Heartland Genealogy

My list of sources has a LOT of duplicates. The vast majority of these duplicated sources are coming from Ancestry.

Ancestry recently made some changes to their Ethnicity display. I first became aware of this change during a webinar. I was reminded of this change this morning when I read " Ancestry Updates DNA Ethnicity Presentation " on The Genes Blog. Thus, I decided to check out my Ethnicity screen. The 'new' part of the presentation is the time line. As I began clicking thru the time line, it showed the migration from Europe to the United States. I still need to learn about these maps and how they can help me with my paper research!

My first 'research logs' were paper based and I was fairly consistent about keeping those records. However, when I started using software to manage my family tree, my diligence in recording what sources I had used began to slip. My software of the time, The Master Genealogist, had the ability to maintain a research log but I incorporated that tool into my research process. Recently, webinars and blogs that I follow have emphasized the need to maintain an accurate log of sources used. Knowing that I was lacking in this area, I decided to try the tools within RootsMagic to see if I could improve my research process. I first tried this logging process while on a trip to the Midwest Genealogy Library. I transferred data from my TODO spreadsheet into tasks on RootsMagic. During my visit to the library, I was able to mark the task completed and transfer it to the Research Log. With the Research Log window open, I then entered the bibliographic information and transcribed dat...

Historically, I have published most of my genealogy research under 'Heartland Genealogy'. When RM introduced TreeShare, I was having trouble getting a new tree established with that name. Thus, my TreeShare name is currently called 'Crawford-Briles'. For the sake of consistency, I would like my old tree name back. Thus, I asked the Facebook community if it was possible to change the name. So, I'm going to try to change the name of my tree. I have closed my tree in RM and backed it up. Dropbox is in the process of syncing both the file and the backup. On Ancestry, I opened Tree Settings and changed the name of the tree. I then re-opened RootsMagic. In RootsMagic, my file is called Crawford-Briles. Hopefully, it will still link to my renamed tree on Ancestry - Heartland Genealogy. To test that, I clicked on the TreeShare icon. Thankfully, it is telling me it is connected to my Heartland Genealogy Tree.

Due to my tree not showing in a search on Ancestry, I'm learning more and more about how TreeShare works. One of my observations is that I often have a 'note' at the bottom of my sources on Ancestry. One of those notes was a 'burial' note. Most of the time, they are titled, 'residence note'. Pictured is such a note on the record for George Mentzer in my Crawford-Briles tree.

After working thru my 'study' of what happens to sources with TreeShare, I wondered whether an image gets downloaded multiple times when attaching a census source to individuals of a family. In my previous post, TreeShare and Sources , I looked at the 1900 census for Paul Emory Mentzer. In that census, Paul was listed as a 4 year old son of Charles Mentzer. Prior to accepting any Ancestry hints for the 1900 census for Charles Mentzer, I had one source attached to that event.

I'm still trying to figure out the best way to handle Ancestry hints, TreeShare and sources. I have a fairly well sourced database that includes a lot of census research. Some of that census research dates back to the microfilm days. I tried to use the standards of the time to write citations for the data. My original citations would have been written in PAF as a NOTE. Some of those citations still exist in my current data. When I transferred from PAF to The Master Genealogist, I tried to go back thru my file and convert those NOTEs to facts. In the process, I also started using one of the citations templates provided by TMG: Richard Lackey's Cite Your Sources (c1980). Since the Master Genealogist community promoted the use of Elizabeth Shown Mills' Evidence! Citation Analysis for the Family Historian , I switched to that set of templates for my sources. When my data was transferred from TMG to RootsMagic, I also participated in Thomas McEntee's Genealogy Do-Over ...

The verdict is in!   I need to accept hints on Ancestry in order for my tree to become searchable. Ironically, my DNA 'shared matches' list was working even though I was accepting the hints on RootsMagic and not on Ancestry! Not only do I have shared Ancestry hints and circles but the list of hints and circles has been growing. Thus, I didn't think there was an issue with the way I was using RootsMagic! Now, that I'm aware of the issue, I'm going to change my workflow. Accept valid hint on Ancestry Use RootsMagic to source that hint and manually add the image (as I was doing prior to TreeShare) Ignore pink sources and media on TreeShare  In the meantime, I'm going back thru my 5 generation pedigree and Clicking confirmed sources and changing them to undecided within RootsMagic Accepting those sources on Ancestry  Now, I wait for Ancestry indexing to pick up my tree. I would like to thank the RootsMagic community (both Facebook and Roo...

I work from RootsMagic. I click on the lightbulb and accept the hints. I write the citations within RootsMagic. I then use TreeShare to upload my changes to Ancestry. All of my citations transfer to citations -- but -- are listed in the 'other citations' area. Even though they are based on those accepted hints, they are not listed as Ancestry citations. Below is a link to Judson Foster Crawford on my tree: h ttps://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/115166653/person/270137689801/facts My tree (Crawford-Briles) has lots of sources attached. Ancestry views my tree as having NO sources. Thus, it doesn't show in a search. [Try searching for Judson Foster Crawford died 1949 and look for the Crawford-Briles tree.] Yes, this and the member connect issue are Ancestry issues. BUT -- they wouldn't be occurring IF I didn't use the lightbulb to accept the hints. Yes, I could avoid this issue by accepting the hints on the Ancestry side -- BUT I lo...

Mary Crawford purchased land from Richard Cave in 1791. Below is a transcription of that deed.

My ancestor, James Crawford, died in Preble County, Ohio in 1854. In 1821, he sold a piece of land to Wm Sellers. This Preble County Deed (Book 5, page 87), identifies the seller as James Crawford Junr and indicates that James was from Preble County, Ohio. The deed is signed by James Crawford and Sally Crawford. Sally's signature is significant since it identifies my James Crawford and not another James Crawford living in Preble County at the time.

The Facebook group, Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques , has provided lots of opportunities to learn how to use my DNA results to support my research -- and to break thru brick walls. Recently, Shelley Crawford has been posting links to her blog posts detailing how to use NodeXL and Microsoft Excel to find DNA connections. Yesterday, I followed the steps in her post, Visualizing Ancestry DNA Part 2 - Loading the Files . With my first attempt, I downloaded all of my matches and worked my way thru the instructions to get a 'blob'. I went back and rechecked my 'alternate' file to make sure I was skipping my siblings, my mother and 1st cousins (once removed). It took a while for the graph to appear but it was still a blob. So, I started over and downloaded my matches for 4th cousins or closer. After creating a new file and again making sure the 'skip' information was included, I still had a blob -- just less dense. Knowing this wasn't what it was supp...

I'm experimenting again! Can I use RootsMagic to modify an overly long citation and then use TreeShare to get that citation uploaded to Ancestry. The first task is to locate the 'offending' citation in my list of sources. Since I know that this citation is associated with several facts for William Taylor Thompson, I'm going to use his screen to locate more info about the citation. When I look at the birth sources, I find the 'offending' citation. From the info on this screen, I know the citation is listed under 'History-IA Wapello Portrait ...' in my list of sources. Since I only want to change the citation one time, I'm hoping that I will be able to use the Master Source List to make the change. After opening the Master Source List (Lists menu), I scroll to locate 'History-IA Wapello Portrait ...' in the list. Having found the source, I click on the Edit button to make changes. I'm going to shorten the citation by removin...

On Wednesday (June 28), I uploaded my RootsMagic data to Ancestry, thus creating a new tree. Since I want to be able to utilize the TreeShare features of Ancestry, I want this new tree to be my primary tree in Ancestry. Thus, I attached my DNA results to this new tree. I knew that when I switched my DNA to this new tree, it was going to cause some 'hiccups' in my DNA screens AND that it might take several days (weeks) for those 'hiccups' to go away. However, I am seeing some strange, unexpected behavior that I'm trying to figure out the cause. The first strange behavior is with the 'Shared Ancestor Hints'. I expected them to drop to zero and had documented those matches. Even though I can understand the few I have back, I can't figure out why I got those and not others. The 5 shared Ancestor Hints are from my Briles (Broyles) / Rush line. I have circles for a couple of men on my Briles line and for my Rush line. However, these 5 people are not ...

Have you ever had the family disappear off of the profile screen in an Ancestry tree? I'd experienced it before but when I recently encountered it, I decided to seek guidance from one of my Facebook communities. Armed with that response, I returned to my tree and, sure enough, there was a citation that had been uploaded with the original gedcom that could be considered 'lengthy'. When I clicked on 'view', I could see most of the citation. Clicking the 'Edit Source' button took me to a screen where I could hopefully make some changes to shorten the citation. So I decided the easiest way to shorten the citation without losing some essential information was to remove some of the subtitling. I then scrolled to the bottom of the page to locate the button to save the source. That's when I got the dreaded 'We're Sorry' page I've tried editing the source multiple times and it always comes to this pag...