Hamilton Branch Family History Night
The Power of DNA
WHEN:
October 10, 2019 @ 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
WHERE:
Hamilton Public Library
55 York Blvd
Hamilton – Wentworth Room
55 York Blvd
Hamilton – Wentworth Room
COST:
Free
Tag: Genetic Genealogy
Grandma’s Genes in Oakville!
Grandma’s Genes in Oakville!
Wednesday, October 09
6:30pm – 8:30pm
I’ll be dropping by the Oakville Library Genealogy meetup on October 9th.
“Whether you’re new to genealogy or an experienced researcher, come learn in this informal seminar setting.
Here’s a chance to ask and answer questions about your genealogical research from your fellow family historians and get some tips and tricks!
Thinking of stopping by? Register in advance to ensure a seat!
Brought to you in partnership with Ontario Ancestors (OGS) and the Oakville Public Library.”- Oakville Public Library Event
It sounds like fun!
WikiTree Source-A-Thon
I will be one of many WikiTreer’s losing sleep the first weekend of October during the WikiTree Source-A-Thon.
Instead of writing a new blog post to tout that I will be appearing on source-a-thons hangouts (I will), or that I am offering a one hour consult as one of the prizes (I am), I am posting the press release for you from WikiTree! Enjoy…
WikiTree Announces Fourth Source-a-Thon
Wiki genealogists celebrate Family History Month by verifying oral family histories with sources
September 4, 2019: Registration opened today for WikiTree’s fourth annual “Source-a-Thon,” a 72-hour genealogical sourcing marathon. The event is scheduled for the first weekend in Family History Month (October), starting on the morning of Friday, October 4, and ending on the morning of Monday, October 7.
Family trees often start as oral histories.
Events are retold as they are remembered by those who experienced them. These memories are incorporated into family trees and handed down through the generations. The genealogists who collaborate on WikiTree seek to preserve these family histories forever as part of a single family tree that everyone can access for free.
Unfortunately, oral histories and handed-down trees sometimes include mistakes. Conflicts arise when the trees are put together into a single family tree. The only objective way to resolve these conflicts is to refer to original source documents, such as birth, marriage, and death records.
Family History Month Marathon
To celebrate Family History Month, WikiTree members from all over the world will be working together around the clock for three days on profiles that don’t currently have any source citations.
This is the fourth annual marathon event. Of the 2018 Source-a-Thon, participant Neil Perry wrote, “I have to say, I really enjoyed it, and the fact that over 72,000 new sources were added to the tree is amazing! … everyone’s a winner.”
Prizes
To support this event, individuals and organizations from around the genealogy community are donating prizes to be awarded at random. Over $3,500 in prizes have been donated so far, including DNA tests and full memberships from MyHeritage and Ancestry, as well as valuable prizes from Fold3, Newspapers.com, Legacy Tree Genealogists, Family ChartMasters, RootsTech, Grandma’s Genes, and more. Prizes are still being added. If you would like to donate a prize, contact eowyn@nullwikitree.com.
To be eligible for the random prize drawings, participants must register in advance and get a “race number.” Registration is now open. See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/
WikiTree, The Free Family Tree
WikiTree: The Free Family Tree has been growing since 2008. Community members privately collaborate with close family members on modern family history and publicly collaborate with other genealogists on deep ancestry. Since all the private and public profiles are connected on the same system this process is helping to grow a single, worldwide family tree that will eventually connect us all and thereby make it free and easy for anyone to discover their roots. See https://www.WikiTree.com.
FGS 2019 Conference Takeaways
I spent the last 6 days in sweltering, melting, sauna like, Washington DC in the comfort of the luxurious Omni Shorham at the FGS Conference 2019. Here are my takeaways…
The Venue
The Luxurious Omni Shoreham, was spectacular in architeture, hospitality and location at Woodley park. The proximity to Woodley Park was a must have since the hotels restaurants and bars (under new management?) seemed woefully unprepared for this flock of genealogists.
Since I spent the majority of my time in the exhibit hall talking about mitoYDNA, WikiTree, DNAGedcom and Genetic.Family, I can only speak first hand about how well the exhibit hall worked. Second hand I can say that everyone I talked to who attended sessions mentioned they learned a great deal and were being spurred on by the sessions to dig deeper and work smarter on thier genealogy.
The Exhibit Hall itself presented challenges for the organizers, yet those challenges did not translate to anything but a great experience for our booth. Our biggest challenge was very poor lighting which was over come by the generosity of the exhibitors close to us – Thank you Mary Kay from Our Fun Tree and Angie and Louise from The National Institute For Genealogical Studies.
Randy Whited worked tirelessly to make sure the exhibitors had what they needed and was in the hall, I think, for the entire conference. Thank You to Randy for being very present.
The volunteers and conference organizers were also very presnt. Thank you to the FGS board, Pat Richley-Erickson, Steve Fulton, Jen Baldwin and the rest for your hard work to make things work for all attendees.
Support for mitoYDNA.org
Rob Warthen and DNAGedcom hosted mitoYDNA at the DNAGedcom booth and at the conference. Which is a pretty big deal. Really a big deal to have that kind of support for a brand new, non-profit (run totally on contributions and support from the genealogy community) organization. Thank You!
mitoYDNA took the opportunity afforded us to introduce the Genealogy Community to this new, free, accessible YDNA and mtDNA database. It was our first public appearance since swinging open our doors for uploads, matching and analysis.
We had great conversations about privacy and our philosphy of making this database availabe to everyone while still being able to provide privacy to our users as well. We talked about how Y and mtDNA can be used to smash brickwalls. We talked about how acedemic researchers can use the data to show how we are all connected.
We geeked out with people who came to us with ideas for tools and analysis for the database. I am talking serious Geeking going on at all hours.
FGS Conference 2019 was a great first public appearance for mitoYDNA and the support and good words we got from so many was incredible!
WikiTree In The House (or I am home where ever I am)
The very first person I saw upon arriving at the conference was WikiTreer Star Kline! We both screamed each other’s names when we saw each other and hugged it out – it was our first time seeing each other in the real world (as opposed to the virtual world of WikiTree). What a great welcome!
WikiTreers stopped to say hello everywhere. Even in the ladies room! Some made multiple trips by the booth to ask questions or just to be “WikiTree” at the conference.
FTDNA graciously asked me to do a booth session/talk and WikiTreer’s came out in force to see my WikiTree infused presentation on mitoYDNA.
As I was getting into my uber to leave for home, WikiTreer Glenn York came over to see me off (and to tell me we are double cousins!). WikiTree is always home where ever I go!
Some Statistics
Here are some interesting numbers from FGS 2019:
mitoYDNA had 25 to 30 new site visitors each day of the conference.
We added approximately 240+/- kits to the mitoYDNA Database.
I talked to every single society who were exhibitors at the conference and to quite a few who were not official exhibitors, which was the goal of mitoYDNA being at the conference. Societies who have promised to mention the mitoYDNA is open and avialable? 100+/-
There is no hard number for the number of WikiTreer’s who are re-engergied about working our great big ole shared tree at Wikitree, nor are there numbers on new WikiTreers, but there certainly are (I know this because I had people coming by to ask me questions about their first profile work).
People who were sent to the FTDNA booth for Y and mtDNA upgrades? 10 – 12 (million, he he).
People who were sent to YSEQ for Y and mtDNA tests? No numbers on that but a few at least.
South Carolina Peeps in attendance? I think half the conference were my fellow Carolinians! Loved getting to meet new friends and to see old friends from “down home” – especially the contingent from SCGS who were like light for this Carolinian-Canadian moth. Can’t wait to see you again next July for the 2020 SCGS 48th Annual Summer Workshop, July 10-11.
Granma’s Genes Hugs given away? Way too many to count!
mitoYDNA, THE new Y-DNA and mtDNA Database
mitoYDNA, THE new Y-DNA and mtDNA Database is here. What is mitoYDNA? How can it help the genealogy community? And many more questions, answered.
What is a Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA database and why do we need it?
Y-DNA – is the DNA for males that follows the patrilineal line back, father to son, for a very long time – thousands of years.
mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) – is the DNA that follows the matrilineal line back, mother to her children, which is passed on by only her female children to their children, for a very long time – thousands of years.
For years anyone who tested their Y-DNA and mtDNA could post their results to the databases YSearch and MitoSearch to do comparisons, matching and analysis. If you had a Y-DNA or a mtDNA test you could compare and match with people from various DNA testing companies. GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) caused FTDNA to make the decision to close these two databases – time and money to get each and every person in the former databases up to the new privacy standards was too expensive and time consuming to attempt.
How and why did mitoYDNA get started?
I spoke with FTDNA in 2017 about YSearch and mitoSearch and its future since there were lots of rumors floating around regarding it’s possible closure. I was told that indeed the sites would be closing.
As someone who uses DNA daily in my own business, and having used YSearch and MitoSearch for my own family mysteries – especially using mitochondrial DNA to solve an adoption mystery (or tale of adoption) in my own family – I knew firsthand how important having a free and accessible Y-DNA and mtDNA database was to my research. I know how important a third-party Y and mtDNA database is to DNA researchers in the genealogical community.
Over the course of 2017, a team came together to build and create mitoYDNA.org.
Our Mission
mitoYDNA.org is a website for uploading Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA to create a YDNA and mitochondrial DNA database. The site also offers DNA matching, analysis and tools to help our users/volunteers further their genealogical research. mitoYDNA is:
- Crowdsourced – www.mitoYDNA.org is volunteer driven.
- Free – www.mitoYDNA.org’s use will be at no cost to the users/volunteers, though donations are encouraged to defer hardware, facility and administrative costs.
- Accessible – www.mitoYDNA.org will be accessible to all.
501(c)3 non-profit company
mitoYDNA Ltd., the 501(c)3 non-profit company behind the design, implementation, and ongoing upgrade and maintenance of mitoYDNA.org, is a group of collaborative genetic genealogists who believe genealogists can have access to a YDNA and mtDNA database which includes Y and mtDNA testing from all available companies today and those of the future. mitoYDNA Ltd. is based on the principles genealogical collaboration and continues to work to keep mitoYDNA:
- Straightforward
- Current
- Expanding
Registration
Using the menu bar for navigation, click on Register.
Fill in all of the fields (password help is listed below the password fields) and be sure to read the TOS/Privacy Statement and click the checkbox at the bottom of the page to verify you have read them – they are very important.
Once you have registered “Kits” and “Tools” will be added to the navigation menu at the top of the page.
Create
Click Kits on the Menu Bar and it will take you to the Kits You Manage Page. From there click on the create button to create a kit. 
When you create a kit, you will download your results in a CSV file for YDNA, from your testing company to your computer then upload it to mitoYDNA. For mtDNA you will download a chrome extension (for Google Chrome) which will download your mtDNA results from your testing company to your computer then you can upload it to mitoYDNA. For more on how to download your Y-DNA and mtDNA and upload to mitoYDNA please visit our FAQ/Help page.
What Files does mitoYDNA take?
The Y-DNA files are the Short Tandem Repeat (STR) marker values (alelles) and represent your Haplotype (the set of DNA alelle values; not to be confused with Haplogroup) . mitoYDNA does not process Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) data!
Data Processed
The chart below shows the current status of data processing capability for each company at mitoYDNA. Click on the Company name to get instructions on how to get the files you need to upload to mitoYDNA (if currently processed). Abbreviations:
- CSV – Comma Separated Values
- Ch. Ext. – Chrome Extension
|
Company – Help File |
mtDNA | Y-DNA | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FASTA CSV | HVR1/2 CSV | Ch.Ext. | Manual | CSV | Manual | |
| FamilyTreeDNA | ★ | ★ | ★ | |||
| Ancestry | ★ | ★ | ★ | |||
| YSEQ | ★ | ★ | ||||
| Sorenson | ||||||
| Genebase | ||||||
| Oxford | ||||||
| NatGeo | ||||||
WikiTree Integration
mitoYDNA ID’s appear in WikiTree and can be used to view comparisons on mitoYDNA.
Instructions for Y-DNA and WikiTree
Instructions for mtDNA and WikiTree
Full Launch
We rolled-out all the tools, matching and comparisons we have planned for phase I of mitoYDNA.org and are ending a very successful beta testing run.
Since we are crowdsourced, we are getting suggestions and input from our facebook users group about the future of mitoYDNA.
Have fun, join the conversation and let us know if you need help, either in the Facebook Users Group, or via info at mitoYDNA.org.
The Genealogy Show – Takeaways
I always have a list of takeaways when I attend Genealogy Shows/Conferences and THE Genealogy Show 2019 is no different.
Disclaimer – I am on the board for THEGenShow and have a slightly rosie view on how things went down. No Canadian GG’s lost appendages (arms, fingers, pounds) from attending this event.
THE Take Away? THE Peoples Show
From the very beginning, in the very informal conversations for THE Genealogy Show, in its acorn stage, the show director, Kirsty Gray, used the words “a peoples show”. How do you make a recipe for The Peoples Show?
The Team
You start by building a team who are known to each other but in most cases, don’t “know” each other. Throw them together for a year and let them bounce international, accessible, open, teaching and researching ideas off of each other. Then, with a light, guiding hand, morph those ideas into the Show Directors vision and you come out with a show that is for “every genealogist”.
Plenty of Seating
Spacious Floor Plan
Accessible Speakers
Great Stands
Large, enclosed Wizard Consults Stand
Engaging and Friendly Volunteers (some of which were the Accessible Speakers)
Engaging and interactive Tags Station
A Coffee/Tea Stand in the Hall
….mix, stir with…
Thousands of wonderful attendees
Takeaway – THE People
As a personal note, it was my first time for more than a stopover in England. I got to try some local brew, foods I have only heard of my whole life, attempt to be competent in British currency, meet more than a few incredible brits, experience british weather and enlarge my ever-growing circle close friends – thousands of you.
Then there was this amazing wall of ORANGE…My WikiTree family was out in full force as well.
Just…Amazing!
Merrickville and District Historical Society AGM
Mags will be presenting, The Power of DNA, to the Merrickville and District Historical Society Annual General Meeting. She will discuss the nuts and bolts of how DNA and genealogy can move family histories forward. The DNA of one of Merrickville’s founders may make a special appearance during the talk.
Please contact the Merrickville and District Historical Society for more on the Annual General Meeting.
Merrickville and District Historical Society – AGM
Mags will be presenting a nuts and bolts genetic genealogy talk, The Power of DNA, at the Merrickville and District Historical Society AGM on November 27, 2018. She will be discussing the nuts and bolts of how genealogy and genetic genealogy work together to help family research move forward. The Talk will include a few interesting DNA tidbits about Merrickville’s famous founder.
This Event is a part of the Merrickville and District Historical Society – AGM. It is not a public event.
The Genealogy Show
Mags will be lending her bit of Canadian/Carolinian spin to this Birmingham, England based Genealogy show!
She will be talking about:
Forensic Genealogy and Adoption – Betty Jean’s Story
Finding Genealogy for your family can become a seriously daunting task if you are adopted. Betty Jean is a 90-year-old Adoptee with no paperwork or information to go on, other than her adopted birth certificate and small hints from her adoptive parents. Walk through the steps needed to find her father.
Friday June 7th, 2019, 11:30 to 12:30 PM in Arena 2.
Genealogy with a Canadian Twist – Mags Gaulden and her work as a member of the Canadian Casualty Identification Team.
Genealogy with a Canadian Twist, hosted by Looking 4 Ancestors Genealogist, Kathryn Lake Hogan, U.E, is a weekly chat about all things Canadian Genealogy. On this particular episode Kathryn will be chatting with Mags Gaulden, a member of the Canadian Casualty Identification Team. The Program identifies newly found remains of missing Canadian war dead prior to 1970 and gives them proper burials. The work Mags is doing is working the identifiable information from the graves, including DNA, to identifying living family members.
For more information on the CCIT and it’s mandate please visit the History and Heritage, Casualty Identification Website.