Do you have a stack of research for a problem ancestor? The one who is hard to pin down. The one with unknown parents. How do you even get started on the brick walls in your family tree? Join in this summer's Research Like a Pro series and see if you can make progress in your research skills and journey in finding your family. To read more about the process, check out my book, Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide. In Researching Like a Pro, Part 1, your task was to analyze your pedigree then formulate a research objective. Your...
Imagine starting on a brand-new research project with DNA matches and an unfamiliar family tree. You want to get the most out of your precious research time and efficiently organize the DNA matches so you can focus on the family line(s) of interest. - What do you do first? - What’s the most effective method? Great questions! Try the methods outlined below to get started efficiently and effectively. Make a Leeds Method chart Spend 10-20 minutes creating a Leeds Method DNA Color Cluster chart. This will help you become familiar with the groups and identify the family lines to focus...
Do you have a specific way to deal with the genealogy documents that you scan or download from a website? Have you set up digital file folders for your documents? How do you attach a citation to a document so it doesn't become separated from it's source? These are all questions we grapple with until we decide on a protocol that works for us. There is no one size fits all, when it comes to files and documents, but lets looks at some basic principles. Then you can create your own protocol for dealing with documents. To Download or Not...
Before 2000, DNA was not a source genealogists had access to. Now there are over 29 million people in DNA testing databases. This is an enormous change. Like other sources available to genealogists before the advent of advanced technology, we still need to analyze these sources carefully, understand the context, and create research plans. Genealogy standards guide us in our efforts. Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS gave the lecture, "The Advance of Research Habits over Recent Decades—And the Downside" at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) in January. The lecture was part of the "Meeting...
When researching complicated families with many men of the same name, how do you track them? Can you really sort out individuals and come up with a possible father for your difficult ancestor? You may think it impossible, but with good research practices and a way to visualize the information it can be done. I first wrote about the Norman family research project a year ago in Researching Low-Tech Style With a Whiteboard. I outlined the five steps I used to tackle the challenge: -1 Sort Records chronologically - do an initial sort to put the records in order from...
Today's episode of Research Like a Pro is about how to analyze a record thoroughly and find clues for future research. Nicole is preparing her portfolio to submit to the Board for Certification of Genealogists, so we are discussing portfolio element 3 - Document Work - in conjunction with this subject. For this portfolio element, applicants are given a document to transcribe and analyze. We focus primarily on parts 3C, 3D, and 3E - creating a research question, analysis, and research plan from the document. We discuss how to use seemingly insignificant clues to broaden the scope of the research...
After completing a research like a pro with DNA project, you may not have come to a proven conclusion. Or perhaps you finished your objective and are ready to move forward with something else. What's next? How do you continue to make progress on your goal or choose a new goal? Here are several suggestions. Continue Your Research and Writing Start another iteration of the same objective If you didn't come to a proven conclusion after writing your research report, start a new project with the same objective. You will have a new starting point and known facts. Perhaps your...
Do you write reports after you've completed some research on your family? Have you worked with DNA to prove a hypothesis that traditional research could only hint at? If so, you'll want to get your conclusions out of your brain and on to paper. What does a research report look like? Today I'm sharing the report I wrote on my hypothesis of Benjamin Cox as the father of Rachel Cox. I used DNA as part of the evidence and incorporated it into the report. My research report was the culmination of a project I did for a Research Like a...
You've analyzed your DNA, compared it with family history information and records, and worked diligently to gather information about your family—What's next? The final step in the Research Like a Pro with DNA process is to write your conclusions and correlate the information in a report. This report may be written to yourself, family members, or clients. It's a summary of the information about your DNA matches, common ancestors, and verification of biological connections to your relatives. DNA plus genealogical records give the ultimate confirmation that your ancestors' identities are verified and that they are biologically connected to you. Some...
Have you discovered the value of using a research log? If not, you might want to experiment with using one for your next research project. Fine tuning a research log that worked for me was a major benefit of the accreditation process. When I started adding DNA as evidence in my research, I needed to tweak the log to reflect my correspondence with my DNA matches. I've shared each step of my DNA research project to prove Benjamin Cox as the father of Rachel Cox and linked to those articles below. Now it's time to reveal my research plan and...
