I spent my life before that thing, that should not be named, ravaged the world with its horrible deaths, sickness, and political upheaval, traveling the world and speaking in person to the genealogy community. In 2019 alone, I put nearly 70k miles on planes, trains, and automobiles. It was wonderful to be present, in person, and huggable. Nearly four years later and the changes wrought by that thing that shall not be named are looking like they might not be transient, but permanent. We came back from the 20th-century flu, sure, but because of technology things are very different in the 21st Ce ..read more

Ancestry has had my origins at 69% Scottish for a very long time…well since their last origins estimates update. This is significant to me since I have SOME Scottish influence in my genes, but I don’t have that much based on the Genealogy. NewesOriginalna Estimates This time around you can see they have lowered my “scotsness” to 51% (down from 69%), AND they picked up on my probable Welsh patrilineal line – finally. YAY, I am 1% Welsh. Not terribly significant to know that other than it’s in my SURNAME. The latest NGS (Next Gen. Sequencing) test points my patrilineal lines to Wales. That is a ..read more

Greg Clarke has created a tool at WikiTree that has gotten a lot of hype in the last little bit. Aside from the fact that it’s a cool tool to see your six degrees of family relationships? There is an aspect of this tool that is great for those working on the Genetic Genealogy of their family lines. One word – ENGOGAMY. It is a pain in the bum for sure because it makes all those fairly tight numbers we work with in genetic genealogy explode into bigger numbers making finding family and connections that much harder. Note in the family tree what Greg calls halos: These indicate relatives in the ..read more

I noted a friend posting to our Gaulding Cousins facebook group about how many of “us” there are in the world. Gaulding Gaulden Gauldin It’s not a lot to be sure – we can absolutely say we are a rare breed. Every time I have an opportunity I jump into the post to share my connections via DNA testing and my relationship trail. This will, hopefully, entice others of my Gaulding cousins to DNA test and share their well-documented family history (or not – I am not beyond working someone’s history so it is documented if I can). I thought I would share the steps I took to quickly and succinctly sh ..read more

The good of DNA and genealogy. DNA and Genealogy set me up for a very interesting , humbling and fulfilling weekend in Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton Ontario and Union Station Platform 9 3/4 As a fan of Hamilton, Ontario, where I have had the pleasure of speaking, twice, in a month, or so I am happy to say, I now know how to get there. I’ll be back in Hamilton in June at the Ontario Ancestors (OGS) 2020 Conference. I am very much looking forward to it and I have solved a HUGE transportation issue. Taking the train to Toronto, one must change at Union Station to the Go Transit Bus system. It’s a bi ..read more

For years I have been an ardent WikiTreer (a person who is a member of WikiTree). But many people don’t realize how I use WikiTree in my work as a Professional Genealogist, which I do, almost every single day. Time Tracking This is the comment that usually causes eyebrows to raise, their pupils to dilate and their genea-senses to prick. Time tracking is what we do while we work for every single client. For me it’s a way to show the client the bang for their buck. Every single change I make to WikiTree is shown in my contributions feed. Every single change I make to a WikiTree profile is shown ..read more

I will be one of many WikiTreer’s losing sleep the first weekend of October during the WikiTree Source-A-Thon. Instead of writing a new blog post to tout that I will be appearing on source-a-thons hangouts (I will), or that I am offering a one hour consult as one of the prizes (I am), I am posting the press release for you from WikiTree! Enjoy… WikiTree Announces Fourth Source-a-Thon Wiki genealogists celebrate Family History Month by verifying oral family histories with sources September 4, 2019: Registration opened today for WikiTree’s fourth annual “Source-a-Thon,” a 72-hour genealogical s ..read more

I spent the last 6 days in sweltering, melting, sauna like, Washington DC in the comfort of the luxurious Omni Shorham at the FGS Conference 2019. Here are my takeaways… The Venue The Luxurious Omni Shoreham, was spectacular in architeture, hospitality and location at Woodley park. The proximity to Woodley Park was a must have since the hotels restaurants and bars (under new management?) seemed woefully unprepared for this flock of genealogists. Since I spent the majority of my time in the exhibit hall talking about mitoYDNA, WikiTree, DNAGedcom and Genetic.Family, I can only speak first hand ..read more

mitoYDNA, THE new Y-DNA and mtDNA Database is here. What is mitoYDNA? How can it help the genealogy community? And many more questions, answered. What is a Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA database and why do we need it? Y-DNA – is the DNA for males that follows the patrilineal line back, father to son, for a very long time – thousands of years. mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) – is the DNA that follows the matrilineal line back, mother to her children, which is passed on by only her female children to their children, for a very long time – thousands of years. For years anyone who tested their Y-DNA and ..read more

Over the past while, I have had many who have been involved in some of the very public posts, which have flown through the genetic genealogy community, contact me to air frustrations. I have been having discussions with so many and I want to continue those discussions with anyone who wants to share their views on specific ideas on how we as a community work to lift and build our fledgling profession and community. I am not interested in rehashing old problems. I am interested only in moving forward. I want to community build and I have an idea I am working on which I hope, and I think, will he ..read more