CANADA CANADA - Kenora, Ontario, WhtFem, 35-55, Glasses, Found in Tent, 17 Jun 2009

[Melt71]

DNA Doe Project was working on this a couple years back. Not sure of any updates though. Any way to see their progress?

She's still on their site as an active case Kenora “Millie” Jane Doe 2009 | DNA Doe Project but nothing on her page to indicate any possibilities of surnames or seeking public assistance.

 

[djanga]

I checked their Facebook posts, and the last post regarding Millie was in July 2022. There is no additional information, only that she is of Scandinavian ancestry. Many people replied to the post, but no one recognized her.

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[kforbes862]

What makes Scandinavian ancestry more challenging to trace?

 

[MarziPanda]

What makes Scandinavian ancestry more challenging to trace?

It's not really the Scandinavian ancestry in itself, it's the 'probably recent' part.

If your ancestors came to Canada from Sweden in 1830 and had five children, and each of them had five children, and so on, that's a lot of Canadian cousins, a lot of branches, a lot of people related to you who may have taken a DNA test - they're popular in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK (to an extent). However, if your parents came from Sweden, that means all your family is in Sweden. All of your cousins, second cousins etc... they're all Swedish, living in Sweden. DNA testing isn't nearly as popular on mainland Europe, and they mostly test with MyHeritage. They mostly don't upload to the testing websites that DNA Doe Project can use. There won't be many matches.

Any doe with very recent ancestry from outside of the main DNA testing countries is going to unfortunately be harder to identify.

 

[kforbes862]

Makes perfect sense, thank you. My family is very recent from Finland and Estonia, so I would assume would be the same.

 

[djanga]

I have asked the DDP about Kenora Jane Doe, here is their answer:

“While we're continuing to work on this case, it's certainly proving tricky. Her DNA matches in the databases we have access to are very, very low - it appears that she has Danish heritage, and it's possible that she has recent ancestry from Denmark. We would encourage anyone with any ancestors from Denmark to consider uploading their DNA data to GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA and DNA Justice. Even if you're only a 3rd or 4th cousin match to Kenora "Millie" Jane Doe, that would still make you her closest match - and any new matches will be useful in identifying her!”

 

[djanga]

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[djanga]

According to the Unidentified Humans Remains Canada, Millie's DNA matches reveal Danish ancestry and her ancestors may have immigrated from Denmark's Jutland Peninsula to North America within recent generations.

Interesting, I know people from Jutland, but they have German ancestry, while our Jane Doe is of clear Danish ancestry

 

[djanga]

According to the Unidentified Humans Remains Canada, Millie's DNA matches reveal Danish ancestry and her ancestors may have immigrated from Denmark's Jutland Peninsula to North America within recent generations.

Interesting, I know people from Jutland, but they have German ancestry, while our Jane Doe is of clear Danish ancestry

I don’t think she went missing from Denmark — there are no missing women in Denmark who fit her description. I checked a non-profit Danish website and only found a few cases, none of which matched. Likewise, there are no women matching her description reported missing from Canada or the U.S. I think she may never have been reported missing and could have been estranged from her family.

 

[fitty]

I find the necklaces odd. She also had a hoop earring in her belongings. What could the significance be? Why go camping with basically nothing and jewellery like that.
I wondered if the colours of the three necklaces had some sort of spiritual significance. She may have come from some sort of healing camp or spent time with an indigenous group. The colours sort of match the indigenous medicine wheel? But that might be a stretch.

 

[djanga]

This is Millie’s necklace:

 

[Magnum P.E.]

This is Millie’s necklace:

I believe I posted a long time ago that they looked like Mardi Gras beads. They toss them from floats in other parades in New Orleans too, not just Mardi Gras. I would say she visited the city and had a good time.
I have identical beads in a drawer somewhere.
Anyone know if this is a custom anywhere in French speaking Canada? I have never heard of it.

 

[Magnum P.E.]

I believe I posted a long time ago that they looked like Mardi Gras beads. They toss them from floats in other parades in New Orleans too, not just Mardi Gras. I would say she visited the city and had a good time.
I have identical beads in a drawer somewhere.
Anyone know if this is a custom anywhere in French speaking Canada? I have never heard of it.

Answered my own question last night. It is apparently an established practice to throw beads at Mardi Gras parades in Montreal.

 

[djanga]

I read a very interesting comment on Facebook under a post in one of the Unidentified People groups that featured Millie. A woman who lives near Kenora Park wrote that she remembers Millie. She said she saw Millie’s tent for a couple of weeks, and then one day she saw the Ontario police near the tent. She hadn’t known that the woman who lived there had passed away. The commenter also said before the police, she saw Millie alive on various occasions in the clear water Bay area, going back and forth, pushing a cart with her belongings every day. i am not sure if a cart was ever mentioned as one of her belongings.

 

[Canadianmom2three]

I believe I posted a long time ago that they looked like Mardi Gras beads. They toss them from floats in other parades in New Orleans too, not just Mardi Gras. I would say she visited the city and had a good time.
I have identical beads in a drawer somewhere.
Anyone know if this is a custom anywhere in French speaking Canada? I have never heard of it.

I think they look like dyed freshwater pearls. Could be real or fake. I also wonder if they are 3 separate necklaces, I think I see more than one clasp.