Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s 52 Ancestors post in response to the prompt about an ancestor who was the first to graduate from high school or attend college. Diana wrote about her father, Bobby Gene Shults, the first of his ancestors to graduate from college. We review Bob’s autobiographical life story and discuss his schooling from the 1930s to the 1950s. Bob made use of the GI bill to help...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Diana’s 52 ancestors post with the prompt “out of place.” She chose to write about her maternal grandfather, Edward Raymond Kelsey. After high school and a few years working at the railroad, he decided to become a hobo. This was about 1905. He stayed in hobo camps along the railroad lines and traveled throughout the northwest on the trains. Join us as we study the family...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about evaluating family trees and the sources in them to help us determine if a family tree is accurate. We review independent sources, primary information, and direct evidence. In the absence of direct evidence, we can often put together a body of indirect evidence to help us prove a parent-child link, but that requires a written conclusion. Often family trees are missing this element. Transcript Nicole Elder...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about AncestryDNA’s Thrulines hypotheses. We respond to a listener question about how accurate Thrulines is. We discuss new AncestryDNA technology SideView and how they use that to split up matches by parent. We review strategies for analyzing Thrulines to see if it’s accurate or not. We talk about matches sharing small amounts of DNA and how they are often found in inaccurate Thurlines hypotheses. Transcript Nicole Elder...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about one of Diana’s favorite photos of an ancestor – Florence Matilda Creer. Florence was Diana’s grandmother. They had a lot in common, from reading, to music. The photo appears to depict three friends in the early 1910s, possibly traveling somewhere together. The man has his arms around the two women, but each woman appears to be trying to remove his hand. Diana shares her research...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about Chapter 12 of Research Like a Pro with DNA, “What’s Next? Publishing, Productivity, and Further Education.” We discuss updating family tree software at the completion of a project, sharing reports, anonymizing living individuals, asking DNA matches for permission to be included in a publicly shared report or proof argument, and ideas for how to share your written conclusion. We also discuss DNA proof arguments and meeting...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about writing a research reports that incorporate DNA evidence. We talk about the elements of a research report, including tables and diagrams, the conclusion, and suggestions for future research. We also discuss tips for making your writing better and how to include document images. Transcript Nicole Elder Dyer (0s): This is Research Like a Pro, episode 249 RLP with DNA part 11 research reports. Welcome to Research...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about using a research log to track your DNA research. We discuss spreadsheets and databases as the optimal tools for your research log, and discuss Airtable as a possible relational database that you can use. We talk about various sheets/tables to include in a DNA research log and how you might want to organize the columns in each table. Transcript Nicole Elder Dyer (1s): This is...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about chapter 9 of Research Like a Pro with DNA, about research planning. We talk about how to use what you’ve learned about available records and DNA tools to help you make a research plan. The steps for research planning include reviewing the known information and DNA starting point, creating a hypothesis, identifying possible sources and methods, then prioritizing your research strategy. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about the second half of Chapter 8 in Research Like a Pro with DNA. This part of the chapter focuses on tools that use segment data to help you find common ancestors with your matches. We discuss chromosome browsers, segment triangulation, chromosome mapping, DNA Painter, visual phasing, and several third party tools. We also review tools to help analyze mitochondrial DNA, Y-DNA, and X-DNA matches. Transcript Nicole...