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!

My Inspiration

Last year, I lost a very dear friend.  She was an incredible woman who taught me so much and was a greater influence on my life than she could possibly know.  I was 13 years old when I first met Lois Hulme.  She and her husband Phil had recently moved into our ward, and she enlisted my dad to help her with her computer and her printer.  She was currently in the process of printing one of the seven books of genealogy that she wrote and compiled during her lifetime.  Lois offered to pay me about $20 if I would come to her house and help her collate her new book.  Jumping at the chance to make any kind of money, I accompanied my dad to her house where I spent several hours collating pages upon pages of one of her newly-printed family history books.  Once this project was complete, I believed that any future contact I had with Lois Hulme would be limited--she would just be another old lady in the ward.  Oh, how I was wrong!  I never could have anticipated the influence that this woman would have on my life over the next 15 years.

After hearing me plunk out a hymn on the piano with only my right hand in a Young Women meeting one Sunday, she immediately decided that she was going to turn me into a pianist.  Suddenly I found myself (not under my own volition) at her home where she began to teach me to play hymns (with both hands).  Soon I found myself playing the piano while she played the organ during sacrament meeting.  Then she had me playing the organ, singing solos, leading the music, and even put me in charge of the ward choir on one occasion.  But she didn't stop with me.  Sister Hulme had a reputation in our ward, and all of the youth knew that it was just a matter of time before they too would be plucked up by Sister Hulme and taught to play, sing, or lead.  And she did all of this for free.  She never once charged anyone in our ward a dime for any music lesson.  Sister Hulme was an incredible example of service and of sharing her talents.

But Sister Hulme did not just influence me musically.  During the countless hours that I spent with her over the years during music lessons and as my visiting teaching companion, she taught me about the importance of family history and its significance in the eternities.  She told me so many stories!  She would talk and talk and talk about her ancestors.  And I loved it.  I have thought for many years now, that if I could be just the tiniest bit like Sister Hulme when I grow up, I would feel like I accomplished something great.  I have felt inspired by her for many years to work on my family history, and during the last three years I have begun to do just that.  I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I'm excited to start the journey.