Better Than Bingo

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Slot Machine by Bing Image Creator 26 Feb 2025

Reassessment

This year I've taken on a "52 Ancestors" project, where I'm creating a research report for my 52 closest ancestors in ahnentafel order. Well, it's only the beginning of March, and I'm already behind. On the other hand, while catching up, I noticed an anomaly on my great-grandmother Annie McPherson Cowan's FamilySearch profile; she had parents reported there with names close to her actual parents' but upon checking the sources, it became obvious that someone had attached her to the wrong parents. 


Check Your Lineages*

Lots of people are using the FamilySearch Family Tree right now since RootsTech Relatives has been activated through 11 April 2025, so I wanted to be sure to get this fixed right away.

 My first step was to leave a note in the Collaborate section after checking the connected records. Evidently I had not filled out great-grandmother Annie's tree on FamilySearch very well some years ago, but I could see that the census record they had used to connect her to the wrong parents was in the wrong county in Ontario, Canada. She was born in and lived in Puslinch township in Wellington County, Ontario, Canada until Annie and her husband Walter Scott Cowan moved to the Vancouver, Canada area soon after World War I, after selling their Ontario farm and buying a smaller one in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. 

It is important to examine the evidence in all connected records, and disconnect those which have been wrongly attached. Be sure to leave a good reason both when attaching, and detaching.

So far, there has been no pushback on the corrections; as more records are attached to the family, none are expected. However, I hoped that once this lineage was fixed, I would see some matches in RootsTech Relatives, and so far, only one has appeared. Although Annie had many siblings, most did not have large families. But few matches was a bit of a letdown.


Better than BINGO

However, Ancestry has a new function on trees, for DNA testers who have connected their DNA test to their tree. Lookie what I saw that night: 
14 DNA matches; only 3 already in my tree!

Ontario Canada has very good early records, but now I have a fresh set of records to examine and analyze, which stem through ancestral collateral relatives born in the highlands of Scotland. 

These DNA matches truly are the cherry on top of the sundae, and the very best way to finish up a fresh look at old research. 

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* By the way, checking your lineages on all public trees is worthwhile; free trees are how many people access genealogy. Ensure that yours is accurate and well-sourced. 


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Background Vectors by Vecteezy March 2, 2025

March is Women's History Month!

Whom would you like to celebrate? Do you have an ancestor you would like to have met? Do you have a teacher or other woman in your life who inspired you? 

Please accept this opportunity to introduce our readers to your special woman. Write a paragraph (or more) about this person and submit it to m.strickland@skcgs.org by March 19. We'll feature your paragraphs in our March 24 and 31 posts.


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Valorie Zimmerman


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