In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss how to apply the genealogical proof standard (GPS) as you work in collaborative trees – specifically the FamilySearch Family Tree. We talk about each element of the GPS and how you implement it with small changes in the way you add reason statements, sources, and additional explanations about your research to the tree. Links How to Improve the FamilySearch Family Tree with the Genealogical Proof Standard...
Summer and family reunions are just around the corner! Sharing family history has long been on the agenda of many family reunions. The idea of family history at a reunion can sound boring to some, but there are ways to incorporate family history into any reunion that will be fun for family members of all ages. A few years ago I got really brave and planned a family reunion focused entirely on celebrating our family’s...
If you’ve been following this series of DNA blog posts, you are ready to create a research objective and move ahead in your genetic genealogy journey. With access to DNA results and information about matching relatives, you now have a tool that is like a sledgehammer that can break down brick walls in your family history research. DNA alone does not tell you anything about your family history. But when it is used in conjunction...
In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss one of our new favorite tools, Lucid Chart! After Robin Wirthlin, our genetic genealogist friend and guest blogger, wrote about using LucidChart, and helped Nicole get started using it, we quickly realized how useful it is when doing client projects involving DNA matches. We talked about how Diana found her sister’s biological parents with DNA diagramming complex relationships of matches with MindMup, a free open source...
With DNA testing turning up skeletons in the closet left and right, I was interested to read Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate. This fictional account of a family describes the horrific Tennessee Children’s Home Society operated by Georgia Tann in Memphis, Tennessee, from the 1920s to 1950. (The above is an affiliate link). Wingate created her story based on recollections of children who were kidnapped from their families and put into Tann’s “orphanage.” It...
In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss three tools we love in AncestryDNA for sorting and using cousin matches. In addition to those three tools, we discuss some of the new features that AncestryDNA just announced at RootsTech as well! We talk about adding notes to your matches, using the shared match tool, and using unlinked family trees. We also discuss the new beta features called “New & Improved DNA Matches” that...
How did your ancestors receive their land? Did they win the land lottery? Could they have received a bounty land grant for military service? Perhaps they homesteaded and lived on the land long enough to obtain a land patent. If your ancestor was the first person in the chain of land transfer, he would have either received the land directly from the colony/state or from the federal government. After the initial land distribution, the subsequent...
In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss how to best contact your DNA matches so that they respond, creating a family tree in your software that includes living cousins, and sharing research and memories with the cousins you find. We also talk about Diana’s experience meeting in person with a 2nd cousin she found through DNA and what interesting family document she had which gave Diana helpful information to sort through a difficult...
Are you challenged with visualizing how you connect to your DNA matches? DNA companies provide match lists, but sometimes we need to take control of our DNA data and organize it in a way that works for us. Creating a genetic family tree for your DNA matches might be easier than you think. Robin Wirthlin, FamilyLocket’s new genetic genealogist shares three ways to view your DNA matches in the following article. I’m looking forward to...
In our podcast episode today, we are sharing Nicole’s RootsTech lecture, Organize Your Research with Google Drive. Do you work from multiple devices? Laptop, desktop, work computer, home computer, smartphone, iPad? Learn how to utilize the free tools at Google Drive and Google Docs to help keep your genealogy research organized. You can create research logs with Google Sheets, transcribe records into Google Docs, add document links to records you have saved within your Google...