Exploring Color Coding and Filters with FTM 2017

Family Tree Maker 2017 has introduced color coding. There are some limitations but as with any limitations, this means we need to get creative.

First of all, basic color coding allows you to color code an individual person, all their ancestors one color, all their ancestors four predefined colors, all their descendants one color or you can clear the all color coding or just one of the color coding options by clicking the gray x box in front.

Please note, when you select the All Ancestors (4 colors) it will color code the grandparent’s line of the selected person. Therefore to remove those colors, either select Clear All Colors (this will delete all color coding in your entire database, not just the ancestors) or go back to the primary selected person you turned on the all ancestors (4 colors) with and click the gray box in front of All Ancestors (4 colors).

Also note there are only 8 colors to choose from. If you use four for your ancestor’s lines, this will only leave four for other things. This is the limitations I am talking about. Therefore you might find yourself turning on and off various colors.

I have my files color coded and thus I manually color coded each of my grandparent’s ancestors with a color that matches their file folders. These were different than the pre-defined                                                                      All Ancestors (4 colors).

You can also create a filter, save and name the filter and color code that saved filter list. You will find the filter option at the bottom of your name index that appears on your tree view.

Click the Filter button and then the Filter Individuals will display. Next click the “Filter In…>” button to select your filter criteria.

Here is where you can get creative, perhaps you want a filter of everyone born in a certain state. 

I wanted a filter of all my DNA Matches and their direct ancestors going back to our shared Ancestor. I created a DNA fact for this information.

Therefore I click the radio button next to All Facts and scroll down and select my DNA fact. Next I want to select anyone who has something written in this fact, so I scoll down and select “Is not blank”. My fact is only using the description  field, however if your fact has a date, place and/or description, don’t forget to select the information you want to check.  Then I select OK.

This will popluate the right side of the Filter Individual box with all that match my criteria. I have found 335 individuals of my 10462 individuals in my tree. I then click Apply.

This changes my Index view to just those 335 individuals.  I will then click the SAVE button to save this filter. I have a Save List box come up where I can give it a Name and I can choose a color. Please note you don’t have to choose a color but this is where you can. Then I click Save

Now my Index of names has my filter and each one is color coded. (see picture on left) I can uncheck the “Apply” box and my filter is still color coded but my Index of names now shows all my names (see picture on right).

So I decided to create a Filter List of My Direct Ancestors with no color.  When I look at my new Filter list, I can see which ancestors my DNA matches seem to be matching up with. They are all the ones with the additonal light blue dots. If any of my grandparents had shared ancestors, I would see that they would have more than one color dot (excluding the light blue dot which represents my DNA Matches filter).  Another limitation of FTM is that each person can only have a max of four colors. Therefore if you have a common ancestor that all four of grandparents go back to and you share DNA from this same ancestor, you will only see four of the five colors that this person would have.

Finally, lets say you have lots of filters and you want to turn on and off the color of the filter.

If you select the down arrow next to your Saved Lists and select “Manage List”, All your Managed list will show. Just either click a new color or the gray x to turn off the color and click okay.

One final note, if you add someone or some fact that would apply to an existing filter. You will need to remove the filter and regenerate the filter to get the new person added to the filter. Notice the Plus and Minus signs, clicking the minus sign will remove the saved filter list.

Filters are different than if you color code your ancestors, if you add a new ancestor to your tree, it will be assigned the proper color. However, it will not be automatically added to “My Direct Ancestor”  filter.

Filters can be tricky, when I created my My Direct Ancestors filter, I was prompted for how many generations to go back, whether I want to include all parents or only preferred parents, include all spouses or only preferred spouses. 

This can get tricky if your ancestors were married multiple times. If you are not sure if you have selected your direct ancestor as the preferred parent and/or the preferred spouse (if they were actually a spouse), you might want to be sure to select “Include All” on both options.  Since I only wanted my direct ancestors, I did not chose the descendants of my ancestor. 

Experiment with the filter options and have fun.

Uncovering my biological grandfather

I have written about my mother’s illegitimate birth back in July of 2013 in the previous post titled My Mother’s Secret.

I have been using DNA testing in the hopes of finding my biological maternal grandfather. Having half-siblings has made uncovering my grandfather a little easier since matches between me and my half-siblings must be my mother’s side. My mother was left a young widow with 6 children. She remarried and I am the youngest from the second husband. Thus I have tested two of my half siblings, one full sister along with my test has aided in figuring out who my biological grandfather is.

Along this journey, I have found some clues in my matches. In August of 2016 I wrote about some of my common matches in a post titled DNA Matches.

Of the common ancestors, my closest possible ancestors appeared to be the possibility that my 3^rd great-grandparents are Peter Pedelty and Mary Alderson. I theorized that one of their great-grandsons was a good candidate for being my maternal grandfather. Thus, this started my journey of researching the descendants of Peter and Mary.

It wasn’t until two key relatives finally did their DNA test and they showed up in my matches. Actually they showed up better in my half-brother matches as his 2^nd cousin matches. 

The first match, we will call Hiltz based on my grandmother’s maiden name was a known cousin of my mother through her mother. It’s wonderful to have a known close relative who tested. 

The other match, we will call Pedelty was an unknown cousin that appeared to be through my maternal grandfather’s side of the family, her tree left off where my Pedelty tree began.

I have been reading that 2^nd cousins who share a common ancestor should match each other. I ran the “shared matches” option through AncestryDNA and they did not match each other. They did match each of my siblings and thus I knew this had to be a match on my mother’s side. I also noticed that the Hiltz match was matching my Hiltz relatives while the Pedelty match was matching some of Peter and Mary’s descendants along with some new matches. Again, since I knew the one match was my maternal grandmother’s side, the other match only left my maternal grandfather’s side. Along with the tree that left off where my Pedelty tree began, I started to look at the man that was her great grandfather. 

I also noticed that the Pedelty match, in-spite of being in the same category as the Hiltz match, Pedelty has about 1/2 of the shared centimorgans and DNA segments. Plus my Family Tree Maker genealogy program shows my Hiltz match as 1st Cousin 1x removed while my Pedelty match as Half 1st Cousin because she descends from the possible half sister of my mother. Which would explain the difference in centimorgans and DNA segments. 

For my theory to be valid, I needed to look at the parents of this man. His mother descends from Peter and Mary and thus I looked at his father, John Tyler. John’s parent’s George and Sarah had at least 10 children. One of their daughters, Mary Margaret married a man named George Platts. I have several of their descendants on my shared DNA matches list. They also match my Pedelty match.

Thus my breakthrough was only possible because of two cousins, all on their own, without knowing that I have been waiting for this day, decided to have their DNA tested at AncestryDNA. I look forward to sharing this wonderful discovering with my siblings and we can finally put a rest on who is the man who fathered my mother. 

Please note: I have kept the name of my grandfather off this post because I am unsure how much if any information his descendants know of the illegitimate birth of my mother. Since I only discovered this about 5 years ago, I can only surmise that they too have no knowledge of this information. He is in my tree that is attached to my DNA test and I guess I will let the discovery come out slowly.

Double 4th Cousins

It's not often for me anyway, that I find a double 4th Cousin. I received an email from the sister-in-law of my fourth cousin. 

I have corresponded with this sister-in-law in the past and we have shared a wealth of information. So I had her in my database, so I could easy see how I know her. Today she told me her 2nd great grandmother is the sister of my 3rd great grandfather. Why did I only find this out today. We have been in contact with each other, on and off for over 15 years while doing our research. But today I find this revelation. Strange thing, I had her 2nd great grandmother in my tree, not tied to my 3rd great grandfather and not tied to the sister-in-law. 

So I was looking at who I originally had in my tree, Ms Julie and she is my double fourth cousin. Looking at my line I see it is through my paternal grandparents. Each one can trace themselves back to Julie. Or should I really say, it's my genealogy software program that did all the heavy lifting on this one. 

The point of this blog post, to praise genealogy software programs that reside on our personal computers. No where on Ancestry does it give me this double relationship. Ancestry does show me that she is my 4th cousin, but how?

I know so many people who only have their tree on web based sites like Ancestry and I think how much they are missing. I find when I look at data in a different way, things start to pop out. Or perhaps it directs me to my next research project. 

Food for thought, with DNA, it makes me realize that if Julie and I were to look at our shared matches, it could be either set of shared Ancestors. Not so cut and dry anymore. 

To all the people who want to know why they should have a genealogy software program that resides on their personal computers, because they are more powerful than any web based application. Before programs came with syncing, I would upload my GEDCOM to one or more of these web based sites as cousin bait. Now I use Family Tree Maker and the sync function to keep my cousin bait up to date with the latest and greatest finds and additions, like Julie's sister-in-law is more than the sister-in-law of my fourth cousin, she is my 4th cousin 1x removed.  Julie and her sister-in-law are related to me through my grandmother's parents. Julie through my grandmother's mother's side and her sister-in-law through my grandmother's father's side. Therefore, Julie and her husband don't share DNA (that I know of anyway). 

Fred Gloede - Son or Step-Son of Theodore Gloede?

My last post, The Tale of Two Gloede’s of Wisconsin . I introduced my husband’s 2^nd Great Grandfather, Theodore Gloede.

In 1900, Fred Gloede was living in Oshkosh Ward 13, Winnebago County. Wisconsin with his wife Saraphrena and his children, Rose, Lydia and Leona along with his “father” Theodore Gloede.

In the 1900 Census, we learn that Fred was born in Dec 1866 in Germany. That he immigrated in 1885.

However, one short year later, Theodore died and in his obituary Fred is referenced as his Step-son.

This at first did not make sense to me; however I did not know the wedding date of Theodore and his wife Maria until recently. In my last blog, I shared their marriage record which shows that they were married on 18 Dec 1877, 11 years before Fred’s birth. Thus, Fred might not actually be a Gloede.

I also found a passenger list for a 17 year old Fritz Neubecker who arrived on 6 Oct 1884, a young man who’s date of birth would be around 1866-67.

Fred’s Naturalization record shows his birth date of 1866 and that his year of arrival is 1884. Interesting how this matches the passenger list found for Fritz Neubecker.

This leads me to believe that Fred is not Theodore’s biological son but the illegitimate son of Marie Neubecker who would have been 19-20 years old at the time of Fred’s birth. I have found no direct evidence that clearly states this fact. Our only recourse might be to use DNA to help solve this mystery.

One method is to use YDNA and compare a direct male descendant of Fred Gloede to a direct male descendant of a brother of Theodore or one of his Uncles. Actually any direct male descendant from a male relative of Theodore who shares the Gloede surname. It just can’t be through any of Theodore's other male sons, since their mother might also be Marie Neubecker.

A harder method is to use Autosomal DNA and to compare descendants of Fred Gloede to descendants of the siblings of Theodore or descendants of his parent’s siblings. The relationship might be close enough to allow this type of testing, however the amount of DNA still left in the descendants might be quite small and numerous testers may be required to get a confirmation of the relationship. Of course if there is no relationship, it won’t matter the number of testers used because all of them will come back negative. YIKES!

The Tale of Two Gloede's of Wisconsin

Theodore Gloede is my husband’s 2^nd Great Grandfather and he settled in Winnebago County, Wisconsin. While Friedrich Gloede settled in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin.

It appears that some in the family are confusing these two Gloede’s. Plus they have many common facts that can aid in the confusion. When searching Theodore, hints in Ancestry lead us to Friedrich.

Let’s start at the end of their lives.  My husband’s ancestor died on 2 Jan 1901 and is buried in Peace Lutheran Cemetery, Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin. Next to him is his wife, Maria who died in 1900. Theodore’s obituary states he was 58 years old. (Shown on the Left)

The other, Friedrich Gloede who died 2 May 1900 and is buried in Union Cemetery, Plymouth, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. Next to him is his wife, Maria who died in 1922. (Shown on the Right)

I found two birth records, one for Friedrich Carl Heinrich Theodor Glöde born 6 April 1843, the son of Friedrich Glöde and Christine Reiss. 

The other one for Fridrich Theodor Christian Martin Gloede, born 23 Sep 1844, the son of Christian Heinrich Friedrich Gloede and Christina Sophia Margareth Krüger.

I also found two marriage records, one Friedrich Carl Heinrich Theodore Gloede, born 6 Apr 1843 married to Sophia Maria Christiana Wittkop, born 2 Nov 1841, married on 1 Nov 1867. 

The other one for Friedrich Theodor Christian Martin Gloede, born 23 Sep 1844 married to Marie Caroline Sophie Nuebecker, born 30 Mar 1844, married on 18 Dec 1877.

Therefore the two birth records do match the Grooms on the two marriage records.

In closing my husband’s 2^nd Great Grandfather was born as Fridrich Theodor Christian Martin Gloede on 23 Sep 1844, the son of Christian Heinrich Friedrich Gloede and Christina Sophia Margareth Krüger. He married Marie Caroline Sophie Nuebecker on 18 Dec 1877. He died 2 Jan 1901 and is buried in Peace Lutheran Cemetery, Oshkosh, Winnebago County, Wisconsin.

The other man was born as Friedrich Carl Heinrich Theodor Glöde on 6 Apr 1843, the son of Friedrich Glöde and Christine Reiss. He married Sophia Maria Christiana Wittkop on 1 Nov 1867. He died 2 May 1900 and is buried in Union Cemetery, Plymouth, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin.

Why all the confusion about these two Gloede’s? To be honest, I can’t say, however on Theodore’s obituary it states he was residing with his step-son Fred Gloede. Why would Fred be his step-son when they have the same last name? That statement has always been sitting in the back of my mind and I will try to answer that question in my next blog.