DNA Stats

Have you been keeping track of your DNA statistics? I know I keep track of my DNA statistics. Prior to Roots Tech 2019, I tracked the number of pages of Ancestry matches.

Thanks to Ancestry updates, I can more easily track this information.

When I add in my mother's DNA, I have over 350,000 DNA matches. Buried in all of this DNA data may be a clue to break thru my brick walls. Now, I just need time to work thru at least some of this data.

Guthrie Will

Jefferson County Indiana
Probate records, 1811-1940

Probate order book v. E May 1837-May 1842

Book E p. 521
In vacation cond

The State of Indiana
Jefferson County SCT
January 8 1842

Revolutionary Ancestors

Were any of your ancestors in the colonies prior to the American Revolution? If so, have you tried to identify ancestors who may have fought in the Revolutionary War?

Since I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), I already knew that one of my ancestors provided patriotic service during the war: Nathaniel Hammond of Connecticut.

I had also started collecting documentation to prove William Buckles on my mother's side of my tree. 

Beyond that, I didn't know which of my ancestors might have served. Thus, I needed to create a list of ancestors who might have served so that I could research them in Fold3 and the DAR databases. 

To create a list of potential people, I needed to know who was of the appropriate age to serve. I found a wiki on FamilySearch that lists various wars and suggests 'Ages of Servicemen in Wars.' 

Using that information, I was able to create a marked group of those whose

     Birth date is after 1715

AND  Birth date is before 1767

Statistics

Do you track the 'growth' of your genealogy database or your Ancestry tree?

I started tracking my statistics over a year ago. In January, I created a new table in my bullet journal to track the growth of my tree in 2019. At the first of each month, I record the data in my journal.

For my tree, I pull the statistics from two different sources. In RootsMagic, I look at the DATABASE PROPERTIES.

True or False?

Do you have ancestors living in the colonies prior to the revolutionary war? Have you applied to the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) or Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) for those ancestors? If so, have you ever encountered a warning that 'future applicants must prove correct service'?

This happened to me when I applied for the DAR. I was trying to use my great-grandmother's application (Josie Winifred Hammond Crawford - #319934) to apply.  She applied thru her great-grandfather, Jason Hammond (1762-1830). Unfortunately, I was told they wouldn't accept Jason Hammond as a revolutionary war ancestor. Since there were other Jason Hammonds living in Connecticut at the time, I'm assuming that the other Jason Hammond was the one who served. Fortunately, I was able to apply thru Jason's father, Nathaniel Hammond, who provided support for the revolutionary troops.

As I'm researching various James Crawford families in early Kentucky, I've found that the DAR has limited applications for one of those James Crawfords.

Unfortunately, many people for many years have mixed these men up. The James Crawford who has data in the 'correction file' is one of the James Crawfords living in Fleming County, Kentucky. This James was married to Sarah Vansant in 1786 in Botetourt County, Kentuckyand died in 1836. James Crawford is buried in the Hillsboro Cemetery in Fleming County, KY

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1)  Ellen Thompson-Jennings posted 20 questions on her blog this week - see Even More Questions About Your Ancestors and Maybe A Few About You (posted 27 June). 

2) We will do do these five at a time - Questions 1 to 5 tonight.

3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post.

Question 1: Which ancestor had the most children?

This was NOT an easy question to answer. I found a report in RootsMagic that told me the average children per family and maximum children per family.

However, I couldn't locate a report that would list the various families and the number of children.