Hi! This blog discusses some of my books, ideas for Genealogists, or it could be about my jewelry line or Mystery Books - Just lots of fun! The Store is called KastleKreationsGifts at https://www.KastleKreations.net
Family History Consultants, you would also be interested in our blog: www.naswfamilyhistory.blogspot.com Sign up for our Newsletter - http://eepurl.com/cZDKYn
I hope you enjoy my latest book! It's all about an unlikely couple who are urged by family on one side of the veil and friends on the other to find each other and increase their happiness on this earth. They meet through a comedy adventure of miscommunications and errors and these well-meaning friends! However, they bond while helping the police solve a crime which happens on Summer's property.
Enjoy a clean love story, on me! Available this week on Amazon. Watch the trailer below:
Self-reliance...Charting your Destiny with Heavenly Father!
Recently I took a class with our Church on Self Reliance. I went into it with the brakes on, stating, we didn't need to do this. I was so wrong!
We learned so much!
We forged bonds with other members and helped each other with marketing and networking ideas. It was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about our businesses. One of the first things we learned in the class is that we need to pray for our business to find out how Heavenly Father wants us to Proceed. I do several things from Genealogy to Mystery Shopping, to Avon as Sales and Recruiting, to Consulting with others on their Businesses through Web Design, Marketing/Networking and Search Engine Optimization through placing in Directories and Search Engines and lastly, as a business slash hobby, I also make my own jewelry, so which of these things was I supposed to focus on for the class? That was the first prayer. The answer came back, "none of these, go find your books." Lexie - from Uncharted Destiny
Well, that was a surprise. In 1988-1992, I wrote seven novels during a very difficult time in my life. It was a great way to keep my moral integrity as I focused on principles that would enhance and uplift my life through stories and fictional novels. My first husband was less than enthusiastic about helping me get them published and my financial options at that time did not allow the 2200/book cost. It was important for me to have these put into print for my posterity so they could learn things that would help them as adults in a fun way.
I put them in a box and they followed me to Arizona where they have been tucked away for the last ten years. I knew not where they hid in the maze of our cardboard menagerie in the garage. Yet, when I prayed about it, I went right to the correct box, and there they were, still with their Printmaster graphics and rip away dot matrix paper from Radio Shack. (the old-fashioned printers that first came with computers were stacks and stacks of paper attached to little rip away feeder holes so that you could feed an entire stack of 500 sheets of paper into the printer and it would print them continuously, then when you ripped away the little strips on the side, it looked like regular paper. We've come a long way baby!) Mike and Madelyn Murphy from Uncharted Destiny
Fast forward to 2017 and my dream is happening. We are in the final editing stages of the seventh book and progress has already begun on the sequel to Under Cover and also Uncharted Destiny.
The marketing technique for one of the books I used, was in conjunction with the Self Reliance Class. My daughter is a well rounded Artist from Ogden, Utah. I had her place an ad on the Utah Film and Actor's facebook page for a casting call. These people would try out for the "Part" of a character in my book. She listed the qualities of each character and when selected, she took pictures of them acting out parts in the book. They signed a release that we could use their photos and in return would get to keep the professional pictures for their portfolio, and list themselves as in our Production, they would be listed as Cast members in the book with their picture, and if used in the video, they could certainly use a link to that in their portfolio as well. No cost to us. No cost to the Actors.
Moody Mark, Catherine the Drama Queen, and Tiger - all from Uncharted Destiny
My daughter did such a good job of matching characters, right down to their bodies, hair and eyes and personalities. It was amazing. The chemistry was so great with some of them that they may even be dating now as I write this to you - how fun is that? Here are some of the pictures from the book, Uncharted Destiny and a couple of wonderful reviews of it!
Catherine, after a little fall, decides to put a "cast" on made out of toilet paper.
Tiger, from Uncharted Destiny is a real pistol and quite the character. He loves box racing and is one of the heroes of the Story.
I hope you all enjoy this book! It was lots of fun to make it come to life!
Here is the video for it and My Amazon and Goodreads Author pages
I feel like I was the benefactor of a Miracle last night. I have had laryngitis all week.Just want to express my gratitude for all the prayers on my behalf. Heavenly Father does listen. I had the worst laryngitis all week. Tonight was the big Stake Choir Concert. Ted gave me another blessing and this time it was more urgent. When I got there I was pretty bummed because I couldn’t talk still. But for some reason, I had about 6 notes above high c which came out clear as a bell. Anything else cut out and was gravelly. I thought if I have to cancel because I can’t sing the notes then 4 people won’t be able to perform; the pianist, the tenor and the violinist too. I thought what if I changed it to an obligato 1/3 above The tenor? It worked right, we did it off the cuff and performed it. Nailed it. Still can’t talk but what a testimony for the blessing. Thank you honey, for the blessing and for those who put my name in at the Temple. It was a multi-congregation venture and we all came together for Christ. .
There are truths, myths and inaccurate items on the internet about Genealogy, or Family History.
There are truths and myths about Genealogy. Old timey' genealogists are rolling over in their graves and the ones still alive are a little miffed at how easy it is to do this work now. But is it really that easy? If you are a CLICKER.....YES, it's easy, but not always accurate. So before you start clickin' make sure you have checked and double checked your sources and that each document you find supports another one.
This means, for example, if you are finding a birth certificate and a death certificate and then you find a census for that person and for some reason there she is on the census, then is the death certificate valid? Hmmm. When you check the census from the years before, do all the kids names and ages line up? So then you would not click on the death certificate to add it to your file, because you just proved with the census that she is still living 5 years later.
Sample Death Certificate
One truth is that back in the 70s, it took a very long time to corroborate data. Everything was by snail mail and sometimes it took 3 weeks to get a microfiche film to you and it wasn't correct so you had to send it back and start over. It was also very expensive which deterred a lot of people. Birth Certificates cost upwards of 25.00 each, as well as Marriage Certificates or Death Certificates.
Now, it's as easy as clicking the "ENTER" key - - - or IS it?
Myth #1 Everything you read on the internet is true. Not. Apparently there are people who wrote their genealogy in a slanted light....without the horse thieves and skeletons in the closet.
Myth #2 - When the United States was expanding after the Louisiana Purchase and some people were pushing west, it was absolutely normal for people to move from state to state. False, it was actually against the norm. It took a lot to convince people to go West. They were comfortable where they were and they knew that a long trip would be very hard on them. Not just the elements were at risk, people's constitutions were not as stong as one might think. There were no food supplements, extra protein bars, unlimited reverse osmosis water, refrigeration to help preserve their food. There certainly were no anti bacterial agents like Pennicillin. Many died from childbirth complications. It was no picnic.People are creatures of habit. Usually, once they put down roots, they roost there. I can't tell you how many cases we have researched and people had the different children born all over the country and then the last children born back in the same town where they originated. Fact. Many people named their children the exact same name from generation to generation. When a new person is researching genealogy, they don't always take the time to map out the ages and make sure the parents fit the generation, so sometimes you will see a father as the child in the next generation instead of the previous. That's quite a simplification of the problem.
Here's a great example. One woman was convinced that her family came from Scotland and that her Great, Great Grandfather was born in Utah. She had his parents in Scotland, raised, married, and 3 children born there, then it showed him born in Utah in 1620. Utah didn't become a state for over 200 years. People didn't even venture to that part of the United States until years and years later. His younger siblings were born in Scotland to the same parents in 1700. That would make the mother over 70 years old when giving birth. Take your time.
Make sure you have the proper documents to prove your case.
Myth #3 All Certificates have the correct names on them. Wow. When you die, make sure the person who really knows you fills out the death certificate. Sometimes people guessed at names, ages, and spelling....oh, and birth dates. So if 80% of the document is correct, you may be looking at a good document.
I hope you enjoy this - thanks to gotgenealogy.com - great little document here!
Myth #4 - The winner in Genealogy has all original documents.
False. Give your family the gift of life. Make copies of precious documents and create little books for them so that they can enjoy their heritage. Not all Genealogists are paper hoarders. We just feel more secure if we have the documentation to prove our existence. Why cheat the other members of your family by holding onto them until you pass.
HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND GIVE FAMILY HISTORY DOCUMENTS
First - if you have family coming into town, get their life story documented on video. there...got the family history part out of the way! Fun places to go! Mesachristmaslights.com
I was there! It was mentioned on Facebook and people went craaaaaaazy trying to get there - it was amazing. Hang out there around noon on the 22nd or 23rd - maybe they will do it again!!!!
Today is my birthday. I almost got all my goals completed. I've now lost 75 pounds since I lived in Newbury Park in 2008 and 6 of my 7 novels (that I wrote in 1988-1990) are up on Https://www.Amazon.com/-/e/B07613P16Y(Karen Meyer's Author Page) . I got all the videos for the book trailers completed and up on youtube.com (also links are at the bottom here) - I think Private Eye Sloan or the Ocean Adventure are my favorites but it's a toss up - The one being uploaded to Amazon next week called Finding Mormon Treasure may be a close 3rd. I am happier than I have ever been in my life because I heard from my two inactive kids (of 5) and it was very positive. The Lord is shining on this day and I'm so grateful for every breath. I think I'll go to the Temple today and meet my husband - could life get any better?
All of my books are free on Kindle Unlimited because it is more important to me that the world enjoy "clean" reading (no bad language) than to make money. To have something to hand down to my grandchildren is the best intent for my project. PRIVATE EYE SLOAN
Rex Sloan was bullied in High School, and not just by non-members either. He was driven to intellectual studies and sought a career after his Mission to focus on, instead of marriage, which he put on the back burner. Having trust issues, he has received a 20 year Reunion invitation which causes some anxiety. In addition, his identity has been stolen. He does his own sleuth work and through investigating, finds the culprit, but keeps the mystery going as he does not reveal his
true identity.
Enjoy Private Eye Sloan and find the real thief...the one who stole his heart!
Two teens are in their Senior year and planning their lives. They quickly learn that when we plan and are not in symphony with what Heavenly Father has planned for us our destiny becomes Uncharted. They try to get on the path by being more in tune and understanding that Plan B may sometimes just be what He really wanted us to experience. In the meantime, as you get to know both families, you find that one has a dark past involving World War II Stolen Art pieces. The current generations are oblivious to this because the Great Grandfather has not documented his family history. He has it all in his head, hoping to find the clue his cousin left for him to clear the family of any wrongdoing.
The book is a great tool for parents of youth getting ready to leave home.
What do they need to know that first year that will help them become positive thinking, assertive young adults?
Andie and Anson are new to the FBI field. Recently graduated, their first mission is in California. The job is to unmask Russian Spies who have infiltrated and stolen plans for the newest Stealth Bomber. The FBI Chief gives them a beautiful home across the street from the spy and his family, allowing Anson to carpool with his neighbor to work. Their cover is that they are a newlywed Mormon couple. Now, if you have ever been a convert, you know how easy it is to misunderstand that "different" vernacular of LDS people. So how would you like to be thrown into an undercover position without a Mormon jargon translation book? This causes some misunderstandings that have actually happened in convert's lives. The funniest scene is probably trying to have an intelligent discussion with the Bishop. Nothing gets past him.
Katie McMasters lost her brother in an accident. Her father always treated him a little better but not because he didn't like her, it was just easier for him to relate to a boy. Now, the father has lost his testimony, his son, and is badly injured. Their sheep have to go to market in the fall and moving them to the lake pasture for the summer was always Tom and Pa's job. Katie takes on the challenge to take care of them all by herself, with the help of Shep her dog, Pepper her horse and whatever knowledge Ma has imparted all these 13 years.
Harriet is a Horse who does not hide her talents under a bushel. She is the entertainment of the barnyard. The Farmer does not want her to go off to try to be on Animal Star Search. He decides to give her some perks of the job. That's not good enough. Her friends give her the Farmer's tractor and help her with directions to a little town in California called Newbury Park. She can stay with the Owl's cousin and his family while she auditions. The problem is, she never learned to read. He helps her learn the word N E W so that whenever she sees that, she will stop. She ends up going all over America in search of her goal, but giving service to others and helping them reach their goals instead. It's a rewarding life that she is living and it gives her time to rethink what she really wants to do in this life.
This book teaches others about selfless service - it's not just another silly horse story. Just read it and laugh...then read it to your youth and they will learn.
Living with someone with a big ego is difficult, especially when he is a workaholic. Deke has a big family but he is missing out on their youth because of his passion for his work. It's his turn to plan the family vacation but he is missing out on their youth because of his passion for his work. He decides to make it the "Vacation they will never forget!" and plans a one-day ocean excursion, which turns into a comedy of errors, terror and possibly felonies committed. He learns his lesson, but those with the most integrity will decide if the correct choices were made. He has lots of options for good.
We are all in search of the treasure of our lives of some kind. For Tom, it is the treasure of family and the wish to be reunited with them after a tragic accident. for Summer, it is in finding something that her Great Grandmother left at the property Summer inherited for her when she passed away. They meet in a comedy and adventure of errors and misjudgments and help the police with a sting operation to capture some notorious drug lords. This novel is a fun way to learn how to and how not to communicate effectively! It is a Romantic Comedy, but also a Mystery Adventure at the same time.
This should be released for Amazon e-book, Kindle Unlimited (FREE) and paperback by Dec 1
Releasing this book on Amazon next week for Thanksgiving. It will be #7 of #7 books that I had written in 1988-1992 which I never had the courage to publish. This journey has been a
dream come true. Amazon makes it so easy to read inexpensively - the Club - is free, the Kindle is about 1.99 and the paperback will be about 6.00.
Dedicated to Clean Reading and the Re-Establishment or Re-enforcement of Family Values in the Home
When I was a younger mother, I wrote many novels and read them to my children. Friends who were teachers read them to their classes. It was good clean reading, with a message to learn.
I have begun to have them published and they are available on Amazon.
The first three are:
Under Cover!
Quest for Peace,
To be loved unconditionally by your Father
Harriet the Horse Heads for Hollywood,
Living the life of Service while pursuing your Dreams
Is Training easy for you to get in your Ward? Please take this little survey and let's get more training to the people who need it.
The 1st Presidency has made all FH materials obsolete (Turn the Hearts, or the Brown or Green FH Teaching Guide and Manuals for classrooms) with the exception of the Consultant Planner and the concept of Find, Take and Teach on a one on one basis. No one in the Church told me to ask these questions of you - we are just curious if you are getting the training on the new products. If you have had no training at all please jot down thefhguide.com - it's amazing! Let us know what you need.
Training, Training, Here Training, There Training! We get the privilege of training new Consultants and Leaders on the newest training methods and materials that the Church has to offer! Are you getting what you need to succeed in the search for your Ancestors?
The most important thing you need to have is the desire to learn.
If you don't know anything at all about family history - go here first: Thefhguide.com
If I had to start all over again, this is where I would go to:
1. learn more about the computer and how to make it my friend (I know people who think it's their enemy)
2. Learn about researching and tools.
3. Learn the Standards, so that we don't create duplicate records.
4. Learn where to find training materials in English OR Spanish - (read on I have a treat for you!)
5. Learn what materials are obsolete.
6. Learn what I should be focusing on.
If you are a Consultant or just learning how to be one go here:
What in the world is the Consultant Planner?
This is a tool that reaches through the internet, sifts out all the pertinent information just for your family and hands it to you on a platter. If you are helping someone, no lie, it will make you look like their Hero in 5 minutes - I want this for YOU! (Even though we all know it's really their Angels helping us get this all straight!
Here is an example - Most of these relatives come from the US - so our goal is to fill in the WHITE spaces. Look to the right - if I click on the first one, she have a name to take to the Temple! - no problems
2nd one - There are 2 which need a birthdate or death date added to the file - EASY!
3rd one - This one has 2 people who need to be merged with a duplicate record then it's all clear to go to the Temple.
4th one - This person has 95 records that have been cyber picked for her relatives - these are records which will clear up any problems she may have.
5th one - Featured Records - These records may be the all coveted Birth Certificates, Death Certificate and Marriages that solidify her ancestor's existence.
6th one - This person has 20 records that will clear up the death records by showing a picture of the headstone. (Read Below about the value of FindaGrave.com and Billionsofgraves.com)
7th one - This person who DIDNT think she had ANY Pioneers because she was a convert to the Church.....actually has 17 Pioneers today - tomorrow there may be MORE!
8th one - Today two of her people actually fought in the War of 1812 to help solidify the Independence of our Great Nation
Don't you feel happy for her?
What if I'm Spanish or helping people who only speak Spanish?
Why are headstones so important in family history? There are documents that help and some that do not. Going to FindaGrave.com and BillionsofGraves.com and finding information about a relative can clear up some vagueness in your research. Sometimes you will have two dates of death. Sometimes they are a month apart, sometimes they are only about 5 days apart. In the Hebrew culture, when a person dies, they must be buried within 24 hours (before the next setting sun) so those are pretty easy to figure out the death date. But others with a variance sometimes means "This is the day he died" and THIS was the day he was buried, or interred, or entombed which can be 5 days to a month later. If it is 6 months later, check to see if the person lived in a place where there was snow. Many times, the body was wrapped for burial and placed in a shed until the ground was soft enough in the spring thaw to bury. A picture of a headstone is important because it will say the date of death. Also, someone the person knew had to be there to help fill out the paperwork so this would be considered more accurate for the DEATH dates. If the birth date is different than the birth certificate it is because the friend or family member guessed at the birth date or year when filling out the paperwork for the headstone when it was being ordered. CERTIFICATES WHICH ARE PROBABLY MORE ACCURATE are ones where the person had to be there to answer the question, so in front of a Census taker (Enumerator) they had to swear that the information they gave him/her was indeed accurate to the best of their knowledge. So Census are considered pretty accurate. You must always remember that the Census taker was only human and always motivated by m o n e y. If they could not get the information from the actual family who lived at the location, they went to a neighbor or talked to people in town which was not exactly honest. Here is some information about Census takers and how much they made. It comes from this site: http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/22517 MARRIAGE LICENSES - The person had to be there to answer the questions. BIRTH CERTIFICATES - right! the person had to be there, but his Parents knew him/her the best and they answered the questions. DEATH CERTIFICATES - sometimes "iffy" read above. DATES: Depending on the time of year the census was taken, you can have a legitimate 2 year variance in age - so don't panic if your dates are a little off. Hope this helps! Always ask - if I don't know, I can find out! genealogymama1@gmail.com
I was trying to figure out which of my 6 businesses I wanted to focus on. I finally decided to pray about that. I don't know why I didn't do that earlier except that the way I was raised, you weren't supposed to pray for yourself, as it was considered selfish in that religion. You were really really not supposed to pray for a horse, or for money, or for new roller skates for yourself - that was the bottom line. When you are raised like that, it's SO easy to pray for everyone else except yourself. Suffice it to say, I tried it. I had written 6 novels in 1988-1992 and did not do anything with them. My self esteem was pretty fragile and I didn't want to be rejected so they sat in a closet. When I moved there, I put them in a box and brought them but the box got lost. After I prayed about them, I actually was inspired to walk to the certain closet that we had searched several times over the years, opened one box and there they were. To me that said, you need to focus on this. Of course since was my original goal was to have something to show my grand kids when I was gone, it could also mean that maybe my time is coming sooner than I thought and I should get off the stick and start typing them into the computer, because they are all in manuscript format! Even on the old computer paper that is in one long roll and you have to rip the little dotted sides off to separate all the pages! We are having some fun - my daughters are doing some of the illustrations and working on Video Trailers up in Utah. Valerie has been interviewing people for the Book Trailer video. So I've listed them on my https://www.meyerandmeyerconsulting.com site Keep watching - as soon as it gets processed you will see good clean literature on Amazon! Just wanted to do a shout out to all my friends and say thank you for helping to make this book a hit. It's being published in 9 countries! When I was writing this it was because my kids wanted to read Sweet Valley Twins and I wanted them to read more uplifting and clean reading. So if you can't find it, you create it. So good news today..... This is pretty exciting. The book trailer for my book on @Amazon and @Goodreads is out! https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2Yg3tNO17II# Just search Amazon "Karen Meyer Under Cover" it comes right. It's only 1.99 for Kindle and 5.90 for a paperback. Thank you
all for helping to remind people that there is lots of great reading out there. Please show a reaction to the
trailer on Youtube.com So the PR person in Italy will be thrilled. She did a great
job! Stay tuned - I'm going to let you know later about my Family History Project to help people find their families. Karen Meyer
We are always trying to come up with innovative ways to involve Young Women and Young Men in Family History. We have started encouraging extending callings them to become Temple and Family History Consultants.
With www.thefhguide.com (an instant training program to get them off and running), to teaching them how to use the Consultant planner (www.familysearch.org/ask/planner), they can become a Ward Hero in 5 minutes as it shows them how to find instant successes, i.e., Temple Opportunities, Find a Grave records and Vital Records to attach to files, Memories of Pioneers and War Heroes to attach are easily pointed out to them for "click on me" instant access.
Their self esteem is increased as their success record exudes smiles on their audience. It's a blessing to see! So to complete the invitation, I created some cards to get them excited about coming in and experiencing Find, take and Teach. Here is a picture of what the Young Women could create to take to less actives and new converts.
When someone has a fan chart on their wall, those spirits, no doubt, reach out to them from beyond the veil and remind them that they are still there everytime the person walks by the chart.
I will scan these into a pdf or jpg and upload them to our blogs at naswfamilysearch.blogspot.com and genealogymama1.blogspot.com. I hope these bring you joy and rallied interest in family history which will bring the Lord's work to Pass. You can right click on these and download them - print them on card stock you can get at Office Max or Staples.
I used the double stick pop up tape for the back of the little rainbow colored flag.
Blessings to all!
Br Ted and Sr Karen Meyer,
North America South West
Temple and Family History Consultants
Scottsdale Coordinating Council
Let me paint the picture. You are at a Ward Council meeting and the Bishop looks to you for support - for a report on how the Ward is doing with Family History. What is your progress? What are the Consultants working on? Wouldn't you like to have the answers?
Wouldn't you like to say, "We have 35% increased activity this month with 7 Consultants actively calling and scheduling appointments to go over the Consultant Planner with the members. Last Month we taught 6 people this month we taught 11".
This template will allow you to get the numbers and every month, when the Consultants share the template on a Onedrive.com - they can make calls, find out information and log it here. At the Bottom, it tallies all the logistical information and when you click on report, it shows a printable report that is already formatted.
This template allows for the Lead TFHC to print a report at the end of the month just by clicking on the tab at the bottom
You add your Ward name at the bottom of the 1st page, add the date
2. When you add your consultant's names, they become a drop down list
in the top of the template so that they can document with their own name as they work with people
3. You can choose what skills you want your Ward to learn, these at the bottom of this report form a drop down list of skills that the Consultant worked with which he or she can click on to update the file.
4. It will also keep track of:
1. how many fan charts we have placed in homes,
2. how many people need someone to help them do ordinances,
3. How many people learned how to upload a Memory (picture, story, audio file of relative interview)
4. How many people learned to properly source their documentation.
5. And for leadership, who has expressed an interest in wanting to help others learn how to do family history.
Now you have numbers to talk about in Ward Council. You just became a Hero for your Ward. Don't you feel great?
This has been a great help to other Stakes - I hope you will let me know how it is improving yours!
HOW TO TAILOR THE WARD TEMPLATE TO YOUR WARD.
COMPLETE INSTRUCTIONS ON HOW TO DOWNLOAD YOUR WARD LIST WITH YOUR WARD CLERK AND CONVERT THE FILE TO COPY AND PASTE INTO THIS TEMPLATE
Using clues from the past to solve your Grandchildren's medical problems
Death Certificates are not necessarily a depressing document. Some people do not like to look for Death Certificates because they feel like it is morose subject. Others have found that just a glimpse to the past, will help them fix the problems that may arise because of a hereditary gene that may predispose them or their children to a disease that killed an ancestor...or several ancestors.
In my family, looking at the death certificates, the most were some form of cancer - mostly lung (from smoking or being around second hand smoke), colon cancer (from years high fat diet), and coronary problems (many uncles and father had quadruple bypass surgeries).
I know of other families where the grandparent's doing family research helped solve a cancer problem in the kidneys that plagued their family for decades. The only way the doctor knew it was hereditary was because of the diligent efforts of mapping by documentation of death certificates. Some mental and nervous conditions in prior decades were from consanguineous relations or marrying a cousin or sibling and then bearing children. Interesting articles http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-514911/Tragedy-children-born-genetic-defects-parents-cousins.html
Diseases by inbreeding started to clear up after 1865. Until then, it was not against the law to marry a cousin in 13 states. By having a gene pool which is narrow, allows for diseases such as:
Laws regarding first-cousin marriage in the United States
First-cousin marriage is legal
Allowed with requirements or exceptions
Banned with exceptions1
Statute bans first-cousin marriage1
Criminal offense1
The following is from:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin_marriage
In 1846, Massachusetts GovernorGeorge N. Briggs appointed a commission to study "idiots" in the state, and this study implicated cousin marriage as responsible for idiocy. Within the next two decades, numerous reports (e.g., one from the Kentucky Deaf and Dumb Asylum) appeared with similar conclusions: that cousin marriage sometimes resulted in deafness, blindness, and idiocy. Perhaps most important was the report of physician Samuel Merrifield Bemiss for the American Medical Association, which concluded cousin inbreeding does lead to the physical and mental depravation of the offspring". Despite being contradicted by other studies like those of George Darwin and Alan Huth in England and Robert Newman in New York, the report's conclusions were widely accepted.[23]
These developments led to 13 states and territories passing cousin marriage prohibitions by the 1880s. Though contemporaneous, the eugenics movement did not play much of a direct role in the bans. George Louis Arner in 1908 considered the ban a clumsy and ineffective method of eugenics, which he thought would eventually be replaced by more refined techniques. By the 1920s, the number of bans had doubled.[5] Since that time, Kentucky (1943), Maine (1985) [ETA: First cousin marriage is legal in Maine so long as the couple undergoes genetic counseling to ensure that – should the couple wish to have children - there is little-to-no risk of serious health defect], and Texas (2005) have also banned cousin marriage. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws unanimously recommended in 1970 that all such laws should be repealed, but no state has dropped its prohibition.[3][10][24]
Inbreeding describes the mating between two blood relative (consanguineous relatives), the degree of inbreeding is normally measure Coefficient of Inbreeding. The value of this coefficient is equal to the probability that an individual will have inherit 2 alleles of a gene that are "identical by descent" (the same form of an allele inherited from a single common ancestor). The coefficient is of medical significant when considering autosomal recessive conditions and genetic load. The phenomenon by which the number of individuals affected by autosomal recessive disorders increases due to inbreeding is referred to as inbreeding depression and results in the reduction of the overall fitness of a population.
Inbreeding is used to create inbred strains of rats and mice (normally requires 20 generations of inbreeding) which are genetically identical. Members of the inbred stain can be genetically altered normally by knocking out or altering a single gene to observe its effect. They have provided a large deal of information about the function of specific genes.
Consanguinity
A consanguineous marriage/mating is considered as being between two individuals who are 1st to 4th degree relatives, when considering 1st degree relatives the term incestuous marriage/mating (or simply incest) is often used. The degree to which two people are related is usual measured via the Coefficient of Relatedness which is also referred to as the coefficient of consanguinity. The value generated represents the proportion of identical by descent alleles that two individuals will share.
Great Grandfather, Great Granddaughter, Cousins, Great Nephew
1/8
4th
Great Great Grandfather, Great Great Grandson, Great Great nephew
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In a normal population only about 1% of marriages will be consanguineous however in some isolated small populations this level can increase to in excess of 40%. This level of inbreeding also occurs after events that cause large reductions in a number of individuals in a population, such events are referred to as bottle neck events.
Mendel identified two patterns of inheritance of traits which he explained as being due to some alleles being dominant while others are recessive, explained by his Laws of Inheritance. The patterns of inheritance were seen to only be accurate for autosomes and not genes carried on the sex chromosomes therefore diseases inherited in a manner true to either of the patterns are referred to as autosomal dominant or autosomal recessive. In addition to being inherited in a mendelian fashion some disease display Extrachromosomal and Non-Mendelian Inheritance.
Down Syndrome caused by too close gene pools? Here's a great answer as to why genetic testing can allay all your fears.
Originally posted by kel0212: I hope i'm not bothering you with a very trival question, but i need to know the answer to this question before i can make an important decision in my life.... Is there scientific prove or explainations that says that there are an increase chances of giving birth to childrens with down syndrome when the parents are first cousins or are closely related in blood ties ? i know this may be maybe a stupid question but i have heard from frens that this might be true, and i just want more information and facts on it. Thanks for spending the time reading my email and regards.
Regards Kelvin
First cousins do not have an increased chance in having children with Down syndrome just by virtue of being first cousins. However there are people who have an increased chance of translocations but this usually isn't known until after the first or second baby with DS is born. If you know of a number of Down syndrome births in your parents' families, it would be a good idea to go to a high-risk prenatal department of a university hospital and ask to be tested to see if you are a carrier. This is also true for a number of other conditions. In the case of close relatives...there is the chance that both parents may have inherited genes that together will double the chances that some disease will be passed on to their children. Your questions should be taken to a genetic-counsellor.
True story from my own family from Oklahoma. In the 1920s, Great Uncle Clarence Collins married a first cousin. The Doctor told them they couldn't have children. A cousin that I met in the search of more information on my family said with a southern drawl over the phone, "Now, you know the story about Uncle Clarence, right?" I did know the story from my relative's perspective, so I said, "What story do YOU know?" She said, "Well, the Doctor told them that they couldn't have children, and do you know, they had 10 children. Now, none of them lived very long, but they sure showed that Doctor that they could have children!" I said, " I heard a similar story, but I heard that because they were first cousins, and the complications that could arise from intermarrying, not that they COULDN"T have children....but that they SHOULDN'T.
I hope this sheds some light on some very controversial talking points.
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