Month: June 2019
Citing What It Does Not Say
This is part of one of the online trees for a relative of mine. I’ve eliminated the name and the precise date of birth because I’m more interested in how Ancestry.com handles citing sources than who this specific individual is whose birth is being cited. I’ve also seen problems like this countless times so I […]
Is It Always Possible to Find That Reason?
One clue to learning more about your ancestor is determining why he moved from one point to another. Sometimes the reasons are clear after a little study of local history if the reason he moved was because of the destination–called the pull factor. If you don’t know where the ancestor was from, it may be more […]
AncestryDNA Now Extrapolates in the Trees
It was bad enough that AncestryDNA was algorithmically extrapolating ancestors from their seemingly a·mor·phous “Big Tree” in the separate ThruLines section of their DNA analysis site. While Thrulines is decidedly not perfect, if one is aware of its limitations and uses it carefully (with their brain turned on and critical thinking skills engaged), use can […]
A Little Opinion on those Extended FAN Searches
I understand the FAN concept of genealogical research (research the friends, associates, and neighbors of your ancestors–great idea!). But I think that researching the 4th cousin of your 2nd cousin’s great-grandmother (on the other side of the family) is a bit much. The same thing goes for the guy who tells me he “knows everything […]
Do You Come From Royal Blood?
Ellosif Ella Lowry: A Throwitoutlines Suggestion–A Followup
There was a reason why ThruLines at AncestryDNA gave me Ellosif Lowy as a potential mother for Florence Ellen Butler (born in the 1850s, probably in Missouri). Florence Ellen Butler is in my tree as the daughter of a Benjamin Butler. And a little further digging did indicate that a woman named Ellosif Lowry married […]
Ellosif Ella Lowry: A Throwitoutlines Suggestion
Anecdotal evidence that ThruLines at AncestryDNA is still in the beta stage. It suggests that the mother of my ancestor Florence E. Butler is a woman named Ellosif “Ella” Lowry. Fine. But then it goes on to tell me that none of the trees linked to my DNA matches have this relationship and that no […]
Interviewing Grandma
[reprinted from June of 2003]from the Ancestry Daily News Michael John Neill – 6/4/2003 Interviewing GrandmaSummer, along with family trips and reunions, is quickly approaching. This week we take a short look at obtaining oral information from relatives. While its accuracy is sometimes questionable, for most of us oral history is a great starting point to […]
Genealogy Is An Art
I was trained as a mathematician, so on one level the title of this post really bothers me. On the other hand, it is true-at least partially. It is also true that mathematics is an art as well. An art, grounded with rules, laws, theorems, and postulates. But even “art” has rules, rules of color, […]