Two Surprises in One Day

Yesterday I received a notification telling me that this blog had made it on the list of Feedspot's 100 Best Genealogy Blogs and Websites in 2025.

https://bloggers.feedspot.com/genealogy_blogs/

I am flabbergasted and honoured to find my little blog, that was launched in 2008, ranked in a very healthy spot seventeen years later on this list of international genealogy blogs.

Coincidentally the power of blogs to preserve and share family stories also hit home yesterday.

Just yesterday I found a new 1st cousin once removed as the result of a large DNA match popping up. On contacting me this young man said "Only recently have I started hearing about the family but always been curious hence why I finally did the test". and then "I was interested as we never knew our real grandparents and their backgrounds and also just curious to know how far back we go and the rest."

Over the years I have blogged the stories of this chap's ancestors in posts on my GeniAus blog. I may have overwhelmed him but I was able to quickly share links to stories about his grandparents, earlier generations, his aboriginality, his convict ancestors, war heroes etc. He now has plenty of time to digest this info over the coming weeks and months. I am thrilled that I have a resource that can help new to me cousins discover their backgrounds. 

The power of blogging to preserve the stories of earlier generations cannot be underestimated.

My Cousin Tim

I got to know my cousin, Tim,  yesterday.

Jill and her first cousin Tim

Back in 2014 I wrote a post about my Aunty Mary in which I mentioned a child she had borne and given up. I knew nothing of Tim's existence until Mary's funeral in 1997 when the Minister acknowledged Mary's son in the congregation. What a bombshell! 

It was such a shock that I neglected to get Tim's contact details.

As an only child with close relatives thin on the ground I have been wanting to find Tim and welcome him into the family fold for the past 25 years.

Since 1997 I have been hoping that one day Tim would seek out members of his biological family. On Friday evening Tim, who is now in his fifties, and his wife were googling Mary's name and came across Mary's name with two Living children mentioned in my online tree. 

When I was checking my email on Saturday morning I got this message:

 "Proposed Change: Duncan Mary Olive (I99)

Tree: GeniAus Family Tree
Link: http://www.geniaus.net/getperson.php?personID=I99&tree=geniaus001

Description: I am number 2, living Male"

Tim had found me!

During the course of the day we exchanged emails and then had a very emotional 'phone call when we arranged to meet up the following day for lunch at our home.

Meeting Tim, his beautiful wife and two of their children was an awesome but emotionally draining experience. I learnt about Tim's childhood that was no bed of roses, I was so sad that he didn't have the opportunity to meet our dear grandmother Ethel and the extended family. 

It was little compensation but I was pleased I could send Tim away with a cache of photos of his mother and her family, some stories and contact details for another cousin. I am so pleased that I have recorded many of these stories on this blog and that Tim and his children will be able to absorb them at their leisure. I can't make up for all those missing years but I will do my darndest to use my skills to help Tim and his family learn about their heritage.

I thank Tim and family for spending time and so graciously accepting us yesterday and Tim for his willingness to do a DNA test. I look forward to our further meetings.

 I know that Aunty Mary would be so proud of the man Tim has become today. 

A Side by Side View of my DNA

As an only child I don't have any sibling with whom I can compare my DNA....but I am fortunate in having a double first cousin who shares my four grandparents. Our fathers are brothers and our mothers are sisters.

Currently lots of genies are sharing their results from Ancestry's new SideView tool that shows which ethnicities we inherited from which parent. Of course I am joining the party. Below on the left are Jane's results and on the right are mine. Our fathers' ethnicity is on the left of the diagrams and our mothers' on the right.

Jane

Jill

It appears that I have more of our Duncan grandfather's Scottish genes and Jane has more of his aboriginal genes. Jane is more Irish  and English than me and I have missed out on the Basque gene.

No wonder we have so many unique matches in the Ancestry database. 

Airtable and GDAT

 Genimate Sharon left this comment on a recent post of mine.

Jill

Do you prefer Airtable to the Genealogical DNA Analysis Tool for managing your DNA kits? Or do they have different purposes? What are your other uses for Airtable?

I realised that it would probably be better to respond here in a post where I can share images than to write a lengthy comment on my earlier post

Firstly I need to point out that although I have been using DNA as a genealogy research tool for around 9 years I still class myself as a basic user. I am not particularly interested in the science behind my DNA matches, my focus is on making connections.

My uses of Airtable and GDAT are for different purposes.

I use Airtable to maintain records of the DNA matches for all the kits I manage and GDAT for chromosome analysis of matches. It's taking me a while to get my head around GDAT, I am currently using it just for my matches and (if I ever get competent) will use it for the other kits I manage.

I had previously used spreadsheets to keep track of all my matches but, after seeing two demonstrations of Airtable at Rootstech 2021: https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/rtc2021/session/how-to-use-airtable-for-a-dna-research-log and https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/rtc2021/session/airtable-organizing-your-research-with-a-relational-database, I went exploring. 

I realised that I could link various sheets together and this would mean that I could remove some data from my Excel spreadsheets (tables on Airtable) to secondary sheets (tables) linked back to primary sheet (table). On Airtable one can have Workspaces that store Bases which can contain multiple Tables.

The following image shows what my homepage looks like on Airtable. One can have multiple Workspaces - I just have one.

The Bases in my Airtable Workspace

In my DNA Management - JPC Base I track matches for the seven kits I manage that share my ancestors. Within this base I have four tables that are related to the primary table.

The Fields I have on JPC Matches are: Kit Name, Surname, Forename, Kit Manager, Line (4 grandparents), DNA Painted, GDAT, Test Site, Columns for each match, % of Aboriginalty, Relationship to me, Match line. this next image shows part of the setup.

Further fields to the right of this image are match location, notes, and a link to the Match Details table.

You will note plenty of empty spaces as each cell is not pertinent to each tester. This is a work in progress where I add every match I find for those seven people. Each test one person does has a separate record.

I love that I can set up Multiple Select Fields for easy data entry which I use for Line, Testing Company, DNA Painted and GDAT.

Multiple select fields save typing

The possibilities for use of this program are endless. setup is easy, data entry uncomplicated and there are so many means of sorting, sifting and analysing data. There are many templates available in the Airtable community that one can use and modify to a situation.

Another way I use Airtable is to keep track of my genimates. Over the years I have met so many folk in person and online. It's good to be able to quickly find their details when my poor old memory fails. 

My Genimates base has these tables.

Genimates has details of the people I have met, Terms manages my Geneadictionary entries (which links back to Genimates), Blogs has details of various blogs (links to Genimates and Societies), Websites has details of various websites (links to Genimates and Societies), Societies/Hosts (links to Blogs, Websites and Presentations) and Presentations manages my gigs and links back to Societies/Hosts.

After playing around with Airtable for a couple of months I took out a subscription because some of my bases grew to be too large (more than 1200 records) to be covered by a free account. I also wanted the flexibility to create more bases than allowed in a free account. I have read of other genies (watch the two videos from Rootstech) who use a free Airtable account successfully for their projects.

I plan on using GDAT for chromosome analysis. The GDAT website says "Genealogical DNA Analysis Tool (GDAT) is an app that utilizes autosomal DNA to aid in the research of family trees. The app houses a database of the autosomal data downloaded from various testing companies and provides analysis tools for family history research." 

While it's a challenge for this old girl I understand that GDAT is the gold standard for chromosome analysis. I have managed to download my matches from several other sites to GDAT and am slowly getting to know the product. I would love to have someone to hold my hand on this journey. 

Ball Bounty

Although Mr GeniAus (my husband Robert) is not particularly fond of research he loves making connections with distant cousins and sharing stories and photographs with them. He will and has travelled to the ends of the earth to meet up with them. We have travelled to Rochdale Lancs., the town of his Ball line on several occasions and visited local archives, churches, cemeteries and homes of the Balls. The British Newspaper Archive has recently enabled us to add to the Ball story.

In the early 1800s the Balls lived at Wolstenholme Fold near Rochdale

Way back, when DNA was the new research tool on the block Mr GeniAus took a Y-DNA test which hasn't really helped us make any connections. Then in 2015 we added an autosomal test from FTDNA followed by an Ancestry test. Through these we have identified several matches and connected with a few on his Ball line but to date haven't added to our knowledge of the family until this week. 

I recently received an Ancestry  message from Alli in the UK relating to three kits that I manage so I promptly messaged her back to confirm that the relationship she asked about was indeed correct. Alli who is Mr GeniAus' third cousin was as excited as Robert and I were to make this connection. It was easy to work out the connection because both Alli and Robert have trees attached to their DNA accounts.

Ancestry message from Alli

 

Alli kindly responded with a copy of a document recording notes on family members written by her grandmother whose grandparents James Ball and Betty Clegg are also Robert's 2xGreatGrandparents. 

James Ball and Betty Clegg's grave in Rochdale Cemetery 

The information in the document filled in many gaps for us and provided some clues for further research. The icing on the cake was being sent a copy of a photo of James Ball held by Alli's branch of the family. It was the first image we have ever seen of Robert's ancestor. 

I wrote to Alli "We have just sat and read through your grandmother's account. Even though I am not related to the Balls it brought tears to my eyes as I read James' story, having researched them for eons I am quite fond of them.

This is the best and most valuable geneasurprise I have had in years, thank you for taking a DNA test."

As we are visiting the UK in June 2022 we are making arrangements to meet up with Alli and her family. Alli has also agreed to upload her results to Gedmatch so I can examine her chromosome matches with Robert, James and Norma.

It's been an exciting geneaweek for two distant Ball families. Isn't DNA just grand!

Science Mirroring the Traditional

It took me half a dozen attempts this morning to find my new DNA ethnicity estimates on the Ancestry app. I presume many other genies around the world were trying to access their results at the same time.

When I finally got the results I was rather pleased as they appear to reflect what I have found through traditional research. I have always thought that I am about 67% Irish so I'll take 65% - thanks @AncestryDNA.

As I am an only child I have no siblings with whom I can compare research but I'm lucky enough to have a double first cousin who shares my two sets of grandparents and all my ancestors going back in time. 

While the results from my cousin's test and mine are basically the same there are a few minor differences in the amount of Scottish and English estimates but the total of these is very close. My cousin additionally has a 1% Basque estimate, I feel that may be a furphy.

My Results

Cousin's Results

I've posted our results here so that, next year, when Ancestry issue their next round of ethnicity estimates I can easily retrieve what they offered 2021.

What did you discover?

Norma Jean Ball 1931-2021

We were saddened to hear of the death yesterday of Norma Jean Ball, my Father-in-Law's first cousin. Norma was the youngest daughter of Fred Ball and Nellie Irene Whiteford.

We had not known of Norma until I came across her name and interests on a genealogy bulletin board in the late 1990s when I was researching the Ball line. I tried to contact Norma but my emails bounced back. It took us several years to find her but finally Mr GeniAus managed to make contact in 2011.

Norma's Bulletin Board Message

We first visited Norma at her home in Wingham in May 2011. We discovered that she had a keen interest in family history having done research at The Society of Australian Genealogists in the 1990s. Unfortunately, as her sight had failed her, Norma was no longer able to use a computer or email. We had a wonderful discussion about family history and our trips to Rochdale, Lancashire, in search of the Balls. Norma generously shared her research, family photos and stories with us. 

Norma Jean Ball- Army Portrait 1952

Since that first meeting we have visited Norma on several occasions at the care facility where she moved when her eyesight declined. Norma was a delightful character who was mentally as sharp as a tack when we last visited her earlier this year. We enjoyed sitting with Norma and hearing stories of  family members and of Norma's career in the Australian Army. She always showed a keen interest in my research and enthusiastically consented to take a DNA test on our last visit. 

We are pleased that we were able to get to know Norma and are most grateful for her contributions to the Ball story. We send our condolences to her nieces and nephews as they mourn the loss of a beloved aunt.

Patience pays off

My subscription to MyHeritage ran out a couple of months ago. I usually cancel the automatic renewal of subscription option because I don't want to pay the full price to renew. Within a couple of days I was phoned by a pushy marketer from Israel offering me a piddly discount off the full price of the $AU349 to renew. This has been followed up over the intervening weeks with several emails offering other smallish discounts. On the last occasion my renewal was due I hung out for a discount of around 50% before I renewed. I renew when the price represents reasonable value to me.

I only use MyHeritage for DNA Matches and Searching for Records. I totally ignore the other features like photo enhancement and others' online trees. Without a subscription I can still see my DNA matches and access from home the subscriptions from a genealogy society and public library to which I belong to explore the records on MyHeritage. 

A full subscription of MyHeritage is not worth $AU349 to me. It is a nice to have but not a must have subscription. Recently there was a discount of around 50% offered to Rootsmagic users which I was going to take up but I missed the closing date. Currently there is a discount offer of  around 50% through the Family History Federation which I have been considering.

I like to have a basic tree on MyHeritage  to make it easy for DNA matches to work out how we might relate but one of the emails I received from MyHeritage recently told me my tree was too large and I would have to renew to keep my tree in the site.  I also received an offer on 12th August to renew at up to 49% discount. I ignored that offer and put in a request for  my tree to be removed and received confirmation that this would happen in the next few days.

You'll never guess what was in my email box this morning. 

I paid up straight away. At $AU95.98 I am pleased to have MyHeritage back in my genealogy toolbox. (And they haven't removed my tree yet!!)

Three Rabbit Holes today

My annual subscription to MyHeritage runs out today so I am madly going through the DNA matches for the accounts I manage there before my access expires. I will probably resubscribe some time in the future when there is a decent offer but I cannot justify the AU $349‎  fee to extend my subscription now.

I am able to use the MyHeritage  subs at a local library or a genealogy society to search the MyHeritage record sets from home so I can't see the value investing in a premium subscription.

My Rabbit Holes of choice today are those MyHeritage Matches, DNAPainter to paint them and the Airtable database I use to track them.

What a Difference!

Last night I was playing around with the Ancestry DNA that kits I manage.

I looked at my Double First Cousin's DNA ethnicity report from Ancestry.com  and thought it looked different from mine. I had expected that, as we share grandparents and direct ancestors on earlier generations, our reports would be similar. I got a surprise after I checked my report and compared the results side by side. (Sorry about the blurry images but I wanted to have them beside each other on the post so had to limit their size.). 

My ethnicity breakdown is a pretty good match with what I have discovered through traditional research but my cousin's doesn't ring true. 

 

The Chester Creek Murders

I published this review on my Librarything account and, this morning thought I should add it to Amazon, the place where I purchased it. Sadly I am not able to post a review there because I haven't reached the minimum spend to gain permission to write a review! As I am gagged on Amazon I am sharing my review here.

As a member of the Nathan Dylan Goodwin Fan Club with many other genealogists I have been anxiously waiting for the debut of this work. Now that I have read it I am disappointed that I will have to wait for Nathan to recharge his batteries and research and write another tale.

This book was Nathan's best work yet. It is an improvement on his other works on so many levels. I have been critical of the covers for Nathan's earlier books but I loved this one, it set the scene for a real page-turner that held my attention from the first to the last word.

Between the covers I found a believable story populated with interesting characters and many story lines that ended with a couple of cliff-hangers allowing for future works in the series. I felt for the main character Maddie, owner of a genetic genealogy firm who, in spite of issues in her personal life, was able to rally and support her team in identifying through DNA the serai killer in a cold case.

As a genealogist I appreciated the detailed description of the methodologies used to solve the case. Nathan who is an Englishman must have been on a steep learning curve as he learnt about all the resources during the research for the book. To his credit he deferred to some of the top genealogists in the US for assistance. For this Aussie with little knowledge of US resources reading this book gave me a sugar-coated way of learning more on that subject.

I loved that the work was set in the geneamecca of Salt Lake City, a place I have visited on many occasions. Nathan's descriptions of the weather and the areas around Salt Lake were spot on. I noted that he named one of his characters, Kenyatta. Was that a nod to US genealogist Kenyatta Berry? One of the homes he described in South Jordan sounded similar to a genealogists's home I have visited there! Those who haven't been to Salt Lake will get an accurate picture of the place from reading this story.

This work is easy to read with many descriptive phrases. Nathan's prose in US English lends authority to the story and made the characters more believable. Nathan's writing has certainly developed since his first novel.

This book was unputdownable, a riveting story combined with a lesson in genealogy research and a discussion of issues facing family historians.

Highly recommended for family historians, those who love a good mystery and people inquisitive about DNA.

I read the eBook version of this work from Amazon that was priced at just $AU7.50 - great value for 4 hours entertainment, I look forward to the arrival of my hard copy that I will read at a more leisurely pace.

DNA Bounty

Back in 2016 in a post titled Giggle and Scrape I related the story of a luncheon with two of my first cousins and the fun we had when I produced DNA kits from my handbag.

The cousins willingly agreed to take an FTDNA test for me. At the time Ancestry DNA was the new kid on the block and experts were suggesting FTDNA as the place to test. I also uploaded these results to Gedmatch. The number of matches we have received from these matches is rather disappointing. 

Meanwhile in June 2015 I had tested with Ancestry (that new kid on the block) which due to clever and aggressive marketing now has the largest database and is the place suggested by experts as the first choice when diving into DNA testing. I have found at least ten times more good matches on Ancestry than on FTDNA. I have also tested with MyHeritage which is providing some good matches. I have had little joy from 23andMe and Living DNA.

Both Jane (Cousin Number 1 that tested for me in 2016) and me are only children whose parents and all our aunts and uncles are deceased. The good news is that we are double first cousins so all of Jane's matches will be related to me and vice versa. Jane's three daughters who have all tested recently with Ancestry have many shared matches with me. It was a no brainer that Jane needed to spit for Ancestry.

When Jane and the girls visited in October I produced an Ancestry kit and with lots of giggling and encouragement from her daughters Jane dutifully managed to find some saliva. 

The results of Jane's test came in a few days before Christmas.  Even though I have had limited time to examine Jane's results I am thrilled with what I have already found, I am so grateful to Jane for generously submitting to another test. 

Jane's big spit

What I have learnt so far is that Jane and her daughters are my closest matches after my daughter.

Already Jane's matches have provided me with keys to identify and confirm more cousins. In time I hope they will help to bring more of our ancestors out of hiding.

There are many instances where matches are unique to Jane or me, the first of these occurs at the predicted 4th cousin level where Jane has a 75cm match to someone I have been able to identify on our maternal line.

There are also several instances where I have a very small match of 10-20cm but Jane has much higher matches with these persons. Confirmation that my small matches are valid is comforting.

Jane's percentage of Aboriginal and Torres Island ethnicity is higher than mine. 

To avoid confusion I have used the same Ancestry dotting schema for Jane's test as for mine. As someone who isn't too deeply into DNA I use a spreadsheet to track my matches, I had already used this for Jane's FTDNA and Gedmatch results and will add the Ancestry matches there too.

I am so thrilled with Jane's results that I will produce an Ancestry kit next time I catch up with Cousin 2 (1st cousin - paternal line) from 2016. I saw her at a function prior to Christmas but didn't have a kit with me, I won't be caught short next event.

I'm hoping that January will provide me with some time to go through all of Jane's matches down to around 15centimorgans.

An Invitation for You

 I attended my first DNA talk in Australia ten years ago in October 2010.Here is what I wrote on this blog after the event:

The last talk I attended certainly was the jewel in the crown of a fantastic day. Kerry Farmer presented a talk on "DNA and genealogy". I am scientifically illiterate but came away from Kerry's talk feeling as though I had a basic grasp of the concepts she had outlined. Kerry was a calm and competent speaker who was exceptionally well prepared. At the beginning of the talk she shared a wonderful handout, her many slides were attractive and informative and she made those of us in the audience who didn't have a clue about the subject comfortable enough to ask our silly questions.

Ten years down the track Kerry is one of the most knowledgeable Australian presenters in DNA. I am thrilled to be the host for Kerry's session for her talk via Zoom for the Lake Macquarie Family History Group next Saturday. I always learn something new from Kerry.

If you would like to join us for this presentation please contact the email address on the following image.

 

Dotting

Ancestry DNA's latest revelation that they are removing matches below 8 centimorgans from our match lists has created a new geneafrenzy or phenomenon, Dotting.

My social media feeds have been buzzing this week as DNA experts and genimates discuss this news. Although experts I follow eg Blaine Bettinger and  Debbie Kennett have written articles explaining why this move by Ancestry is not all gloom and doom many DNA amateurs like me are going dotty as we try to salvage our matches at the 6 and 7 cm level. I noted that two of our Australian experts in an online SAG discussion last Friday explained that they are busily salvaging matches. 

We have been told that to keep these matches in our lists we must do one of three things:

1. Create a note in their match field note 

2. Add them to a group you have created using the Ancestry coloured dot method

3. Send a message to the match using the Ancestry matching system  

My Dotting Schema

Of these Option 2 is the easiest as it does not require as much data input as Options 1 and 3. As most of us have thousands of matches, many in the lower range, we have no hope of salvaging all of these matches before some time in August when Ancestry have indicated the great purge will occur.

There have been many posts from genimates on social media outlining the priorities for their rescue missions. Most of these involve refining their lists of small matches further by surname, geographical location or matches who have online trees. I created a new dot in my schema Match under 8cm  to which I am adding my salvaged matches.

No matter which filtering methods we are applying to our lists there is one thing for certain there is a lot of  Dotting going on.

NB My genimate, Randy Seaver, has created a list of a number of expert responses to this news: https://www.geneamusings.com/2020/07/ancestrydna-changes-coming-soon-what-im.html.

GeniAus - #AtoZChallenge - U is for Unearthed by DNA

During April 2020 the month of this #AtoZChallenge I will be sharing short posts on some of the 2,000+ descendants I have identified of my 3x Great-Grandmother, Elizabeth Phipps. 

Elizabeth Phipps 1785-1869 was a convict who was transported from England to New South Wales in 1814 per Wanstead. 

---

I have found most of my Phipps cousins by doing traditional research over a period of 30+ years but since I took the plunge and did my first DNA test about eight years ago (I've now done 5 with different companies) I have found more people who share Elizabeth Phipps as an ancestor.

It is gratifying when I find I have a match with someone who is already in my tree because that confirms the validity of my earlier research. When I am notified of other matches I check them out in traditional sources to see where they fit in and then add them to my tree.

Since going down the DNA path I've added several surnames to my cousin list. One of these names is Vidler. 

This fan chart shows Lillian's line back to Elizabeth Phipps.

After Lillian Jean Mahoney married Guy Hubert Stanley Vidler in 1940  a generation of three young Vidlers was added to my tree. One of those cousins was Guy Stanley Vidler (1942-2010, not yet added to my online tree ). As the other two cousins are living I will not identify them here but I must say it was pleasing to be able to correspond by email with the one who was my DNA match.

I enjoy finding and connecting with new cousins via DNA which is a most valuable source, it can be a bit awkward when we have a big match through DNA that can't be confirmed by other means as  Science doesn't lie. It just means that hanky panky was alive and well in earlier days.

I love to connect with cousins and fellow researchers. Should you find any errors in my post or have additional information please contact me. 

World Class Event in Sydney

I am still on a high after spending three days at the DNA Downunder event in Sydney last week. It has taken me a while to pen this last post because I have so much to say about this event which was world class. I wore my Ambassador Badge with pride during the event.

Kudos for taking a risk and staging such a professional event must go to Alan Phillips from Unlock the Past. Alan has been staging genealogy roadshows for several years but with DNA Downunder he took this event to another level. Right from the start the event promotion, including the appointment of Ambassadors, was top notch. 

Alan Phillips directing proceedings at DNA Downunder

 The venue in Sydney was excellent and only the most persnickety could find fault. The little things that make a great conference stand out from a good conference like smooth online registration, name tags, lanyards, programs (both online and in hard copy), signage, a strict timetable that was adhered to, opportunities to spend a few $$$ and get advice from vendors and societies coupled with an amazing star presenter, Blaine Bettinger, with solid supporting acts made this conference a success. Without the support of Alona and Anthea, the two family members and co-workers who are Alan's right hand women, this show would not have been such a fantastic event.

Alona and Anthea 

On a personal level I got so much from the feast of lectures on the program and took away a Doggie Bag full of ideas and tips to apply to my DNA research.I always enjoy geneaevents while I am there; I find many talks interesting and entertaining with content that is nice to know but they are not educative or inspiring.  DNA Downunder was an educative experience of the highest calibre.

Eager genies - Ready to learn

I attended every one of Blaine's 14 lectures, I had many items reinforced and learnt something new from all of them. As I predicted I am suffering from Blaine Overload but that is a positive outcome. As well as learning about methodology and resources I particularly enjoyed the emphasis on the ethics of DNA use and the constant reminders of the emotional effects that DNA discoveries can have on those involved. 

Blaine, a a genuine nice guy, spent so much time chatting with attendees

Shelley Crawford

I must apologise to the other speakers on the program as, because I went to all of Blaine's talks, I only managed to go to two other presentations. There was no way I was going to miss my genimate Shelley Crawford's talk so I was lucky she spoke when Blaine was having a break. Shelley was one of the first Australians to enter the world of genetic genealogy.

Shelley had a full house

One of the first people I encountered when I went to take my seat was Blaine. Getting  a hug and a hello from him set the scene for a super event. 

Blaine and GeniAus

I revelled in the out of school opportunities that a face to face conference offers. I caught up with some of my dear online pals, genimates from all over the place, loads of geneabloggers and met several genies for the first time.

Geneabloggers at DNA Downunder 

I just hope that Alan hosts a similar event in the future. These events educate, energise and enthuse our family history community.

Like a Sponge

It seems as though some of my genimates who are going to DNADownunder in Sydney later this week are beating themselves up as they indulge in a frenzy of activities related to their DNA matches.

I was on this merry-go-round until a few days ago but I decided to dismount. I really don't think that identifying a few more of my matches, writing to more prospective cousins or updating my files will have much of an impact on my learning at the event. I am going to take time out from DNA for the next few days and go along to DNADownunder with a clear head.

The things I most want to happen like getting Ancestry DNA matches to upload their data to another site so I can paint them in DNAPainter or getting responses from many of the matches I have messaged is just not going to happen quickly. I have no control over these issues but maybe I will pick up a few tips at the conference.

I am going be a sponge and sit back, relax and learn from the experts at the event, I read somewhere that "learning by osmosis" occurs when one is exposed to and immersed in something.  
DNADownunder will provide that DNA exposure and immersion.

 The sponge inside my head is ready to absorb

I may not attend a talk in every time slot (except for Blaine's) because I won't want my new learning to leak out of the sponge. I may use those times to reflect and reinforce my new learning and I may pull out my laptop and play while the learning is fresh in my mind. Three full days of learning is exhausting at events like this; we need to factor in some time to refresh, relax and reconnect (with genimates and vendors at the event).

If you have been daunted at the prospect of all the learning at this event do come along and be a sponge like me, you will definitely have a beaut time. (If you haven't booked you can buy tickets at the door.)

I'm a DNA Dabbler so while being educated at DNADownunder is my main focus I am also going along to be entertained, enthused and energised. It's the Australian geneagathering of the year.

Get your genes in order

I heard a rumour that hundreds of genies are attending the Unlock the Past series of DNA Downunder seminars around Australia.

If you are not among the "in crowd" who have registered for this event and you don't want to be suffering from FOMO in the coming weeks you must register today at
https://www.dnadownunder.com/.

If you are grappling with the results of your DNA test or are an experienced genetic genealogist there is something on the program for you. As an added bonus you will be able to meet and network with fellow genies and DNA experts and spend your geneadollars at the exhibitor stands at the event. and then there are the prizes - over $17,000 across all cities https://www.dnadownunder.com/prizes-and-offers. over $4300 in Sydney and over $2000 in all other cities.

I hope to see you there.

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.

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.