Casting Your Net
Casting Your Net
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Fishermen in a Rowboat Throwing the Net by fabianoshow
How many family trees have you started? I tend to want everyone together in one tree, but there are lots of reasons to have separate ones. My latest project is working on a tree for our grandson which was started by his Goldsmith grandfather. Since there will be little to no overlap between Steve's Eastern European Jewish tree and mine, it seemed simplest and most logical to just work in his tree, with his DNA matches. It's a fresh challenge and quite exciting so far. I wrote before about digging up records for the base of the tree, which has worked well. When Steve's AncestryDNA results came in, it was fun to place all the closer cousins in the tree. Just the usual challenges finding all the living people; thank goodness for good hints including other people's trees with records. I never copy anyone's tree; instead I call up the records and analyze those, then enter the data directly from the record. The next step is to place the mystery matches into the tree. Thanks to Ancestry's Pro Tools, which help sort and label the matches' matches, I was tipped off to a group of surnames I had not seen before. They are all related to one another, and to to Steve.  In DNA: Dare to Grab the Gold Ring I wrote about just going ahead and adding these matches into the tree. To add "floaters" to your tree, create their profile by adding them as a relative to someone else, and then immediately disconnect from that random person by editing relationships. Because they are DNA matches, I also tag them as DNA matches and add a comment about others to whom they match. The more unusual the surname is, the more success you will have with this "floater" tactic. Fortunately, one of the mysteries was a Klatzky, and an obituary for his mother popped up, containing all the surnames in the little mystery group. So right now the work is building out this family, which seemed to have moved from New York City to Minnesota and Wisconsin. Below is the obituary: As you can see, not only is the surname Klatzky mentioned, but also Borken, Witkin and Cohn. This one obituary has led to finding four more matches being placed into the tree. Another strength of this sort of obituary is that both those relatives who have already died are named, as well as the survivors, leading to records for all the siblings. While working through this large family, up popped a marriage announcement for one of the daughters, one of Bessie's nieces, in which Bessie was mentioned along with with a possible link to the common ancestors! In short, by following the Genealogical Proof Standard, the tree is growing, the records are linked to each person named so that others can find them, the Friends, Associates and Neighbors are investigated, and a rich history is revealed. Just following up thoroughly on all these riches is keeping me busy! What are you working on? Write to m.strickland@skcgs.org with your story.
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