Gardelegen

 

Wikipedia. Gardelegen about 1650.

Here's another view of the homeland of Dorothea Sophia Gagelmann, showing the town of Gardelegen (Province of Saxony, Prussia). It was founded in the 10th century and became a member of the Hanseatic League in 1358. The painting above shows a representation of the town in the 17th century, as fortified with a several tall churches, a town hall, and orange/red tile roofed buildings in German village architecture.

A map of the Gardelegen district and neighboring towns can be seen below. For the official website in German, see here: Hansestadt Gardelegen.

Source: Wikipedia.

In the Province of Saxony

Google Maps. North of Magdeburg, Germany.

While we await the results of our daughter's mtDNA test, it's useful to look at the region where her 6th-great-grandmother, Dorothea Sophia Gagelmann, was living between 1800 to at least the early-middle 1820s. Dorothea was the mother of Maria Elisabeth Hesse. Maria Elisabeth was born about 1821 (most trees online say 1823) in the Gardelegen area (possibly the town of Klüden), north of present day Magdeburg. This territory changed hands quite frequently during the early 1800s, and was a contested area during the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815).

This corner was part of the Province of Saxony (from 1815) in the Kingdom of Prussia and Kingdom of Westphalia (1807-1813). Before that, this area may have been part of the Duchy of Magdeburg (up to 1807). The map below shows some of the complexity for this area in 1812.

Source: Wikipedia. Confederation of the Rhine.

I am still in the early stages of diving into German research, and luckily there are several sessions on the topic scheduled for RootsTech 2026. In the meantime, I am reviewing sources such as the FamilySearch wiki pages on places such as the Prussian Province of Saxony.

DNA in the news: 1971 cold case reunites long lost siblings

This article in today's Washington Post is a long one but worth a read. The article describes "a case within a case", where new approaches to DNA analysis were used to identify the victim of a 1971 Maryland homicide, and reunited two of the victim's long lost children who had been placed in an Ohio orphanage in 1952.

New feature on Ancestry: Ideas

 

Source: Ancestry.

While poking around on Ancestry, I noticed a new-to-me feature in the middle right of the ancestor profile, next to the search button. Clicking this opened up a right column box showing Ideas as an AI-powered beta feature, with three "research opportunities" for my ancestor (in this case, my 3rd-great-grandmother Bridget).

Source: Ancestry.

Clicking further into the first bubble on Locate primary vital records, this opens up a box titled "Why it matters" with a short explanation, and I click again to reveal a suggested action plan with some recommendations for places to look for further information and sources. Although these are steps I have already tried for Bridget, it is useful and I'm curious to see what suggestions are provided for other ancestors.

Source: Ancestry.

Another example from my 3rd-great-grandmother Maria Concepcion Amado is below. This type of integration of AI into Ancestry's tools appears to be helpful, and gives me some areas to explore further.

Source: Ancestry.

Thoughts on home

 

Photo by Patrick Jones. Bruin Statue, UCLA. 31 Jan 2026.

It's hard to believe we moved from LA sixteen years ago. Given how frequently I'm back in the city, a part of me never left. It's a regular feature on the blog, photos and stories from visits to the city and deep historic family connections to Los Angeles. 

I've shared similar observations in the past on the concept of home. In the time since we moved from LA, I think my ties to the city have become more imbedded in my identity. I've adopted LA as home away from home, a place I welcome and love to return, even if briefly and centered around work. In a few weeks I'll celebrate a milestone anniversary with this city. It will be twenty years since we made the leap to move with an infant and two cats across the country to start something new. The infant is now a college student and the cats are no longer with us. But Los Angeles is still here. As I write this from LAX, departing another visit, I'm looking forward to the next time and return to my long distance home.