NEWSLETTER ANSWERS DNA QUESTIONS
(Please be aware this post was written in 2003 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
Readers as intrigued as I am about DNA research and genealogy will want to read and subscribe to Family Tree DNA’s monthly newsletter. The June newsletter contains an informative article explaining how genetic DNA markers are matched and why two seemingly unrelated people might have matching or similar DNA marker results. The newsletter may be read at the FTDNA website at http://www.familytreedna.com/facts_genes.asp.
Another page on the FTDNA website is a Forum where people interested in genetic genealogy can ask questions, get answers and discuss genetic genealogy. To access the Forum visit http://www.familytreedna.com/forum/.
PICTORIAL BOOK DEPICTS HISTORY OF ROUND ROCK
Williamson County and Round Rock had its beginnings about three miles east of Interstate 35 on Highway 79 at the site of a home, known as Kenny’s Fort. Built by Dr. Thomas Kenny and Joseph Barnhart in the Spring of 1839 the home served as a place of defense against Indian raids and served as a rendezvous point for the Santa Fe Expedition in 1841. It was also the site where the Archives of the Republic of Texas was captured in the Archives War while en route to Washington-on-the Brazos in December 1842 and returned to Austin.
It was from these historic beginnings that Round Rock evolved and grew. To document the historic and social growth of the town Karen R. Thompson recently published Round Rock Texas: From Cowboys to Computers, a two hundred page book packed with over four hundred historic pictures documenting much of the social history of the town. This is Thompson’s fifth book and her third on Williamson County and Round Rock. It is available for $48.25, which includes tax and postage, from Thompson at 7203 S. Ute trail, Austin, TX 78729.
Attractively laid out the book tells the evolutionary story of Round Rock through pictures of historical sites and markers, pictures of buildings, pictures of people at work, family homes and historic buildings. There are also pictures of military scenes, churches, weddings, funerals, holidays, sporting and athletics and pictures of famous and infamous people who lived in or visited Round Rock. Included in the book is a picture of the only known photograph of the outlaw Sam Bass.
Anyone interested in Round Rock will want a copy of this book.
The Walker County Genealogical Society will hold their 3rd Annual Texas Genealogy and Family History Fair on Saturday June 28 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Walker County Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall in Huntsville.
Admission to the all day event is $8 and includes lectures, a family information swap meet and exhibits staffed by book dealers, libraries, genealogical and patriotic societies and family organizations. The featured speakers will be Johnnie Jo Dickenson speaking on Basic Research, Emily Ann Croom speaking on Brick Walls and Lynna Kay Shuffield speaking on Cemetery Preservation.
I will be teaching a class on the American Land Granting Process at Leisure Learning’s 2990 Richmond Avenue campus on Tuesday June 24 from 7 p.m. to 9p.m.
The class will incorporate American land records in the period of the colonial era to Manifest Destiny. It will explain the land granting process, how property was transferred from one person to another and how genealogists use such records for tracing families.
Tuition for the class is $30 and pre-registration is required. For more information and to register contact Leisure Learning at 713-835-5539.
The Dickinson Historical Society has raised more than $136,000 in donations and pledges towards its goal of $215,000 needed to restore the old League City Railroad Depot building. In addition to funds the society is seeking access to photographs of the depot when it was a functioning rail station. Interested and knowledgeable persons should contact the society at 281-337-6251.
