Many Directions for Monday's Meeting

Don't miss it Monday, April 15 at 1:00 at the Ferndale Library.

What’s been happening?  You know I listen to podcasts, read blogs, watch webinars, and go to society meetings; all bring good topics for our Genies discussions. 

This week I watched a most interesting webinar called “Leveling Up in the Game of Genealogy”.  The presenters were Crista Cowan, the Ancestry Corporate Genealogist, and Janet Hovorka, the owner of FamilyChartMasters.com and genealogy.coach.  They compared the study of genealogy to moving up the levels in a video game.  They stressed that you don’t know what you don’t know.  Often you don’t know until someone shows you a tip.  They talked about education, mentors, peer review, seeking feedback and, in general, how to “up-level” your skills. 

In 2010 Crista Cowan published a Genealogical Maturity Model.  It’s a self-assessment tool published here:  http://www.ancestryinsider.org/2010/10/genealogical-maturity-model.html.  It points you to areas where you may want to work on up-leveling.

Another interesting speaker was Janet Camarata at the Whatcom Genealogical Society this week.  Her talk “What To Do with What We Have” followed a six-step process similar to the Research Like a Pro process we have been talking about.  Organize, Create a Timeline, Extract and Transcribe Records, Analyze the Results, and Cite Sources.  This gets you ready to Identity new Research Questions, Develop Research Plans, and start the cycle over.  She’s a techy lady and often strayed into the latest Windows 10 release, transcription software, using her scanner app for her cell phone, using the book History for Genealogists when creating a timeline, and so on.

Janet Camarata used the Census as an example and mentioned the use of the Census headings. I will be bringing printed Census headings to the meeting.  Also there is a booklet about the Census called Measuring America which gives headings and enumeration instructions.  Census Booklet

There have been many new tools at the family tree/DNA websites, especially Ancestry and MyHeritage.  At the last Genies meeting we walked through some of the changes at Ancestry DNA.  This month we can walkthrough the Theories of Family Relativity tool at MyHeritage and hit Ancestry again (depending on interest). 

Now this might be from the Department of Useless, but Interesting.  Multiple companies are working on retrieving old DNA from artifacts.  Scientists have been doing this for a long time but the first commercial offering seems to be totheletterDNA.com from Brisbane, Australia.  They are also on FaceBook and Instagram.  They are extracting DNA from envelopes and postcards.  Last fall in the first batch of 48 samples, they found DNA on every sample.  The oldest was from 1930. They can upload the raw DNA to GedMatch Genesis. 

They continue to process but are not accepting new orders until they get caught up.  Here’s the let down:  It costs around $800 for each sample.  Blaine Bettinger says it will never be as inexpensive as autosomal DNA testing because it is very labor intensive.   They are also working on hair, teeth and bones so stay tuned.

There are many ways to go for our meeting on Monday so jot down some questions or a few things that interest you and we’ll have a go at it. 

I love our meetings and look forward to seeing you Monday.