GRIP 2019! I Did It! (And a Big Thank You to AncestryProGenealogists!)

The week of June 23 - June 28 at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) absolutely flew by. The course I attended, Advanced DNA Evidence, was coordinated by Blaine Bettinger, Ph.D., J.D., and instructed by Blaine, Angie Bush and Karen Stanbary, CG. 

There were some prerequisites for this course: a prior week-long DNA course from an institute, a multiple week online course with homework, AND/OR familiarity with DNA evidence combined with experience with multiple testing companies,  study of the books The Family Tree Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy and Genetic Genealogy in Practice (Blaine T. Bettinger and Debbie Parker Wayne) as well as completion of the exercises in Genetic Genealogy in Practice.

If you've looked at my recent posts, you know that I spent considerable time preparing for the course. The links to the posts are below and each describes videos, books, and tools I used to review and to prepare myself for the course.

Oh My Gosh, I Won a Scholarship!

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 1

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 2

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 3

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 4

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 5

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 6

GRIP 2019 is Almost Here!

So, did all my preparation and review pay off? I'm very happy to report that it did! The course description gives a list of lecture topics which covered:

• Y-DNA
• mtDNA
• X-DNA
• Autosomal DNA
• DNA company tools
• DNA 3rd-party tools
• Evaluating a genealogical conclusion using DNA evidence
• Using Shared Matching
• Chromosome mapping and painting
• Advanced chromosome mapping
• Visual phasing
• Literature review of DNA evidence in case studies
• Ethical and legal considerations
• Future of genetic genealogy

Each day ended in with a case study and optional homework, each day's information building on the last. The final day, we went over the case study to see how we fared with our homework.

I need to express my sincere thanks to AncestryProGenealogists who selected me as the scholarship winner for the GRIP Institute. It was an absolutely wonderful experience. I learned from some of the best in the field. My classmates had a variety of genealogical talents and experiences and I learned from them as well. Thank you, AncestryProGenealogists!

GRIP is Almost Here! (and some other things to check off my to-do list)

In my previous posts, I talked about my prep work for my Advanced DNA Evidence course at the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). I'm happy to say that my plans are almost completed. I have a few loose ends to tie up and some chapters to re-read but otherwise, I feel ready.


In addition to preparing for GRIP, I also completed a couple of other tasks on my 2019 (and earlier) Genealogy to-do list.


Task 1 - Update a cemetery on Findagrave.com: While researching the burial location for my great-great-grandfather, Knud Nilsen Stover, I discovered that the cemetery had gone through a few name changes and less than 50% of the 700+ burials were listed on findagrave.com.  I posted a query on a local Facebook group and they were quick to point out the most current name of the cemetery. I also found out the name of the church that was currently overseeing the cemetery.


I called the church and after a few conversations with the church secretary and the chairman of the cemetery board, I was able to get a copy of the spreadsheet with all the burials listed. My plan was to update the spreadsheet into a format that I could upload into findagrave.com. I quickly learned that what makes perfect sense for data fields in a spreadsheet tracking burials does not necessarily work for the data fields required by findagrave.com. For example, there are no birth or death dates in the cemetery spreadsheet, just age, if known, and burial date.


After mulling over my options, I decided to hand enter each burial with as much data as my research time would allow. Since the cemetery was very near the Minnesota and South Dakota border, I used birth, death and marriage records from each state. I was also able to locate obituaries online for about a third of the burials. Hand entering also allowed me to become more familiar with each person buried there.


So I decided to go a step further and try to attach family members to each burial. Findagrave lets you add father, mother, and spouse. Findgrave will add siblings based on each burial's parents as listed. All the burials have now been added with as much information as I could uncover. I have sent "edits" to findagrave.com for those burials that were previously entered if I found new information: birth, death or marriage dates or locations, family relationships, or burial location. Another member of the Facebook group is taking photos of the stones. Soon the entire cemetery will be completed and hopefully will help future researchers.


Task 2 - Apply for Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) membership: I have had this on my to-do list for a few years, but I knew I would have trouble with my g-g-grandmother's documentation. It is her grandfather that was the patriot who fought in the Revolutionary War and so her information was critical. I have been working on it for a number of years and decided that while I have no direct evidence of her birth parents, I had enough indirect evidence where a case could be made. The local registrar was extremely helpful and even met with me at the Minnesota History Center twice to point out the areas where I needed to find more documentation. My application was submitted in early April and I was just informed that I was accepted as a member of the DAR!


Task 3 - Apply for The Mayflower Society membership: The same Revolutionary War patriot that allowed my membership in the DAR was also a direct descendant of a Mayflower passenger. But there was quite a bit more work to do for the Mayflower Society. In both lineage societies, you only need to prove back to a known proven descendant and in the Mayflower Society, I had to go back another generation with documentation. They also require marriage information for all marriages, not just the one that proves descent. My great-grandfather was married four times and I was able to get a marriage certificate for each. My own marriage certificate was more difficult to get!  The Mayflower Society application was sent in mid-April and I will probably hear something in August.


Task 4 - Write an article for possible publication: This is a little overwhelming for me, but I have completed the article and will submit it soon. Whether or not it is published remains to be seen!

It's so nice to be able to check items off my to-do list. 
It's just about time to start packing for GRIP. Hope to see you there!

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 6

 I have been working on many of the tasks outlined in my first several posts about preparing for the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). The course I will be attending is "Advanced DNA Evidence," coordinated by Blaine Bettinger.

I have finished reviewing the first two books mentioned in Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 1. I am now just beginning to study the newest book mentioned in my last post, "Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques and Case Studies," edited by Debbie Parker Wayne. I am so looking forward to each chapter as they all promise new learning for me.

I have also been reviewing the webinars previously mentioned and watching new ones that have been made available. I have also been spending quite a lot of time investigating the new tools made available by some of the DNA companies. And I am having some great successes if I do say so myself!  I am starting to feel less intimidated by the word "Advanced" in the course title! But there is still a lot of work to be done.

My next set of tasks has to do with DNA tests organization. I manage the tests of many family members and monitor a few more. I have tested with five different DNA companies and have one or more other family members in each company as well. Almost all of the tests have been uploaded to Gedmatch or the newer Genesis. So there are a lot of logins, passwords, test IDs, and permissions to keep track of. I have a spreadsheet with this information that I will update. I will also need to double-check the logins and passwords to be sure they all work.

Some of the third-party tools require paid subscriptions so I will also want to be sure those are kept updated as well.

I also plan to create a set of ancestor fan charts, one for each person whose family I am researching. Each set will consist of a color chart similar to the one seen here, a basic ancestor chart. I'll also add a chart that will indicate which of those ancestors I have connected to through another descendant - a genetic ancestor chart. Another chart I like is an ancestor chart that shows which ancestors would have contributed to the X-DNA of the subject of the chart. My chart is on the right.

Oh my gosh, I just realized that GRIP is only 2 months away. I have a lot of work to do yet!

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 5

Even though I just blogged about books, videos, and 3rd-party tools that I need to review and practice with before my Advanced DNA Evidence class at GRIP, there are already new entries in each of the areas that need to be reviewed. Genetic genealogy is evolving quickly and it's difficult to keep up with everything!

First, a brand new book has been made available, "Advanced Genetic Genealogy: Techniques and Case Studies," edited by Debbie Parker Wayne. I've just been able to browse through it, but I really think it's going to be a great resource. I love that it has case studies as well as techniques. And I love that many of the charts are in color. Plus all of the contributing authors are a "Who's Who" in genetic genealogy.

Secondly, DNA companies used RootsTech week to release new products and/or add-ons to their DNA tools.

Ancestry released three new products which are described here.

• Thrulines
• MyTreeTags
• New and Improved DNA Matches with color coding

MyHeritage released two new tools which were blogged about here.

• Autoclusters, same creator & similar to geneticaffairs
• Theory of Family Relativity

Thirdly, there are also more videos made available in the last month. Blaine Bettinger released two short videos on YouTube about the new tools.

• The New Ancestry Tools
• The New MyHeritage Tools

And the 2019 RootsTech Virtual Pass contains 5 additional DNA videos as well as many other excellent video classes. This is the first time the virtual pass has been offered and I think it's great even though there is a fee. RootsTech has not yet fit into my schedule for conferences but this is a great substitute.

I have so much catching up to do it feels like I am standing still even though I have been working hard to keep up!

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 4

Whew! There has been so much going on in the world of Genetic Genealogy that I have to keep restarting this post! New videos, new books, new tools! We'll get to all that later - I'm going to continue on from the last post about 3rd-party tools.

My last post talked about the Chrome Extension, MedBetterDNA, and how I use it to take notes and color code my matches on Ancestry.com.

This post will list some of the other 3rd-party tools that I've tried, some with success and others, not so much. Usually, the lack of success is not the fault of the tool but rather the end-user!

The first 3rd-party tool that I tried was gedmatch.com. Because most of the tests that I manage are on Ancestry.com which does not have a chromosome browser, I download the raw data from Ancestry.com and upload it to gedmatch.com to use their chromosome browser and other tools. Of course, I obtain informed consent from each test taker first. There are many free tools available there and an additional set of tools if you join Tier 1 for a small monthly fee.

Trying some of the tools on gedmatch.com was, and still is, a very visual way for me to understand how sharing DNA between family members works. There are great tutorials for using gedmatch.com and its new, updated version, Genesis,  the best place to start is the Gedmatch wiki. You do need to create a free login.

Some of the other tools that I am currently practicing with include:
DNApainter.com - a tool that lets you take the chromosome match data and create a map of your chromosome based on which grandparent (or great-grandparent or g-g-grandparent) you inherited the DNA from. It can help you identify unknown matches because, if they match you in the area you received your paternal grandfather's DNA, you only need to look at the part of the tree to research the match. Blaine Bettinger has a video on youtube that explains the process.

Visual Phasing - Using Steven Fox's automated spreadsheet, I compare myself and two siblings and attempt to "paint" each chromosome for each sibling and myself, based on which grandparent we inherited our DNA from. It's a "logic puzzle" and you use other distant cousins to determine the match. Information can be found in the very helpful Facebook Visual Phasing Working Group.

One of my favorite tools is found at geneticaffairs.com, a DNA match clustering tool that groups your matches based on how they match each other. The first time I tried this tool, I was very pleasantly surprised to see how my MedBetterDNA notes from Ancestry appeared at the bottom of the report. I was especially happy to see that my notes agreed with the clustering chart from geneticaffairs.com.

Here is a screenshot of the chart (match names redacted). I have marked the family surnames on the report so that I can more easily remember which cluster is from which family group.

My results from the geneticaffairs.com tool using Ancestry

Following the chart is a report which gives more information on each match. It was in this report that my MedBetterDNA notes surfaced. The very first part of the report with names redacted is below.

My geneticaffairs.com report with MedBetterDNA notes in far right column 

Many of these are discussed in the familytreewebinar.com "A Guide to Third Party Tools For DNA Testing" by Michelle Leonard. There is a fee to join the Family Tree Webinar series but it is very reasonable and there are so many excellent videos that it is an outstanding value in my opinion.

My goal is to continue practicing with these tools as well as learn the new tools that were recently released by several testing companies.

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 3

In my last two posts, Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 1 and Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 2, I described how I am preparing for the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) course, “Advanced DNA Evidence,” coordinated by Blaine Bettinger. I have been viewing and reviewing the many webinars covering DNA topics. I also want to add this link to RootsTech as they have grouped all their DNA webinars from the past few years together. It makes it much easier to find these webinars; thanks RootsTech!

Now, on to the next topic: I created a list of all the 3rd-party DNA tools I have tried using and which ones seem to work for my purposes. I'll share that list in a future post. For now, the one I use the most is the Chrome extension, MedBetterDNA. With all of the new announcements at RootsTech this year, my process will probably change over time, but I am still using this extension for now. 

Ancestry allows you to keep notes on your matches, notes that only you can see. If you create a note, you’ll see an icon of a notepad next to the person’s name. You can click on the note to read it. MedBetterDNA “pushes” that note to the match screen so you don’t have to click and you can see all your notes as you scroll through.

I use colored icons, depending upon the grandparent we are related through, as part of my note. I also include the relationship to me, if known, otherwise a red question mark icon. I include the number of cMs and the number of segments (ex: 189 cM/11). And then I try to find the most common recent ancestor or ancestral couple (MCRA) and add which child of that couple the person is descended from. I try to be consistent but it’s not always perfect.

Lynn's Ancestral Fan Chart

Color, instead of just words, seems to help me discern the matches more easily. Below is the key I use for my icons. I keep them on a notepad on my desktop so I can copy/paste. For close matches, I use multiple icons if they match on multiple lines. I use these specific colors for grandparents to match the Ancestor Fan Chart as created by my genealogy software program. There are also online charting tools to create similar charts. My chart is on shown on the right.

My Key:

💛   -    Descendants of ancestors of) Julia Moe (maternal grandmother)
♥️   -    Descendants of ancestors of Joseph Eken (maternal grandfather)

💚   -    Descendants of ancestors of Myrle Piper (paternal grandmother)

💙   -    Descendants of ancestors of Francis Puncochar (paternal grandfather)

❓   -    Not sure of the relationship

Here’s a sample page of some of my 3rd cousins with my notes. Youll have to look closely to see the colored icons. I’ve redacted the living people’s names:

So now I have most of the cousins I could identify all color coded. You can see on the 3rd cousin page above that all four colored icons appear.

When I get a new match, I look at their tree if they have one. If they don’t, I click on “Shared Matches” which tells me the matches we have in common. And, if all is right with the world, and the planets align, I get a page like this one:

And hopefully, you can see that every single one has a yellow heart icon which tells me they are related through my maternal grandmother’s line!

One problem is that even though I created the note, it doesn’t show up on other kits I manage. I have seven siblings' tests so I need to copy the note to for every match plus change the cMs shared. For paternal matches, I also need to add the information to my dad's and uncle's match list. They have a different color scheme (to match their ancestral fan chart) so I need to consider that as well.

So, after that lengthy explanation, one of the many items on my list of preparations is to keep updating the notes for all siblings and older generations. That should be a weekly task and will keep me busy all spring! It should also help me when I begin using some of the newly announced DNA tools from Ancestry and others. 

Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 2

In my last post, Preparing for GRIP 2019: Part 1, I described how I am beginning my preparations for the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) course, “Advanced DNA Evidence,” coordinated by Blaine Bettinger, Ph.D., J.D.  In addition to Legacy Family Tree Webinars, there are some other webinar sites that I regularly use and I will survey those for webinars on DNA topics that will help me review and study.

In no particular order:

Southern California Genealogical Society (SCGS): The society has regularly scheduled webinars available free to the public, but you must register. They also archive the webinars which are available to members only at any time. 

Rootstech has a wonderful collection of webinars from their annual conferences. There are sessions available from 2019, 2018, and 2017, including these from February/March 2019:

Examining Your DNA Matches with DNA Painter - Johnny Perl
Connecting Your DNA Matches - Diahan Southard
Essential Considerations for DNA Evidence - Blaine Bettinger

Youtube has many DNA videos available on a variety of DNA topics. I used the search terms "genealogy" and "DNA" and there were many available. Look for well-known DNA experts as the presenter as there are probably many that aren't as valuable for learning.

The Association of Professional Genealogists has a members-only area with videos from well-known experts. There are a few discussing DNA but most are somewhat older, 2012 - 2013 and only two from 2018.

Minnesota Genealogical Society also has a members-only area with videos archived. There are a few discussing DNA.

If you want to learn about the basic science of genetics behind DNA for genealogy, the University of Utah has some videos here.

And as mentioned in the previous blog post, DNA Central has some great videos for learning. It does require a subscription but there are other resources beyond videos as well.

Does your state or local genealogical society archive videos for members to view later? There are many more out there than I could possibly list!