It's a Time Thing

I tend to give priority to my DNA links on FTDNA and Gedmatch ... but then there is Ancestry.

Overwhelmed by my DNA matches on Ancestry DNA I've had to find a way to manage them all and get through the 115 pages of "New Matches" for less close matches that I haven't yet examined. At 50 per page that's 5750 matches.

Having had some success recently in finding a 3rd cousin and a 2nd cousin once removed in the Confidence: Moderate range that I had previously ignored I realised that I should further investigate these 115 pages but I am Time Poor.

Whilst I'd love to connect with all potential cousins including the beginners with no trees there is no way I can in this lifetime. So I have had to be ruthless.  

I am going through the new matches page by page. Firstly I check for shared matches as these may give me a clue to a relationship. Just this morning I worked out where a treeless match fitted in by looking at shared matches and then the contributions the user had made to Ancestry Message Boards. His message posts gave me a clue to where the match was. 4th cousin found.

Where they have them I check the matches' online trees (including their full trees) and lists of surnames for something that may ring a bell. If I work out a connection I send off a message, if not I move on. I will continue to respond to each and every message I receive but this is not an onerous task as I get such a paltry number.

In order to tame this beast I have to be cruel so it's if there is  No Shared Match, No Tree, No Surnames there will be no contact from me. Hopefully this will enable me to prune down my list of new matches (some of which are really old).

Back on Track

I had a comment on this blog post, "The Geneabloggers' Geneameme", from one of my favourite Australian Geneabloggers, Pauleen Cass.  


"Were we all too preoccupied with A to Z or Anzac Day to reply? It sounded like fun,but my creative thoughts have run dry at present. Have you had further thoughts?"

Yes, Pauleen the busyness of life took over. I had anticipated putting the meme together before my holiday but it just didn't happen. I still intend to create this challenge.

Mr and Mrs Geniaus on holiday with a little Geniaus

For the past week I have been concentrating on the living family by taking a holiday with my youngest child and her family in Western Australia.

As we were driving through a small country town Mr Geniaus said "There's a cemetery, don't you have some family members in there?" My retort was that "This is not genealogy time, it is family time."

Now I am home safe and sound I will be once more concentrating on the dead. My first  task is to finish off my presentation for Friday evening at Hornsby Library then I will return to my normal routine.

Do you take enough time out from Genealogy to concentrate on the living family?