I attended Blaine Bettinger’s DNA class entitled “Adding Shared Matches and Genetic Networks to Your Research” today (Thursday) at RootsTech 2019. I’m excited to share my notes with you. Description Shared matching and genetic clusters are among some of the most powerful tools genealogists have to work with DNA evidence. We will look at some company and third-party tools that allow us to use these powerful networks! About Blaine Blaine Bettinger, Ph.D., J.D., is a...
Yesterday I had the privilege to attend a presentation by Rebecca Whitman Koford, CG, CGL entitled “Digging Deeper: Voter Registrations.” Rebecca holds Certified Genealogist® and Certified Genealogical Lecturer credentials. She focuses on research in Maryland and the War of 1812. Rebecca has lectured for the Maryland State Archives, NGS Conference, IGHR, RootsTech, and webinars for Legacy and APG. She is the Executive Director for the Board for Certification of Genealogists. I had so many light-bulb...
In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss what negative evidence really is, and how it differs from negative results. We will talk about a couple examples of negative evidence and negative results, and how you can create citations for your negative results. Links Speaking Negatively: The Difference Between Negative Results and Negative Evidence Research Like a Pro, Part 2: Analyze Your Sources RLP 3: Analyze Your Sources Research Like a Pro eCourse Study...
Updated 25 February 2022 I know the feeling–you finally submitted your DNA test, excitedly awaited the results, they finally arrived, you logged in, and then…what? After poking around the website, it all seems interesting, but the question remains…What do I DO with it? There are 4 simple steps that will initially help you to understand and evaluate your DNA matches. As you work systematically through these steps, you will gain a better understanding of...
Why would you want to search land records as part of your genealogy research plan? Are they really useful? How do you find them and what information can they hold? These are some of the questions we’ll be looking at in our new series on land records. If you’ve been wanting to delve into the land but haven’t felt comfortable, in this series I’ll demystify land research and show you how its done. As a researcher...
I have been studying citations for my Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG) virtual class, Intermediate Foundations. Sara Scribner, CG, is our wonderful instructor. She gave us a suggested reading list about citations. I studied a few different articles by Tom Jones and Melinde Lutz Byrne, along with some parts of Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills, to understand how to cite online images. One (relatively) new way is to use waypoints, or steps to take to...
We would love to see you at RootsTech. Here is a list of our classes! To view the full schedule, go here: RootsTech Salt Lake City 2019 Schedule. For a full listing of all our activities, sales, and class materials from RootsTech, please go to our webpage here: https://familylocket.com/rootstech/. Diana The FamilySearch Catalog: A Researcher’s Best Friend, Diana, Wednesday 11am (Room 255) and repeated on Thursday 1:30pm (Room 254A) Perspectives on Accreditation, Power Hour, Diana...
In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss the difference between indirect evidence vs. direct evidence. Is a birth year calculated from a census record considered direct or indirect evidence? What about the birth year ranges in pre-1850 U.S. Censuses? And what does your research question have to do with the type of evidence? Links Genealogy Evidence Analysis – Free Template and Lucinda Keaton Sample Research Like a Pro, Part 2: Analyze Your Sources...
Have you heard of PERSI, short for the PERiodical Source Index? I recently used this amazing resource to discover an article about a very specific research question. If you’ve heard of PERSI, but not known how to use it, today I’ll be sharing 4 steps to get you started. First of all, a little background on PERSI. For over a hundred years, genealogy articles have been written and published by thousands of societies and organizations...
In our podcast episode today, Diana and I discuss three things you should do after taking a DNA test at Ancestry. We recommend downloading the raw DNA data and uploading it to the other testing sites that accept transfers so you can find more matches beyond the Ancestry database. We also recommend that you link a tree to your Ancestry DNA test results! This will help you and your cousin matches SO much. Lastly, we...
