9
votes
Accepted
What can analyze a tree and suggest what your next research goal(s) should be?
In addition to GenSmarts, there are other programs that will help you track your research progress.
GenDetective by Rumblesoft, Inc., like GenSmarts, reads files from genealogy software (see ...
- 25.8k
8
votes
Evaluating birth year when different on SSDI and gravestone?
My first question in response to this would be why you are settling for only two sources that give direct evidence about when your research subject was born, and trying to decide which of them is more ...
- 25.8k
8
votes
Is it ethical to perform research on living people's ancestry without their knowledge?
I would say definitely yes, because sometimes this is the only way of establishing how you're related to a DNA match if they have no information on their family tree. Also, the UK birth, marriage and ...
- 1,659
8
votes
Accepted
Is it ethical to perform research on living people's ancestry without their knowledge?
Not only would I say that it is ethical, I would say that it is an essential part of your research. In general, without that research then you cannot know whether the person is living or deceased. In ...
- 5,907
7
votes
What can analyze a tree and suggest what your next research goal(s) should be?
There really are not too many programs of the type that will suggest what to research.
But one possibility is Find-A-Record, which was designed to be a research assistant that works specifically ...
- 16.9k
7
votes
Accepted
Managing MyHeritage messages
I'm sure you know about the little mail icon on the top bar. If you click on that, it will bring up your inbox, which you can switch to your sent messages.
You are correct that there is no search ...
- 16.9k
6
votes
Does the available evidence support these assumptions?
I can't flaw your assumptions. All I would add:
Surname
To surname assumptions I would add that you also have evidence from her children's birth registrations. Even without seeing the certificates ...
- 18.9k
6
votes
Accepted
Is my source the document or where I obtained it?
My recommendation for source material is to record the source document as a source in your source list, and link that to the person/place/website where you got it as a repository in your list of ...
- 16.9k
5
votes
How to encourage higher standards of genealogical research on a message board?
I appreciate your question. Recently I’ve begun looking into the types of questions being asked in genealogy message board type situations and the quality of answers.
In today’s world many people ...
5
votes
How do I visibly make people aware that a connection is only tenuous and further research is needed?
Take a look at these Downloadable Image Icons for On-Line Family Trees provided on the blog Genealogy Junkie. Sue Griffith created these to mark which lines were verified by DNA research and which ...
- 25.8k
5
votes
How do I determine when to search for non-conformist birth/baptism records?
In my experience, there is no prescribed way to determine whether a search for non-conformist records will be fruitful.
You can look at given names in the family. For example, certain biblical names ...
- 18.9k
5
votes
Using shared cM to determine likelihood of misattributed paternity?
If there are siblings of John Smith with descendants, they could possibly be compared to E. Testing for DNA matches between E and relatives of John Smith may not be conclusive - a negative result ...
- 226
5
votes
Using shared cM to determine likelihood of misattributed paternity?
In addition to trying to test descendants of John Smith's siblings, I would suggest trying to test descendants of Harriett and Eliza's other siblings.
A really good set of articles on using DNA to ...
- 981
5
votes
Using shared cM to determine likelihood of misattributed paternity?
Using the advice contained in the answers of @Erin and @Leah, I have made some good progress on this.
I have identified a number of other DNA matches who I believe are related via the Smiths:
For ...
- 18.9k
5
votes
Accepted
Determining if Medal Card is for relative William James Truckle or another man of same name
Some of the specific techniques that can be used are to be found on the Long, Long Trail's "How To Research a Soldier".
There are several points that might be raised:
How many William James ...
- 11.7k
4
votes
Accepted
Starting pre-1837 research in England and Wales?
My first advice would be to thoroughly examine, again, all the records you have pertaining to this couple.
The records of marriage are the best starting point. You have the GRO index entry and a ...
- 18.9k
4
votes
Standardizing place names when city sprawls across county borders?
Your last paragraph about records just about answered your own question.
As you say, county records and records with street addresses give you the county.
Therefore, if you only have records that ...
- 16.9k
4
votes
Identifying which husband of my great grandmother my father came from
I can't directly answer your question based on the questions I asked in the comment on your question. However, I can still provide you some resources to help you out:
Blaine Bettinger's Shared cM ...
- 981
4
votes
Tracking down father not listed on birth certificate?
I'm going to describe two approaches: 1. DNA Testing. 2. Paper/Electronic Brute-Force.
Approach 1: DNA
The first thing that comes to my mind is DNA Testing. If your test returns someone who is:
1) ...
- 141
4
votes
Working with DNA results for multiple profiles across multiple sites
The science/art of DNA analysis is still in its infancy. It's only been the last couple of years that the number of people who have tested have reached the magic number where birth family can be found ...
- 16.9k
4
votes
Reducing risk of confirmation bias with DNA test results?
Blaine Bettinger has said in the Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques Facebook Group:
Confirmation Bias - interpreting evidence as supporting a hypothesis
even when it doesn't actually support ...
- 16.9k
4
votes
Accepted
Possibility of tracing my great grandfather's wife's homeland
Having so little information about the "where", focus on the "what" and "why".
I think you should put the emphasis on the trading activity of your Grandfather.
What did he trade with?
What was the ...
- 266
4
votes
Accepted
Newspaper archive search for person whose last name is also a common word
It's very challenging to search newspapers when your person has a common word as part of their name. My surname list includes Green, Brown, White, Burns, and Young. Many of the techniques listed ...
- 25.8k
3
votes
Next steps once DNA match is found
Since you can't get your contact to upload their DNA to Gedmatch or FamilyTreeDNA, could you ask some of the people you match with on your father's side on those other sites to upload their DNA to ...
- 211
3
votes
What can analyze a tree and suggest what your next research goal(s) should be?
I've never tried it myself but I think that Gramps offers a feature like this:
What's next?
The What's Next Gramplet displays a list of the "most urgent" information gaps in your family tree. It ...
- 275
3
votes
I can't see the original images on the website -- now what?
For FamilySearch.org, which is the website referenced in the linked question, there are two types of accounts, one a free guest account which anyone can register for, and one an LDS account, which is ...
- 25.8k
3
votes
Techniques for flagging unconfirmed information?
GEDCOM includes a QUAY tag, which is short for "QUAlitY" but is defined as a Certainty Assessment. This is from GEDCOM 5.5.1:
CERTAINTY_ASSESSMENT:= {Size=1:1}
[ 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 ]
The QUAY tag's value ...
- 16.9k
3
votes
How to encourage higher standards of genealogical research on a message board?
I think the single best thing that you can do to help the situation is to divert your own efforts towards helping those who research with rigour, and away from those who just accept anything that they ...
- 11.2k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible