Wouldn’t it be great if your autosomal DNA matches were automatically labeled as maternal or paternal? This is also known as “bucketing.” It is helpful to know which side of your family a match is on before you start checking their tree for surnames you recognize or send them a message. What if I told you that you can make this happen at FamilyTreeDNA (FTDNA)? All you need to do is link close matches and...
Are you interested in becoming a professional genealogist? Have you wondered what might be involved in taking clients or what career options are available in the genealogy world? Participating in a ProGen study group can help you find answers to these questions. In 2007 ProGen 1 began by reading and discussing the first edition of Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians, edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills. Run strictly by volunteers,...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with one of our Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse members, Allison Kotter. In this series, Allison shares her experience studying each lesson in the course and how she has applied the lessons to her own family. This episode covers the assignments for lessons 5 and 6. Allison tells about doing locality research for her project in Alabama and Texas. She also talks about...
When you hear the words “Forensic Genealogy,” what is the first definition you think of? One of my first thoughts is “DNA and documentary research.” Using DNA to solve unknown parentage cases is one of my areas of focus as a genealogist, and it is a significant aspect of Forensic Genealogy. I recently had the great opportunity to take the virtual Beyond Fundamentals: Hands-on Forensic Genealogy course at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP)....
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with one of our Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse members, Allison Kotter. In this series, Allison shares her experience studying each lesson in the course and how she has applied the lessons to her own family. This episode covers the assignments for lessons 3 and 4. We discuss creating a timeline, source citations for documentary sources and DNA sources, source, information, and evidence...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is an interview with one of our Research Like a Pro with DNA eCourse members, Allison Kotter. In this series, Allison shares her experience studying each lesson in the course and how she has applied the lessons to her own family. This first episode covers the assignments for lessons 1 and 2. We discuss pedigree analysis, assessing close matches, clustering with the Leeds Method, beginning a correspondence log,...
If you’re like me and overwhelmed by DNA and this new wealth of information for genealogists, I am going through my experience with the Research Like a Pro with DNA e-course to help those looking for a way to get started! This is the ninth and last post in the series. In the eighth step of the RLP with DNA process, Following Your Plan, Research Logging & Writing as You Go, I followed the research...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about researching German ancestors who immigrated to the U.S. in the 19th century. Heidi Mathis shares the importance of getting the surname right and learning enough German to be able to understand the records we find. She shares tips for doing wildcard searches in databases where names may have been transcribed incorrectly or spelled differently than we thought. She also gives hints for reading German handwriting. Transcript...
If you’ve read Before We Were Yours, the fictional account of a family torn apart by Georgia Tann and her Tennessee Children’s Home Society, you might be interested in learning what happened to some of those children who passed through Tann’s hands. Lisa Wingate, the author of Before We Were Yours, collaborated with journalist, Judy Christie, to bring us Before and After: The Incredible Real-Life Stories of Orphans Who Survived the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. We’re reading Before...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the challenges of German research when focusing on 19th century Germans who immigrated to the U.S. Heidi Mathis shares several questions to ask when beginning to research them, like “when did your Germans arrive?” and “what did German mean in the 19th century?” Join us as we discuss the answers to these questions, helpful record sets, and more. Transcript Nicole (0s): This is Research Like a...