The Year Ahead – April 26

In the January/February 2024 issue of Family Tree Magazine, they have introduced The Year Ahead, 366 genealogy tips will make 2024 your best research year yet by Lisa A Alzo. Lisa mapped out a day-by-day research plan.

April 26 – Not your brick walls. Writing them down can help you think through steps for smashing them to bits.

If you have exhausted all the traditional methods of research and you’re looking for a 2^nd, 3^rd or 4^th great grandparent, perhaps DNA will help you solve the problem. Check out “YourDNA Guide” by Diahan Southard. Her book, workbook, website, webinars and videos might be exactly what you need to break down your brick walls.

Don’t get discourage if DNA is complicated and you don’t understand everything. I didn’t either at first and I still am trying to figure it all out. However, each time I watch one of her videos, I learn a little bit more and get a little bit further with analyzing my DNA matches.

Another method of sorting your matches is using the Leeds Method by Dana Leeds. You start with your known 2nd cousins and by known, it doesn't mean you personally know them. You just know they are your 2nd cousins and thus, you don't share grandparents, like your first cousins or their children.

AncestryDNA has tried to sort a lot of your matches by parent. You then let Ancestry know which one belongs to your father’s side (Paternal) of the family and which is your mother’s side (Maternal). This is where first cousins come in handy. Your mother’s nieces and nephews would be related to you on your mom’s side while your father’s nieces and nephews are related to you on your dad’s side. Unless of course you happen to have a double first cousin, which is a cousin who shares all four grandparents. This happens when a sibling of your mom marries a sibling of your father and they have children. In this case, they might appear in the “both sides” column. Some of your matches, Ancestry just could not determine and left them in the Unassigned.

Keep in mind, this is new technology and it might not have all your matches sorted exactly correctly. For example, I noticed a “both side” match, who has surnames I find in my father’s side of the family, however this person matches two maternal side matches. Thus, it might be someone related to me on both sides of my family, a distant descendant of one of my father’s ancestors might have married a distant descendant of one of my mother’s ancestors. It will just require more research.

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!