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Family History Fanatics Winter DNA Conference!

Jan1

I will be doing a talk on GEDmatch Basics for the Family History Fanatics (FHF) Winter DNA Conference. UPDATE: 25 Jan 2021: I have received screen shots of the new look coming soon to GEDmatch; these will be featured in my presentation.

They also have a youtube channel (click here). Here is the Press release from FHF:

KICK OFF THE YEAR RIGHT

Saturday, 30 January 2021 beginning at 9:45 AM Eastern Time.
If you can’t attend the event during the live sessions, you’ll have access to the replay for 30 days.

TOPICS & PRESENTERS

  • DNA & Law Enforcement – Marian Woods
  • GEDmatch Basics – Kitty Cooper
  • Tracing Ancestral Lines in the 1700s Using DNA – Tim Janzen
  • A Guide To Chromosome Browsers & DNA Segment Data  – Michelle Leonard

 AFTER THE SESSIONS

The four panelists will return for a “test your knowledge’ competition and then more of your unscripted rapid-fire questions. 

Early bird pricing is $19.99 until January 22nd. After that, pricing will increase to $24.99. 

When you register, you’ll be entered to win genetic genealogy-related door prizes. 

To learn more and register visit, www.familyhistoryfanatics.com/winterdna. 

Family History Fanatics is a genealogy education company that is focused on putting the fun into online learning. See the difference the FHF Group puts together for you.

Upcoming talks, i4GG, and a case solved using the latest DNA tools

Jan10

Unknown parentage searches have changed dramatically over the last year thanks to a number of great new automated tools. I will be updating my presentation on this for the upcoming i4GG conference in Las Vegas in a few weeks, the first weekend in February. I will also probably talk about what’s new at GEDmatch as well as be on a panel there.

Plus I will present how to use these new wonderful tools to explore your cousin matches at the North County DIG meeting next Saturday, January 18.

Below is a screen shot of the final slide in my unknown parentage presentation where I list the steps, in order, that I currently go through on these searches. I need to add at the beginning another step, “check the ethnicity,” as it can be a huge clue when the two parents are descended from very different populations. Click here for a recent blog post on a case solved with ethnicity. Also I have found that the listed communities at Ancestry are pretty accurate so they can be quite useful too.

Finding an unknown father in a few hours with DNA has become much more common due to the large number of American testers. A neighbor, let’s call her Dede, noticed I was a genealogist on FaceBook, so contacted me for help late one evening in December. She asked if I could help figure out who her unknown Dad was from her DNA results. She was a bit discouraged because no one had answered her messages.

Dede was tested on Ancestry and although her mother was not tested, a known maternal first cousin happened to be in her match list. That would be useful for separating the maternal from the paternal matches. Dede’s ethnicity had a surprisingly high 47% German percentage while her first cousin had only 27% . Plus that cousin had no Eastern Europe (Dede 10%) or Baltic (Dede 3%) so perhaps Dede’s father was part Germanic and Slavic.

Dede’s ethnicity at Ancestry  – note the Kentucky community

I took a quick look at her Ancestry match list and saw several paternal 2nd and 3rd cousin matches so I told her that it would be pretty easy, then quoted her my discount rates and a estimate. The next day I sent her the wedding picture of her father’s parents. She and her family drove to Oregon after Christmas to get to know her half sister and Dad. What a magical Holiday it was for all!
Continue reading →

Time for Jamboree 2019!

May30

The Southern California Genealogical Society puts together my favorite conference every year in Burbank. This year is their 50th anniversary! In my next post I hope to share some of what I have learned here.

However since all the screens on the DNAgedcom client have changed I am too busy updating my presentation on Using DNA for Unknown Parentage Cases,  which will be live streamed tomorrow afternoon, to write a more complete article. Click the image to get to the Jamboree web site and learn more.

 

October DNA Days (with me)

Sep25

Blaine Bettinger, one of the best presenters and educators on genetic genealogy, is coming to Carlsbad, San Diego, for a daylong seminar next week on Saturday, October 6. This is a wonderful opportunity to gather knowledge from one of the stars of the field. At the moment, there are still a few seats open.

I will also be doing a workshop on working with your DNA matches that morning in Carlsbad. If you are interested in having your results be an example in my workshop, please contact me with some details.

The idea of a workshop is I talk briefly, then you try it yourselves. Then I talk some more. Then you try some more and we repeat again. So please bring your laptop or tablet or even make do with your smartphone and we will have fun! We will mainly work with Ancestry matches plus a little bit with GEDmatch. If you have not yet uploaded your DNA data to GEDmatch.com please do so. Click here for how.

Blaine’s workshop about visual phasing will be at the same time as mine. Everyone loves this workshop at Jamboree so it is great to have it locally. Blaine is not only the author of several books on genetic genealogy and a blog, but he also runs a FaceBook group of about 46K members called “Genetic Genealogy Tips & Techniques.” His latest endeavor is a web site for self paced learning called DNA Central.

If you cannot make it up to Carlsbad, then come hear me following Saturday Oct 13 when I will be talking to the San Diego Genealogy Society in the Lake Murray area.

Or if you are in New Mexico, I will be talking in Albuquerque New Mexico the following day, Sunday Oct 14!
Continue reading →

An Online DNA Conference from FHF

Jul5

The thing I have disliked in the past about doing webinars is the lack of audience feedback. I really enjoy explaining my passion to a group of people, seeing their reactions, and then answering their questions. That is so much better for me than talking into a microphone while going through my slides.

Practice FHF online presentation, Sam, Andy Noel of FHF, and myself (0nly one person shows when presenting)

The software that Family History Fanatics (FHF) uses for online conferencing lets me see the chat comments and shows my face in the corner while I present my slides. Plus I can switch to full face mode, which I plan to do when answering questions. I think this will be a much better way for me to do a webinar, so I welcome you all to register for the FHF one day DNA conference – A summer of DNA on Saturday, August 4. I will be joined by Diahan Southard, Sam Williams, and Michelle Leonard. After all the talks there will be a panel including a Q+A. Continue reading →