Genealogy

If you have been considering buying a DNA test to use for genealogy, here are a few things to consider. First, have you found most of your ancestors through old-fashioned research? If not, DNA might not yield you much information. That said, even if you are adopted and don't know much about your birth lineage, with a lot of work, you can make some matches, and learn more. However, the more you know, the better you will be able to use what you learn from DNA. Next, what sort of test will help you learn the most? If you want to learn more about your "surname line," that of your birth father, his father, and on up -- then you want a yDNA test, and FamilyTreeDNA is the only place to get it. You will need a male of this line to do the test; daughters do not inherit their father's yDNA. Of course, you can test a male in *each* of your surname lines, but again, this only tells you about the male lines. You will want to test as many markers as you can afford; at least ...

Given the way that autosomal DNA tests for genealogy work, there are two things that are important for success in using that DNA data to find matches: finding your ancestors back to ten generations, and finding all possible descendants from them. I came to this conclusion after reading the excellent blog post, How Much of Your Family Tree Do You Know? And Why Does That Matter?   where the author says, whenever we make a conclusion about a particular ancestor or ancestral couple based on segments of DNA shared with a relative, we absolutely must address whether we do, or could, share other ancestors with that relative. The author made a nice little chart summarizing how much he knew, so I did the same thing. Mine is not as pretty, but here it is anyway: Key:   Generation: from me; Relationship: to me; Date of Birth: roughly averaged; Matches: description; # Poss. Anc.: total number of possible ancestors in each generation; # Identified: number of ancestors identified...

The Goosics didn't come quite as early as the Disneys, and were not as numerous as the Baysingers. Here is what I find on a search of the Warren Co. IA Genweb: WARREN COUNTY TAX LIST – 1855 in Washington Township: Goosic, Andrew Index of Warren County Marriages 1849-1899 (Brides) BRIDE GROOM DATE Goosic, Delilah Nichollson, Elisha 15 Oct 1854 Goosic, Margaret Stierwalt, William A. 14 Apr 1870 Goosic, Mary Nichelson, William 8 Aug 1866 Goosic, Sarah Basinger, Elias H. 15 Aug 1861 Wilkinson, Nora C. Goosic, James E. 1 Mar 1877 Index of Warren County Marriages 1849-1899 (Grooms) GROOM BRIDE DATE Nichelson, William Goosic, Mary 8 Aug 1866 Nichollson, Elisha Goosic, Delilah 15 Oct 1854 Goosic, A. T. Jr. [Andrew Jackson Jr.] Burner, Lavina 17 Jun 1813 Goosic, James E. Wilkinson, Nora C. 1 Mar 1877 In order to take a more global look, I went to Linkpendium's Goosic page . * Findagrave reports 54 Goosic graves, mostly in Nebraska, some in Iow...

The history of the Disneys in Warren County, Iowa begins very early, 1846, and continues in pioneer deaths, as is told in the Warren County, Iowa Genweb page here:  http://www.iagenweb.org/warren/cemeteries/carlislehistory.html . Hadleys, Ormes and Browns, and even a connection to the underground railway during the Civil War also weave into this story. Names, dates and places: * Jacob Disney arrived in the Summerset-Carlisle, Iowa, area in the spring of 1846, from Knox County, Ohio. With him: Richard Hadley and Jacob's brother Mordecai Disney. * Hadley and Disney were the first burials in Carlisle Cemetery, in summer 1846, both dead of cholera. *  Eliza and Joseph Petre, relatives of Disney, finished out the claim and deeded the cemetery to the county in 1860. Eliza and Joseph's son, Albert Petre , was the first [white] child born in that area. * Mordecai Disney , blacksmith, later went to California (1849?) to dig for gold. * "The third burial in Carlisle ...

Quick shout-out to the fine work that Iowa GenWeb does. My mother was born in Warren County, and her Baysingers, Disneys, Goosics had all been there for generations. Her father's people, the McBees were there for a time as well. (Below is what is found for the Baysingers, not including the Census, which I find at MyHeritage.) Tonight I happened upon a database I've never heard of before, the OLD AGE PENSION TAX LIST – 1935 Otter Township Assessor’s List of Those Subject to Old Age Pension Tax for the Year 1935,  Otter Township, Warren County, Iowa , Filed March 16, 1935 by A. H. Traub, Warren County Auditor To the Treasurer of said County: This book contains a complete list, arranged alphabetically, of residents of Otter Township in the said county, who are over 21 years of age, and subject to a tax of $2.00, payable in 1935 for the benefit of the Old Age Pension Fund, as required by Section 34, Chapter 19, Acts of the Forty-fifth General Assembly in extraordinary sessio...

Mysteries and questions are what got me hooked doing genealogy, many years ago. My sister had found our great-grandfather in the 1900 Warren County, Iowa census, and with the help of a cousin, we found his will, since he died soon after 1900. But what was described in his will did not seem to match the family we had seen in 1900. And of course there is no 1890 census to consult, so real digging and thinking was required. And so it has continued. Every time I've gone back over stuff I've found before, I see it with new eyes, and it both teaches me to see what I didn't see before, and always also raises more questions. The latest: one of my mother's cousins was listed as a widow, living with her family of birth and young child in rural northern Missouri in the 1900 census. So of course once I found the name of her first husband, I searched for their marriage record and his death. And then I found him, apparently alive and well, living with his family, in the same coun...

I've loved the search for genealogy and my family's history since my children were young. I wanted to understand my roots, and why some of the difficulties my family endured happened, and how those events changed all those who were touched by them. I found young orphans, babies born before marriage, rape, and tragic death by fire among the more normal events. I've also found some family lines that are rather well-researched, which took away the challenge. For some years other projects took my time. Then, the yDNA tests became affordable, and I bought an Family Tree DNA kit for my dad for Father's Day. Because those "beginner kits" don't tell you much, and have far too many meaningless matches, I kept paying for upgrades, all the way up to 67 markers. This took his high-quality matches down to under 10, but as we followed up on these matches, we realized that this line of Cowans came from Stirling, in Scotland. The recorded part of the family went to t...

Last Christmas I got a 23andMe kit , and sent in my spit. Now it is finally paying off in matches. I spent part of last night writing to my newly-found genetic cousins, and hope to do more of that. It would be good to get a GEDCOM online again too, so we can more easily compare lineages. One weakness I found is that all the hours I put in after I sent off the kit, putting in information on the website, seems to be totally absent. Oh well, I sent this to some of my cousins: Hello, I see that we may be related, according to 23 and me. I've been doing genealogy research for quite awhile, but my chart isn't online right now. However, some of my main surnames are Baysinger, Booth, Cowan, Disney, Goosic, McBee, McPhail, McPherson, McQueen, Walters. I have a genealogy blog: http://genweblog.blogspot.com/ . My email is valorie.zimmerman@gmail.com, and I'm on G+, Facebook, Twitter, etc. http://about.me/valoriez All the best, Valorie I hope to improve that as I gather my thou...

Archives of Ontario : http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/     Research Guides : http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/english/guides/index.html OurOntario.ca : explore digital collections of libraries, archives, museums, historical societies, community groups, government agencies and private collections in Ontario, all in one search. While you may find some surnames, you are much more likely to find places, groups and institutional names. http://www.ourontario.ca/ Ontario GenWeb : http://www.geneofun.on.ca/ongenweb/ Ontario Birth Registrations, 1869-1906 : http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~births/index.htm Gateway to Ontario Cemeteries : http://freepages.history.rootsweb.com/~silentguardians/ Ontario Obituaries : http://www.ontarioobits.com/ Northern Ontario Canada Gravemarker Gallery : over 300 cemeteries completed. Work is continuing, and Murray welcomes your help! Kenora, Rainy River, Thunder Bay, Algoma, Manitoulin, Sudbury, Nipissing, Renfrew, Parry Sound, Muskoka, Temiska...

Once you have searched the Family History Library Catalog , and found the film number you need to order, what then? You will need to locate the nearest Family History Center (FHC) and visit the center to order your film. To find your nearest Family History Center, go to http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Library/FHC/frameset_fhc.asp . If you are facing a long drive, please call ahead to make sure that the Center is actually open. They are kept open by volunteers, and open hours may have changed since the last website update. Family History Centers are branches of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Each is owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS, or "the Mormons") and are in local Mormon churches. Each local FHC provides access to most of the microfilms and microfiche that are available in Salt Lake City. Books do not circulate unless they are on film, however. It will cost you about $5.50 for each roll of microfilm ordered; microfich...

The Rheinland-Pfalz : http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/RHE-PFA/rhein-p.html Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate) Genealogy Links : http://www.genealogylinks.net/europe/germany/rp.htm Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany WorldGenWeb Project: http://www.rootsweb.com/~deurhepf/ Hessen GenWeb : http://members.cox.net/hessen/index2.htm Cemeteries of Rheinland Pfalz , Germany: http://www.interment.net/ger/rheinland.htm Pfäzisch-Rheinische Familienkunde : http://www.prfk.de/literatur/index.html Electorate Prince-archbishopric of Trier : http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/HIST/trier.html Trier Familienbücher index : http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/wgff/trier/ (Click on "ABC-Listen") Westdeutsche Gesellschaft für Familienkunde : http://www.genealogienetz.de/vereine/wgff/index.htm Institut fuer pfaelzische Geschichte und Volkskunde : http://www.bv-pfalz.de/kultur/institut-fuer-pfaelzische-geschichte-und-volkskunde/ . A museum of Palatine history and culture including emigration; has a ca...

Emigration & Immigration Research Outline at http://www.familysearch.org/ : http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/Rg/guide/Germany14.asp#emigration_and_immigration Ellis Island : http://ellisisland.org/ has the records online for 1892-1924. 22 million immigrants, passengers, and crew members came through Ellis Island and the Port of New York. Use Stephen Morse's forms to search if you can't find them with the standard search engine. These sites are free and open to all. NEW! I've just found about a wonderful way to extend your use of the EllisIsland.org site. Megan Smolenyak says that to the left of the certificate, at the bottom of the menu are "View Annotations" and "Create an Annotation." She says: If you click on "View Annotations," you'll find yourself in the Community Archives, which includes the annotation I contributed. By clicking on my name, you'll see a number of additional details I entered.... All of these are pre-s...