Again, thank you to Sylvia for the minutes. We had a great meeting with 15 people and lots of ideas to move our genealogy forward. Thank you, everyone.
FERNDALE GENIES MEETING MINUTES
DATE: December 21, 2020
Meeting commenced at 1:00 p.m.
IN ATTENDANCE: Barbara B; Judy B;
Linda B; Judith C; Elizabeth D; Frank & Margie; Peggy V; Rick; Bill R;
David R; Judy S; Sylvia W, Sherry, Suzie P
CHECK INS
Barbara B is trying to write her
history. Has discovered the Norway census (My Heritage’s new collection). Very
detailed. David shared the Norwegian gov’t has them all online along with other
governmental records, and they are all free. Farmers’ families mostly stayed on
the farm, so lots of records.
Judy B has letters from members
of several different groups of her family, spanning many decades. She is
working on scanning her slide collection. She has letters from the 1930s and
the year before her parents married. They wrote a lot. What to do with all the
letters? She has a Christmas project of taking all the notes/letters that have
been saved between each of her children and their grandparents and putting them
in a file for each.
Linda B read a Legal Genealogist
article about a case where Ancestry is being sued for breach of privacy. She
recently found an ancestor on Find A Grave, only to find the information
someone had posted there was very inaccurate. She sent Find A Grave her
corrections, with citations and evidence. She bought the Your DNA Guide book. She is
developing her family tree – expanding it out so that more matches can be
applied to the tree through extended family members.
Judith C has been researching,
using and comparing the various desktop software programs for storing family
trees.
Elizabeth D is frustrated with
Family Search, a feeling that others have expressed. FS has a community tree
that anyone can add to/subtract from causing some disagreements over tree
entries when you don’t have control over it. She had a problem when her
biological father’s tree was replaced with someone not her biological father
and their tree. She asked if anyone was having a problem with Roots Magic
freezing and needing to be restarted to regain the program? Others agreed they
had. Elizabeth is still working on her 3rd – 4th Gt Grandmother and trying to
verify the person who emigrated to the US from Ireland and was able to buy land in
Georgia.
Frank: Frank was
questioning cM vs. percentage and segment numbers. He couldn’t tell if a match
was a 2nd or 3rd cousin. Judith said 23AndMe reports in percentages, all other
DNA sites report in cM. Look for tools that will convert percentages. DNA
Painter can help too as you can put in either percent or cM.
Margie shared last
Saturday/Sunday’s Wall Street Journal article (Dec 19-20, 2020, B-4) which
presented a checklist for you to complete for your heirs. It is thorough and
more personal, like an interview, which can help your heirs know everything you
want/need them to know. Bill gave us a link to an article by the same author
about a voice/video legacy you can make.
https://www.wsj.com/video/series/eternal/how-tech-can-bring-our-loved-ones-to-life-after-they-die/9AE313CA-C2FC-45E3-B427-FEFC6B54F100
Peggy hasn’t done genealogy as
much as trying to find a DNA connection to a specific person. She is not too
happy with Family Search. She saved information in a file and imported it to
Ancestry Gallery. She wondered if the reason she is having trouble with her
target DNA person is because the information she found on Find A Grave is
incorrect.
Rick is dabbling in Family
Search. He found someone else had posted his mother’s obituary at
findagrave.com, which he and his wife had written. He wants to get it from
Family Search into Ancestry. How would he go about this?
Bill R is here to reconnect with
us. He has taken five DNA tests with each of the major companies. The latest is
Living DNA. He wants to compare results across the different sites.
David R shared that he feels
blessed to have a hobby that he can continue through a heavy snowstorm (east
coast) and the coronavirus. He is able to work on his genealogy uninterrupted
by these events. He asked what the group might know about GeneaNet that he has
recently discovered. Judith says she has had a little experience with it. It’s
mainly European. She transferred a DNA raw data file there. They accept DNA
results and match you, but they don’t test DNA. They provide many records too.
Judy S says she has nothing to
share today, she came to the meeting to learn.
Sherry is continuing with her
tree triangulation, using her aunt’s matches. She wonders could Gedmatch help?
Suzy P is working on her slide
show editing slides from 1970-80. She wants to do this for her younger sister,
who doesn’t recall as much of the history. Suzie says, “A lot of history is
trapped in these slides.” She is also sorting boxes of letters.
Sylvia W is working on her
adoptive father’s family, specifically his eldest brother. She has located
descendants of his family and has just recently made contact with a grandson.
He is eager to share photos and knowledge of family history with her. Sylvia is
waiting for her book order to come in. She has ordered a copy of Diahan Southard’s
DNA book.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Judith announced an update for
Zoom, properly known as Zoom v5.4.7. You want to stay on the current version so
you will have the same updates as everyone else.
Thursday, January 7, 2021 Judith
will be offering a beginners Study Group Session. Let Judith know if you are
interested in attending.
Friday, January 29th, 2021 Judith
is offering an Intermediate DNA session. Participants will be working on a
question taken from their own DNA studies. Before the meeting, participants should
submit a question, family summary, where they were tested, what they have done
so far, etc., so the group can review and offer suggestions.
FURTHER INFORMATION AND BUSINESS
Judith is mainly focusing on the
three major desktop tree programs: Roots Magic, Legacy, and Family Tree Maker.
Her research has found that all three have major pros and cons. It ultimately
comes down to personal preference. She isn’t ready to switch yet, as Roots
Magic is still working on an upgrade to v8, which is a complete overhaul of its
system, in order to get rid of all the glitches people complain of. Once she
has had a chance to examine the completed roll-out of v8, Judith will make her
decision. Her advice is: stick with what you have until you have a real reason
to move. For those currently with Roots Magic, it may be unnecessary to have to
learn a whole new program if v8 is as good as it is promised to be.
Discussion ensued about various
ways to move files between sites, such as records, media, trees, etc., as well
as tools for cleaning up your tree. Roots Magic has many more tools for
cleaning up trees than others. “Sending” a Gedcom file: each program allows you
to create a family tree Gedcom file and transfer it to other websites and desktop
software. Issues with various sites were also discussed and the question was
asked, “Do any desktop program features help manage DNA? None that are known by
Genies. Linda shared that although not directly dealing with DNA, Roots Magic
lets you create groups, so you could group your DNA matches and see/work with
them offline.
The meeting was concluded at 2:35
p.m.
NEXT MEETING: January 18th,
Monday at 1:00 p.m. Zoom access begins at 12:50.
