In recent years I have altered my blog a bit, focusing more on general topics and less on my family, since my kids are now grown and gone. This is not merely a "mommy blog" but an ongoing way for me to get some writing practice and essay practice. However, today I wanted to swing it back around to the personal, so I hope if you're not related to me by blood or marriage you won't be offended.
Around 2013, I saw a program on PBS called Finding Your Roots, with Henry Louis Gates. It's fascinating to me how Dr. Gates helps famous people trace their ancestry back. The show uses the traditional [hunting through census records and deed records, etc. at the courthouse] and more modern methods -- DNA testing. He talked about 23andMe. I had never heard of that company. I decided to buy a test kit for my son, because we have no information on his birth family. My mom wanted me to get tested, too, so I did.
Not surprisingly, I am 63% British and Irish, 19.7% French and German, and 3.2% Scandinavian. My adopted son is 89% Eastern European, 5% Greek and Balkan, and a smattering of other ethnicities. Because my son was born in Kazakhstan, we have not been able to find any close relatives.
I have located a veritable treasure trove of relatives, however, on both sides of my family. There is a category on 23andMe called DNA Relatives. You can see everyone on 23andMe who is related to you. Now, if you don't want to be identified you can just use initials and not supply any information about yourself -- it's all optional. You don't have to share anything with anyone else. However, when you see a list of folks and how they are related to you, you can contact them.
I have located relatives who are white and African American and Asian. I now have Jewish relatives. I have relatives all over the USA. The more the merrier!
Months ago, I got in touch with a "Second to Third Cousin" named Roy, who lives in Virginia, and thus began a fascinating journey. As a writer, I am always very curious about people's stories, and Roy's story is intriguing to me personally, professionally, and as an adoptive mom. He was adopted as an infant but not told he was adopted. As a teen, he found out by accident. His adoptive parents didn't tell him anything about his birth parents, though. He got a limited amount of information from the agency, but not the names of his biological parents.
Months ago I had a terrific conversation with Roy by phone, and promised to try and help. I wasn't able to get it done, despite my best research efforts. I should explain that by looking at Roy's profile on 23andMe and clicking on Relatives in Common I was able to see he is connected to me on my mom's side of the family. I couldn't figure out how exactly, though. My Hasty great grandparents had a ton of kids. [see below, the family around 1914]
However, a lady named Barbara in North Carolina got a 23andMe test kit from her daughters this past Christmas, and did it. She is Roy's biological aunt. She has several siblings and so she and Roy have narrowed it down to one of her brothers probably being his father, but unfortunately the man has passed away. Roy is still searching for his birthmom's family, and hoping she is alive, of course. I understand and sympathize with Roy's desire to know his birth family. Everyone deserves to know that basic information.
I friended Barbara on Facebook and we were quickly able to figure out our connection. It isn't through the Hastys, but it is through the McMillans.[I have written about the Hastys and McMillans before, here.]
My great-grandfather William Dozier Hasty married Martha Virginia ["Ginnie] McMillan. [See below right]
The Hasty family has been in the Canton Georgia area for a long time. So has the McMillan family. Both families are highly respected in the area. Grandpa Hasty donated land to build a school and it still stands, in Canton Georgia.
Below is a listing of the children of Wilson Lumpkin McMillan and Mary Mansfield Brown [source]:
Wilson Lumpkin McMillan -- my great great grandfather
1833-1880
Marriage: 1853
Fulton County, Georgia
He was born when a man named Wilson Lumpkin was the governor of Georgia, and undoubtedly was named for him. Grandaddy McMillan was a private with the First Georgia Cavalry in the Civil War, and was a blacksmith. He contracted a "lung disease" while serving in the Army, which may account for his death at the age of 47. There is more about him here. He had 16 siblings.
Children (8)
There is more information about her here, Find A Grave. For a more complete listing of her siblings and children, see here. She had 16 siblings. One of her siblings was named Francis Marion Brown, another James K. Polk Brown. Her husband was named after the governor. Pretty interesting. I wonder if she realized that one day her grandson Bob Hasty would be famous in his own right as a major league baseball player?!
Emily Adeline McMillan -- she has a granddaughter named Donna and I have gotten to know her, a delightful lady who lives in Florida
1854-1924
Margaret Ann Mc Millan
1859-1890
Martha Virginia McMillan -- this is my great-grandmother, and she is in the photos above. Mom said she was revered as a very sweet, kind lady
1862-1929
Etta Lozenia McMillan --
she married one of William Hasty's cousins, Jimmy Hasty, and their grandson is a friend of mine; I call him my double cousin
1876-1940
left, a portrait of Etta McMillan Hasty
I get a big kick out of locating cousins and getting to know them. I was particularly thrilled to find Etta and Jimmy's descendants. My mother remembers going to see Etta and Jimmy as a little girl.
The Hasty men are all excellent craftsmen when it comes to wood. My kitchen table was made by William Hasty, my great-grandfather, and we have a beautiful oak chest of drawers he made. Etta's grandson Norman has a thriving business making beautiful custom wood furniture. Mom's cousin Frank Hasty does wood "turning" and makes amazingly beautiful bowls, ornaments, and other things.
One of the delightful legacies of the McMillans is musical talent. Mom remembers going to eat big Sunday dinners at the McMillan home and everyone would sit around and sing afterwards, in harmony. They all sang and/or played an instrument. Mom has a beautiful singing voice and sang professionally as a young woman. I have also studied voice and done a lot of singing [when I was young, not now]. Mom's brother Don and his wife have sung in church choirs for decades, and their children are musically talented as well -- their daughter Linda plays and sings in a band, and their son plays guitar. Don's granddaughter has a lovely voice and we recently saw a video of her singing at church.
Mom said all the McMillan women loved to cook and were excellent cooks. I love to cook too! [You can order my cookbook on Amazon, What's for Dinner, Mom?]
I mention these things because they fascinate me. I know most of today's generations, the twenty-something Hasty and McMillan descendants, probably don't think this is important or interesting, but I do. We are all part of a lineage that goes back to Great Britain, Scotland, Ireland, and further. I have woodworkers and minstrels in my family background. I have farmers and shopkeepers. All the men on both sides have fought in every war, too. We love this country.
We are all part of a tapestry of relatives, stretching back across the centuries. We all deserve to know those family members, as much as we can. Mom recalls sitting on Grandpa Hasty's knee and him singing Irish lullabies to her. She sat me on her lap and sang to me, too. What a beautiful legacy, the gift of music. I always think of Grandpa, too, when I eat at the table he built. What a rich experience for me, getting to know these cousins, and gaining a broader understanding of my family and how we are all connected. God Bless us all.
