Blog – Page 46 – Family Locket

Recreating a Y-DNA Surname Project at mitoYDNA.org

Did you participate in Y-DNA testing before the era of FamilyTree DNA and now have no access to your results? If so, let me introduce you to mitoYDNA.org, a free website where you can recreate the kits used in the project. MitoYDNA.org allows uploading or manually adding your Y-DNA or mitochondrial (mt) DNA test results from several testing companies. You can then use the mitoYDNA tools to compare kits and find matches. You’ll likely recognize […]

By Diana Elder April 10, 2022 DNA Tools, Research Tips

The Taking of Jemima Boone – Spring Book Club Selection

Telling our ancestor’s stories requires knowledge of their time. What better way to discover life on the frontier during the Revolutionary War than to read a historical narrative? Author Matthew Pearl tells the tale of a specific era in Daniel Boone’s life that was pivotal for history. The Taking of Jemima Boone: Colonial Settlers, Tribal Nations, and the Kidnap that Shaped America backs up the retelling of this famous story with 231 endnotes, many […]

By Diana Elder April 6, 2022 Book Club, Creating and Sharing Family History

RLP 195: Texas Land Grants – Mexican Era

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the era of Mexican rule over Texas and the Mexican colonization policy through the empresario system. We discuss Austin’s colony and the three indexes for finding colonists – the original Register of Families, the Index to Land [Applications] compiled by George W. Glass, and the Villamae Williams translated/typed index which is available on Ancestry.com. We discuss character certificates and DeLeon’s colony as well. Transcript Nicole (1s): […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer April 4, 2022 Podcast

Part 9: Pennsylvania Germans: DNA

In our previous blog posts in this series, we have been learning all about how to research our Pennsylvania German ancestors by discovering the paper trail they have left behind. What about DNA? How useful will it be in helping us with these colonial ancestors? Even though (for most test-takers) colonial ancestors will be beyond the typical 5-6 generations that autosomal DNA is useful, using DNA with your colonial German ancestors may be a key […]

By Heidi Mathis April 1, 2022 DNA, Research Tips

Using DNA for Clues with Colonial Ancestors: Quality vs Quantity

Have you noticed that some of your family lines have many DNA matches and others very little? My dad is seven-eighths 19th-century German, one-sixteenth Pennsylvania German (18th century) and one-sixteenth colonial American/British. I’ve noticed that my dad has many matches on his Pennsylvania German side. However, there are only a few matches on my dad’s 19th-century German ancestor lines. As much as we want our match list to tell us about our ancestors, we have […]

By Heidi Mathis March 30, 2022 DNA, Research Tips

RLP 194: Texas Land Grants – Spanish Era

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the Texas land grant system. This is the first part in a series of Texas land grant episodes based on Diana’s blog post series. We talk about the history of Texas from the Spanish period to the Mexican period and beyond. This particular episode focuses on the Spanish period and the lasting influence they had on Texas’s unique land grant system. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer March 28, 2022 Podcast

X-DNA Inheritance and Recombination

X-DNA has a unique inheritance pattern, and knowing about it can sometimes help you figure out the ancestors you share with a DNA match. Men inherit a Y chromosome from their father, and an X chromosome from their mother. It is easy to imagine that an X chromosome remains unchanged just like a Y chromosome does when it is passed from father to son, but this is not the case with X-DNA. Here is a […]

By Robin Wirthlin March 27, 2022 DNA, DNA Tools, Research Like a Pro with DNA, Research Tips

Mission: Possible – Engaging Youth in Family History

A few years ago Diana wrote about a youth activity she created with a Mission: Possible Theme. I recently adapted this idea so the missions could all be completed using the Family Tree app on a smartphone. This was a really successful activity and I’m excited to share my adaptation along with all the materials you will need to carry out the activity with your own youth group or family. Youth and leaders alike […]

By Alice Childs March 25, 2022 Activities, LDS Family History, Youth and Primary

Part 8: Pennsylvania Germans: Additional Record Types

The last four posts in this series covered some very important record types for researching Pennsylvania German ancestors: initial land purchases from the Penns, subsequent land transactions, probate records, and church records. As I stated earlier, because Pennsylvania Germans were, after all, Pennsylvanians, additional Pennsylvania record types will also be valuable to your research. I will briefly mention a few of those records here, with information specific to researching Pennsylvania Germans. Tax Records Tax records […]

By Alice Childs March 22, 2022 Research Tips

RLP 193 : Five Takeaways From the DNA Proof Arguments SLIG Course

Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about what Nicole learned at the SLIG course, DNA Dreamers in Action: Writing Proof Arguments in January. Karen Stanbary coordinated the course and was assisted by Tom Jones, Nancy Peters, and Scott Wilds. The course was a chance to practice writing a DNA proof argument while learning essential skills. Peer review was included as part of the course as well. Join Diana and Nicole as they discuss […]

By Nicole Elder Dyer March 21, 2022 Podcast