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From: Lou Love <>
Subject: [LOVE] Love Research Meeting Report
Date: Sat, 13 Jun 2009 18:39:03 -0700 (PDT)

In response to some queries about a summary of the event the following is offered. I've asked the other participants to "report in" to the list about their experience and any results.
 
There were only 6 of us present - we had 8 who had to cancel for cause, most in the last week before the meeting. Then for some reason 4 more who had said they were coming in, never showed up.
 
Kent Love, from CA; Stan Love from NM; Sharon Laizure Hofer from CA; Bill Love from Galveston;my wife Sally and I were the participants. In spite of the low numbers, we had a
good time, got lots of research time in and had some really good info in the presentations.
 
Three of us, Bill, Sharon and I are related by DNA results - we have yet to find our common ancestor but we made some headway. Stan and Kent are each in Love lines unrelated to
others of us at the moment.
 
On Thursday we had a 9am - 9pm day available. In the evening after dinner, Sally and I
attended a seminar on the use of newspapers to flesh  out your genealogy. It was sponsored by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Houston, but they invited us to participate. We found it to
be informative and we got some useful tips. We in turn invited them to participate in the DNA
presentation the following morning.
 
So, on Friday morning, Max Blankfeld, one of the co-founders of Family Tree DNA, talked to
us about what their testing all about. They ONLY test the y gene for the Surname studies which passes from father to son. The mtDNA passes from mother to daughter and is of little value to a Surname study, which is what our genealogy is all about.
 
This testing is totally different from the "CSI" type ID and paternity testing done on DNA.
 
He had several interesting stories of adpotees finding their birth parents, surprised clients
who find they are not members of their lifetime family. He says about one percent of the
population is the result of a "non-paternal" event. Some of these are out-of- wedlock, some
are "adulterous", some are transplants, where a relatives child is taken into the family in an
unofficial adoption. There are several situations to explain these events.
 
He also spent a good bit of time answering individual questions.
 
Saturday morning, several volunteers from the Houston Chapter of Professional Genealogists donated their time and expertise in one-on-one sessions to point us to specific tools and areas to help us find the data to get through the "brickwalls" or deadends in or research.  [We found that their fees are usually $40.00 an hour and up.] One of the advantages of being relatively few in number was that each of us had about and hour with our pro, whereas we had thought we might have only 15-20 minutes each.
 
One of the tips was a reminder to take anything you get in a Gedcom, or off  the net, as ONLY
a lead in the direction you need to go. Research EVERYTHING and make it your own. Don't
believe what you get off the net withouy further investigation.
 
We all researched the rest of the day and there were planes to catch.
 
I'm hopeful everyone felt the trip was worthwhile for their research and will want to do this
again sometime.
 
Love, Lou
 
 

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• [LOVE] Love Research Meeting Report by Lou Love <>