Friday, March 27, 2015

Genealogy Do-Over Week 10: DNA and Digital Organization




The Week 10  Genealogy Do-Over topics are DNA Testing and Digital Organization.

DNA Testing Options-
      Last year I took the plunge and began DNA testing. My first test was with 23andme. I got lucky and won the test in from a blogger's website. The results got me interested in testing family members and trying out other companies.  My parents and I have tested with AncestryDNA and FamilyTreeDNA, and I have uploaded all the data from all the tests to Gedmatch.com.
       The results showed that my ancestral heritage is mostly from the British Isles with a small amount in Western Europe. That elusive Native American ancestry spoken of by my maternal grandfather's line didn't show up in testing.
   Now that I have begun testing, my 'make-over" will be to work on understanding my results and connecting with other family members. One way that I am learning more about the process and what it means is by taking a course from the Virtual Institute of Genealogy by Blaine T. Bettinger called "(Finally) Understanding Autosomal DNA".

 Digital Organization-

   Making sure all my Digital Files are correctly named for easy finding and placed where they can be found is something that I have been working on for several months. I have also begun adding Metadata as Thomas MacEntee has suggested. Taking a few minutes during the week to check my folders has helped make the process less overwhelming.
   Backing up my computer is a very important part of my schedule. Monthly backing up to an external hard drive, and a keychain flash drive happens on the first of each month...well that's the plan anyway! I also use Dropbox to store my family files. As I add new files, they automatically go to my Dropbox account.

I would love to hear how your Do-Over is coming along. Have you done any DNA testing? How are you handling your digital records? Thanks for sharing your experiences and ideas.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Helping you clinb your family tree,





5 comments:

  1. I'm really looking forward to reading about how your DNA research goes, and where it takes you, Cheri!
    I'm not going to be able to get involved in DNA testing unfortunately. But I am happily working my own way through my digital records, renaming them and filing them online more efficiently and in a standardized way. File by file, adding to Sources spreadsheet in detail. I'm already learning more about each ancestor, with more research questions for my to-do spreadsheet. Wish I'd done this earlier. Next up, later this year, will be doing the same for photos.

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    1. Thanks, Celia. I am looking forward to seeing where it goes too. My digital records are going to take a while, but I am happy that I started this Do-Over project to force me to make a plan to conquer it! I really appreciate you reading my post and taking the time to comment!

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  2. I have a question regarding the DNA testing. Did you find that the different companies results where all similar or was one more detailed the the others?

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    1. Each of the DNA companies is a little different so your information and the way you get results varies. While ancestry only does autosomal, FTDNA.COM does Y and MtDNA. It's best to decide why you are doing the test and then choose which methid and tpe of test would most likely answer your question.Hope that helps!

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    2. Each of the DNA companies is a little different so your information and the way you get results varies. While ancestry only does autosomal, FTDNA.COM does Y and MtDNA. It's best to decide why you are doing the test and then choose which methid and tpe of test would most likely answer your question.Hope that helps!

      Delete