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SOLERA DIAMOND VALLEY | OCTOBER 2024 15 WHEN I SEE YOU When I see you head for the kitchen I know it's time for my dinner When I see you walk to the yard I know it's time for us to play When I see you go to the car I know it's time for a drive When I see you turn on the TV I know it's time for my head in your lap And when I see you climb into bed I know it's time for my walk Submitted By Linda Weiss, esident Another excerpt from my wonderful little boo I Could Chew on is by Francesco Marciuliano. I hope you enjoy it. "I Could Chew On This" Excerpt By Karen Range, Resident If we know where we came from, we may better know where to go. If we know who we came from, we may better understand who we are. People want to know who they are in terms of their ancestry and where they came from as far as their ethnicity is concerned. is has led to a growing interest in genealogy. Genealogy is "the study of family ancestral lines; an account of the descent of a person, family, or group from an ancestor or from older forms" (Merriam-Webster). It is forecasted that by 2026, the hunt for one's lineage will be an $8 billion industry (Harvard Business School online article). Ancestry.com is probably the most well-known genealogy site. Using a site like Ancestry can help you gain a historical perspective on your family, culture, and traditions. ere are two ways to use genealogy sites to gain a better understanding of who you are and where you came from. One way is to do a DNA test to learn about your ethnic make-up. e process on Ancestry.com is easy. You swab your cheek and send the swab in. Six separate regions are then searched to uncover your ethnic roots: Africa, America, Asia, Europe, Oceania, and West Asia. When I did my DNA test, the two primary regions identied were as I expected. However, I was surprised to nd out that I had a six percent match to Greece and Albania. You can also create a family tree on Ancestry. You can start by simply inputting your name, date of birth, gender, and then adding parents and grandparents. Ancestry searches more than a billion birth, marriage, and death certicates, the census, military records, and more. Ancestry will then identify persons who could be probable matches for you that you can research further. MyHeritage is a genealogy site similar to Ancestry where you can do both a DNA test and an ancestry search. MyHeritage searches birth records, obituaries, marriage certicates, census records, and other genealogical resources to reveal your family history. Both Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com oer a free 14-day trial period. Aer the trial period, membership is required to continue to use their sites. Both sites charge a fee for a DNA test, ranging from $39 to $99. Another genealogy site, FamilySearch, is a free resource. FamilySearch is an international, nonprot organization that helps people discover their family history. FamilySearch provides access to billions of ancestor proles, photographs, and historical documents and the searches are free. In order to search their records and build a family tree, you need to create a free account. My husband, who has used both Ancestry and FamilySearch, said that FamilySearch might be the best site for beginners to use. Getting the results from a DNA test will identify the regions where your ancestors lived or possibly emigrated from. Finding out about your ancestors and creating a family tree will allow you to pass on important family information to your children and grandchildren. Happy searching! Who Are You? Searching Your Roots

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