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 third post in the series.
The first two steps in the RLP with DNA process are discussed in Assess Your DNA Matches and Analyze Your Pedigree and Organize Your DNA Results and Create a Research Objective. In the first step, I found some holes in my husband’s family tree that I wanted to approach with DNA and then began looking at the DNA matches available that could help with filling those holes. In the second step, I charted the DNA matches in Lucidchart and chose an objective for my project:
“The objective of this research project is to use DNA and genealogical records to determine the biological father of Mary Ella Parker born on 22 August 1877 in Baldwin County, Alabama. Mary Ella died on 28 December 1950 in Columbus, Muscogee, Georgia. The test taker is 3 generations from the research subject and atDNA will be applicable, however, 3rd-4th cousins may not share very much DNA which could make verifying the exact relationship difficult. The community of the research subject also experienced pedigree collapse, so there may be multiple MRCAs with the test taker. mtDNA is not useful in this case as it is not an unbroken maternal line and Y-DNA is not useful in this case as it is not an unbroken paternal line.”
As I have now chosen my objective and organized the matches available to me, it is time to begin organizing all the information I have for this project (through DNA and traditional genealogy), enter that information into a timeline, and create source citations for each piece of information.
Note: For my e-course project, I am using the autosomal DNA of my mother-in-law, Lesley Kotter. She has permitted me to use her name and DNA in the project and these blog posts. Her matches will be privatized.
Begin your Timeline
Before tackling all the complexities of adding DNA to a genealogy project, it is important to remember that you are still doing genealogy and traditional research should still be conducted. As that is the case, you should create a timeline by gathering what you know about the research subject from past research. An extract of the timeline for this project is pictured below:
Gathering the sources with evidence of Mary Ella Parker’s father reminded me of why I was so sure that Mary’s father was William Parker based on traditional sources. However, Mary’s mother, Zilla, was married previously and some cousins claim that Mary was actually a child of the first marriage and just adopted the Parker name. This dispute in the extended family is the reason I decided to approach this problem with DNA.
Traditional Source Citations
As any professional genealogist would do, as you are gathering your old research and compiling it into a timeline, this is a perfect time to practice creating source citations for your research! Family Locket has some amazing blog posts about traditional source citations that I would suggest reading for additional help:
Research Like a Pro, Part 5: Where Did You Look and What Did You Find?
Source Citations: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
When to Use Waypoints in a Source Citation
As you read these, you will find that the questions to ask yourself when creating a source citation for any type of record are:
– WHO created the source?
– WHAT is the source?
– WHEN was the source created or accessed?
– WHERE IS the source?
– WHERE IN the source is the item of information?
Let’s follow this exercise for Mary Ella Sutton’s death certificate:
WHO created the source: Georgia Department of Health
WHAT is the source: Death Certificate for Mary Ella Sutton
WHEN was the source created: 28 December 1950
WHERE IS the source: Muscogee County, Georgia
WHERE IN the source is the item of information: certificate #28415
Putting this together the citation would look something like this:
Death Certificate for Mary Ella Sutton, Muscogee County, Georgia, 28 December 1950; citing Georgia Department of Health, certificate #28415.
DNA Source Citations
While source citations for traditional genealogy records may not be intimidating to you, I am sure I am not the only one who had no idea where to even begin with DNA source citations. After going through the lesson, I made DNA citation templates and practiced citations for some of the information I had already found in the previous steps using the same exercise as above.
Clustering with the Leeds Method
WHO created the source: Allison Kotter (Author of a DNA report)
WHAT is the source: Leeds Method Analysis for Lesley Kotter
WHEN was the source created or accessed: 8 February 2021
WHERE IS the source: Privately held by Allison Kotter, Macon, Georgia
WHERE IN the source is the item of information: showing 5 clusters with Lesley Kotter’s Ancestry.com DNA matches ranging from 90 cM – 400 cM
Putting this together the citation would look something like this:
Leeds Method Analysis for Lesley Kotter, completed by Allison Kotter, 8 February 2021, privately held by Allison Kotter (Macon, Georgia); Ancestry data showing 5 clusters with matches ranging from 90 cM – 400 cM.
DNA Matches
WHO created the source: Ancestry.com
WHAT is the source: DNA Match with Lesley Kotter
WHEN was the source created or accessed: 8 February 2021
WHERE IS the source: http://www.ancestry.com
WHERE IN the source is the item of information: estimated 3rd-4th Cousin with Private sharing 2% DNA (112 cM) across 3 shared segments (largest segment 64 cM), DNA managed by Private, (MRCA: William Edward Parker & Zilla Beck)
Putting this together the citation would look something like this:
DNA Match with Lesley Kotter, database report, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 February 2021), estimated 3rd-4th Cousin with Private sharing 2% DNA (112 cM) across 3 shared segments (largest segment 64 cM), DNA managed by Private, (MRCA: William Edward Parker & Zilla Beck).
Other types of DNA sources you may want to do this exercise with are online family trees, ethnicity estimates, or tools such as WATO or Genetic Affairs.
Overall, creating source citations for DNA information helped me step back and ask myself where the source came from and what information I was finding. This was my first approach at DNA source citations and I’m happy at how it went! I’m sure my citation templates will shift as I get used to these new sources, but in the meantime, I am excited that I have taken this step of source citations for DNA and traditional sources as I learn to Research Like a Pro with DNA!
Some of the resources that helped me the most with this phase of the project were:
Track Your Family with a Timeline
Research Like a Pro, Part 5: Where Did You Look and What Did You Find?
Source Citations: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
When to Use Waypoints in a Source Citation
Using DNA Source Citations in a Research Report
Other posts in this series are:
Part 1: Assess Your DNA Matches and Analyze Your Pedigree
Part 2: Organize Your DNA Results and Create a Research Objective
Part 3: Source Citations for DNA and Traditional Sources
Part 4: Analyze Your Sources and DNA Matches
Part 5: Locality Research and Ethnicity
Part 6: Exploring DNA Tools and Methodology
Part 7: Research Planning – Selecting DNA Tools and Methodology
Part 8: Following Your Plan, Research Logging & Writing as You Go
Part 9: Correlating Findings and Writing the Report
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