Nicole Elder Dyer

About Nicole Elder Dyer

Nicole Dyer is a professional genealogist specializing in Southern United States research and genetic genealogy. She is the creator of FamilyLocket.com and the Research Like a Pro Genealogy Podcast. She co-authored Research Like a Pro: A Genealogist's Guide and Research Like a Pro with DNA and is an instructor for the study groups of the same name. She lectures at conferences and institutes and previously served as the secretary and publicity chair of the Pima County Genealogy Society. Nicole holds a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in History Teaching. At Family Locket Genealogists, Nicole is a project manager, editor, and researcher.

RLP 180: RootsFinder Network Graphs

Dec 20, 2021

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about how to use RootsFinder, a family tree building online tool, to analyze your DNA matches and create a network graph. Network graphs consist of DNA matches, the nodes, and shared match connections, the lines between the nodes. In RootsFinder, you import your matches and then link them to the common ancestor in your tree. Then they are automatically colored. Viewing the matches in triangulation/cluster view allows...

How to Make a RootsFinder Triangulation Network Graph with MyHeritage DNA Matches

Dec 18, 2021

In a previous post, I wrote about making a network graph using the RootsFinder triangulation/cluster view with AncestryDNA shared matches. Today, I’m sharing how to make a network graph at RootsFinder with MyHeritage matches. RootsFinder can create a network graph based on segment triangulation, which is a unique feature. You can also create a separate MyHeritage network graph using just shared matches (and no triangulation data). I will show how to do both types of...

RLP 179: RLPDNA Study Group 8 – Report Writing

Dec 13, 2021

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s Dillard project. For the RLP with DNA study group, she is exploring the possibility that a cluster of DNA matches from her second cousin’s network graph are related through Cynthia Dillard’s parents. The MRCA of the cluster appears to be Elijah Dillard. In this assignment, Diana wrote a report. She shares some of her findings. Read her report by clicking on the link below. Transcript...

RLP 178: RLPDNA Study Group 7 – Research Logging

Dec 6, 2021

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s Dillard project. For the RLP with DNA study group, she is exploring the possibility that a cluster of DNA matches from her second cousin’s network graph are related through Cynthia Dillard’s parents. The MRCA of the cluster appears to be Elijah Dillard. In this assignment, Diana followed her research plan and recorded her searches in Airtable. Her research log helped her organize many deeds in...

RLP 177: RLPDNA Study Group 6 – Research Planning

Nov 29, 2021

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s Dillard project. For the RLP with DNA study group, she is exploring the possibility that a cluster of DNA matches from her second cousin’s network graph are related through Cynthia Dillard’s parents. The MRCA of the cluster appears to be Elijah Dillard. In this assignment, Diana made a research plan. First, she created a summary of known facts about Elijah Dillard. Her goal for this...

RLP 176: RLPDNA Study Group 5 – DNA Tools

Nov 22, 2021

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s Dillard project. For the RLP with DNA study group, she is exploring the possibility that a cluster of DNA matches from her second cousin’s network graph are related through Cynthia Dillard’s parents. The MRCA of the cluster appears to be Elijah Dillard. In this assignment, Diana explored DNA tools to see if any would be useful in her project. She learned about DNA Gedcom’s GWorks...

RLP 175: RLPDNA Study Group 4 – Locality Research and Ethnicity

Nov 15, 2021

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s Dillard project. For the RLP with DNA study group, she is exploring the possibility that a cluster of DNA matches from her second cousin’s network graph are related through Cynthia Dillard’s parents. The MRCA of the cluster appears to be Elijah Dillard. In this assignment, Diana studied Elijah Dillard’s timeline and chose two places to learn more about and create a locality guide – Macon...

RLP 174: RLPDNA Study Group 3 – Timeline Analysis and Citations

Nov 8, 2021

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s RLP with DNA study group project. She shares how she made a timeline for the hypothesized brother of Cynthia Dillard, Elijah Dillard. We discuss her Airtable timeline as well as citations and FANs. Part of the assignment is to analyze the sources in the timeline as well as the DNA sources. Using the Shared cM Project, Diana compares the proposed relationship with the shared...

RLP 173: RLPDNA Study Group 2 – Organize and Objective

Nov 1, 2021

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s RLP with DNA study group project. Diana is sharing her work to diagram Victor’s matches and become familiar with his close matches. She also analyzed a network graph made with Gephi showing Victor’s matches. Diana shares her research objective for the project to discover Cynthia Dillard’s father. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like a Pro episode 173 RLP with DNA Study Group Part 2-...

RLP 172: RLPDNA Study Group 1 – Assess and Analyze

Oct 25, 2021

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s RLP with DNA study group project. The first assignment is about analyzing your pedigree and choosing a research question. Diana has decided to study her brick wall to identify Cynthia (Dillard) Royston’s father. She shares how she began by working with a cousin’s DNA matches. Part of this assignment is to assess close DNA matches to help separate the matches into clusters of shared matches....