Author: mjnrootdig

The Widow Didn’t Get the Pension

Posted on March 8, 2019 by mjnrootdig

I’ve received the pension images from the Civil War pension file for Thomas Graves who served in Company B of the 42nd Missouri Infantry. Graves was survived by a widow, a woman who was born Sarah Newman in Rush County, Indiana, in the 1850s. By the 1880s she was in the general area of Randolph […]

Getting Through the ThruLines(tm) at AncestryDNA: Part II

Posted on March 7, 2019, updated on March 7, 2019 by mjnrootdig

After some experimentation, I’ll keep using “ThruLines”(tm) while keeping the following things in mind: DNA may not lie, but online trees do. “ThruLines”(tm) is great for an initial sort of matches that have attached trees with shared ancestors. You still need to work on documenting the connection because some trees have errors, some trees are […]

What’s Not Written Is What I Really Want to Know

Posted on March 6, 2019 by mjnrootdig

Genealogists should use every record they can access to paint as accurate a picture of their ancestor’s life as possible. But often it is not enough. We all want to know more. The reality is that no matter how many pieces of paper are left behind there are details that are missing. The fight over […]

ThruLines(TM) Trees are Suggestions

Posted on March 5, 2019 by mjnrootdig

Your tree has not been changed with ThruLines(TM). What’s white is from your tree. What’s gray is from other trees in the set of trees at Ancestry.com. ThruLines(TM) indicates the submitter of the tree from which the “is box” information has been obtained. Those gray boxes are showing you the suggested connection between the DNA […]

Working with ThruLines(TM) at AncestryDNA Webinar

Posted on March 4, 2019, updated on March 18, 2019 by mjnrootdig

We’re excited to offer an hour-long presentation on the new ThruLines(TM) functionality at AncestryDNA. This functionality makes it easier to organize and sort some of your DNA matches at AncestryDNA. The session was held on 17 March 2018 and includes: understanding where the information in the tree comes from–what’s yours and what’s someone else’s; basics […]

Calculating An Age Range

Posted on March 3, 2019 by mjnrootdig

Ages given in any document can easily be incorrect. That doesn’t mean they should not be analyzed. The Civil War pension for Riley Rampley provides six ages for him at different times. I was curious just how consistent these ages were. The six ages provided in the pension application are shown on the chart. The […]

Which Great-grandchild Are You?

Posted on March 3, 2019 by mjnrootdig

Regular readers know that I’m not a big fan of writing prompts, memes, or other activities that I loosely categorize as “busy work.” I’ve got a long list of things to write about as it is, don’t really follow the crowd in any way shape or form, and usually need to see a reason behind […]

A Post About a Triple Relationship

Posted on March 2, 2019 by mjnrootdig

This 5th cousin 1 time removed and I share 111 cM of DNA over 4 segments. The screen shot in this image is from AncestryDNA but this post is not about any one specific DNA site. 111 cM of DNA is unusual for 5th cousins 1 time removed to share (the “Shared CentiMorgan Project” by Blaine […]

Responsibly Using “ThruLines(tm)” at AncestryDNA

Posted on March 1, 2019, updated on March 1, 2019 by mjnrootdig

To begin with, remember that the only DNA matches that appear in “ThruLines(tm)” at AncestryDNA are those who have trees attached to their results. Their tree may be hidden but they will still show and, in some cases, the names in their genealogical connection may be displayed on your “ThruLines(tm)” results page. One current advantage of using “ThruLines(tm)” […]

Getting the Civil War Pension of David A. Newman

Posted on February 28, 2019 by mjnrootdig

I’ve decided to get the Civil War pension of David A. Newman. The Kentucky native served in an Iowa unit (Company I 20th Regiment of the Iowa Infantry). The unit index card for him does not indicate his widow received a pension, so the amount of family detail may not be as much as […]