Off the Charts : Presenting Ancestors’ STories (PAST) meets 3rd Wednesdays via Zoom @ 1:30 pm

We are a genealogy group for people who like to think outside the box and beyond the chart. We exchange support for our work and excitement about how we’re sharing it. Our meetings include topics and speakers on writing, crafts, photo projects, organization, trips, reunions, issues, and much more.

Wednesday June 15th @ 1:30-3:30 ==> Contact Kathy knielsen68@gmail.com or Karen 917-2042 for Zoom meeting details.

This Month: “Cemeteries; Mysterious Resources and Artistic Family Treasures”

This month’s special topic will be “Cemeteries; Mysterious Resources and Artistic Family Treasures”. Caroline Miller will show her discoveries, and others are welcome to share their experiences. Please send photos to Kathy at least a day ahead, if you’ve got a picture to share.

Every meeting includes a chance to connect, ask questions, and update genealogy friends on your latest discoveries or roadblocks. We also have an opportunity to receive inspiration from others and to help.

We will NOT meet in July.

A Sideview Quickie Observation

When you view the Ethnicity breakdown by parents, be careful in your interpretation to others. The system can only show parts that you inherited! It is accurately split by side, but it is only showing the 50% that you received and retained from that parent.

A given parent had 50% of something else that isn’t showing and we don’t know what that is unless you test your parent.

Perhaps my Dad was 50% Prince and my Mom was 50% Princess and I only inherited the Leprechaun-ish stuff.

Ancestry DNA Ethnicity Estimate has a Sideview

If you have tested your DNA at Ancestry . com, you need to check in with the recently added “Sideview” display that breaks your ethnicity estimates down by your parents, without testing your parents! It is really intriguing and potentially useful for improving the accuracy of your own paper research. I for one didn’t know my maternal side had Welch DNA floating around. I knew about the Irish. When you realize that Wales is only about an hour boat ride from Ireland, you begin to realize that some wily sailor could have joined my ancestors a few generations ago! To see your Sideview, follow these steps.

Go to DNA in the menu bar and select DNA Story

In the Ethnicity Estimate section, select See What’s New

Select View Breakdown

Notice that the two sides are labeled Parent 1 and Parent 2. They can’t tell which half of your genome is which, but maybe you can. Play with the ethnicity sections at the bottom and se if you can decide which side is Mom and which is Pop.

If you can determine “Sides”, like my Maternal has the Irish genes, then select Edit Parents below.

You pick for the Left side. You can always change this later, or even clear and start over.

Once you have chosen sides, you get a nice breakdown like this. Looked at like this, you can see there are subtle differences in my background.

I just wish I knew where that Aegean Islander snuck in from!

Ethnicity Estimates often change, but when they do it is because they are becoming more accurate. I like this new breakdown. When I share this type of data with my family, they seem understand it better than just seeing what my Personal breakdown was. This is meaningful to siblings, cousins, aunts and uncles.

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Handout from Pamela Brigham’s My Heritage DNA Tools talk

Last night, Pamela Brigham gave a talk at the MoCoGenSo General Meeting via Zoom. A handout was distributed to those in attendance. The talk and handout were about using My Heritage DNA tools to further your genealogical searching.

Pamela has made the handout available for downloading by all. Having this file is almost as good as having been there!

To get the file, Click here.

If you see Pamela or talk to her, give her a big thanks.

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Finda Grave is being a bit tacky!

Roberta Estes is on the warpath again about Find a Grave and their way of incentivizing the creation of new grave sites. In particular, the Uvadle, TX kids haven’t even been buried yet and still their names are showing up in Find a Grave.

Ancestry . com owns Find a Grave and Roberta wants us to push and prod to get things changed. For example, stop showing how many sites a volunteer has created. There are good ideas here. Her blog post is worth a read. Click below:

https://dna-explained.com/2022/06/02/find-a-grave-owned-by-ancestry-seriously-just-stop-incentivizing-the-creation-of-memorials-of-the-recently-deceased/

MyHeritage Spring DNA Sale – Now Only $39!

Upload a new tree into MyHeritage

MyHeritage User Guide

Tree Replacement after DNA connected to Tree

1. Download GEDCOM from Ancestry
   1. Rename it _2 or _3 etc
2. Upload into MyHeritage, making sure name is different
   1. Wait until email is received saying processing is complete
3. Picture handling
   1. Download pictures from 1^st tree (under Family Tree, My Photos)
      1. You should actually have all photos for genealogy sites in one folder somewhere so you don’t have to download them again. This step refers to pictures copied from within MyHeritage and never downloaded before. Big chore maybe.
4. Click somewhere making new tree the default (under Family Tree, Manage trees, Actions)
5. Connect DNA to new Tree (see below)
6. Delete 1^st tree
7. Upload pictures into 2^nd tree (under Family Tree, My family tree, pick new tree)

CONNECT ME TO MY TREE

1. Move your mouse over the ‘Home’ tab and click on ‘Site Members’.
2. Select the name in the tree
   1. NOTE: If you have already been associated with another tree, and you would like to correct the association to a different tree, click on the ‘More’ link on the right side and select ‘Fix relationship’.  Then you will see the empty field next to your name.
   1. Next to your name you will see the empty field where you should enter a name to find the corresponding person in the tree.
   1. Start typing the name in the same way it shows in the tree, in the empty field.
   1. Select the correct variant from the pop-up that appears.
   1. Click ‘Apply’

Assigning DNA to another person in the tree

https://www.myheritage.com/help-center/en/article/how-do-i-assign-a-dna-kit-to-someone-else

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My master tree is not in MyHeritage, but I do use and like MyHeritage. So, once in a while, I cut a gedcom from elsewhere and upload it to Myheritage, and eventually delete my previous tree. Since I have DNA and pictures in MH, there are a few steps required. I wrote the above for myself and another user requested a copy so I have posted it here. The steps have worked for me a few times, but “let the buyer beware’!

Find Genealogy Meetings Near our Central California Coast

GSSCC => Genealogical Society of Santa Cruz County

https://scgensoc.org/ and https://scgensoc.org/event-calendar/

MoCoGenSo => Monterey County Genealogical Society

https://mocogenso.org/

Monterey Public Library

https://monterey.org/services/library/events/index.php

Salinas Public Library

https://salinaspubliclibrary.org/calendar

SVCGG => Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group

https://www.svcgg.org/ and https://www.svcgg.org/meetings.html

Monthly Meeting – June 2, 2022 – “MyHeritage DNA Tools” by Pamela Brigham

MyHeritage has several great tools available for evaluating your DNA results. We’ll look at everything from ethnicity results to how to use the tools for evaluating your relationship to your DNA matches. We’ll also look at their Chromosome Browser, Auto Clusters, and the Ethnicity Map. All of these tools can help you with evaluating your DNA results. Come learn how these tools can help you!

Pamela Brigham is the President of the Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group. She has been using technology to advance her research into her family’s past. She believes in using technology as a tool to help break through brick walls and effectively document her genealogy. She was in the technology industry for almost 20 years, and since she started researching her genealogy – 11 years ago – she has applied that knowledge to tech to effectively document her family history. She enjoys teaching classes in genealogy, including classes in the Mac, FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage, FindMyPast and searching in newspapers. She has received a certificate in genealogy from Boston University.

The Zoom meeting will start at 7:00 pm sharp. Zoom meeting details will be sent by invitation only. If you are not a member and wish to attend, send an email with your email address to our Membership VP, Marilyn Ruccello .

For additional information, call (831) 915-9465.

If you are not familiar with Zoom, click here.

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” An intellectual says a simple thing in a hard way. An artist says a hard thing in a simple way.” – Charles Bukowski

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CGSL is Calling All Writers

The California Genealogical Society invites writers to submit articles to be considered for publication in our magazine, The California Nugget. The Nugget is published twice yearly, in spring and fall. We carry a wide variety of genealogical articles by both amateur and professional genealogists.

Articles usually fall into one of three categories: the story of a California ancestor; longer feature articles involving genealogical research; and methodology (DNA, skill-building, research tips), or about a particular archive or repository. Except for articles on methodology, the submissions should have some connection with California history or genealogy. We accept items as short as 750 words or up to several thousand words, depending on the subject.

Complete submission guidelines can be found under the “Publications” tab at our website, www.californiaancestors.org.

Articles may be submitted by email to: nugget@californiaancestors.org

For questions, please email the editors at  nugget@californiaancestors.org