Blaine Overload?

I have just been perusing the program for Diving Deeper in Sydney, Unlock the Past's DNA event in Sydney next month.

It was pleasing to see that there are plenty of opportunities to hear DNA Guru, Blaine Bettinger on the program. Blaine will be the opening act on each of the three days of the conference when he will give a keynote type address to all attendees.The remainder of the sessions that cover a wide variety of topics are at three levels: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced with two of the days concluding with a panel session. 

Blaine is giving 14 presentations in all and I will endeavour to attend most of them. He is such a knowledgeable and affable presenter that I am sure my case of Blaine Overload will be easy to handle. 

Others on the program I want to hear are two knowledgeable out of towners,  Louise Coakley from Cairns and Shelley Crawford from Canberra. 

There are still a couple of TBA slots on the program, I would love to see one of these filled with one or more experienced genies who are not  DNA experts but DNA dabblers. I would love to hear how ordinary genies like me deal with this exciting new tool in their resource repertoire. No doubt Alan Phillips (Mr Unlock the Past) will let us know via social media when the program is complete.

No matter what is offered I am confident that this event will be am amazing learning experience for all who attend.

Rootstech London 2019 - Pass Giveaway

Rootstech London 2019 - Pass Giveaway

One of the perks of being a RootsTech London Ambassador is that I receive a free pass to the event for myself and one to give to one of my genimates.

Each year I pack my bags and make the long trek from Australia to Salt Lake City to attend Rootstech, The Greatest Geneashow on Earth.This year I have added RootsTech London to my travel calendar. RootsTech London will be held at The ExCel Centre London. from 24-26 October 2019.

My Free Pass Giveaway provides me with an opportunity to give someone else a chance to experience the excitement and education Rootstech offers.

The winner of this competition will

 receive a complimentary RootsTech London  Pass with access to:

• Over 150 Classes
• Keynote / General sessions
• Expo Hall
• Evening Event

This 3-Day Pass does not include airfare, hotel or the coverage of any other expenses. If the winner has already registered for RootsTech London, the original registration fee will be refunded.

What do you need to do to be in the draw?

This year I have followed the lead of fellow Australian Rootstech Ambassador, Fran Kitto, and am using KingSumo to host my competition. 

Enter by following this link:
https://kingsumo.com/g/q6d5h7/geniaus-rootstech-london-free-pass-giveaway

Trove Tuesday - Husbands

Every family tree has them, most women have them, some women even have two, three or more and nowadays some men have them too.

I have just one and am very pleased with my choice, I won the husband lottery.

As it is my husband's birthday today I was thinking about husbands. I was amazed at how many articles there are in Trove on the subject, some of the articles were very long so I restricted this post to shorter articles from more than 100 years ago. I doubt we would find articles like these in newspapers of today.

1900 'Husbands.', Advocate (Melbourne, Vic. : 1868 - 1954), 1 December, p. 24. , viewed 23 Jul 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article169869673

1891 'Ringed Husbands.', The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1871 - 1912), 27 June, p. 1440. , viewed 23 Jul 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article163654531

1918 'HUSBANDS.', Rutherglen Sun and Chiltern Valley Advertiser (Vic. : 1914 - 1918), 5 April, p. 6. , viewed 23 Jul 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article121017548

1901 'SOME "DONTS" FOR HUSBANDS', Benalla Standard (Vic. : 1901 - 1931), 28 June, p. 1. (Supplement to the Benalla Standard), viewed 23 Jul 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article152317698

1918 'HUSBANDS.', The Bendigo Independent (Vic. : 1891 - 1918), 23 January, p. 7. , viewed 23 Jul 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article226812723

1907 'ON HUSBANDS.', Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Vic. : 1855 - 1918), 24 August, p. 1. (Ovens and Murray Advertiser Supplement), viewed 23 Jul 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article200201759

1909 'ON HUSBANDS.', The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), 13 February, p. 7. , viewed 23 Jul 2019, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23598019

What is Twiggli?

I'm a bit ho, hum about printed out family trees stuck on walls. I think most of them are dull and boring! I guess I'm more of a digital girl.

After visiting Twiggli's stand at THE Genealogy Show in Birmingham recently I changed my mind. I loved the family tree posters they had on display at THE Show and thought that they may even appeal to my grandchildren.

The Twiggli stand at THE Genealogy Show 2019

All you need to produce a Twiggli tree is a gedcom file which you can upload to their website to produce a poster. You can see what the poster looks like for no cost (it will be watermarked so won't be good for printing),  and edit away until you have something that appeals. For just 10GBP you can buy and download a non-watermarked file that you can take to your favourite printer (like Officeworks in Australia) for printing.

I was so pleased to see a product that would be accessible to my Australian genimates at a Genealogy event in England

Any questions? Go to the FAQ page on the Twiggli site.

Ancestry DNA testers please download your data

I spent a few hours yesterday painting (or plotting) my Chromosome Matches with Jonny Perl's fabulous DNAPainter but the results were disappointing. I was able to paint in the data for 32 of my confirmed cousins from three sites: Family Tree DNA, Gedmatch and MyHeritage. I don't have any confirmed matches on Living DNA or 23andMe accounts.

As long as one is methodical the process of painting one's matches is quite easy. I have a very pretty diagram that maps from those 32 cousins only 24% of my DNA with 122 segments painted.

My chromosome map so far.

The good news is that I've had more success with my daughter's DNA, I have mapped 39% of hers. My poor husband's map is sadly very empty.

My problem is that the majority of my confirmed matches, 137 to be exact, are in the Ancestry database and one cannot use DNA Painter to compare with one's matches that are only in the Ancestry Database. Currently one can only get the info to paint matches directly from Family Tree DNA, Gedmatch and MyHeritage but the good news is that one can get one's data from Ancestry and upload them to another site than paint away. There's plenty of help on the Ancestry support site to enable you for downoading and on the other sites for uploading.

 Only a handful of those 137 Ancestry matches have downloaded their data and added it to the another database but more than 100 of my confirmed matches only have their data in Ancestry. Imagine what a pretty and nearly complete picture I could paint if these 100 people uploaded to another database where I can compare ourchromosomes .

I implore anyone who only has their data in Ancestry to upload it to Gedmatch (or one of the other sites mentioned) where one can compare one's data with the matches in that database. Uploading to Gedmatch is free, the only cost is your time.

Please give it a go and if you need assistance call on one of your genimate who will guide you through the process..... and there endeth the rant.

Getting ready to Dive Deeper

Many of you will know that I have been cruising around the Mediterranean since my attendance at The Genealogy Show. Mr GeniAus and I had a super time at this event in Birmingham and are both looking forward to attending in 2020.

We thought our cruise would give us a much needed rest but with 17 ports in 17 days and one or two excursions each day we were exhausted by the time we disembarked. A couple of days after arriving home I celebrated a significant birthday with all the associated hoopla. Today I find myself back in the geneacave working on a long list of geneatasks. I will spend the next few days at my keyboard playing catchup.

I do have something to look forward to....I love a geneaevent and I need all the help I can get with DNA so I am really excited about the next BIG Geneaevent on the Australian calendar. I am proud to be an Ambassador for the DNADownunder series of events being hosted next month by Alan Phillips and his team at UnlockthePast.

Blaine Bettinger and GeniAus at Rootstech 2019

Alan has put together a world class event with Blaine Bettinger, DNA Guru and nice bloke, as the star act. I have been lucky enough to hear Blaine present at both Rootstech and The Genealogy Show. As well as being an expert in the field of DNA he is an entertaining and engaging presenter who can clearly explain DNA concepts.

Blaine will be supported at the events by a cast of Australia's finest genetic genealogists. I am particularly excited to see Canberra genie Shelley Crawford, one of my DNA heroes, on the program, Shelley got me interested in DNA way back in 2010 when she started blogging about her adventures with DNA. She got me started on my DNA adventure.

Those who attend a DNADownunder event in one of the six Australian cities are in for a treat. I will be going to the three day Diving Deep in Sydney event. I have been attending talks on DNA every year since 2011 at Rootstech and latterly at other events and find that I learn something new at each event. DNA is such a rapidly evolving field that there is always something new to learn. I also find it valuable to attend further lectures on familiar topics to reinforce my knowledge.

The beauty of the Sydney event is that there are three streams so there is something for everyone from the raw beginner or someone contemplating a DNA test to those who have already dived deeply into the DNA pool.

DNA is the genealogy tool of the 21st century - Anyone with an interest in genealogy should not miss one of these events.