In this episode of the Research Like a Pro Genealogy podcast, Diana and Nicole explore using AI to find research questions and write objectives. They discuss how AI can analyze your family tree data and suggest potential research questions. Diana shares her experience using a GEDCOM file with a custom GPT to analyze her pedigree for the Isabella Weatherford project. She explains how to create a GEDCOM file and use the Family Tree Expert custom...
In this episode of Research Like a Pro, Diana and Nicole explore the use of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and WikiTree in genealogical research. They explain that mtDNA is inherited from our mothers, with only females passing it on, and how it differs from autosomal DNA by coming from a distant maternal ancestor. They discuss how mtDNA testing reveals haplogroups, genetic population groups with a common ancestor, and share their personal testing experiences with 23andMe, FamilyTree...
In the podcast episode of “Research Like Pro,” Betsy Ko, a mentor and leader of the WikiTree Events Committee, discusses her background and role at WikiTree. Betsy began her genealogy journey influenced by a family belief related to historical ties and deepened her commitment by studying genealogical principles. She participates in projects focused on England, Scotland, Wales, and Canada, leads the Events Committee, mentors new members, and hosts livecasts. WikiTree itself was described as a...
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 Chapter 3 of Research Like a Pro with DNA, “Organize your DNA Matches Visually with Diagrams and Family Trees.” We discuss diagramming your matches in Lucidchart or similar program and adding DNA matches to your family tree program. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research Like A Pro. Episode 240 RLP with DNA. Three Organize Your DNA Matches Visually Welcome to Research like a Pro, a Genealogy...
We share ancestors with every one of our DNA matches. Sometimes, we can identify the exact shared ancestor(s) without much effort. Other times, we need to put in more time and energy to discover the ancestral connection. A lot of our time working with our DNA matches involves building family trees or seeing where a previously made family tree intersects with ours. Family tree building by researching ancestors back in time is the primary effort...
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...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about organizing your DNA matches by adding them to your Ancestry tree. We talk about building trees for your matches within one master tree so you don’t have a long list of Ancestry trees. We also go over how to add a floating or disconnected branch to your Ancestry tree to allow you to build your matches’ trees and find the common ancestor. We review privacy settings...
Using a family tree program to organize your DNA matches is useful for several reasons. You can: – add DNA matches to your tree and link them back to your common ancestor – include DNA matches from various testing databases in one central location – check the evidence for each parent-child relationship and add documentation – build quick trees for DNA matches who haven’t shared a full tree – do descendancy research to find potential...
Today’s episode of Research Like a Pro is about our ancestor, Elizabeth Malissa Welch. We continue our discussion of pruning and grafting branches of our family tree by discussing the case of Malissa’s parents. We had previously concluded that Meredith and Susannah Welch of Sumter County, South Carolina were her parents, but as we revisited the conclusion, we found a different set of parents that fit the evidence better. Transcript Nicole (1s): This is Research...
