VIEW QUESTION: “Would I be wrong to assume a record is about my ancestor if a source I find has about the same year of birth or death and same place of residence?” The easy answer is, it depends. You can determine if the source is indeed your ancestors for some records because those documents have additional details that you recognize as specific to your relative. These details match more than the birth year or individual’s name. Additional information: identifying parents, you have proven including unusual middle names naming birth cities or villages, especially when they differ from current residences recording occupations noting physical descriptions including known siblings and additional relatives listing the same neighbors as in previous records recording officiators from the known church affiliation including military units that were previously recorded matching complete birth dates or death dates I could go on. The trick is there needs to be more than a hunch that the records relate to your ancestor. There needs to be an accumulation of details. In this video, I share details on how I looked for Street Morgan, the wife of Walter Morgan. I walk through the process of determining which records provide evidence of her and which documents do not. Join me in this Research Over My Shoulder series on the Family History Fanatics YouTube Channel. What happens when the source is light on details? When a record has sparse information, they often have to accumulate negative evidence. In other words, research the entire record set to rule out the possibility that the entry does not pertain to anyone else in that time and place with the same name. But, be careful. This research strategy is not always foolproof. Are there other research tips to keep in mind? Research a wide range of collections. Examine each source for connecting clues. Build a case for the evidence you have. If you can reasonably determine a record with the same name, birth date, and place (or other details) that match your ancestor, proceed in that direction. If you can’t prove the connection, then ignore the source. If you’re uncertain and can’t say the record matches or doesn’t, then keep working on your problem from different angles until you can decide. But, be warned, sometimes, you won’t be able to answer your question. Build A Case Just remember each record is ONE piece of evidence. Collect as much evidence as possible to make your case. And move on. If you’re wrong, someone else can come along and help you sort things out. Hopefully, they’ll be nice about it. 😉 You Might Also like these tips: How to Critically Read a Family History Evaluating a Family Story for Accuracy Avoid These Mistakes When Analyzing a Family Legend How to Evaluate a Death Record For an Ancestor How to Evaluate a Find A Grave Memorial for Genealogy How to Evaluate FamilySearch Hints

Names are necessary, and in genealogy, names help us find more records and details about our ancestors. When you discover a new ancestor through your research, how do you manage their name as you acquire more records about that ancestor? In other words, as you find records about your ancestor, what name should you use on an online tree’s profile about that ancestor? When you’re using FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, RootsMagic, Legacy Family Tree, or paper records, you have one line for the name of your ancestor. Of course, there are other places to record alternate names, but what do you write in the name blank? What Do You Put in the Name Blank on a Genealogy Chart? Let’s say you discovered a birth record for your great-grandmother that birth record identifies her parents’ names. Names you have never seen before. Hooray! That’s exciting. It is exciting, but this is when beginning genealogists often have difficulty. They want to add this new relative to the family tree, but they’re unsure which names to use. When they discover spelling variations, should they change the names? If so, how do they decide which name is the most correct when records conflict? There are two principle guidelines in genealogy: Record the name as it appears in the earliest document for the ancestor. Record all variations of the name. However, there are problems. As you’re researching an ancestor, you often do not come across the earliest recording of their name. What do you do? The earliest record of the name is suspected to be incorrect even though it pre-dates other documents. What do you do? Suppose a couple adopted a child week after her birth. Her adopted parents changed her name and ordered a new birth record with the new name. What do you do? Perhaps an individual changed his name at some point in his life. For example, he might have Anglicized his surname, hidden from the law, disowned his family, or the family disowned him. What do you do? The more I research, the more the principle guidelines become roadblocks than assistants. However, Andy and I have some suggestions for you to consider when you are unsure what name to use. ↪️ Are you new to genealogy? Grab your copy of this FREE Beginner Guide: Suggestions For Deciding Which Surnames to Use on Your Family Tree First, as you research, record a name as it appears on the first record, you discover the new ancestor. For example, if the first source says Wm Townsley, then write Wm Townsley. Don’t automatically turn Wm into William. What if the name is Williamson, Willingham, or another abbreviation? You can alter the name if you uncover more records. If Wm Townsley’s wife is Mary Townsley, only record her first name rather than the likely married name. However, if you discover later that her maiden name is the same as her husband’s surname, then you can add Townsley back into the last name field. Follow the blank surname tip, particularly when working with online trees. If you add Townsley for Mary, the algorithms will generate hints for Mary Townsley rather than Mary, who married Wm Townsley. As you research, change the name as you find more complete details if a birth record names your great-grandma’s father as “S A Thomson,” record S A as their given names. When you discover a census record that indicates S stands for “Steven,” update the given name to Steven. If you uncover another document that uses the middle name of “Andy,” then alter the middle name to reflect the full name as Steven Andy Thomson. As you discover additional records that expand S A Thomson to a full name, update what is recorded on your paper or electronic chart to reflect the complete name. Then leave a note that you changed the first name based on this new piece of evidence. What happens when a name conflicts in genealogy records? One strategy is to use the name that person signed in their hand. For example, an adult knows what their name is, and that could be the determination of the ‘top billing’ name while including the alternative names. One such record where individuals signed their names in their own hands is a military draft record. You can make the case to use the name the parents gave them. If you have a death record indicating that a name was Thomas Michael Sauer and a birth record provides evidence his name was Tomas Mihael Saur, which name do you record in the ‘name’ spot on your genealogy charts or in your online tree? A researcher could make the case that the birth record trumps the death certificate. However, suppose a couple adopted a child shortly after his birth, and he never used his birth name. Then, you could argue that his adopted name receives top billing. In my grandmother's case, she was born Marie Anderson. She was adopted within days of her birth and was forever known as Louise Long. She never referred to herself as Marie Anderson except when she celebrated all of her names at a birthday party. Therefore, top billing goes to Louise. The name, Marie, appears as her alternative name. When an ancestor anglicizes their name or modifies it to fit the country they are in, which name do you use? One of my ancestors is Joseph Geißler. I could anglicize the name to Joseph Geiszler or Geissler, but he didn’t live long enough to have his name locked into one of those variations. Thus, Geißler is the way I spell his name. However, his son was born Henry Geißler but finally locked into Geiszler, and I record that as his adult name. Whichever name you give top billing, ensure you record your reasoning for the choice. Andy and I share more recommendations on which name to use when your ancestor has many in this video on YouTube. For more tips on creating family trees, read the following: How to Record Stillbirths On Your Family Tree What To Do When The Town Name is Wrong? How to remove a child from the wrong set of parents on FamilySearch How to Easily Build Your Family Tree on FindMyPast Beginning Genealogy: Don't Make These Mistakes While Climbing Your Family Tree

I am a family history fanatic. I’m obsessed with decluttering and downsizing. Both fields of interest revealed the number one task family historians need to do but aren’t. It’s not adding new names to the tree. It’s not ensuring you have a citation for every fact. It’s not organizing and downsizing your genealogy files. It’s so simple that many families fail to do it and will kick themselves when it’s too late. What is this simple, crucial task? Identifying and Labeling Photos If you’ve sorted through the possessions of someone who has to downsize their loved one's home after a death, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about. Flipping through my grandmother’s photo album after she died, the oldest surviving member of her generation, I felt a tug in my heart. Would anyone be able to help me piece together the mystery men and women in her photo collection? Perhaps my mother would remember the names of the unidentified people and places. Sadly, my mother died 11 months after my grandmother. Not only did I miss the opportunity to ask about their photo collections, but I also had the make the hardest decision any genealogist has to make. I had to decide what I could afford to send from my mom’s home in Houston to my home in Iowa with a VERY limited budget. Guess what didn’t make that journey and found its way into the garbage? Don't Wait Until It’s Too Late The unlabeled pictures problem is as old as photography. People have been failing to label photos since the mid-1800s. If it weren’t true, there wouldn’t be unnamed persons from orphaned photo albums on a website like DeadFred.com. This year, stop overlooking this critical family history task because it’s simple. Before researching another genealogy brick wall or evaluating a new research hint, ensure you have identified all the photos in your family archive. Then, if yours is complete, seek out the collections of your grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. I kick myself for not being more aggressive in gaining access to my father’s first cousin's photo collection. The photos she promised to share with me when up in a house fire the week she planned to mail them to me. I let five months pass from when she told me about the photos to the house fire. I wish I had a time machine to turn back time. Give Your Photos Their Stories Who are the children in this photo of Robert Victor Zumstein and his wife Clementine? What year was the photo taken? Whose house was it taken in? Flipping through my grandmother’s photo album after she, the oldest surviving member of her generation, died I felt a tug in my heart. Would anyone be able to help me piece together the mystery men and women in her photo collection? Perhaps my mother would remember the names of the unidentified people and places. Sadly, mother died as well and the unlabeled photos problem hit a heart-wrenching dead end. The opportunity to ask about her mother’s photo collection and her own was gone. No one was left alive to tell me anything. DON’T WAIT until it’s too late to label those photos. Labeling photos is not a new skill. It’s so easy, anyone who knows how to write can do it. You don’t need a particular app, a computer, or special training. The unlabeled pictures problem is as old as photography. People have been failing to label photos since the mid-1800s. If it weren’t true, there wouldn’t be unnamed persons from orphaned photo albums on a website like DeadFred.com. This year, stop overlooking this critical family history because it’s simple. Dare to be different. Dare to be the one whom many will sing your praises long after you’re gone. Be a labeler!!! Dig out every family photo album you own. Dig in Aunt Ethel’s attic. Go to Uncle Larry’s barn. Visit the crazy Grandma with ten cats (but take plenty of allergy medicine if you need to). Flip through the albums and loose photos and tag the photos that are missing facts such as: Who What When Where Why What’s not shown? Once you have marked your unlabeled photos, search your memory or query those of your relatives to discover the stories behind the photos. When you have the information, use an archival quality pen to label the back of your printed photos. If your photos are all digital, do the same with them. This time, you’ll need a photo program that tags your images. Digitally mark the photos with the pertinent information. Better yet, create a digital photo album with CAPTIONS!!!! That way you have a nice family treasure as well as labeled photos. ↪️ Are you new to genealogy? Grab your copy of our REE Beginner Guides: If every person, whether an experienced genealogist or just starting out, took the time to sift through their picture collections, then we would have a richer collective photo narrative. Don’t let the photos you, or your relative once owned become an orphaned photo in an estate sale or antique shop. We can’t recover the meaning of a picture when the person knowing the answers can no longer communicate with us. For more preservation and genealogy tips, check out the following: 5 Things To Do With Finished Genealogy Research 5 Tips for Donating Your Genealogy How to Find Family Photos When Your Family Has None

Photoshop Elements is my favorite platform to create scrapbooks because I have to customize layouts to accommodate the pictures and text that I want to share to tell a great story about my ancestors or my family’s daily life. When you are beginning opening PSE 2018, you’ll get this screen. There’s always a sale going on, but really there’s no reason to upgrade every year. Click on the Photo Editor option. Use this screen to make selections to create a new file. The first step is how to create a new file: File, New, Blank File Options: Options: US Paper -- Create for my favorite size vertical 8.5x11, but you can choose this and rotate the layout to horizontal if you like. I’ll show you that in a moment. Scrapbooking -- This is for square layouts 12x12 8x8 6x6 (Please don’t do this size. They’re really too small) Add Title: Make sure resolution is 300 dpi (don’t need higher) Leave all the other default settings the same Press Okay Now that you have prepared your workspace, it’s time to add some photos to this layout. The two ways that I recommend you add photos to Photoshop Elements is by dragging and dropping pictures from a file organization program (i.e., Windows Explorer) to PSE. The other way is to load your photos into Photoshop Elements Organizer and then select your photos from that interface and open them in Photoshop Elements Editor. The last task we’ll discuss in this tutorial is adding a photo to your workspace. That’s what you created when you created a new file. Since your photos are in your Photo Tray, you simply: Click on the work surface so that you can see the blank surface in the editing window. Click and hold the photo you want in the photo tray and drag it to the workspace. Release and the photo will be placed in the center of the work surface. (It always goes to the center) When you want to move the photo to a new spot, click and hold the image you want and move it around. When you release the left mouse button, the image will be placed in that spot. (As we go through PSE, you need to make sure the Move tool is selected) With these three basics, you’re ready to start scrapbooking. I share these tips and a few more in the video below as it’s easier to show than tell when scrapbooking. Let’s walk through a few basics of the program so you can get started right away. Watch this video on YouTube.

Find A Grave Memorial Pages provide many details and the question you have to ask yourself is, “What information is the most reliable for my ancestor?” Traveling to a cemetery can be prohibitive for many people, which is why sites like Find-A-Grave provide an invaluable service. However, despite the information you will find on such memorial sites, you need to be careful what you accept as fact and what is simply a clue. Because online grave photo sharing sites are a collaboration of volunteers, the details of birth date, place, parental names, siblings, full names, etc, are not considered original sources. Watch the VIDEO What Are The Most Reliable Genealogy Facts on Find A Grave? The most reliable details are the facts listed on a gravestone, and that’s it. Mind you, a gravestone can be full of errors. If a mistake was made on a death record, it can perpetuate onto the stone marker. If an engraver made a mistake despite receiving correct information for an order, then what is set in stone might not be accurate. Additional errors creep into gravestones, but that's enough for now. If gravestones can be full of errors, then everything else on a user-contributed memorial page, often created long after our ancestors have died, is subject to error. EVERY-THING. Everything. ↪️ Are you new to genealogy? Grab your copy of this FREE Beginner Guide: Reviewing a Find A Grave Memorial Page With that in mind, let’s investigate Winfield Underwood’s Memorial Page on Find A Grave as part of the Research Over My Shoulder series for beginners. Winfield Underwood Find A Grave page For those following the Research Over My Shoulder series, here is the Memorial page for Winfield. Notice there is no image of his gravestone. The major reason we visited this site is lacking. However, we have CLUES to relationships and a copy of his death record. We also see that someone indicated that Winfield’s middle name is Gaddie. In a previous post, we attempted to discover what the G stood for in G Winfield Underwood. Is this proof that the G is actually his middle name, which would explain why he didn't use it often? Also, is this proof that his initial stands for the name Gaddie? NO. It’s not proof of either. We have no idea who put this information on Find A Grave and what source they used. We can not use anything on the site as proof, but we will use them as CLUES. What if an original record is attached to the profile on Find A Grave? When you have an original record attached to a Find A Grave profile (such as an obituary, an internment record, photos, and more), you have to evaluate the original record by the following standards: Who is the informant? Did the informant witness the event or just hear about it? Was the record created near the time of the specific life event? Find A Grave, Billion Graves, and other collaborative memorial pages are helpful in providing a resource for sharing images of gravestones. They also provide a way to share additional information about the persons featured on the memorial pages. However, we have to be careful in accepting everything on these pages, including the biographical sketches.

Have you ever come across an individual on FamilySearch and thought, “they don’t belong in this family” and then wondered what you should about it? I’m going to share my thoughts not only on the hows of breaking relationships but also cautions encouragement. What do you do when you think a potential relative is in the wrong family on the FamilySearch Family Tree? First, you need to make your case. Why do you think someone doesn’t belong in the family they are currently connected to? You shouldn’t take people out of families willy-nilly. You have to have a solid reason to break relationships in the family tree. I’ve previously written about the case study for Winfield Underwood’s family. After determining his parents, I found a new issue on his Person Page. Winfield might have a brother named General Thomas Underwood, or he might not. While reviewing each of Winfield’s siblings. I discovered that they were born in Kentucky. More specifically, they were generally from Taylor County, Kentucky. I also noticed that most of the children of Hiram and Nancy Underwood migrated west. They went to Texas. General Thomas Underwood doesn’t seem to go west. He may have traveled west and returned to Kentucky, but the evidence doesn’t support that conclusion. General Thomas Underwood’s Person Page has sources attached. These sources are wonderful, but they don’t help me know for sure if General is with the wrong family. The Person Page can’t help me out, so my next step is to see is available on the FamilySearch record side of things. I use the FamilySearch quick link to transfer the Person Page data from the tree to the search form. That way there is no extra typing involved. On the search results page, the first possibility involves an Underwood with Bill and Mahalia. That’s not Hiram Underwood and Nancy Gaddy. I keep scrolling, and I do not find any hints for General Thomas associated with Hiram and Nancy Underwood. William and Mahalia appear repeatedly. Hmm… To speed things along, I researched General Thomas. I have come to the conclusion that he was part of William (Bill) and Mahalia Underwood’s family, not Hiram and Nancy’s clan. Instead, the General that belongs to Hiram and Nancy is GeneralLogan. ↪️ Are you new to genealogy? Grab your copy of this FREE Beginner Guide: Let’s remove General. To take General Thomas out of Hyrum and Nancy’s we must break their relationship, You can’t break the relationship on the left side where he is with his wife and his children. You have to break the old link on the right where he is the son of Hyrum and Nancy Underwood. In the form that pops up, click on the option to remove General from the family. You can replace the parents if who knew the parents were. In this case, we’re just going to remove the parents. You’ll be asked if you are sure you want to do this by requesting that you complete a “Reason Statement” box. DON’T SKIP THE BOX!!!! Key in why you are breaking the relationship between parents and children (or husband and wives, the process is the same). In so doing, you’ll remind yourself why you think General Thomas Underwood doesn’t belong in Hyrum and Nancy’s family. Now General Thomas has no parents we can go add William and Mahalia and the sources that back up that claim. It is simple to break relationships, but should you? Yes, if you can make a case that an individual is connected to the wrong family. If you can’t make the case and you are a little doubtful, then gather more research until you have reached a conclusion. If your research is inconclusive, let things go, but leave a note on the Person’s Profile. Write why you don’t a family relationship is accurate and see if anyone else has the answer. If you make a mistake in the process, you can always restore it back. It can become a little challenging, but errors can be repaired. So use the family tree, break the relationships that are incorrect, and together we can make sure the worldwide family tree is as accurate as possible.

Whenever I have a grand idea to write a book or teach a family history workshop, I start recording all of my ideas and writing out things I will say. My husband patiently waits for me to hit a writer’s block, because I do this every time. You’d think I would learn. As time goes by, I catch myself falling into the familiar trap much faster and I stop. These days, when I fall into a familiar rut, I hear my husband’s voice, “Did you make an outline?” Why do I need an outline to write something? I have a flood of ideas. Shouldn’t I write and record them before they disappear? Brainstorming and jotting down notes should be fast, capture everything before it’s lost process. However, communicating with a group through writing or teaching must be organized for it to be understood and retained. So what does this have to do with our narrative project, Devon Lee? Glad you asked! In order to be successful in crafting an enjoyable narrative without too much pain and anguish, you need to be organized so that you can easily access the information you want when the need arises. If you are crafting an essay about one individual, perhaps you will not need a genealogy program. For your goal, a few file folders (online or hard copy) will serve your purpose well. Categorize your information in a way that will serve your purpose well and we’ll see you next month when I talk about Starting with a Birth Event. Roots Magic keeps my relatives organized Should you be embarking on the task to write a lengthier project involving many generations and ancestors, you will do well to organize your information in a genealogy program. The one I prefer is RootsMagic (though I’m not paid to say that). RootsMagic keeps track of my ancestor’s vital RootsMagic serves me well because it can organize the people on my tree and keep track of their vital information. ↪️ Are you looking for more genealogy resources? Grab your copy of this FREE Genealogy Research Guide: Additionally, I can create events such as a residence (based on city directories or census records), military service, education, property purchase and sale dates, immigration, and so on. Tracking where I find information and attaching it to specific events. RootsMagic also allows me to organize my sources to help me remember where I found the facts for each individual. A quick look at the photographs and scanned supporting documents. Links are made to media files on my hard drive as I attach photos and documents to an individual in my RootsMagic database. The program allows me to attach general notes about the person I am working on and notes specific to events for each person. As I research an ancestor, I could keep a research log (which I admit I don’t utilize as much at present) and create To-Do items connected to specific individuals. After I input all of these pieces of information while discovering my family history, RootsMagic has many ways to create organized ways to retrieve my information. RootsMagic is the outline for my family history projects, no matter their size. With my research prepared in this fashion, I can move on to the business of writing my family stories. Next month, I will share the process of writing the story of when an ancestor was born.

When your photo collection is from 20 years ago, who owns the copyright? And if you used said photos in pageants for the purpose of promoting yourself, are these images in the public domain? If they are in the public domain, do you actually need to track down a copyright release statement? Writing my memoir was easy compared to the worry I felt regarding the headshots I used during my quest for the crown. How would I track down men who may not be photographers any longer? If I couldn’t use photos in my book about pageants then what good was the project? Pageant books need photos! Can you tell that I was a wee bit stressed out? My husband took the brunt of the stress missile. As much as I dislike current copyright law as it applies to modern photography, it is what it is. So, I set out trying to determine if I could track a release form down. Google is our friend, is it not? Five photographers took the bulk of the professional photos in my collection. My mother snapped the off-stage photos and on stage photos where personal photography was allowed. Receiving the copyright from momma was a cinch. She’s deceased, and I own her photo collection. As far as I know, I’m set. One photographer was the mall studio known as Glamour Shots. Anyone alive in the US the early 90s knows of the mass-produced mall makeover portrait producers. Because it is a corporation today, Glamour Shots is easy to work with as they often field copyright release requests. The customer service rep was especially delighted that I wasn’t asking for a reprint from the original negatives for photos that are decades! Thanks, Glamour Shots for making things so easy. ↪️ Are you looking for more genealogy resources? Grab your copy of this FREE Genealogy Research Guide: The next photographer was my favorite, ever! When I used his services, he worked in a partnership that used a company brand rather than his own name. That business decision greatly benefited me. When I contacted the company, I learned he no longer worked with the studio, but they owned the copyright to all the images produced under the business name. Score! The modeling focused photography studio was familiar with copyright release forms. They did request that I submit electronic versions of the image so they could complete the release form. Done. After two successes, I was feeling pumped. But then I ran into my problem. Three additional men worked independently and were difficult to track down. Additionally, two photographers were affiliated with a local modeling agency that now no longer in existence. I needed help finding the photographers or would need to decide what to do about my photos. I enlisted the aid of a friend who dabbles in private investigation work. My sleuthing friend secured the contacts for two photographers and facilitated the conversation with one. Both photographers granted permission to use their pictures, with one specifically requesting I mention his name beside his work. The fifth photographer remained a hard man to find. It turns out that I was spelling his name wrong! I finally found a paper with his correct spelling and my husband was able to find him online. We sent a copyright release request, and he gladly provided it as long as I gave the proper citation in my book. Although the process did take a few months, I had the necessary permission for each photo I had selected for my book. If I were to do it over again, I would start tracking down photographers earlier in my writing process. After exchanging a few emails, I learned I just needed to be willing to ask. To see the photos the pageant photographers released their copyright for, order From Metal to Rhinestones: A Quest for the Crown. Read More About #familyhistorywritingtips

Do you have a story that needs to be shared with an audience beyond the walls of your home? Are you hoping to sell your educational or research material to earn a side income (or potentially replace your income)? Considering self-publishing your manuscripts. How I Became a Published Familly History Author “Become an Author” was never on my Bucket List, but I ventured into book writing several years ago. The venture began with the desire to share a few tips on how to scrapbook with a friend. My husband noticed that I had enough material to make a book. Following his suggestion, I formatted my thoughts into chapters and eventually had a book. The next step was figuring out how to make the information available to others. We live in a fantastic time when technology has simplified our ability to share our ideas with the world and earn a few dollars in the process. In 2012, I launched my first book on Amazon and shared the status with my family and friends. Since that time, I’ve revised this book and launched an updated second edition. I have written Family History Scrapbooking Simplified, Reimagine Family History, A Recipe for Writing Family History, and co-wrote DNA Q&A: Real Questions from Real People and Genetic Genealogy. To order these books, visit my Book Store. Also, I’ve completed two family history stories – one about my PaPa Lew and one about my German immigrant ancestor – Joseph Geissler. The pay off from publishing my family history is a deeper connection with my living relatives. They love sharing the stories of our common ancestors with their children. I have inspired and encouraged many others to capture and preserve their stories through scrapbooking and/or writing their ancestor’s stories for my how-to books. You should be publishing your family histories, at the very last. Traditional Publishing Family Histories After completing their manuscript ready, most people send their books to traditional book printers.  They don’t have a book publishing deal. They utilize book printers, order a large quantity, and hock their wares and genealogy conferences and on their websites. The major advantage of these is that the printers can produce large quantities of books for a nominal cost per unit. In many cases, a 250-page book will probably only cost $2-$3 to print. If you are selling it for $10 or $20, there is significant profit to be made. The downside is there is usually a minimum order of 100, 200, or 500 books. Since most authors sell less than 500 copies of a book, it may not be wise to use this method unless you are a known entity. ↪️ Do you want to write a family history book? Grab your copy of this FREE Writing Guide: Self-Publishing Your Family History You can self-publish your book. I would recommend eBooks over print-on-demand services when you’re starting out. On the surface, print on demand publishing services cost 50%-100% more per book than a traditional printer, but there is a huge advantage. What happens if no one wants your book? What happens if you can only sell a third of the books you ordered at the lower cost per unit rate? Print-on-demand does not have any upfront expenses. That makes this risk-averse frugal girl happy. If my books don’t sell, I’m not out the money I should have spent on my kids. If the books sell well, I can stuff the profit into a college savings fund for five kids (hint – hint). Win-win! Using Kindle Direct Publishing For Family Histories When I published my first book, I used Createspace. Since then, Kindle Direct Publishing (the eBook distributor) merged with Createspace (the paperback distributor). The book quality is comparable quality to most trade paperbacks, and many genealogy authors have used this service, one of which is Nathan Dylan Goodwin. What is more important is that KDP integrates its distribution with Amazon, the largest retailer of books. They handle the shipping, payment processing, and any returns. Plus, if anyone borrows an electronic version of the book, you receive a kickback as well. This increases your revenue stream! You still have to begin marketing your book initially, but I have sold far more books to total strangers who have never come across my website or YouTube channel. That’s the major advantage of KDP! Using Lulu.com to Print Genealogies What should you use if you don’t want to sell on Amazon or publish your family histories? I have used Lulu.com for nearly ten years. They can publish your book in hardback or paperback (which KDP can not). You can order one copy or multiple copies for friends and family. You can even provide your family with a private link to a book that they can purchase themselves. You won’t have to pay for copies no one wants on their shelves!!! You can Self Publish Your Family History Let this be the year you publish the instructional, informative, or family legacy book that has been tucked inside you. How to Arrange Photos in Family Histories How to Create a Cover for Family History Book Tracking Down Copyright Release What Voice Should I Use When I Write Family Histories? Five Types for Editing That Will Improve Your Family History Writing (video) Should I Print a Research Log in a Family History? (Video)

Updated 8 Dec 2020 Preparing to interview a family member can be super exciting. However, checking off a list of questions doesn't always capture the fun memories from the past. Instead of consulting a list of family history questions, use the following exercises to have better family history conversations. Here are three ways to put your interview at ease and discuss stories that will give you a richer, deeper family history and family history interview. The "Five Event Timeline " Family History Memory Trigger The activity is repeatable and completed in under five minutes. Create a memory timeline by having your relative do the following: Draw a horizontal line across a sheet of paper. Draw five vertical lines across the timeline, evenly spaced out. On the far left line, write "Childhood." On the far right, write "Recent." Once you have a sketch that looks like this, you’re ready for the family history magic. Your family member, who is being interviewed, will now have two minutes to following: Write a quick phrase for the earliest childhood memory on the far left line. Write one or phrase that relates to a recent event in their life. This is an event that happened within the last week or even today. Write three more phrases for three memories that happened anytime between their childhood and this past week. Now you have a beginning questions for your interview. Ask your relative to further those five memories. Within those memories, you’ll hear things that prompt additional questions you want to ask. Ask them! If you enjoy this warm-up exercise, you can repeat it, and this time the family member will choose five different memories. ↪️ Are you looking for more genealogy resources? Grab your copy of this FREE Genealogy Research Guide: Unlock the Past By Drawing a House Any home can have memories, and many of them are unlocked when we remember our rooms and how the furnishings were arranged. Have your family member sketch out their home. It could be their childhood home(s), the home when they first married, or their most recent residences. The floor plans can be as detailed or simple as the interviewee once. Once the sketch is complete, invite your relative to take you on a verbal walking tour of their floor plan. Have them describe: Which room belongs to each family member? How were each room decorated? What appliances were in each room? Was one room colder than the other? Did any room or hallway have special sounds or smells? What was special or unique about the room? As your relative remembers walking through their homes, you will be surprised at stories they may share. You can take this exercise further by having your ancestor draw the outside of their home. Draw the yard or farm and any outbuildings. Draw any geographical features like creeks, ditches, mountains, sledding hills Draw their neighborhood with locations of friends, relatives, schools, church, grocery stores, employment locations, and playgrounds. With the expanded sketches, you can learn about the community in which your relative lived. Utilize Keepsakes to Take a Trip Down Memory Lane Utilize Keepsakes to Take ta Trip Down Memory Lane our homes. Ask your relatives to pull out treasured belongings. They can evoke sweet and loving memories, humorous tales, or sad trials. Items and the memories they evoke might include: A Navy Jacket that belonged to a father. A gravy dish that was only used during special holiday dinners. A favorite family book that a mother read to her children. Hospital documentation for cancer treatments. A Texas homecoming mum from their senior year in high school. Ask your relatives to share what they know and remember about each item. Ask them why they keep the items and if they'll ever part with them. These keepsakes can tell rich stories that can make your life, cry, and learn from the past. Use them any chance you get. Unlock Your Family History By Triggering Memories There is a time and place for lists of "Best Questions to Ask Your Family Members” that flood the internet and genealogy how-to books. If you want a richer family history, help your family members capture the stories behind their possessions, and or recall the memories that have no documentation. Your interview will be so much easier for you and the person you are interviewing.

Blaine Bettinger has done some great work in gathering data on shared cM as part of his Shared cM project. But how about looking at a single-family? How do some of those Shared cM amounts line up? Before Blaine’s shared cM project, we just had percentages based on DNA halfing each generation. Because of the Shared cM project, we can see from actual data what those DNA amounts look like between relationships. Watch the video. In my family, I have been able to test 4 generations, my grandparents, parents, myself, my siblings, and my children. So how do our family numbers stack up to what the Shared cM project is showing us? I’ll try to keep relationships unconfusing by referring to my father, my children, my grandfather, and my siblings. First, when looking at DNA, comparing parents to children is not that interesting. It is always going to be 50% for autosomal DNA because you get one set of chromosomes from your mother and one set from your father. But once you start comparing 3 generations and more it can be interesting. First off, let’s look at a chart of me and my siblings compared to my Grandfather. The average amount should be around 25% and you can see that my 4 brothers and I are tightly packed around 25 percent, there really isn’t much variability even though the Shared cM project shows a range of about 20-30%. So when we look at my children compared to their grandfather, my dad. It shows a different story. There is a wide range of from as low as 20% to as high as 27.5% which is amazing with 5 samples that it covers most of the range that the Shared cM project found. So seeing the results of my children could you predict which one shares the least and which shares the most amount with their great-grandfather, a 4 generation spread? ↪️ Confused about DNA and genealogy? Grab your copy of this FREE DNA guide: Well, if you are tempted to choose the highest and the lowest, from the 3 generation spread, you’re getting ahead of yourself. The DNA that my children share with my father, is a mixture of my grandfather and grandmother’s DNA. And because I happen to share exactly 25% of my DNA with my grandfather, I also share exactly 25% of DNA with my grandmother. But here is the results, C3 shares the most with my grandfather, not C1 although there is only a 1cM difference. On the flip side, C4 shares the least amount with my grandfather, and in fact, the amount of shared DNA is on the very low end of what the Shared cM project has gathered. Its very possible that 2 or 3 generations from now, there may be some descendants of C4 that share no DNA with my grandfather. Also of note, even though I have exactly 25% of DNA from my grandfather, none of my children shared 12.5% or more of DNA. DNA is random and unpredictable like that. Let’s next look at my father’s sister, my aunt. My siblings and I share around 25% of DNA with her, again in a fairly narrow range. My children, on the other hand, share a broader range, from 8.7% to 11.6% of DNA with my aunt, but again nobody shares 12.5% or more DNA. Lastly, I’ll look at my children compared to my siblings. As expected now, we can see that there is a lot of variabilities. S2 stays in a narrow range below 25%. S1 stays in a narrow range centered at 28%. And S3 has both the most shared DNA with any of my children and the least amount of shared DNA with any of my children. In summary, except for parents and children, shared DNA is not going to be the same for every relationship. The more distant the relationship is, the more variability might see in the amount of shared DNA. If you have any questions, put them in the comments below. And if you enjoyed this episode, hit the thumbs up and share the video with your friends.

In lots of areas of life, we are told that bigger is better. But when it comes to DNA testing, is more always better? In other words, does the more genetic markers tested mean more accuracy? In the words of Obi-Wan Kenobi, “From a certain point of view.” Y-DNA STR Testing Before answering this question we need to break the question into Y-DNA STR testing and Autosomal DNA SNP testing.  For the Y-DNA STR test, Family Tree DNA is the only company that offers it. They offer several testing options from 37 to 67, and finally 111 markers. The more markers you test the more you'll expect to pay for the results. Each result is more accurate than the previous one in identifying how distantly related you are to other genetic matches. However, there is a caveat. Since your data is being compared to other people’s results, your results are only going to be as accurate as of the least accurate test. Let’s say you match with John at 37 markers with a genetic distance of 0. You get excited and take the 67 marker test, except John hasn’t. Your results still show you matching with John at 37 markers. So in this case, more markers are better IF you and your matches have tested more markers. Family Tree DNA allows you to upgrade your Y-DNA test. If you have a specific patrilineal genealogy question you are trying to answer, start with the 37 marker test. Then, make contact with your closest matches to find out if they have done the 67 or 111 test or are willing to before you upgrade. This way, you can possibly avoid some disappointment. While we are on Y-DNA (and mtDNA too), a SNP test, which is normally done in conjunction with an autosomal DNA test, can be used to identify your haplogroup. In this case, more is definitely better. Haplogroups are defined by the different mutations in the Y chromosome and mtDNA. Sequencing the entire Y chromosome or mtDNA will give you the most accurate haplogroup. As Family Tree DNA now has the Big Y test, which looks at 20 times as many SNPs on the Y chromosome as other autosomal tests, it is no wonder that they have identified hundreds of new haplogroups and subclades. When it comes to haplogroups, bigger is always better. ↪️ Confused about DNA and genealogy? Grab your copy of this FREE DNA guide: Autosomal DNA SNP Testing So the next is with SNPs. SNPs and STRs are not the same things. They aren’t even comparable. Based on the ISOGG Autosomal SNP chart, the least amount of SNPs tested by one of the major companies is more than 500,000. While 500,000 is 4,500 times larger than the 111 marker Y-test, it doesn’t mean there is 4,500 times more information. Autosomal tests can be used for different things. First, ethnicity or heritage estimates. For these estimates, a string of SNPs is being compared to reference populations.  At first glance, having more SNPs would mean more strings to compare, or smaller segments of DNA being analyzed and ideally, a more precise estimate. However, it's not just your DNA, but the DNA of the reference populations that need to be considered. You may have a test of 900,000 markers, but if the reference you are comparing it to only has 600,000 of those markers than 300,000 are effectively useless. Which brings us to cousin matching. One on one, DNA vs. DNA. Like heritage estimates, on the surface more appears to be better, but it is actually the intersection between you and the person you are comparing to. This may be as few as 100,000 markers. So even though your test has 600,000 SNPs, the comparison with your cousin may only be 100,000 markers. But does this affect the accuracy of relationship identification? Simply put, not for almost all practical purposes. MyHeritage allows upload of 23andMe v5 and LivingDNA data which share the least amount of SNPs in common with the other tests. By looking at matches of the same person (me) using the DNA tests, the identified cousins are not any different. The amount of shared DNA is different but in the same ballpark, but cousins for practical research are there regardless of which test I am using. So when it comes to cousin matching, more SNPs don’t result in better matches. Which makes sense, because all of the companies use matching SNP and minimum segment length to determine a potential relationship. In short, more is sometimes better. You need to check before you spend the money for more, or you may be spending money on something you aren't receiving.