Family Genealogy

My sister, Gerry, has done a lot of good work on our family genealogy. I suspect that she has wanted to demonstrate that our family tree is awesome. She is in fact putting together an awesome family tree.
She has taken our 'Norwegian line' back many generations. She gives thanks to the record keeping abilities of the tax collectors of foreign ruling powers. Relying on the accuracy of their documentation Gerry has traced out paternal grandmother's line back to the early 1600's in Norway.

Gerry has enjoyed her investigations into our family history as a 'wonderful adventure.'

It seems my interests in her activities have lagged. Now that my traveling days seem to be behind me, I see that I may have easily visited a cousin Gerry found in Nessoden which is just a ferry ride from Oslo. that cousin is the local historian and used to captain the ferry! I don't even know his name or whether he speaks English.

Icelandic DNA

A few years ago while in Iceland and speaking of Icelandic history, I was told the the first Norsemen on the island found Irishmen already there. It was said that they were "mostly monks living in caves."

Well, on the radio today I heard part of an investigation recently carried out in Iceland. It seems that the investigation consisted mostly of DNA testing. The Testing included testing DNA found in teeth going back a thousand years.

The upshot is that the DNA of past and present Icelanders is more similar to that of a Scott or Irishman than that of a Dane or Norwegian.

I knew it.