Michael John Neill's Genealogy Website
What is the difference between indirect evidence and direct evidence? One good example is a voter’s list. Since a person has to be a citizen to vote, your ancestor’s name appearing on a voter’s list is indirect evidence that your foreign-born ancestor naturalized (assuming that the guy on the voter’s list really is your ancestor and not another […]
When Barbara Haase made out her last will and testament in 1902 in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois, she only made three marks as her signature on the document. She would have been in her seventies at the time and the marks look slightly labored. Barbara would be dead less than a year later when her […]
Relationship projections in DNA test results are estimations based upon shared DNA. The relationship is an estimate. The relationship stated is based on the amount of shared DNA (measured in centimorgans). The Shared cM Project has estimates of relationships based on shared centimorgans. These are estimates. These probable relationships on the Shared cM Project are based […]
[still applicable today] From the former Ancestry Daily News Michael John Neill — 3/22/2006 This week we look at some ways that our searches of records can be stymied. Handwriting Have you considered how the letters might appear on the page of the original document? This is especially a concern when using indexes […]
Part of my problem in utilizing my AncestryDNA matches to find relatives of my Irish forebears was that I was too concentrated on matching other descendants of my Samuel Neill. It’s tempting to do that–after all, there were about ten other descendants of Samuel in the AncestryDNA database. They would have to match other Neill relatives […]
Words matter. The recent post on a DNA discovery used the phrase “Potential DNA Match on My Neill Family” in the title. DNA matches to someone or it doesn’t. There’s not a “potential” to the match. The “potential” is when the researcher is not yet certain which family the shared match comes through. What’s “potential” […]
I might not have been going about it the wrong way, but I needed to change my approach. Even if I did not change my approach, I needed to realize that there were other approaches. Part of my reason for doing the autosomal DNA test at Ancestry was to find potential matches to my Irish […]
We are usually told to cite our sources because it allows us to go back and find things again if necessary and it assists us in the analysis of information. Another reason: Reducing errors created by the researcher. Creating citations after the research has been done can be time consuming, tedious, and repetitive process. For […]
Due to some schedule changes, we have a few additional open spaces in our AncestryDNA class this coming June. If you signed up and have not heard from me, please contact me. If you would like to sign up, visit our information page.
An 1833 deed record in Coshocton County, Ohio, from Thomas Chaney to Abraham Chaney contains the following text at the very bottom of the record copy of the deed: Recorder’s Office Coshocton County Ohio This Deed was Filed in my office for Record Oct [22?]nd 1834 [And?] was Recorded same day & Year in book […]
