Did you know you could fly

Ok, this is less a holiday update and more of a stuff-you-may-have-missed post.

First-off, for those of you keeping up with the Liath story, there were two new bits posted. Just click on the 'liath' tag at the bottom of this post to get everything written there.

Secondly, for those who missed my original post last week, I am officially hiring myself out as a genealogical researcher. Caveat -- I have no official training in this area. I have a subscription to Ancestry.com that I have been using for myself for almost a year. And I have a Master's degree and several years experience as a librarian, so I'm good at research in general. I've done some trees for some friends and they've all been quite satisfied, but it's a time-consuming process, so I figured I could do something I enjoy and earn money at the same time.

If all you want me to do is look up a name or two and get information on them, it's $5 per name. For more complex genealogical research, including actual trees, I'm charging $20/hour. I'll need full names and at least approximate dates for you, your parents, and your grandparents at least back to 1920 or so to get started. I can make no guarantees on what I'll be able to find and the more information you can give me the easier it will be. I'm also pretty good at knowing when a tough nut will crack with just a little more work and when a dead end is simply beyond my ability to get past. If you prepay me for a certain number of hours and I hit a dead end before the time is up, I will refund any unused time and let you know what resources I exhausted in case you want to take it further with someone else. Just let me know.

In addition, I'm going to try to get back to my jewelry making and start posting stuff to sell - probably on a separate journal or at least under a filter. Let me know if you want to be included in those posts. I also take design requests, assuming I have or can get the requested materials.

As much of my ancestry seems to end up in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, it is not really that strange that somewhere along the line I can supposedly claim Odin/Woden as my ancestor. What I find intriguing is that I can apparently claim him through 7 of his sons, through 7 different pedigrees.

Through his son Geat/Gauti, he is my 62nd great-grandfather.
Through his son Skjoldr, he is my 59th great-grandfather.
Through his son Baldur/Baeldaeg, he is my 54th great-grandfather.
Through his son Casere he is my 52nd great-grandfather.
Through his son Sigrlami, he is also my 52nd great-grandfather.
Through his son Wecta, he is my 50th great-grandfather.
Through his son Sigi/Sigar, he is my 43rd great-grandfather.


I guess it's not that surprising if you think about it. I mean, if you're a Germanic or Norse warlord who wants to take over a kingdom, what do you do? You kill the current king, marry his daughter (by force if necessary), and immediately claim your blood is every bit as 'divine' as his was. And through the marriages with the daughters the conquerors and conquered ended up related to each other anyway, so if you're related to one, you're related to them all and they all have different routes to the same goal -- descent from a major divinity to lend legitimacy to their kingship.

It's just really rather cool to see *how* they did it, and how the pedigrees end up working out.

So yesterday and today, suffering from a general inability to get any real work done, I've been ferreting out more of my family tree. Rutherford B. Hayes and Sigourney Weaver are now on my tree, as a 7th cousin 5 times removed and an 11th cousin once removed, respectively. I can also claim George W. Bush as a relative through marriage, but I won't. Rutherford and Sigourney now join Lady Godiva and half the royal families of Europe as the famous people I'm related to. Sadly, they are both once again on my biological father's side. My stepfather has famous relatives of his own. My poor mother, on the other hand, is not related to anyone famous that I can find. I think she feels slighted.

So, just like my biological father is descended from the Saxon Kings of England, my dad who raised me, and whose family I consider mine by adoption, is descended from Henry VIII and one of his mistresses :) Now I just have to find a royal ancestor for my mother and I'll be set *g*

Oh yeah. This guy? Also an ancestor.

More about him