Is your tree built out enough for your DNA Matches.

 Do you have that strange match that seems to match relatives on both your parents’ sides of the family?

You know your parents aren’t related but there is another reason.

Here is an example:

My maternal 1^st cousin twice removed, Fred married Ella Gorr. My paternal first cousin also married a Gorr. Ella’s parents are Albert Gorr and Emily Damp. They had a son Alvin Gorr. Alvin had a son Richard Gorr. Richard’s son married my paternal first cousin.

Thus my first cousin’s children with the son of Richard are also related to the descendants of Fred and Ella Gorr.  Ella is my first cousin’s son 2^nd Great Aunt. Her children are first cousins twice removed to said son. Ella’s grandchildren are 2^nd cousins once removed, while her great grandchildren are 3^rd cousins with my first cousin’s son.

I am third cousins of Ella’s grandchildren and 3^rd cousins once removed to her great grandchildren. Thus when looking at shared matches with my Paternal first cousin’s son, some of Fred and Ella’s descendants could end up on our shared matches list along with my expected matches from my Paternal side.

Moral of story, even though people say “DNA never lies” it can be confusing. Keep in mind that if all your 3^rd cousins did test, you might only match 90 percent of them. It is how DNA is passed down, very random.

I figured this all out because I had entered the spouses’ parents of people who married into my family. I recognized this name, however, even if I didn’t, I do all my entering in Family Tree maker, and whenever I enter a new surname, I can quickly see if that surname already exists in my Index. From there, I can do some quick research to see if those people are related to each other. This also helps with duplicate people. If I notice the same name already in my file, I do some extra research and see if in fact these are two different individuals or the same person and thus they need to be merged.

Look before you Leap!

 

I have found that on any topic in genealogy, you will find people with their own perspective. This is great because you can weigh the pros and cons of how they are doing something. Then decide on the best method for you!

Such as, I recently saw a Facebook post that asked about using ALL CAPS for surnames. Another post asked about how to input unknown names, whether first or last name.

My advice is to think about the pros and cons for you on how you are going to input your data into your genealogy software. Another thing, be consistent. Make some personal rules when it comes to your data.

On the subject for ALL CAPS for surnames, yes this was the standard when we only had paper forms. I still do this when using a paper form, because it is easier to see the surnames. However, before you just start keying in ALL CAPS, check out your software program, can it convert surnames to ALL CAPS when it generates reports? If so, then you may not want to do it while inputting your data. Reading ALL CAPS on a computer screen is much different than on paper.

However, I have heard of other ways people use ALL CAPS on surnames. For their direct line ancestors only. It makes it easier to see them in the list of index of individuals. Again, can your software handle this in a different way? My software program can color code all my direct ancestors and I can see that color in the list of index and thus I can see my direct ancestors. This comes in handy when the descendants of your direct ancestor have the same name as your direct ancestor. So you are not sure which John Smith is your direct ancestor.  However, if you like seeing your direct line ancestor in ALL CAPS on a descendant reports, then color coding might not help you. Thus you might need to put in ALL CAPS. However, are you going to be sharing your data in the future as a book and thus your direct line will be in ALL CAPS? While your direct line may not be the exact same line as say your distant cousin.

Some use ALL CAPS to show someone they haven’t proven, they put the entire name in as all CAPS and thus they know at a glance they need to do more work. Once they have cited some sources, they change the name. Again, my genealogy software program allows me to color code individuals and thus I could always flag them as RED or whatever color I choose. Some use all lowercase for the surname of women where they don’t know their maiden name and thus type in their married name as all lowercase.

This brings me to unknown names; I heard a funny story where someone typed in UKN for unknown names. Someone else came upon this tree and got excited because the surname was found and it appeared to be UKN. I use to put in parentheses the wife’s married name when I didn’t know the maiden name. Unfortunately, when I looked at the list of individuals, those unknown maiden names didn’t jump out at me.

A genealogy standard is to use five underscores, I personally use seven because when I print a report, it leaves just enough space for me to print a name or allow other’s to print a name, if they know it. I use the seven for all unknown first names and seven for all unknown last names. These unknown surnames will show up at the top of my list of individuals.

For inquiring minds, the software program I use is Family Tree Maker, however many packages offer similar features. So explore your existing program and see what it can do for you. As the saying goes, “Work smarter not harder”. What I love about software programs such as FTM, it offers features that allow me to customize it for how I want to record my data. My advice is to “Think before you leap”. Try a small experimental tree and turn on and off features, look at reports you might want, see if you can customize reports so you can get the data you want. 

Have fun researching!

 

Family Tree Maker People Workspace

I was reading an older edition of Genealogy Do-Over by Thomas MacEntee, check out his website at https://genealogybargains.com/genealogy-do-over-start-here/. Anyway, I was reading about preparing for research and do you have everything on your desk, notebook, pen, pencil, etc…

This got me thinking about my genealogy software package that I use, Family Tree Maker. Do you have their People workspace set up for you? Did you know you can customize the view?

The People workspace has four parts. The left part is the Index of people in your tree. The right part is the Editing Panel for individual person you are working on. The middle part has a top tree viewer and the bottom has a family group view, where your individual person could be one of the parents or one of the children.

Let’s start with the right part, the Editing Panel.

The default setup on new trees is as follows, with a place to input birth, death and marriage facts. I found that I like to enter a little more information without having to go into the Person tab, where additional facts can be viewed, entered and modified.

I found myself wanting more, such as burial facts along with a customize field that I created for entering Find a Grave memorial numbers. I also created a FamilySearch Individual ID, for when I am working using Family Search. Plus, I wanted divorce information below the marriage information. I also have a special DNA field that I did a previous blog about. Check out that blog here: https://simplygenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/04/tracking-my-dna-matches.html

I found that having to go to the Person tab was adding extra keystrokes and since these are fields I commonly use, I wanted them on my main People workspace. You of course can add whatever fields you find are common for you. At the bottom of the right section is a small “Customize View” button that you can click to add or remove fields on your Screen. This needs to be done for each tree you create individually.

The Middle part of the page has the Tree Viewer on top. You can change how many generations you want to view, by sliding the small scroll bar or clicking the + or – to add or remove generations. The lowest setting is two generations and the highest setting is five generations. The size of your screen might dictate how many you want to see. I leave it at max.

The lower view known as the Family Group View can be completely hidden to make the tree view bigger. You can also slide the view up or down to change the number of children your view has. Again, your screen size might dictate how big you want this lower section.  Please note, if you side this up too far, you will automatically reduce the number of generations in your tree view.

Another important feature of the family panel is the Blended families button. I come from a blended family, my mother’s first husband died and I am a product of the second family. I want to see all my siblings, I call them my siblings, not my half-siblings because I am the youngest and they have always been in my home when I was growing up. In the blended view, it will display a little man figure if the child is a descendant of the male and a little female figure if the child is a descendant of the female. Therefore, when I am viewing my parents, my six half-siblings only have a female figure and my two full sisters have both figures.

The left side is the index of individuals in your tree. You can modify this view so many ways. By default you see everyone by surname and then given name. On the top, you can add birthdate to this view, lifespan, hints and more. On bottom, you can filter your database to show only those you meet a certain criteria. Maybe only those living during a certain time frame, have military service, buried in a cemetery, etc.… Keep in mind, your database must have the data you want to filter. For example, I have used the filter to show me everyone who has a death date but no Find a Grave memorial number. Keep in mind that the Find a Grave field is something I created. I could had used a death date but no burial information.

I love experimenting with my view, so don’t be afraid to customize your Family Tree Maker to work for you. Refer to the FTM Companion Guide found through the Help Menu. Other helpful sites are https://ftmuser.blogspot.com/by Russ Worthington and on Facebook the group Family Tree Maker Users found at https://www.facebook.com/groups/FamilyTreeMakerUsers.