Sisters doing family history

Unbeknown to Manda and I, mum took this photo on her ipad while we were engrossed in Ancestry, DNA links and wondering why one has Jewish and the other Irish. Etc etc. What it proves is that mum is not only capable of taking a photo on her own with her ipad, but is also able to send it to us both through messenger. So no excuse for not answering texts or WhatsApp messages from now on!

I spent the morning weeding. Jon arrived at about 1 and after some lunch we went to buy some timber. Jon will have his carpenter and tree surgeon hats on this weekend. He began with some sawing up of the timber to be used to patch rotten bits of garage framework. I painted them with white primer. Meanwhile Manda was using a drill with wire wool sander to rub down the wood frame and garage door. As it got dark we were driven indoors, putting our tools away for the day.

That's when the computers came out. Manda's family have done their dna tests, and mum and I have done ours. It is really interesting exploring the similarities and also the differences. For example as sisters you'd think we would be very similar, I have 28% Scotland, whereas Manda has 21%. I only have 5% Sweden and Denmark but Manda has 10%. Being the blonde one, I would have expected to have the higher percentage. My dna says my general history is mostly split between East Anglia (my nanna, my dad's mum came from Norwich) and Yorkshire where mum's Whitaker family originated in Haworth,home of the famous Bronte family. I have mentioned it before but it has to be my biggest claim to fame that my great great grandfather Michael Whitaker was christened by Patrick Bronte in Haworth in 1826. I think he buried a fair chunk of the family too.

We both love researching this history, and that's why we look so engrossed!

I cooked some pizzas for tea and now I'm back to the family research. A full day planned for tomorrow.