Confirming WEIRD

Last February, I wrote about the WEIRD situation in studies:  subjects are usually Western and Educated and from Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic countries.  This is true in the genetic genealogy testing field as well.  My father has hundred of relatives in the database at 23andMe.  My mother has thousands.  Rarely does the African-American lady whose account I manage receive any new matches, leaving her still hovering around sixty matches.

23andMe recently offered a new survey asking the people in their genetic database to report their ethnicity.

Here is the snapshot of the answers:

23andMe
Replies to the ancestry/ethnicity question.

People who identify themselves as European comprise three quarters of the database.  If you are not of mostly European heritage, you will likely not find many relatives in the database.  As more people test, additional relatives will become available, but you need to keep this in mind when you either find very few relatives or all of your relatives look European, especially if you know otherwise in your family tree.

Amanuensis Monday: 1847 Marriage of Bishop and Blinn

Ongoing transcription of hand-written notes found in the BISHOP family file at the NewYork State Library in Albany.

The writing is difficult to decipher on this negative copy of this bible record of a marriage.

Using Picasa by Google, which is free, I can invert the colors and play with the saturation and shadows to make the writing clearer.

Mr Ashley Blinn and Miss Caroline Bishop married April 14^th, 1847

In Canaan, Columbia County, New York.

In the 1850 census, the couple was living in Austerlitz, Columbia County, New York.  Caroline's age was listed as 39 years, while her husband was 61.

1850 United States Federal Census
Austerlitz, Columbia County, New York
Ancestry.com

Amanuensis Monday: Remembering Where

Ongoing transcription of hand-written notes found in the BISHOP family file at the NewYork State Library in Albany.

Simeon Barker born where Marlboro Mar. 30, 1811 shock son of Enoch Barker where and Anna Rising dau of Jonathan Rising.  Marlboro, VT.

Enoch Barker perhaps in Warwick, Mass.