DNA for Genealogy and Family History-August 29, 2017

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If you have been around the genealogy community for awhile you know that DNA testing has been getting center stage for a few years. Lots of people beyond our community have been having their DNA tested too discover their ethnicity. It has become quite "the thing to do" and most people don't have any idea what to do with their results beyond seeing where their ancestors came from in a very general way.

My mother-in-law had her DNA tested at 90 and was thrilled to discover things she had never dreamed of before. Although she thought she was 100% Italian, she was happy to know she was also Greek with a little Irish mixed in.

DNA was discovered in the early 1950s. I remember studying it in high school in the late 60s and thinking no further than learning how to spell all the words like deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and that it controls the chemical processes within cells. None of us ever dreamed that one day we could learn so much about our heritage with this discovery. Nor did we ever realize that it could connect us with our very close relatives we had never even known about.

So the issue we have now as family historians is learning how that can happen. Once again it is The Family History Guide to the rescue! Go to <www.thefhguide.com> and select Projects from the Home page. Project 8 DNA: Choice: A Introduction. Step 1: Articles for an overview of genetics and genealogy. Step 2: Watch an excellent simplified video of the basics. This video connects to a great blog with even more detailed learning available. In the blog I found some great ideas about reading the results of the DNA testing. There is so much more in this Project 8's content as you will see, if you simply scroll down the page.

I really appreciate that Bob Taylor has already reviewed lots of material and selected such great content and resources for us. Again we find them in chronological order for our benefit & sequential learning. http://thefhguide.com/project-8-dna.html

Please consider sharing any ways that DNA has helped you with your family history and genealogy. I'll include a story and photo in the comments section below.

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The Family History Guide I had a personal experience with this that was life changing. In 2008 I wrote a blog post about my aunt who has just died. It included her obituary, photos, the funeral, cousins' photos, etc. In 2013 a professional researcher, after suggesting her client do DNA testing, was able to find his parents by Google searching his possible surnames from his DNA test. She found my blog post. Because of that I was united with my cousin whom we knew nothing about until 2013. He was adopted as an infant and had spent over 30 years trying to find his birth mother. He got more than he bargained for; both of his birth parents, and five siblings he did not know existed. Because of DNA testing and my blog post this came to be. I'll include a photo below of when I I met him. This is unimaginable joy to see six dear siblings reunited. This is the kind of joy family history can bring.
Meet William, my first cousin and my father's nephew.  The bonus is that William reminds me of three people that have passed away that were very close to me. My dad, his sister and my grandmother.  Actually it was like heaven on earth!

Technology Has Changed How We Learn-YouTube List for Genealogy Help-August 28, 2017

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I really enjoy connecting with all of you throughout each week! I just have one tiny problem! Once I open the Family History Guide I sit here for hours just browsing through it. It is like a good book, you just cannot put it down! It literally guides me to places and things I have wondered about for a long time but haven't pursued in detail yet.

I recommend you take time to just look around often and see what's there. It will fascinate you and motivate you to learn more. The best thing is it's so organized and because of that it feels so doable.

I spoke about Youtube when we were preparing for Bob's Webinar a few weeks ago. I found myself back in the Projects Under Technology again last night.

If you go to the Home page on <thefhguide.com> Click Projects: Technology: Choice 3 YouTube: Using Social Media To Further Your Family History Work:(Stop here click on the link Summary. There you will get a short summary of the information contained in the Choice. Click again to close. You'll find these throughout the Projects in The Family History Guide.) Look at Step 2. Sample List of YouTube Channels for Genealogy.

< http://thefhguide.com/project-7-tech.html>

I remembered when I was looking at the List that I don't know a lot about American Ancestors. It is one of the big data base Partners with Family Search so I need to know more about it.

It is a paid website but free through the portal at all the Family Search Libraries. I watched a video on the NEHGS (New England Historical Genealogy Society). I learned a lot about their holdings, their amazing library and how to access them in person or online. It made me want to learn more so I can use it and share with others.

The funny thing is I have meant to investigate this website for a long time. But The Family History Guide put it in my path with a simple video. If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video is worth a thousand pictures. Every time I close the Family History Guide website, I go away feeling grateful!

Happy Monday Everyone! When you look through this list, please share your discoveries, it will help everyone in the process.

The Family Search Research Wiki August 23, 2017

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Today I want to talk about The Family Search Research Wiki. *It is somewhat like Wikipedia that most of us are familiar with already.

The Research Wiki on Family Search is a big topic and very a useful portion of the Search drop-done links on the Family Search website. Wiki programs allow individuals to contribute information in their area of expertise. It can be edited by anyone. At this time there are over 87,000 articles for our benefit.

The Family History Guide <www.thefhguide.com>has a tremendous amount of information on the Research Wiki.

See Project 4 Discovery: Goal 3 Form solid strategies to research your selected lines: Goal 3: Choice A: Step 5.
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/A_Guide_to_Research

Here is the FS link to the home page of the Wiki:
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page

The Research Wiki is full of Topics and How-to Strategies for finding the information you need to research, but you cannot search individuals on it. Search Places and Topics only.

Every serious researcher and trainer should be familiar with this resource in going forward in their family history pursuit. It is very comprehensive and I am sure we will be returning to it often here on Facebook.

It is invaluable in researching localities worldwide. If you go to Project 9 in the Family History Guide there is an awesome surprise awaiting you when you select any country or state. Double click on the beautiful banner photo and see what you find behind it. I learned of this just yesterday and I love it.

Thank you Kim Miller for pointing this out to me. I am so impressed with the ease in which The Family History Guide delivers just what we need, when and where we need it!

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Cousin Contacts Can Bring Astonishing Results- August 22, 2017

My Photo-Muir Woods, California

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Hi Everyone! I am still thinking about Memories today. Family Search has an excellent Memories section which is all explained nicely in The FamilyHistory Guide. www.thefhguide.com. 

Memories; Project 2 (Found on the Home page). 

It is so worth going through ALL the Goals and Choices and Steps in Project 2 to learn how to preserve your family stories and photos on Family Search to share with the world. They are so much safer there than in a box in the attic or garage.

I was thinking about how important cousins are as we try to reach back in time and gather photos and stories. In the past 7 years I have found three third cousins, who are grandchildren of my grandmother's siblings. They have been invaluable in helping me get stories and photos I have needed.

I have found one first cousin who was unknown to all of our family until 3 years ago. All of them have become close friends as well. One cousin, that I had known as a child, discovered from another cousin I was doing our Family History. Once she knew, she was willing to send me a bunch of items she was going to throw away when downsizing.

The most important items were the photo below and the obituary of my maternal great grandfather, Thomas Rees. They have been so very important to my being able to find many generations of ancestors in Wales and Cornwall, England.

The obituary is written in Welsh. It took us about a week to translate it. A big challenge that was worth every minute.  Here it is:

 REES.--In September in New Cambria, Mo., at age 45, the humble Christian Thomas Rees, farmer, leaving a widow and five children as mourners after him. Although he was relatively young he experienced long and protracted afflictions, from shortness of breath -- one of the worst afflictions to prevent man from being useful to society family, religion, and generally; but he did his part in the one as in the other notwithstanding his frailty. He was a member of the Calvinist Methodist church there, and was a faithful member throughout his life. He had the ability to socialize, and therefore his presence always truly acceptable. He was born in a small farmhouse called Crin-cae, near Rhandirmwyn, Wales. His parents were David and Betsi Rees, who were loyal to him and his brothers, rearing them with religious education as members of Salem Calvinist Methodist Church, where they were catechized and counseled in detail by the Elders of the pulpit and of the deacons' pew. Two of his brothers rose to be preachers, Isaac Rees, priest at Penygraig, Rhondda Valley, and Rees Rees, with [the Calvinistic Methodists], in the Island, Ystradgynlais, Wales. He also has two brothers in this country, James D. Rees, Wilkes-Barre, and Dan Rees, Plymouth, Pa. He had been in the area of Wilkes-Barre for ten years before moving to New Cambria; to a multitude of friends he was a morning friend there. We wish his widow and orphans every success necessary to be comfortable in temporal and spiritual things while on earth. - Yes! Morning Friend. (Which we have since learned means very good friend.)

You can see how much new information we got.  Location, parents, siblings, etc.

Because of it we were able to go to Wales, find their little hamlet, see the Rees home still standing, find additional siblings and deceased relatives, find the cemeteries, meet a current resident of Rhandirmwyn, Carmarthenshire, Wales. Alun Jones is an historian and has written a book all about the area. We also got to walk where the Rees family walked and lived and went to school and church and that was the best part of it all.

I was invited to do some writing for their quarterly magazine about the descendants of Thomas Rees here in America. It never occurred to me that people in small places want to know what happened to their residents once they left their homeland.

Consequently we have been invited back for a tour of the entire area with our mentor as our guide. All of that because a cousin told a cousin we were doing our family history. I am a big fan of cousins. We need them to move forward all the time.

Have your cousins helped you move forward with your family history? Have they increased your love of your living and deceased family members in the process?

Keeping a Good Current Family History? Living Is Our History!-August 21, 2017

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Happy Monday Everyone! I don't know about you but I am having a hard time thinking and focusing on the past today. We are witnessing history in the making as our country will experience "totality" across certain places of the country with the solar eclipse throughout the day.

Not only that but I just read our daughter's Facebook post. Her four daughters will be in 4 different schools this year. One in elementary, one in junior high, one in high school and one in college in another state. All ten of our grandchildren are experiencing big changes this school year.

My point is that sometimes we forget that we are living our family history each day. Are you keeping a good family history and are you recording stories of your own? If you are will you share how you do this? I love to write so I do stories on my blogs all the time. Our family is spread out and it is my way of trying to keep us connected.

The Family History Guide has an entire section on Memories in Project 2. However, there are more things of interest regarding memories in the Vault of The Family History Guide <www.thefhguide.com>.

The Vault is found under Misc on the Home page. The Vault is a place where secondary content is entered to supplement the Goals and Choices and Steps in the Projects. This morning I was watching a video about Family Stories by Ancestry's Crista Cowan. The principles she discusses about stories of our ancestors also apply to those of us still living.

Home page: Misc.: Vault: Stories: Choice 2.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URPFm8sIe-4

Stories connect us to our families in a real way. The records are the vehicle for the deceased as they create stories when analyzed. By keeping the stories of our own lives and our living family we can truly bless our posterity and keep our families connected.

While you are in the Vault look at the array of content in there. You'll like it.

P.S. The solar eclipse is just happening here in Northern CA. We have a 75% eclipse. Kind of underwhelming actually. Lots of cloud cover so think...dreary winter morning. Should have driven to Rigby, Idaho, I guess! Happy gazing wherever you are.

Location, Location, Location August 9, 2017

I took this photo at Land's End in San Francisco

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When we think about researching our family history and finding records it is all about location, location, location. We need to know about the places where our ancestors lived, the local history at the time, the boundary changes. etc. As we learn these things we come to know our ancestors so much better.

When we traveled to Wales and saw where our ancestors lived we gained so much knowledge about them. The land is a character in their story. It's almost the same with Google Maps where you can virtually walk the streets where they walked.

There is an abundance of locality resources available online. It comes as no surprise that The Family History Guide has a ton of help when it comes to locations, jurisdictions, maps, gazetteers and more. Learn about topography and geography and migration patterns and much more.

On the Home page on the Family History Guide, Select Projects: Project 9: Countries/Ethnic: United States: Goal A2: Learn About Location and Geography as Search Tools: Step 1. Watch this video. I learned a lot in 20 minutes.

My challenge for you is to watch this video today. Crista Cowan has hundreds of good videos on Ancestry. I plan to spend a lot of time in this section of the Family History Guide as there is so much here that is essential to good research and getting to really know your ancestors. Join me at <www.thefhguide.com> Link to Crista's video below!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI-lJCYxQlE

I took this one with my iPhone traveling across the SF Bay Bridge

 at 50 miles per hour. (As the passenger of course.)

Can you guess our location?  

We live just a few miles away from this, our favorite city!

San Francisco, California!

Starting Our Research in The United States~Start With What You Know~ August 3, 2017

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Most of us want to know about our immigrant ancestor, the one who crossed a border or crossed an ocean to come to America. Unless we are a first generation immigrant we have work to do with US records first. We start with ourselves and then our parents, etc. Always working from what we know to what we don't know. You just cannot skip the more recent ancestors in favor of looking for an 8th great grandfather. We build our tree one generation at a time adding records to verify our conclusions as we go. Project 9 in The Family History Guide is very helpful in understanding what kinds records are available, what they contain, and how to analyze them.

(Project 9 has this exact same types of information for other countries as well. Scroll down to a country and check out what is there in Project 9.)

If you are a new to family history look at the home page, Project 9 Goal A1: Understand US Records and Their Uses. Scroll through the choices and select a 3 minute video, as an example.

One of my favorite things on the page for this Goal A1 is found in Choice C: Using The Record Selection Table for Planning US Research.

It will have you select some information you would like to find and shows you what type of record to use to get that information. The Family History Guide has given us this great gem! I wish I had known about this years ago! In a few minutes today you can gain some new, excellent resources to use and share with others. One step and one day at a time we can do this!

Bob Taylor Announces the Upcoming "Exciting News "Webinar-July 28, 2017

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Bob Taylor, CEO of the Family History Guide announced yesterday that he is sharing some very exciting news with the world on August 10, 2017 at 6:00 PM MDT. This will be happening on YouTube from the BYU Family History Library channel. I want to watch this live so I am going to get prepared now for this upcoming event. If you have never streamed a webinar live, go to The Family History Guide at <www.thefhguide.com> and select: Projects:Technology: Choice A:Step 3, BYU Family History Webinars. Then also go to Choice B, on the same page. Participating and Streaming Events, select Step 1. This will get you all set in plenty of time to enjoy this event live. If you miss it live you can also see it in the archives at a later date but I read it can take up to several weeks to get it reviewed and posted.

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