I'm not normally able to watch television on Friday Night, but I have sometimes recorded a show on NBC called Who Do You Think You Are?". When you have free hour (even via DVR), you should definitely take the time to enjoy one of the episodes. No matter how serious of a genealogist you are, it is very interesting to watch various well-known personalities as they follow the trail to find their ancestry.
One spoiler alert: I've come to the conclusion that the most recent episodes have become more of a blatent advertisement for Ancestry.com. This distracts a little bit from the exceptional concept and intriguing story lines. My beef with their overt efforts to sell their product is related to my previous posts objecting to the quote "you don't have to know what you are looking for." Actually, you do! As we've discussed several times before, you should never assume that you can just type names into a search engine and instantly retrieve your family tree. There is a lot of "off-line" work that needs to happen before you can verify online discoveries.
To be blunt, the show sometimes provides an overly optimistic representation of how actual genealogy searches usually proceed. They usually use the services of professional genealogists - which I think is a very good thing. However, the ease with which the "star of the show" is able to find their family is a reality TV representation of the actual time-staking (trial & error) data mining and long-term commitment to genealogy searches required to find family roots. But I'm not naive - how could anyone make a show entertaining if it took several weeks to locate one name? The time lapse between the beginning and end of the episodes isn't immediately obvious, so we may just be watching the highlights. I'll admit that gives me a great feeling to watch people as they rediscover the amazing stories of their family's past.
Despite my criticisms above, I highly recommend the show - usually broadcast starting at 8 PM in the Eastern Time Zone on Fridays (check your local NBC listings). No matter what, you will be inspired to keep looking for your roots. For every famous person who had the resources to find everything in the space of a one hour TV episode, there are many other "regular" people who will find the same results with some serious dedication (and time). The show should remind you to never quit searching. Happy hunting!
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Saturday, April 21, 2012
Online Genealogy Training
Have you ever wanted to take a course in genealogy but couldn't find one near you? It is your lucky day, then! I've found a few online locations that offer free or fee training on different genealogy topics. These (hopefully) helpful virtual genealogy training examples can greatly enhance your family history search (both online and offline):
CyndisList.com
FamilySearch.org
FamilyTreeUniversity.com
Genealogy.com
UniversalClass.com
Disclaimer: This post is not an advertisement! I gain nothing from mentioning the links above and have not used the products to see if they are useful or worth the cost. If you figure that out (one way or another), please use the comments to share your experience. Happy hunting!
CyndisList.com
FamilySearch.org
FamilyTreeUniversity.com
Genealogy.com
UniversalClass.com
Disclaimer: This post is not an advertisement! I gain nothing from mentioning the links above and have not used the products to see if they are useful or worth the cost. If you figure that out (one way or another), please use the comments to share your experience. Happy hunting!
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Finding DNA Foundations
Since my previous post about DNA, I've discovered some fascinating information about the capability of Y-DNA to pinpoint certain ancestral family links. Available technology now offers researchers with an opportunity to find a common ancestor - probably farther back than any official records could reach. These "forefathers" may have existed - there is is ancedotal (or mythological) evidence that an actual person could have been the father of someone who shares similar Y-DNA. More often, though, relationships are based on statistical studies of the Y-DNA of men living in a certain area or who have a cultural connections.
Men with Jewish ancestry, for example, can learn if they are descended from the "Y-chromosomal Aaron" (otherwise known as the most recent common ancestor of the Jewish priestly group called "Kohanim" - connected to Cohen or Kohen surnames). This might allow them to sneak a peak at what their male ancestor was doing at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Ancestors of men with a matching Y-DNA sequence were connected with the earliest history of the Jewish religion - all the way back to the time of Moses and Exodus. More information can be found at Cohen-Levi Family Heritage.
Another instance of this type of research can be used by men with Northern Ireland and Scotland ancestry. The sequences of men who share the same Y-DNA markers with an ancestor in those regions has been linked to a man named Naill of the Nine Hostages, who lived in the Fourth or Fifth Century A.D. (roughly at the same time as St. Patrick). Men who share the same sequences can be relatively certain that their male ancestors were petty chieftans and/or raiding pirates along the coasts of Ireland, England and France. More information can be found at FamilyTreeDNA.com.
There are other examples - and technology (along with anthropological studies) continue to refine family relationships using DNA. Your own ancestry could have a similar common ancestor that could be found using a Y-DNA test. I recommend you consider adding your test to the growing database - and sharing your story with a comment to this post. Happy hunting!
Men with Jewish ancestry, for example, can learn if they are descended from the "Y-chromosomal Aaron" (otherwise known as the most recent common ancestor of the Jewish priestly group called "Kohanim" - connected to Cohen or Kohen surnames). This might allow them to sneak a peak at what their male ancestor was doing at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Ancestors of men with a matching Y-DNA sequence were connected with the earliest history of the Jewish religion - all the way back to the time of Moses and Exodus. More information can be found at Cohen-Levi Family Heritage.
Another instance of this type of research can be used by men with Northern Ireland and Scotland ancestry. The sequences of men who share the same Y-DNA markers with an ancestor in those regions has been linked to a man named Naill of the Nine Hostages, who lived in the Fourth or Fifth Century A.D. (roughly at the same time as St. Patrick). Men who share the same sequences can be relatively certain that their male ancestors were petty chieftans and/or raiding pirates along the coasts of Ireland, England and France. More information can be found at FamilyTreeDNA.com.
There are other examples - and technology (along with anthropological studies) continue to refine family relationships using DNA. Your own ancestry could have a similar common ancestor that could be found using a Y-DNA test. I recommend you consider adding your test to the growing database - and sharing your story with a comment to this post. Happy hunting!
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Who Needs a Search Index?
I'm speaking, of course, of the difficulties of locating your relatives in the recently released 1940 US Census. It is now available online at Archives.gov.
I spent most of today looking for family and wanted to share the following lessons-learned:
(1) You need to know the address! Since you can't search the census (yet), you actually need to know a street address for the people you are trying to locate. After that, I recommend you locate the address on map (you can use Google Maps). The reason for this part of the process is to locate crossing streets.
(2) You need a lot of time! Without a search index, you will only be able to locate a relative if you search through multiple pages of the different Enumeration Districts. So, even if you know the city and the street address, you may find that you end up viewing between 30 and 100 pages to locate someone. This is especially true if the address is on the boundary of one of the EDs (in that case, I recommend you view the ED map).
(3) You need a lot of patience! The census takers walked up and down streets in their ED, so the order isn't necessarily logical to a person who peruses the films. You may find that they walked down the opposite side of the street where your relative lived and then took "detours" onto side streets (for pages and pages) before returning to the street of (your) interest. In addition, after all the looking, you may find that your relatives weren't there in 1940. I've even seen a case where the street locator didn't correctly identify the ED - so I had to browse to find it (after referencing the ED map).
To put things into perspective, I successfully located nine families after five hours on my first day of searching. However, I learned a lot about the process and I expect to find relatives faster in the future.
After you take your own stab at browsing the 1940 Census, please share your lessons-learned in the comments section. Happy hunting!
I spent most of today looking for family and wanted to share the following lessons-learned:
(1) You need to know the address! Since you can't search the census (yet), you actually need to know a street address for the people you are trying to locate. After that, I recommend you locate the address on map (you can use Google Maps). The reason for this part of the process is to locate crossing streets.
(2) You need a lot of time! Without a search index, you will only be able to locate a relative if you search through multiple pages of the different Enumeration Districts. So, even if you know the city and the street address, you may find that you end up viewing between 30 and 100 pages to locate someone. This is especially true if the address is on the boundary of one of the EDs (in that case, I recommend you view the ED map).
(3) You need a lot of patience! The census takers walked up and down streets in their ED, so the order isn't necessarily logical to a person who peruses the films. You may find that they walked down the opposite side of the street where your relative lived and then took "detours" onto side streets (for pages and pages) before returning to the street of (your) interest. In addition, after all the looking, you may find that your relatives weren't there in 1940. I've even seen a case where the street locator didn't correctly identify the ED - so I had to browse to find it (after referencing the ED map).
To put things into perspective, I successfully located nine families after five hours on my first day of searching. However, I learned a lot about the process and I expect to find relatives faster in the future.
After you take your own stab at browsing the 1940 Census, please share your lessons-learned in the comments section. Happy hunting!
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