Week 34: Newest Discovery (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2023 Version)

The theme for Week 34 is "Newest Disovery." What is the newest discovery you've made in your family history? Click here to check out all of the themes for 2023.

Engaging in daily genealogy research constantly reveals new and exciting insights. Recently, I stumbled upon an innovative approach to genealogy called the AncestryDNA Dot System, devised by Diahan Southard.

During a recent live webinar, which a similar one is  accessible on YouTube through the above provided link, Diahan Southard made a compelling statement: we should embrace the idea of erasing our prior dots without fear. This notion had always been daunting to me. Yet, during the live session, numerous participants inquired about the process of dot removal. I discovered that the procedure is quite straightforward.

Upon opening the DNA Matches list, a plethora of "Filter By" options come into view. Selecting the "Groups" option opens the door to crafting custom groups and subsequently reviewing them. While deletion is impossible from this interface, a simple route exists. 

Navigating to the first match, one can click on "Add/Edit Groups." Adjacent to the existing groups, a pencil icon is situated. 

Upon selecting this icon, the option to delete a group surfaces. 

Executing this process across all groups effectively eradicates the dots. Following this, the canvas is clear to adopt the new dot system outlined in Diahan's tutorial.

Diahan Southard emphasized in the live webinar that she frequently adds and removes groups according to her current genealogical focus. A crucial tool that shouldn't be overlooked is the note field, where annotations and comments can be added. Upon establishing the Most Recent Common Ancestor(s), I compose a note such as "MRCA James Crinion and Mary Ann McMahon; 2C2x," a concise way to denote a second cousin, twice removed.

Ancestry offers an array of 24 color dots. I prefer reserving the initial two yellow dots for flagging important entries. A vibrant yellow hue signifies "Need to enter – Research." Occasionally, while watching TV, I review matches on my phone, or tablet. I leave myself a brief note and the match flagged with this hue indicate a promising connection to explore later on my desktop computer. The subsequent yellow dot I've labeled as "Confirmed DNA Match – enter into FTM." This serves as a reminder that not only have I verified the match, but it's also entered into my Family Tree Maker tree. My Starred Matches are those I am unsure of our relationship because I don't have enough to figure out the relationship. I replace the star with the confirmed DNA Match dot after resolving these matters. Your use of stars and dots can be tailored to your personal preferences.

Essentially, my journey with the Leeds Method of Clustering DNA Matches by Dana Leeds prompted me to seek a more in-depth approach. The Dot System emerged as a valuable asset in this endeavor. I envision my DNA Matches as gateways to potential breakthroughs in my genealogical exploration. They could unveil unknown branches or offspring of my ancestors. Likewise, they might facilitate progress in traversing another generation back to unveil the parents and siblings of my known ancestor.

To me, genealogy means that I will never stop learning new skills to help me discover new things about my family.. 

Remember to have fun and Just Do Genealogy!

June’s Theme and Week 23: So Many Descendants (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2023 Version)

The theme for Week 23 is "So Many Descendants." Sometimes when we're researching, we'll come across a set of ancestors who seem to have a gazillion descendants. Who is that in your family tree? Click here to check out all of the themes for 2023.

What I love the best about the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, is the fact it makes me look at my family tree with a new set of eyes. 

I decided to look at my DNA matches and which ancestor(s) seem to have the most descendants who have tested. I decided to look at AncestryDNA and use ThruLines. Now with my disclaimer: You get ThruLines when ancestors from your tree are also in a match’s tree. However, Ancestry will look at other peoples’ trees and build out your matches tree to find common ancestors. Therefore, your match must have a tree attached to their DNA results. Then common ancestors need to match, you might not get a match because they have a different birth, death, or marriage date for an ancestor. Perhaps you use the birth name of an ancestor and your DNA match uses a nickname. Thus, ThruLines are just hints, and I have found lots correct and a few incorrect things. However, the better your tree is built out, the better the ThruLines matches become.

I have a couple, my 4th great-grandparents through my maternal grandmother’s line, Lorentz Hilts (1782-1850) and Margaretha Wartenbach (1785-1850) which have 60 DNA matches. The Hilts/Hiltz line is quite huge. The immigrant ancestor, my 7th great-grandparents Christofel HÜLS and Eva Catherine Engel came to America in 1710. They have at least 10 children. They were the second group of Germans that England invited to populate the new World. However, the lineage between Lorentz and Christofel is not totally proven. It was given to me by a relative, however, I can’t absolutely prove each generation. At least to my satisfaction. 

ThruLines shows 6 descendants for the couple, I only have four of the 6 children. My ancestor has 20 matches, the next child has one that I need to evaluate, the third child has 17, the fourth has 15, the fifth has 5 and the last child has one that I need to evaluate. This branch of the family has a lot of descendants and with repeat names, children sometimes get attached to the wrong parents. This is why I need to evaluate James and Elizabeth. Also, even though it states that Susan needs to be evaluated, I already have Susan in my tree, so perhaps there is more to evaluate. 

I have a custom fact in my Family Tree Maker program for tracking my DNA matches. I noticed I only have 8 DNA matches documented. These are people that I can prove their line down from Lorentz and Margaretha. Therefore, I see another project in my future on verifying the DNA matches for this line. 

I decided to see how many descendants I have for Christofel and his wife Eva and when I export that branch of the family, I get 5362 people. This does include spouses of the descendants, still this is quite a large branch of the family.

If I check how big the export file would be if I choose Lorentz and Margaretha, I get 891 people. This is quite a drop of people. It just shows how quickly a family expands with each generation back we take our trees. 

Thus, if the set of your ancestors seem to have a gazillion descendants, is it because they are your 7th great-grandparents or more? 

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!