Category Archives: How To

New Basic Genealogy Support Group Starting Up

Leave a reply

Come join us, and learn to be a better family genealogist. Bring your questions or problems about your family tree, specific software or websites. We will solve it together.

Some people have very specific reasons for tracing their family tree. Others jump into family history research without giving it much thought, some want to include their family & children in the process. Knowing why people research their ancestors can be a source of inspiration and support for genealogists. This can be particularly important when the inevitable roadblocks and brick walls become a factor. What motivates the broader genealogy community is also helpful in understanding the future direction of ancestral research.

“Success is where preparation met opportunity.” – Neil Armstrong

The Best RSS Readers and News Aggregation Apps

Leave a reply

I saw this blog posting about the RSS Reader called Feedly on Dick Eastman’s Blog 16 Oct 2019 and thought it was important enough to share here. Besides, I too use Feedly. It is the only way I can keep up with the rapid changes regarding DNA testing and genealogy!

“I have written before about the many advantages of using RSS Newsreaders to quickly and easily find articles of interest published on dozens, even hundreds, of web sites that interest you, including the EOGN.com web site. You can find my earlier articles about RSS Newsreaders by starting at: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=site%3Aeogn.com+newsreader&t=brave&ia=web.

Brendan Hesse has posted an article that I think everyone should read: The Best RSS Readers and News Aggregation Apps. (I found this article by using my favorite RSS Newsreader, of course.) As Brendan writes, “Without further ado, here are the best RSS readers/news aggregators, plus a few alternatives for good measure.”

I also noted that he claims that Feedly is the best RSS Newsreader available today. I cannot say that I have tested as many newsreaders as Brendan Hesse has, but I will say that I have been using Feedly for several years and am pleased with it.

First of all, Feedly is a cloud-based newsreader that does not require any software installation in your computer. It works equally well on Windows, Macintosh, Chromebook, Android, Linux and Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch) systems. It is also super simple to use.

Feedly has three versions: FREE, Pro, and Team.

The FREE version contains ads, the Pro version is ad-free and allows the user to follow an unlimited number of sources. The Team version is for use by corporate teams; I cannot imagine any individual consumer ever needing the Team version.

Of course, Feedly isn’t the only product available. You might prefer something else. You can read a lot more in Brendan Hesse’s article in the Lifehacker web site at: https://tinyurl.com/eogn19-10-16.

Also, see my earlier article, Is It Time to Try a Newsreader?, at: https://blog.eogn.com/2018/03/29/is-it-time-to-try-a-newsreader/.”

The above article is from and is copyrighted by the Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter at blog.eogn.com. Many thanks go to Dick Eastman for his continued support of the genealogy world.

Things to Remember when you go to your local Family History Center

1 Reply

Some of our MoCoGenSo members volunteer at the local Monterey Family History Center (FHC).  We see lots of different people over the years and it is always a pleasure to help newcomers get their feet wet!  Ancestors are free at the FHC 🙂

But many folks forget the same things when they come to a FHC for the first time.

  • Bring a flash drive. Call it a thumb drive or USB stick, whatever.  If you do find something on our computers, you can print it of course.  But if you have a thumb drive, you can take a digital copy with you!  And share it and print it many times. The FHC does NOT supply USB sticks.
  • Bring or remember the passwords for your Email and for your Ancestry.com account or your FamilySearch account (or any other account you need help with). If we help you create a FamilySearch account, it will send an email to you for verification.  You either need to have your cell phone or your password!  Likewise, if we help you download your DNA data file, you will need your email access.
  • Bring something (paper, charts, notes, etc.) that has the BMD information for the ancestors (or their close relatives) you are researching. BMD is Birth, Marriage, Death, The info needed is name, date & place. Bring whatever you have, but don’t bring original records.

Bring those things with you and your visit will go more smoothly!

”Failure to plan is planning to fail.” – Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Counting SNPs in a raw data file with Excel

Leave a reply

At the DNA Sig meeting in May 2019, I showed an Excel file containing my MyHeritage Raw Data file with a table of quantities of SNPs per Chromosome.  Some people wanted to know how to do the same for their data.  I am finally getting around to telling how.

To do this requires a few steps.

  • Download your data file from your provider.
  • Uncompress the ZIP file.  Usually the raw file is a CSV file.
  • Import the CSV file into Excel
  • Delete the first few descriptor lines.
  • Put column headings into the file.
  • Save the file as an Excel file
  • Create a NAME Range over the Chromosome column.  In the snapshot below, I created a NAME called ALLDATA which covered all of my data. Do whatever is easier for you.
  • Manually create column F, called CHROM below, which contains just a number for each Chromosome.  You will need 1-22.
  • In column G, called COUNT below,, use the COUNTIF function over the NAME Range (ALLDATA) to count the associated value in column F. Copy that formula down through the 22 rows.
  • Add a SUM at the bottom of column G to verify totals

It is harder to write this how-to post than it is to do the actual tally.  If you have a spreadsheet program with a COUNTIF function, go ahead, do it for your data.  If you have tested at multiple companies, you could compare totals for each!  Enjoy…

AncestryDNA and Other Goodies (a test covering this will be given at the DNA Sig)

Leave a reply

Ancestry DNA for someone else, like child, parent, etc. who doesn’t want to be bothered with an account:

  • You can create an e-mail account in their name, although you will control it. Any of the free email providers will do.
  • You do not need to purchase Ancestry subscriptions for them, particularly if you already have one for yourself. When you activate the DNA kit, that will create an Ancestry account, but without a subscription. You can then – acting as the third party – grant yourself permission to manage their account.

AncestryDNA has 7 different groups for predicted relationships:

  • Parent/Child
  • Immediate Family (full siblings)
  • Close Family (half siblings, grandparent/grandchild, aunt/uncle/niece/nephew)
  • 1st cousin
  • 2nd cousin
  • 3rd cousin
  • 4th cousin
  • Distant Cousin.

Here are some helpful sites explaining some of this DNA stuff.  Not in any special order.

Understanding Your AncestryDNA Matches –  LegacyTree

https://www.legacytree.com/blog/understanding-ancestrydna-matches

Understanding Your Relationship to DNA Matches After Autosomal Testing–  Colleen in YouTube (a college assignment!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZ6yme0t-ZA

First Steps When Your DNA Results are Ready –  DNAeXplained

https://dna-explained.com/2019/08/06/first-steps-when-your-dna-results-are-ready-sticking-your-toe-in-the-genealogy-water/

ThruLines Tidbits by Jim Bartlett at Segment-ology

https://segmentology.org/2019/08/01/how-does-thrulines-work/

https://segmentology.org/2019/07/29/a-few-thrulines-are-false-and-some-are-misleading/

https://segmentology.org/2019/07/29/thrulines-helps-with-y-dna-and-mtdna/

https://segmentology.org/2019/07/29/add-thrulines-info-into-match-notes/

https://segmentology.org/2019/07/29/thrulines-and-clusters-and-snowballs/

https://segmentology.org/2019/07/29/use-match-notes-from-thrulines-to-identify-clusters/

https://segmentology.org/2019/07/29/thrulines-has-x-ray-vision/

https://segmentology.org/2019/07/29/help-thrulines-by-adding-children-and-grandchildren/

https://segmentology.org/2019/07/29/thrulines-finds-your-common-ancestors/

Ancestry Tree Sharing Hint

Leave a reply

The other day I tried to share my tree in Ancestry.com with another Ancestry member. I used the Ancestry user name during the Share steps and it did not work. I have shared my tree successfully in the past and so was confused about what was wrong. I sent a note to Customer Services and received a reply within a couple of hours. I decided to share the answer here in case this has stumped others in the past..

Ancestry has both usernames and display names. Some people choose to show their display name in place of a username which appears to be the case here.

In order to share your tree, you’ll need either the username or email address which she can find when she click’s her display name in upper left corner while she’s signed in and share either of those with you so that you can send the invitation.

” Someone’s sitting in the shade today because someone planted a tree a long time ago.” – Warren Buffet