Crawford yDNA

Did you know you can get a yDNA haplogroup from your Ancestry DNA? Until an administrator of the Crawford yDNA project posted directions on the Clan Crawford Association Ancestry and DNA Research Forum Facebook group, I didn't know anything about this.

To do this, one needs to download Ancestry DNA and save the ZIP file in a known location. The file needs to remain 'zipped'.

The blog post, Updated Method to Get yDNA Haplogroup from AncestryDNA Results explains the process.

The second step is to use the MorleyDNA.com Y-SNP Subclade Preditor. After giving consent for the use of the data, a screen will open to upload the zipped file containing AncestryDNA results

Once the data is uploaded, a screen will appear prompting you to prove you are not a robot and again asking for consent to use the data.

The processing is quick and opens a screen showing the results. Look for the box highlighted in green on the left side of the screen. That is the predicted haplogroup.

If you wish to share the findings with other CRAWFORD researches, you may either post your results as a comment to the Facebook post or as a comment to this blog. Please include the following information in your comment.Earliest known ancestor

• Birthdate and place if known
• Deathdate and place if known
• Spouse's name
• Copy of information in the green box on the left (your haplogroup)

If your yDNA comes back any variety of R1b, I would be very interested in seeing if our research connects.

Alway Learning - Saturday Night Genealogy Fun

Do you like to pick up tips and tricks from other researchers? I know I do! I especially like those surveys or challenges that cause me to look at my data in a different way. That's one of the things I like about Randy Seaver's "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun" challenges. Not only does Randy challenge me to look at my data differently - but he often provides the instructions on how to do it.

That is especially true of last night's challenge.

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

1) Go into your Genealogy Management Program (GMP; either software on your computer, or an online family tree) and figure out how to Count how many surnames you have in your family tree database.

2)  Tell us which GMP you're using and how you did this task.

3)  Tell us what the top 20  surnames are in your database and, if possible, how many entries.  How many different surnames are in your family tree?

4)  Write about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, in a status or comment on a Facebook post.

Since like Randy, I use RootsMagic 7 to manage my genealogy research, I simply have to follow his directions to figure out my top 20 surnames.

So within RootsMagic 7, I pulled down the REPORTS menu and clicked on LISTS for the type of report. Then I just scrolled down the right side of the window to locate the SURNAME STATISTICS LIST.

Garrard County Names

Do you use a list of FAN (Friends, Acquaintances, Neighbors) club names when researching county records for your family? If so, do you ever struggle with remembering how the members of your FAN club fit together? If so, you are not alone.

As I'm getting back into my CRAWFORD research and Garrard County, Kentucky records by reading an order book, I've found that I not only need a list of names, but a diagram of how they might fit together. Since I don't own any software to easily create such a diagram, I used Microsoft Publisher and multiple text boxes to create my diagram of the CRAWFORD families in early Garrard County, Kentucky along with some associated families.

1950 Kansas Census

Are you eagerly awaiting the release of the 1950 census? If you follow Randy Seaver's Genea-Musings blog, then you may have seen his challenge to identify members of our ancestral families that will be in the 1950 United States census.

Although it will be interesting to see the household configurations in the 1950 census, there is census data available for that time period -- IF the person lived in Kansas. Yes, that's correct, one can find census data for Kansas thru 1961. This information can be found in Ancestry's collection: Kansas, City and County Census Records, 1919-1961.

Since all of my ancestral lines were in Kansas prior to 1919, this collection has proven to be very helpful.

For example, my great-grandmother, Josie Crawford was living in Dodge City in 1950. Thus, I did a search of the collection for a Josie Crawford living in Ford County, Kansas.

Online Trees

Is organization one of your 2020 goals? If so, have you been following the tips in The Genealogy Guys Blog? Today's post, 'Organizing Your Online Trees,' is a challenge for me.

It is a challenge since I never considered having to 'keep  them up to date.'

For years, I have shared my work with others either thru a website, thru my Ancestry tree or thru a gedcom file. Since having my DNA tested, I have used gedcom files to share my tree with the various sites where my DNA data has been uploaded.

Thanks to hosting site and software changes, some of my early attempts at sharing are no longer easily accessed. This would include my original website hosted on GeoCities. About the time GeoCities was being discontinued, I had transitioned to using The Master Genealogist for my genealogy research. Thus, I was able to take advantage of John Cardinal's software, Second Site and his hosting service to continue sharing my work online.

When support for The Master Genealogist was discontinued, I converted my data to RootsMagic. One of the 'selling' points for RootsMagic was the ability to publish my data online. Thus, I switched my online file from Second Site to RootsMagic's.

Since the release of RootsMagic's TreeShare, I have had my RootsMagic data connected to my Ancestry Tree. I've also been taking advantage of the ability to connect individuals in my RM data to Family Search.

Thus, my primary online trees include

• Heartland Genealogy on Ancestry
• FamilySearch tree
• RootsMagic Online data

For DNA purposes, I do have some of my data on the following sites:

• My Heritage
• FamilyTree DNA
• GedMatch

Since my GedCom has been shared in many ways, I don't have a complete list of where my data may be available online. Thus, the challenge!

Since most of my current research has not involved new DNA ancestors, I don't feel a lot of pressure to update my GedCom data on My Heritage, FamilyTree DNA or GedMatch.

In terms of updating online trees, my focus will be on my Ancestry tree, my ancestors on FamilySearch and my RootsMagic online data. Thank you 'The Genealogy Guys' for the challenge!

Setting Goals

It's the new year and time for resolutions. Right? Or, if you are like me, you've given up on resolutions. I gave up on 'New Years Resolutions' quite a while ago. Like many people, one of the reasons I quit making resolutions was because I didn't keep them. However, looking back, I think another reason is that we perceive a 'New Year's Resolution' as a declaration to change something about our lives.

Instead of making resolutions to 'change,' I want to set goals for things I want to accomplish - particularly with my genealogy research. Before writing goals for 2020, I thought I'd look back at my previous goals to see how well I've done. 

And guess what - I would receive a failing grade for goal setting in 2019 because I can't find any goals for 2019. However, I did find that I wrote goals for 2018. 

• Get my tree indexed on Ancestry!
• Reduce number of shaky leaves on Ancestry
• Use RootsMagic's link to FamilySearch to add sources for my direct line ancestors
• Connect with cousins on Facebook by sharing family photos
• Blog about my ancestors 
• SCAN -- I still have some photo albums to scan
• Clean up files (sadly I have duplicates of some photos and others that need re-scanned)
• DNA -- update my spreadsheet of matches
• Finish doing visual phasing with my brother's DNA results and then hopefully add a cousin or two 
• Attend a genealogy conference 
• Participate in genealogy study groups and round-tables

With two years to accomplish these goals, one would hope that I could report progress. Even though I can report progress on some goals, I don't have any data to support progress on others and I've abandoned other goals.

In terms of progress, I can claim success for the following goals:

• My Heartland Genealogy tree on Ancestry is indexed and TreeShare with RootsMagic is working great.
• I have attended the Topeka Genealogical Society's conference
• Weather and schedule permitting, I have participated in the DNA Study Group and Brick Wall Study group sponsored by the Topeka Genealogy Society.
• Until recently taking a detour to work with Ancestry hints, I have been frequently blogging about my findings

Even though I think I've been successful with some of the other goals, I have no data to support my feeling of success. For example, I have no idea how many shaky leaves I had at the beginning of 2018, or the number of hints worked. 

In terms of adding sources to FamilySearch, I know I have added some sources. Even though I'm not responsible for adding all of the sources to the individuals in my tree, my tree is gradually turning 'orange' to reflect 10 or more sources for each ancestor.