Response to Randy Seavers Saturday Night Gen Fun Matrilineal Line

1) List your matrilineal line - your mother, her mother, etc. back to the first identifiable mother. Note: this line is how your mitochondrial DNA was passed to you!

2) Tell us if you have had your mitochondrial DNA tested, and if so, which Haplogroup you are in.

3) Post your responses on your own blog post, in Comments to this blog post, or in a Note or status line on Facebook.


My matrilineal line starting with me:
1. Gwynn Socolich (me)
2. Living Sankey (my mother)b. Racine, Racine County, Wisconsin
3. Alice Dahlberg 16 Feb 1910 - 28 Apr 2004 ( born in Waukegan, Lake County, Illinois and Died in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The next two persons are the subject of my biographical piece "Dutch Origins":
4. Katherine DeYoung (DeJong in Dutch)(b 16 May 1889 Racine, Racine County, Wisconsin; death 9 October 1972 Racine, Racine County, Wisconsin)
5. Susan Kramer (dutch name is Sytske) Geboorteakte Het Bildt,(Frisland, Netherlands) 1863 Aangiftedatum 9 september 1863, akte nr. 178, geboren 9 september 1863. (b. 9 September 1863 in Sint Jacobiparoche (Parish), Het Bildt, Frisland Netherlands) cause of death: typhoid fever; 1 September 1889 in Racine, Racine county and is buried in Mound Cemetery in Racine.
6. Maartje Dijkstra (listed on birth certificate of Systke Kramer)

My father's mother's line:
1. Gwynn Socolich (me)
2. Living Malcolm born in Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio
3. Beatrice Wilma Ward born 12 July 1903 probably in Brandon, Knox County, Ohio died on 12 Nov 1973 in Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio.
4. Anabel Graham born 13 November 1872 in Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio and died in 2 December 1952 in Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio.
5. Rebecca Behanna born 12 January 1844 in Monogahela, Washington County, Ohio and died 30 March 1901 in Mount Vernon, Knox County, Ohio.
6. Susan Applegate

I have not had my matrilineal DNA tested. I have birth and death certificates for my mother, Alice Dahlberg, (Wisconsin delayed birth certificate for Katherine, and Susan (aka Sytske) DeJong or DeYoung.

Family Christmas Performances and games

Extended Family Christmas celebrations have been a tradition since before I was born, probably influenced by my great grandmother’s close knit Dutch ancestors. We were fortunate to have a large extended family located near where we lived in Racine, WI. One of the elements that was always included were our own created games and performances.

One year I remember my mom put a piñata up in the basement and all my cousins took a whack at it. It was filled with wonderful Christmas candies that melted in our mouths. Several of the Dahlbergs were musically inclined so we always had piano, guitar, banjo etc. to dance to on Christmas Eve.

When my mom remarried in 1979, mom and I carried our extended family gatherings with performances with us to California.

Some of the performances we have enjoyed over the years have been: puppetry (my mom, me and Josh) Christmas joke monologs (my brother or step dad) Christmas carol sing along by my step brother who plays Christmas carols on my mom's slightly out of tune piano and we gleefully sing along, sports related made up games (popsicle stick ball with ping pong balls and paper snowball fights) by my son, singing or signing by me, one year we made a clay model out of playdough of a family member and have others guess who it is, we tried to stump each other with word games and Christmas Quizzes: Christmas celebrations around the world. We always offer little prizes too.

This year my game will be: Funny captions for old pictures in honor of my step dad who first thought of it and used clip art, collected captions and put them in a special family book.