Organize Your Family History

Stay focused and happy while exploring your roots

AncestryDNA announces Genetic Communities

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When I was at RootsTech, an executive from Ancestry showed a tantalizing video during an opening session about the “genetic communities” that Ancestry DNA customers would see in their profile.  It’s a big step beyond the ethnicity estimates they previously offered.

Yesterday, Ancestry announced that the genetic communities are starting to be rolled out. They also provided a help page with more information on genetic communities. Here’s the accompanying video:

You can bet that I rushed over to my Ancestry DNA results to see if I’d been placed in any genetic communities. I was delighted to see that I had one genetic community listed in my profile (so far). It is the Settlers of Southern Appalachians community and reflects my father’s mother’s side of the family (the Rascos) who were Alabama settlers.

The whole thing is a bit mysterious to me (but that’s true of DNA in general) and I’m anxious to learn about this new feature and whether I might eventually be connected with more communities. So I signed up for a free webinar from Legacy Family Tree called Exploring AncestryDNA’s New Genetic Communities, presented by renowned genetic genealogist Blaine Bettinger. It’s tomorrow, March 30, at 1 pm Central time. I’m not available at that time but I was thrilled to read that the recording will be available free of charge for seven days.

I’ve been ignoring my DNA results for at least a year now, but I sense that might be ending, since yesterday I purchased the Getting Started with DNA and Genealogy Boot Camp from Hack Genealogy. It’s $25.95 for three hours of recorded webinars and 10 pages of handouts, available for a year. I used the coupon code GETDNA to get $6 off that price. (That code expires March 31.)

I don’t want to get too distracted from the single family line I’m exploring in 2017, but I am looking forward to learning more about how DNA can help me in my research. AncestryDNA’s Genetic Communities might be really helpful!

My digital workflow

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Digital workflow for genealogyWhen Brooks Duncan and I spoke at RootsTech last month about going digital with genealogy research, it became apparent to me from the questions that digital workflow is an individual thing. I’ve developed a work flow that works well for me, so I thought I’d share it here. I’m not suggesting I do things The Right Way (I don’t know if there is a right way, especially for hobbyists), but I wanted to show you what works for me. I know that I love seeing examples of how people handle their own workflow, so in the spirit of sharing, here’s mine.

When I find a digital document online–let’s say it’s a census document that I found at Ancestry–I take the following steps after ascertaining that it’s pertinent to my research:

  1. I click Save to download the document to my computer’s desktop.
  2. I rename the file immediately so that it reflects my simple file-naming protocol (year document type-ancestor name-location).
  3. I immediately file the document in my file structure (Genealogy/Surnames/[Ancestor’s surname]/[Ancestor’s name]
  4. I analyze the document and enter the first fact into my Reunion software.
  5. I create a source for that fact, using Reunion’s templates.
  6. I drag the image of the file into the Multimedia section of the Reunion source screen for that source. (That’s an example of the Reunion source screen at the top of this post.)
  7. I enter all other facts I find in the document into Reunion, using the same source number for each fact I find in that document.
  8. I click Preview in the Reunion source screen for that source and copy the citation and paste it into the metadata of the image file on my hard drive.

I added that last step after RootsTech, adapting a suggestion made by an audience member at our talk. I hadn’t thought about noting on the image what the source number and citation is. I think it’s a great idea and now I intend to go to back and do that for all my sources.

This eight-step work flow takes me from discovery through processing the document. It means that I don’t have stray documents on my hard drive with nonsensical file means. It also means I can easily a find a document when I want to. And it helps me see what documents are missing. Having the confidence that I can find a document I’ve saved allows me to feel good about not printing it, which cuts down on my paper clutter. (And, yes, I backup my hard drive daily, both to the cloud and to an external hard drive.) This workflow was about five years in the making, but I’m very satisfied with it!

For more in-depth information on how I organize my own genealogy, including a detailed look at my digital workflow, check out How I Do It: A Professional Organizer’s Genealogy Workflow, a 37-page downloadable available for $19.99.

Kiss me, I’m Irish!

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DNA test. Now what?Last year on St. Patrick’s Day, I wrote a post about my DNA ethnicity results. It seems appropriate to run it again today. Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I never felt much of a connection to March 17 until I had my DNA tested through Ancestry DNA. Then I discovered in that test that I’m 38% Irish. (That’s my pie chart in the picture.) I knew that Ireland was in my family tree, but I haven’t researched much that far back to realize that it was an important part of my heritage.

Growing up, Irish roots were never mentioned. All that came up was vague mention of England, though in reality our heritage wasn’t much discussed. That’s probably because there were  no immigrants recent enough for my parents or grandparents’ to have known them. We always just felt American.

When I had my DNA tested, it was in an effort to meet cousins and further my genealogical research. (Understanding those results is an ongoing project.) The ethnicity component of didn’t even enter my mind. But today, St. Patrick’s Day, it feels nice to have a kinship with my Irish forebears, though I’m still learning about who they were.

If you’re curious about your own DNA, Ancestry DNA is having a sale–10% off kits through March 19, 2017.

If you’ve had your DNA tested were you surprised by the ethnicity results?

Introducing the Paperless Genealogy Guide

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Paperless Genealogy GuideI’ve partnered with “Mr. Paperless,” Brooks Duncan of DocumentSnap, to create a guide to going paperless in your genealogy research. I think it will be really helpful for those who would like to go paperless but feel overwhelmed by the prospect.

Brooks and I are presenting a session at RootsTech today (Go Paperless: Streamline and Digitize Your Genealogy) and we worked on the presentation and the guide at the same time.

You can read all the details about the Paperless Genealogy Guide over at DocumentSnap and download it for $9 there.  The guide covers how to name and find your digital documents, along with different types of scanners, and strategies for protecting your precious documents. And it ends with a checklist to walk you through the actions you need to get going.

My genealogy life is much easier now that almost all of my documents are in digital form. I can carry all my research with me, find it easily, read it easily (no more magnifying glass!) and determine very easily what I have and don’t have for a particular ancestor.

If that sounds good to you, hop on over and check out the Paperless Genealogy Guide! It can be yours instantly for $9.