RootsTech 2023 Influencer

Hello everyone!

I'm happy to announce that I have been invited to be a RootsTech 2023 Influencer. As such, I will be sharing news and information about RootsTech 2023 here on my blog.

RootsTech 2023 will be held on 2-4 March 2023 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. It will be held both virtually and in person. 

For those who choose to attend virtually, it is absolutely free. And for those who choose to attend in person, the cost for this three-day conference is $98.

Registration is open at the following link: RootsTech 2023 Registration. On the registration page, there are two options to choose how you will attend RootsTech 2023: In Person or Virtually.

The registration page also includes information about RootsTech 2023 including the list of speakers and the conference daily schedule.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2022 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

My AncestryDNA Ethnicity Inheritance Results

My Ancestry DNA results were updated recently. This update included a new interesting feature called Ethnicity Inheritance. This feature "estimates which regions" I inherited from my father and my mother.¹ Initially, the inheritances were labeled Parent 1 and Parent 2. I was able to edit those labels to Maternal and Paternal. In my case, it was pretty easy to see that Parent 2 was my father, Jan Albert Iverson, because the ethnicity regions for Parent 2 only came from Sweden and Norway.

My father's maternal grandparents, Carl Albert Gillberg and Maria Hilda Carlsson were immigrants from Sweden. My father's paternal grandparents, Christopher Iverson and  Anna Christopherson, were children of Norwegian immigrants.

The rest of my ethnicities come from my mother, Maria Elizabeth Webster, who was born in Brazil. From her I inherited ethnicities from Portugal, Sweden & Denmark, England & Northwestern Europe, Indigenous Americas--Mexico, Indigenous Americas--Yucatan Peninsula, Wales, Spain, Senegal, Basque, Northern Africa, and Northern Italy.

My mother's mother, Sarah Vasques Madeira, was born in Brazil and was mostly of Portuguese ancestry. My mother's father, Debs Warren Webster, was also born in Brazil. Debs' father, Frederick Emory Webster, was born in Ohio, USA, and Debs' mother, Esther Matus Villatoro, was born in Arriaga, Chiapas, Mexico.

Here is my ethnicity inheritance from both of my parents.

Sadly, both of my parents have passed away. I sure do miss them. My dad never took a DNA test, but my mom did take one before she passed away.

I am the manager of my mom's Ancestry account and have been able to access her DNA ethnicity inheritance results. I have been able to differentiate between Parent 1 and Parent 2 in my mom's results based on the known ethnicities of her father and mother. I will share those results in a future post and compare them with mine.

Have you been able to differentiate between Parent 1 and Parent 2 in your Ancestry DNA ethnicity inheritance results?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana Last

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1 ”Ethnicity Inheritance,” Ancestry Support (https://support.ancestry.com : accessed 13 July 2022).^↩

I Did It! I'm a College Graduate!

In my previous post I said I would tell you about my graduation from BYU-Idaho. Well, today's the day to share more about my college graduation journey.

Here's a little background history. After graduating from high school I began working in the Word Processing Department of Standard Oil Company (now Chevron Corporation) in San Francisco. I worked there for about a year and then took an educational leave of absence to attend college at BYU-Provo. After two semesters, I was able to come home and work during the summer and went back to BYU-Provo for my third semester. After the third semester I decided to go back home. I did not return to BYU-Provo. Instead I went back to work and then married my sweetheart. We began our family and I was able to be a stay-at-home mom of our five children. Over the years I took some classes at community colleges, but I never earned a degree. All five of our children are married. My husband and I are now empty-nesters and we are grandparents of nine adorable grandchildren. Our tenth grandchild is due this year. I sure do love my family!

A number of years ago I heard about the BYU-Pathway Worldwide Program. This program provides its students with the ability to transfer to BYU-Idaho or Ensign College. And it can be completed all online! In 2019 I applied and was accepted into the BYU-Pathway Worldwide Program. This one-year (three consecutive semesters) program enabled me to begin my college education again. I took a total of fifteen credits at BYU-Pathway Worldwide that transferred over to BYU-Idaho.

In April 2020 I began attending BYU-Idaho as an online student. I decided to complete my two degrees at BYU-Idaho in two years, which meant I would not have a full summer break (April to September) each year. Instead, I took three consecutive semesters each year and had a shortened summer break. It was a lot of work but was definitely worth it to finish sooner.

Thankfully, most, if not all, of my BYU-Provo credits and many of my other college credits transferred to BYU-Idaho which also helped me finish college sooner. I began BYU-Pathway Worldwide in April 2019 and graduated from BYU-Idaho in April 2022 - a total of three years.

I was able to earn two degrees: an Associate of Applied Science in Family History Research and a Bachelor of Science in Professional Studies. Along with other required classes to earn the bachelor's degree, I completed three certificates: Family History Research, Advanced Family History Research, and Administrative Assistant. The family history certificates also counted toward my AAS in Family History Research degree.

I decided to attend my graduation in person and walk across the stage to receive my diploma cover (the actual diplomas are sent in the mail). It was exciting to be there. My husband and I traveled to Idaho and two of our children and their families were able to attend as well, which was amazing!

Two of my local friends graduated with their bachelor's degrees too. They also traveled to graduate in person and we were able to sit together at our convocation. It was great!

I am grateful for the support of my family through my college graduation journey. I am also thankful for the help I received from my Heavenly Father. I know He helped me with my school work through the years.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2022 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

My 10th Blogiversary

Oops! I missed my 10th blogiversary. It was actually on April 5th.

But in my defense, my mind was focused on traveling to attend my BYU-Idaho college graduation, which was held last week on April 7th. I'll share a blog post about that in the near future.

Wow! I can't believe it's already been ten years since I began this blog. I really haven't posted many blog posts since last year's blogiversary. Hopefully, that will change now that I've graduated from BYU-Idaho.

THANK YOU

Thank you to my wonderful readers for taking the time to read my posts and for leaving comments over the years. I appreciate your support very much!

BLOGGING YEAR IN REVIEW

Here are my posts from the last year (since my last blogiversary)

My Updated Haplogroup - June 10, 2021

Found at Last: The Marriage Record of my Great-Grandparents - June 29, 2021

My Ancestors' Signatures - July 5, 2021

Little Alice Webster's Birth Record - July 13, 2021

Little Eugene Webster's Birth Record - November 7, 2021

Almost At The Finish Line - March 31, 2022

I Found My Dad in the 1950 US Census - April 3, 2022

Again, thank you for taking the time to read my posts!

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2022 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

I Found My Dad in the 1950 US Census

The 1950 US Census was released two days ago on April 1st. Thank you to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) for making this census available and for the ability to search the census. The search ability was made possible through optical character recognition (OCR) and artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning so the search function may not be accurate. I was able to find my dad, Jan A. Iverson, by searching for his stepfather, Wayne Crawford. ¹

Here's the page of the 1950 census showing my dad living in the household of his stepfather, Wayne Crawford, and his mother, Ingrid. The family was living in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon. I highlighted my dad in a red box. My grandmother, Ingrid, was one of the people on this page who were asked additional questions. Her answers were included at the bottom of the page. They are also highlighted in a red box.

Here's a close-up of my dad's family:

Information about my dad:

Address: 6925 N. Amherst

Name: Jan A. Iverson

Relationship: Stepson

Race: W

Sex: M

Age: 14

Marital Status: Never married

Birthplace: California

What was this person doing most of last week? Other

Did this person do any work at all last week? No

Was this person looking for work? No

Does this person have a job or business? No

And here's the bottom of the census page with answers by my grandmother highlighted in red:

Additional information about my grandmother, Ingrid:

Was she living in the same house a year ago? Yes
Was she living on a farm a year ago? No
Was she living in this same county a year ago? Yes
What country were her father and mother born in? Father: Sweden, Mother: Sweden
What is the highest grade of school that she has attended? S2
Did she finish this grade? No
Has she attended school at any time since February 1st? 30 or over
Last year, in how many weeks did this person do any work at all, not counting work around the house: None
Income received by this person in 1949: None in each category

If I had not already known that Ingrid's parents were from Sweden, this additional information section would have given me that information. This section also provided information that she had lived at the same house and in the same county in 1949. It was also interesting to see the highest grade of school that she had attended. The code was S2 for her. At the bottom of the page the codes are explained. The code S2 was within the elementary school codes. I am surprised to learn that her highest grade level may have been second grade in elementary school. I have to wonder if that code was incorrect. Interestingly, in her vocal history Ingrid said, "mother did not start me in first grade until I was eight years old."² And in her Book of Remembrance, Ingrid wrote that when she was fourteen years old her family sold their home in Salt Lake City and moved to Los Angeles, California due to the Depression.³ She also said, "I worked there at a home as a mothers helper" and that "because of finances" she and one of her sisters were not able to finish school. The family history memories that she wrote in her Book of Remembrance were written in cursive. Because of this, I believe she must have had more than a second-grade education. I am so thankful that she wrote about her life in this Book of Remembrance and that my dad interviewed her in 1977.

To search the 1950 US Census at NARA, click HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jana

© 2022 Copyright by Jana Iverson Last, All Rights Reserved

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1 1950 U.S. census, Multnomah Co., OR, Portland, ED 37-566, sheet 16, household 192, line 23, Jan A. Iverson; U.S. National Archives, _1950 Census_ (https://1950census.archives.gov/search/ : accessed 1 April 2022).^↩

2 Crawford, Ingrid (Gillberg), Antioch, California. Interview by Jan Albert Iverson, 11 July 1977. Audio and transcript. Privately held by Jana Last, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Clovis, California. 2022.^↩

3 Crawford, Ingrid (Gillberg), Blue Book of Remembrance, Privately held by Jana Last, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Clovis, California, 2022. ^↩