There is some scorn directed at FamilySearch Family Tree because it is full of errors and some profiles have no sources, which makes it unreliable. The criticism is fair. I've found errors and unsourced profiles there. I've probably added some back when when I first began. However I find that using FamilySearch Family Tree is critical to my research, and think that I can and should make it better. I hope I can convince you to help. I still have plenty to do, as my fan chart shows: 7 generation fan chart Has it been years since you used FamilySearch? Please try it again soon. These days, there are record hints, improved record search, and millions more indexed records available. Merging duplicate profiles can still be tedious and yet it is worth your time. Duplicates weaken the tree, so clean and improve it, at least in your direct lines. Correctly list family members, relationships, and their presence in various records; you'll thank yourself later. It's ...

Black Friday is coming soon, and one item many genealogy researchers will be looking for is DNA test kits to give as gifts for relatives. A common question is should I activate the kit before giving or sending it to my relative? The answer depends on: Which testing company? Will you be in charge of the kit, or your relative? The Basics Let's start with the basics.  Have you tested yourself? If so, choosing the same company for both of you will simplify matters. If not, test yourself too . Test results get their meaning from comparison with matches. If you are purchasing from FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage or LivingDNA, you can upload your results to those companies, and my advice is that everyone should do so whether or not you are buying kits for relatives. This is known as "fishing in all the ponds." I would add uploading to Gedmatch to the list above. Have you asked your relative if they want to test? Have you explained to them in as much detail...

Puritan Clothing Currier and Ives; Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division We are approaching a monumental 400th anniversary: the landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims in November, 1620.  They were followed by the Puritan settlements beginning in 1621 and through the Great Migration years, all nearing the 400 year anniversary. Maybe it is due to our childhood education that the month of November brings up visions of the first Thanksgiving.   The Mayflower Pilgrims are some of the most iconic figures in American history. One glimpse of their black clothes and buckled hats and you automatically know who they are . But those images are not completely accurate.  The Pilgrims and Puritans are often represented as wearing black or grey clothing but in reality they seldom wore black, preferring to wear what they called “sadd” colors.  These included green, rust, orange, purple, brown and other colors.  In the 17 th century black was ...

“Batty Brock and the Research Plan: The Search for the Marriage Record for Charles Beverly Brock Raymond and Marie Marguerite Richards” as inspired by Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CGL, FASG, FUGA, FNGS      My fifth cousin, Carol, is in the process of identifying all the descendants of her ancestors, Azariah Perkins and his wife, Elizabeth Moss, of New Brunswick, Canada, of which she and I are two.   She inherited the project from her mother.   In the midst of her research, she saw my query asking about another descendant, my great-grandfather William Samuel Winslow Raymond, also of New Brunswick.   Her question, “How are you related to William?   He never married and had no children” and my answer, “He did marry in Boston in 1902 and had seven children and I’m the granddaughter of the eldest!” sent us on a merry chase, which included much sharing of information, photos and more research.   I’m happy to say that it also led to a wonderful frie...

Needpix.com  T h is is the time of year when we think about the sacrifices our ancestors made coming to a new land seeking a better life for themselves and their unknown descendants.   Many of them braved perilous voyages over rough seas in tiny ships seeking religious freedom.   One hundred and fifty years later, their grandsons fought in the Revolutionary War for the right of self-government.   As genealogists, we have the privilege of gathering their stories and preserving them for our descendants.   I hope you will share their stories as you gather with your family this month.   On October 5, Katie Hanzeli, Marilyn Schunke and I attended the Seattle Genealogical Society’s Fall Seminar featuring Dr. Thomas W. Jones.   The topic of the Seminar was “Creating Credible Conclusions While Circumnavigating Walls”, learning how to forge innovative paths around research brick walls with confidence and ethics.   Learning from Dr. Jones is like...

23andMe Wants You!  In the early years of 23andMe DNA testing, the site seemed like a useful site for researchers. Then all that changed. For the next few years, many genealogists and family history researchers felt unwelcome at 23andMe. Family trees were removed from the site, and moved to MyHeritage. There was no useful linking to these trees, and match profiles were closed by default. Among active researchers, 23andMe matches were notorious for never answering messages (in site), rarely granting matching, and not being interested in finding common ancestors, even if they replied. The messaging system was so bad that there was a Chrome add-on to make it usable! Times have changed - family tree tools The designers of the site seem to changing all that, and inviting us researchers back in. If you have a 23andMe kit and log onto the site, open up Settings and scroll to Preferences at the bottom of the Settings page, you will find the Beta. Select Become a tester , and y...

The three kinds of DNA of use for family history research* Autosomal - what most of us use, via Ancestry , 23andMe , MyHeritage , FamilyTreeDNA Family Finder and LivingDNA Y - available from FamilyTreeDNA, Yseq and a few others Mt or mitochondrial - available from FamilyTreeDNA Autosomal DNA For autosomal DNA (AtDNA), to make best use of your results for research, you will "fish in all the ponds" by testing with Ancestry and 23andme since neither accept uploads, and then upload your raw data to Gedmatch , MyHeritage and FamilyTreeDNA, which do accept uploads - for free!  The value of autosomal DNA testing is that it covers all of your ancestry back four generations or so, and up to six or seven generations, which is quite long ago. However, as your matches are ever smaller as you go further back in time, your AtDNA will not take you back to your deep ancestry before surnames and record keeping. Y and Mt DNA Both Y and Mt DNA will take you back very f...