Lymington and Steyning Marriage Challenges

I have details of a number of marriages courtesy of two recent Guild marriage challenges. Colin Ulph undertook a search of the marriage registers in the Steyning Registration District in Sussex and was able to find two of the six marriages I requested. Jennifer Eagle searched the registers in the Lymington Registration District in Hampshire and located five of the six marriages I requested. I have put outline details of all the marriages below. If  you are interested in any of these marriages do get in touch and I will supply the full certificate details. Many thanks to Colin and Jennifer for all their hard work.

Lymington Marriage Challenge

- 1862 St Thomas, Lymington: Samuel Richard Cruise (occupation illegible), son of Richard Cruise, blacksmith, and Hannah Elizabeth Roberts, daughter of John Roberts, mariner

- 1888 St Thomas, Lymington: Samuel Henry Cruise, boat builder, son of Samuel Richard Cruise, mariner, and Annie Maria Elford, daughter of John Elford, painter

- 1897 St Thomas, Lymington: Ada Florence Cruise, daughter of Samuel Cruise, sailor, and Frederick Earnest Moth, plumber, son of Jonas Moth, sail maker

- 1898 St Thomas, Lymington: Bessie Maude Cruise, daughter of Samuel Richard Cruise, mariner, and Robert Godwin, groom, son of Thomas Godwin (deceased), baker

- 1907 St Thomas, Lymington: Minnie Hettie Cruse, daughter of Samuel Richard Cruse, mariner, and Sidney Lance Collins, painter, son of William Alexander Collins (deceased)

Steyning Marriage Challenge
- 1892 St Mary de Haura Parish Church, New Shoreham, Sussex: Clara Charity Cruse, daughter of Richard Cruse, gardener, and Louis Henry Everest, publican, son of John Everest, postman. (Chailey tree)
-1899 St Patrick's Church, Hove, Sussex: Arthur Edward Crews, stock jobber, son of Charles Thomas Daniel Crews, stockbroker, and Maud Helen Stewart, daughter of William Edward Stewart, physician.

© Debbie Kennett 2011

Kindle edition of DNA and Social Networking

The Kindle edition of my book DNA and Social Networking: A Guide to Genealogy in the Twenty-First Century is now available on the Amazon website and can be ordered from this link.

Indian mitochondrial DNA haplogroups

Last Saturday I was honoured to be invited to give a lecture on DNA testing at the Families in British India Society's Annual General Meeting. FIBIS members are particularly interested in mitochondrial DNA testing as the British men who lived in India often married local women. In many cases the only record of Indian ancestry will be found through a DNA test. FIBIS has just launched a new DNA project for its members at Family Tree DNA, and it will be very interesting to see what discoveries they make.

When preparing the presentation I was unable to find any reliable information on the distribution of mitochondrial DNA haplogroups in India. Family Tree DNA has the world's largest mtDNA database, and Eileen Krause very kindly searched the FTDNA database for me to compile statistics on the distribution of mtDNA haplogroups of known Indian origin. She has kindly given permission for me to reproduce the figures here. As Family Tree DNA is a commercial testing company it should be noted that their database is not necessarily representative, but these figures nevertheless give a good idea of the range of mtDNA haplogroups that are likely to be found in anyone of Indian ancestry.

Haplogroup	Percentage
M	51%
U	19%
R	12%
H	5%
HV	3%
W	3%
N	2%
C, F, K, J, T, A, D, L2, B, I, L0, L1, X	<1%

© Debbie Kennett 2011

FTDNA group administrators' conference

The Family Tree DNA Group Administrators' Conference took place this year from 4th to 6th November in Houston, Texas. An outline of the conference schedule can be found on the FTDNA website. The conference was attended by around 200 DNA project administrators, mostly from America but with a few travelling from other countries. A number of project administrators have written reports from the conference on their blogs with details of the many interesting developments that have taken place at Family Tree DNA in the last year and news of what we can expect in the coming months.

Ce Ce Moore has provided a very comprehensive report from the conference on her Your Genetic Genealogist blog:

- Family Tree DNA's 7th International Conference on Genetic Genealogy - Day One
- Family Tree DNA's 7th International Conference on Genetic Genealogy - Day Two

Emily Aulicino has also provided an excellent two-part overview of the conference on her Genealem blog.

- 7th Annual Family Tree DNA International Conference Part 1
- 7th Annual FTDNA International Conference Part 2

Tim Janzen has posted two very thorough reviews with lots of technical details about Family Tree DNA's Walk through the Y project on the Genealogy DNA list:

- Tim Janzen's Notes from Day 1 of the FTDNA Conference
- Tim Janzen's Notes from Day 2 of the FTDNA Conference

Debbie Parker Wayne has written a report from the conference entitled Hat Tip to Citizen Scientists.

Dave Dowell has written a very brief blog posting about the conference and hints that an FTDNA sale is in the offing.

Thomas Krahn has put his presentation on the Walk through the Y project online on his DNA Fingerprint website.

Joan Miller has written a brief summary on her Luxegen blog and posted photos from the conference on her profile at Google+.

It is expected that the Powerpoint slides for most of the presentations will be eventually be made available to FTDNA group administrators on the Family Tree DNA website.

© 2011 Debbie Kennett