General DNA Resources for Genealogy

Links Mentioned in DNA Presentation, given 3 June 2014 for the Computer Club of Austin:

https://sites.google.com/site/wheatonsurname/beginners-guide-to-genetic-genealogy - Great lessons on DNA.

http://www.isogg.org/ - International Society of Genetic Genealogy

http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/ - Blog

http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com/ - Blog

http://www.dna-testing-adviser.com/ - Blog

http://gedmatch.com - 3rd party online tool

http://snpedia.com/index.php/Promethease - 3rd party online tool (not free)

http://www.dnagedcom.com/ - 3rd party online tool

http://www.23andyou.com/3rdparty - Listing of 3rd party DNA tools

Lack of blogging!

Sorry for lack of blogging lately. I've been working on a number of presentations and presentation proposals lately, and about to go to the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP) next week.

The image is the title slide from my most recent presentation: "Historic Preservation: What do old buildings mean to genealogists?" I gave this last night at the Williamson County (Texas) Genealogical Society's monthly meeting. We had approximately 50 attendees, a great number for a July in Texas!

I got really good feedback and reviews and I hope to make this a permanent member of the presentation rotation!

(c) Sara Gredler

Presentation Announcement

I will be presenting as part of a panel on organizing your family history at the January 2013 Williamson County (Texas) Genealogical Society meeting (http://www.williamsontxgenealogy.org).  A good time will be had by all!

Social time and snacks begin at 7pm; presentation begins at 7:30. The panel includes discussion of paper organization, digital files, and dealing with/preserving heirloom items.  Should be interesting.



(c) Sara Gredler, 2013.

Organization presentation - housekeeping items

So today I gave a presentation on organizing your genealogy at the Round Rock [Texas] Family History Center for their Family History Fair. We had a great time, even with our DNA sidetrack. I've given this talk multiple times and each time I do a little more revision.

I had screencaptures of my digital files and had people ask for the contents of my genealogy template folder (folder of empty folders of each record type that I use in my SURNAMES folders) and my general Genealogy folder.

Genealogy Template Folder contains:

BibleRecords

Biography

BountyLandRecords

CemeteryPhotographs

CemeteryRecords

Census-Nonpopulation_Federal

Census-Nonpopulation_State

Census-Population_Canada

Census-Population_England

Census-Population_Federal

Census-Population_Scotland

Census-Population_State

ChurchRecords

EducationRecords

FamilyRecords

FuneralRecords

Immigration

LandRecords

LettersandEmail

Maps

Military

Naturalization

Newspaper

Obituary

OnlineData

PensionFileRecords

Photographs

ProbateRecords

PublicationsorPeriodicals

Signatures

TaxRecords

VitalRecords-Birth

VitalRecords-Death

VitalRecords-Divorce

VitalRecords-Marriage

VotingRecords

These are all items that I have encountered. I do not use spaces in my filenames, I use either dashes or underscores. Spaces, to me, are a problem. 

In my Genealogy folder, I have my random items that don't fit anywhere else. I have folders and files like:

BradburyHeightsElementarySchool

Buildings

CivilWar

CorkSKG [Items from the year I lived in Cork, Ireland]

CornellAlumniNews

defcarbolicacid.txt [Text file from the Columbia Encyclopedia, due to several family members, both extended and close, committing suicide by drinking carbolic acid]

Directories [City Directories]

DNA

DraftCardA.pdf

DraftCardB.pdf

DraftCardC.pdf [Series of forms downloaded from Ancestry.com of the three types of World War I draft card forms.]

Emails [Items that don't fit into a surname folder]

ExcelFilesTranscription [like the pdf forms above, used for transcribing documents, downloaded from the internet.]

FamilyCemeteryRecords

FamilyGroupSheets

FamilyHeirlooms

Familymultimedia

familypictures-unknowns

familyrecipes.doc

familystories-Gredlerside.doc [This needs to be moved to the GREDLER surname folder.]

GEDCOMS

GreatMigration [individual biographies of multiple men from the Great Migration project publication.]

Letters

maps

mapsofPA [Both of these could probably be moved to my LOCATIONS folder.]

MassachusettsVitalRecords [found on Archive.org and Google Books, pdf publications for individual Massachusetts towns.]

MayflowerRecords

PAArchives [pages downloaded from Fold3.com for individual books within this series of publications]

Postcards

Savage-GenDictionaryNE [publication in pdf format]

SKGredler-memories [that's me]

SURNAMES

I also have documents in this folder for items such as vital records that I have ordered but do not belong to my family.

We went through lots more today, but as a teaser, I will be giving a portion of this presentation in January at the Williamson County [Texas] Genealogical Society monthly meeting on 17 January 2013. Please visit!

(c) Sara Gredler, 2012.

Williamson County, Texas, Genealogical Society Meeting - This Thursday

Thursday is the monthly meeting of the Williamson County (Texas) Genealogical Society.

We meet at the Round Rock Public Library and the presentation begins at 7:30.  Social time, with snacks, is from 7-7:30.

This month's speaker is Teri Flack, treasurer of the Austin Genealogical Society, and she is speaking on probate records.  I thoroughly enjoy Teri's talks and I am so excited that I am not out of town for work this week!

See the society's website for more information - http://www.williamsontxgenealogy.org/

Hope to see lots of people there!

Williamson County Genealogical Society - June Meeting Review

On Thursday, Williamson County Genealogical Society had a presentation on DNA by Debbie Parker Wayne (http://debbiewayne.com/).  It was super-well attended, with (I think) 56 people attending, 46 members and 10 visitors.  I had expected less due to summertime.  We ran out of subject handouts as well as "current local events" handouts.  I can't remember the last time that happened.

Debbie was a great presenter and very knowledgable about her topic.  If you get a chance to see her presentation on DNA, take advantage.  Her gingerbread men and gingerbread women showing the mixing of genes were a big hit.

I was the last person out of the library and didn't end up getting home until nearly 10pm.  We've had a number of months with great speakers and attendance.  Next month is on probate records, and the speaker is Teri Flack, treasurer of the Austin Genealogical Society.  Visitors are always welcome!