grandma, Claudean Garner, take an Ancestry.com DNA test, and the results are finally in !  She's 98% European, which was not at all surprising :)

I'm related to Harriet Beecher Stowe!

 I bought a copy of Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" a while back and finally picked it up the other day.  I opened it up to the biography section in the book and discovered that Harriet Beecher Stowe's mother was named Roxana Foote.  As Foote is not an excessively common surname and most Footes descend from Nathaniel Foote (1593-1644), I decided to find out if we were related.  After an hour or so of research, I discovered that Harriet Beecher Stowe does indeed descend from Nathaniel Foote, and we are 6th cousins 5 times removed.  It's not a close relation, but, hey, I'm going to claim it!