Two new books – Letters from WW2 and DNA

Two new books arrived on my shelf this week, both courtesy of the wonderful Deborah Sweeney, author of the blog at GenealogyLady.net and our guest from Episode 1.

books

The first of which is Deborah’s latest book, ‘Lots of Love, Daddy: The World War II Letters of Roscoe and Gladys Yegerlehner: October 1942 – December 1942 (Volume 2)’.

This book contains more letters written during World War Two, between Deborah’s Grandparents.  It is an amazing glimpse into the daily lives of a Naval Doctor stationed in the Pacific, and his Wife at home in Indiana.  Historians will appreciate the small details that these letters will often divulge from bank account balances, cost of living, meals, mail schedules, and more.  Deborah has slipped numerous footnotes throughout the book, as well as some great family photographs as well as photographs of several of the letters themselves.

Most of the letters have a very day to day ‘diary’ feel to them;  Today I went to the store, traveled to Lafayette, 3 bunk mates moved out and 2 moved in however one letter from Roscoe to Gladys written  October 30, 1942 stuck out.

… My tent mate asked me the other day while I was writing a letter if I told you I loved you and I said “no” she knows that and really it isn’t necessary because you are well aware of that fact and know that it will always be that way. It’s not the beer that is affecting me because I’ve only had two bottles, and that won’t affect me that way. You know how much you are missed and I know that the same is true in this direction and that makes things easier, but when one goes to bed at night and thinks it really makes one yearn for home. And sooner or later will be there. So much for that…[1]Deborah Sweeney, Lots of Love, Daddy: The World War II Letters of Roscoe and Gladys Yegerlehner: October 1942 – December 1942 (Volume 2), (Self Published – CreateSpace and Amazon.Com Company, 2016), p.118

I will have to skip ahead now to find when Gladys receives this letter to see how this all plays out.

Among the letters between husband and wife are a few from other relatives and neighbors as well as a very special Radiogram from the American Red Cross to Roscoe – announcing the birth of his son David.

For more information on this book, and where to find it, check out GenealogyLady.com/publications [2]For the sake of transparency, I did assist Deborah in the design and creation of the cover of both this book, and Volume 1

The second book Deb sent me is ‘The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy’ by Blaine T. Bettinger.  While I have not had a chance to read through this book yet, chapters include; genetic genealogy basics, ethics, selecting a test, the various types of tests, and analyzing the results.

Like other Family Tree Books I have seen, this one is full of color diagrams and illustrations which (should) make the subject of DNA testing easier to understand.  Sue has had her DNA tested through Ancestry.com and we have barely scratched the surface of the results and I am hoping to do mine by the end of the year.

For more information on ‘The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy’ by Blaine T. Bettinger – check out ShopFamilyTree.com

Notes   [ + ]

1. Deborah Sweeney, Lots of Love, Daddy: The World War II Letters of Roscoe and Gladys Yegerlehner: October 1942 – December 1942 (Volume 2), (Self Published – CreateSpace and Amazon.Com Company, 2016), p.118
2. For the sake of transparency, I did assist Deborah in the design and creation of the cover of both this book, and Volume 1