DNA Monday: GEDmatch and 23andMe

Found a really cool cousin through 23andMe and he and I have been working together to find our shared ancestor. Cousin Mark has been down this road before so he's leading the way, and directed me to GEDmatch. GedMatch is where you can take your DNA downloaded files and GEDCOM and see if anyone in their database is a match with you.

GEDmatch has been down a lot lately - first one feature, then another, and now the whole site - and I hear that they have been swamped with new users so there will be growing pains. That's OK with me because when they get it all worked out, this site will be a powerhouse for DNA testers across testing companies. The beauty part of their service is that it accepts raw data files from the big three and then they do the matching. Now, no worries that you tested with 23andMe and they tested with FTDNA, it all gets dumped into GEDmatch and they come up with the report. Cool.

Had to wait a day to upload my genome file for the 23andMe upload feature to be available, and another day for it to be processed. The upload feature was not available when I first tried but a day later it was back up again. Right today which is Sunday as I write, the entire site is down for maintenance... but the kind that sound ominous: We have been unable to answer all the emails, so please be understanding. We will post information as soon as we know more and have a time estimate. Uh-oh. Hope they get it worked out because I'm getting excited to do some analysis.

The site is straight-forward and if you just take a couple of minutes to read the entire first page, you'll know what to do. Hey, if I can do it so can you:) I did the DNA test with 23andMe so I clicked on the upload your 23andMe genome file and it outlined exactly what I needed to do and guided me through the steps. Be sure to read all the steps first. I didn't pay close enough attention to what I was doing and uploaded the unzipped file when what they want is the zipped, so got an error message pointing out the silliness of my ways. Went back and did it right the second time. Easy-peasy.

TIP: make a note in a safe place of your ID number. You'll need it later because everything here works off that ID number. So right here I'd like to show you that main page but the site is down. Maybe later. What I can show you is how my DNA matches looked. So here we go.

Here's how you get the party started. Just enter your ID number and leave the rest of the fields as they are... unless you know what you're doing, and that's not me!

Here are my two matches. I was disappointed that there were only two, but I'll keep checking back because I've got to believe that with all the new users (crashing the site) there will be more matches later:) I did click on one of my matched people to see who they matched with, and the list was extensive!

Here's the info on where we match. I don't know what I'm looking at but it appears that KMurray is a closer match to me and I'll try to contact that person first.

This is a matrix showing how many generations back KMurray and I can start to look for a shared ancestor, and it's way back there in the 7th to 8th generation.

 

 

I didn't get a chance to upload my GEDCOM yet (site down) but that will be the first thing I'll do when it's back online. And now I have the ID numbers for cousin Mark and his father so I can start to look at that too.

 

My To Do List:

1. Contact KMurray.

2. Upload GEDCOM.

3. Look at cousin Mark and his father's chromosomes. Can I tell: is it on the Thomas side or the Price side? Cousin Mark has a hunch, I think!

 

Yup, this is still fun! GEDmatch is out, 23andMe is running slow but I'm happy as a clam in mud. My kinda mud:)

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/dna-monday-gedmatch-and-23andme.html

Surname Saturday: The Thomas Family From Wales

It's off to Wales once again for Surname Saturday, the blogging prompt from GeneaBloggers. We've been to Wales a couple of times before as we explored the roots of the Williams, Price, and James clans before these Thomas folks. Unfortunately for Mom and I the records only go back too short a ways for us, in spite of the old saying that a proper Welshman could recite his ancestry back nine generations. Imagine: if all of our Welshmen could have done so how happy Mom and I would now be!

We're here in the 5th generation back sitting amongst the 2nd great grandmothers.

1. Diane Kelly Weintraub

2. Francis Patrick Kelly 1916 - 2007
3. Virginia Williams, living and loving it!

6. Cambria Williams 1897 - 1960
7. Emma Susan Whetstone 1897 - 1956

12. Daniel Williams 1852 - 1920
13. Jane Price 1862 - 1939

26. William Price 1829 - 1872
27. Diane Thomas about 1832 - 1871
They had these children:
William Henry Price 1852 - 1910.
Benjamin Price 1854 - 1906.
Diane Price 1856 - ????.
13. Jane Price 1862 - 1939.
Ellen Nellie Price 1864 - ????.
James H. Price 1856 - 1933.
Mary Price 1869 - ????
Victoria Price 1871 - ????

54. Benjamin Thomas (1793 - 1846)
55. Hannah Evans (1798- 1868)
Too little is known about this family for our liking. Benjamin Thomas is the founding member of this family and I previously blogged about them all here.
Benjamin and Hannah were born in Wales but we don't know where. They made their way to America in 1838 with the intention that the males work for the George's Creek Coal company. They landed in Baltimore on 11 Sept, 1838 after a voyage of 46 days. Here's the list of their children followed by an image of the  manifest. As you can see there are five able-bodied men willing to go to work as coal miners, or "colliers".
The children are:
John W. Thomas (1817 - ????) Born in South Wales, John married Lucinda Rice on 29 Aug 1846 in Allegany County, Maryland.
Benjamin L. Thomas (1818 - ????) Also born in Wales, Benjamin L. married Catherine Jones on 20 Feb 1840. She also was born in Wales. They both died in Mt. Savage, Allegany, MD.
James Benjamin Thomas (1822 - 1884) Born in Wales. He married Margaret Lewis on 17 June 1840 in Allegany County, MD.
William Benjamin Thomas (1823 - 1885) Born in Wales, he married Elizabeth Lewis, also born in Wales.
27. Diane Thomas (about 1832 - 1871)
Joseph Thomas ( 1835 - 1915) Born in Wales and died in Eckhart, Allegany, MD, he had three wives: Martha Davis, Rebecca Mosser, and Jane Watkins.
Philip Thomas (1836 - 1885) Also born in Wales, he married Ann Davis.
Jane Thomas (1837 b- 1917) Born in Wales, she married Joseph Scott Robertson.
Ann Eliz Thomas (abt. 1839 - ????) Born in Ocean Mines, MD, she married John Howells.
Maria Ellen Thomas (1841 - 1908) Born in Lonaconing, she married John James Anthony.

Well, there you have it. Obviously, Mom and I are not done here! And a new-to-me cousin, Robert, contacted me through Ancestry.com messages and we chatted so now we'll be working on this line together. So much to do, so little time!

Manifest from the Barque Tiberius, landing in Baltimore 11 Sept 1838.

(Photo by me taken in the Frostburg Museum, Frostburg, Allegany, MD, October, 2012.)

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/surname-saturday-thomas-family-from.html

The Creative Process: The Idiosyncratic

 

This series is about the cross-over skills and concepts between creating art and doing genealogy. Admittedly, it's all very blue-sky.

Idiosyncratic:

1. A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

2. A physiological or temperamental peculiarity.
3. An unusual individual reaction to food or a drug.
(Source: The Free Dictionary by Farlex)

I know that you know what idiosyncratic means, but thought it was a good time to run that in there. We're probably working with the first two definitions but let's reserve judgment on the third because, well, ya' never know. "Peculiar to an individual". Yeah, that about nails it for me. Peculiar. Individual. Yup. Hold that thought.

When I taught art at the local college, and after students mastered the basic skills, the thing they needed to do next was discover their individual gifts in art. What was it about each person that made them unique and able in some special way to contribute something, some statement or perspective, to the world? We were always looking for the idiosyncratic in each person.

When I first presented this concept, student, especially the young ones, looked at me in disbelief. Most of them had spent a young life believing that they were anything but special in any way whatsoever. Some had been told they were really nothing by family or teachers. For others it was the meager circumstances of an upbringing in difficulty surroundings. Even those who had an enriched family or community life found it hard to see that they could have a strong personal voice through their art. Never mind, I said, it will come. And it always did. Always. No exceptions.

Sometimes in a particularly bruised bunch of students I'd do a little exercise that involved talking about their pets. "Do you think you'd know your pet if it got lost and was returned by someone?" Sure! "What if it was returned with another animal that looked identical? Could you tell your pet apart from that other one?" Yeah, sure! "So you're telling me that your pet is that unique and you'd recognize their personality anywhere." Unanimous assertion that they could.

Now I have to say that these were really nice students, for the most part. They worked hard and aspired to the American dream of a family and a job that could support that family or contribute to the extended family they were presently a part of. So I asked them to think of all the people in that extended family, and the people who lived in proximity to them in their neighborhood. And to think of how each of those people was special in some idiosyncratic way. (They all really got into this exercise.) Then I asked them to think of a story about one person, and we shared some of those stories too.

Mostly, this was group work done in small groups of three to five people. Each group would finally pick one story from the group to share with the entire class. You see, much of art is really story telling and the thing that gives these stories that special something that attracts people to it is the idiosyncratic, or that which is peculiar to an individual. Peculiar. Individual. Finally they all got it, even if they didn't know right away what their own special something was.

Not to be heavy handed about the obvious, but let me break down for you what I did with them. First I let them realize that even their pet is unique such that they would undoubetedly be able to pick them out of a crowd. Then they were led to that specialness in the people in their lives, the ordinary everyday people especially. And by that route they were ready to admit that they too were special and unique in some way. All that was left was for us to uncover it.

I'm wondering if telling the ancestor stories isn't a bit like that? We look at the records first to find the narrative, the story: the who, what, where, and when of it all. But we look between the lines to see what's implied about the idiosyncrasies of our ancestor too. What is it about them that makes them individual and peculiar, that made them stand out in a crowd. We like that too, don't we?

Nutshell analysis and the obvious take-aways:
* We are, all of us, unique. So were our ancestors. All that's left for us to do is find the bits and pieces of them that are left in the records and stories.
* You are unique too, so don't forget to make time to tell your own story!


On Fridays if I make a new post in the Creative Process series, I'll also post a painting of mine... just in case you don't care for the post, you might enjoy looking at the painting instead:)

"Torrey Pines Beach"

24 by 24 inches, oil on canvas

Diane K. Weintraub

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-creative-process-idiosyncratic.html

Treasure Chest Thursday: "History of Cumberland, Md." by Lowdermilk

This week we'll look at a little old treasure from the chest, "History of Cumberland, Md," by William Harrison Lowdermilk, originally published in 1878. My copy is one of those put out by a publishing company and billed as ,"Affordable & High Quality Paperback Edition". I'm cool with that because I don't have to be too precious about handling. Think I paid about $10 for this reproduction about a year ago and you can still find it on Amazon. The collector's editions go for up to $300!

The reproduction paperback is perfect for my use. It's 580 pages of sheer local history from George Washington's Journals and Indian graves to local bits of interest in 1876, the last year Lowdermilk covered. The book ends with General Braddock's Orderly Book in which he recorded a lot of trivia about the colonial period in the territory that would eventually become Allegany County, Maryland.

As you can see from the photo below, I have snips of paper marking pages of interest. This was an inexpensive book and a perfect candidate to mark up, but alas, I can't bring myself to write in it!

One of the things that fascinates me is the names of places and how they have either changed or stayed the same. Old Town was Shawnee Old Town, while Wills Creek has been that name for as long as people have been recording it when the "white man" first set foot in the area.

I have been impressed with the great amount of time George Washington spent in the area, from his earliest years with Nemacolin who showed him the trail west, to the days of the revolution. Back and forth he came, first as a scout, then with General Braddock in the French and Indian War. Sometimes the descriptions tell me exactly where Washington strode and other times the manes have changed or the old chestnut tree grove has been long gone.

I must confess that most of the pages of Washington's Journal leave me requiring a nap. But then just as I start to doze off there's an exciting passage and I learn something of use. The best part of this early matter is the descriptions of the lush forests and abundant wildlife and fur animals. That, of course, has vanished, but it busies the mind to imaging how it all was in times past.

Eventually, careful reading reveals an ancestor or two. Because this fine old book has no index (drat) I examine every page for surnames I know. On page 264 I find my 5th great grandfather, George Adam Eckhart, known as Adam, listed amongst those individuals who settled on the land west of Cumberland before the Bounty Lands were awarded, as is Isaac Workman, also a 5th great grandfather and listed on the next page.

I read the pages carefully because if an ancestor is not there, I know that helpful background information will be there. On page 334 I find listed the names of those men responsible for the upkeep of the National Road west in 1834. From the names such as Josiah Porter (related), Meshack Frost (related), and Josiah Frost, I can roughly guess where each section of road lies from where their property was.

On page 350 I find that Peter Yeast is serving as County Commissioner in 1841 - 42 for Allegany County before it was divided yielding Garrett County to the west. Peter Yeast was the second husband of my 3rd great grandmother. Did not know he was such a respected man. This explains why his son-in-law, and my 2nd great grandfather, Joseph E. Whetstone, is mentioned on page 215 in another book about the area, "The Old Pike: A History of the National Road," by Thomas B. Searight, as running a tavern about that time when the 1850 census shows clearly that the tavern was then run by Peter Yeast. Looks like the SIL took over for Peter Yeast while he served his county as a commissioner. Details like this fill out the lives of the ancestors.

I love old books about local history for the background they give. I could read this stuff all day!

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/treasure-chest-thursday-history-of.html

Wisdom Wednesday: Why Did I Not See That Before?

This week I'm feeling like I have on new glasses. Well, actually I do, so maybe that's why I'm drawn to this metaphor. I can see a couple of things more clearly now, beside the monitor and TV.

Maryland, My Maryland! (That's the title of the state song of Maryland.) It dawned on me that I am doing a lot of research in the state of Maryland. All, and I do mean all, of my ancestors going back at least the last three generations lived and worked in the state of Maryland, and some go back to my fourth or fifth great grands. That's a lot of Marylanders. I do have a couple of state guides for researching genealogy in Maryland, as well as West Virginia/Virginia, and Pennsylvania guides, but I need more than that. And I need it now. So my educational goal for April is to devote myself to all things Maryland. And I have people to help me. Mom, of course, has been guiding me along and she's born and bred in Maryland and still lives there and has been doing genealogy there sine the early 1970s. Plus, and this is a real blessing, I have a genea-pal who is willing to give me a tour of the Maryland State Archives online. She says it's a beast, but it's our beast:) Pass the Maryland crab cakes! (And I don't mean those weak imitations they offer on the appetizer menu here in San Diego! Yuck!)

Tree Sync. How, oh how, did my work habits get so bad in this one area? I have lost the sync feature between my Family Tree Maker (FTM) tree resident on the desktop computer (and safely backed up online) and my Ancestry Member Tree (AMT)! Discovered it quite a while back but have been ignoring this blister on my tree for too long. Those two buddies need to sync up! How did I not see that? Actually I did but ignored because I didn't know where to turn for answers... and now I do: the email group for Family Tree Maker!

And another thing I did not see before this week: have not updated either the FTM or the AFT with good info from member messages sent to me through Ancestry, after that new information is verified, of course. Remember, Mom started her Big Tree way back when and it's to be expected that there might be mistakes or updates and we find them all the time, some pointed out by other Ancestry members. We like that because those Ancestry members are probably looking at someone close to them but way out on a branch connected to another branch on our tree. Ya gotta love community:)

Cousins and such. Here's something else I've not been looking at: cousins and degrees and removals. Oh, I've known it in a general way so that if someone said, we're third cousins, I'd be looking at a shared great grandparent. And I did vaguely know that if there was a removal, it meant the cousin had kids who were removed down the line from us.
But the other day my laxity in this area stared me right in the face when I realized that my DNA matches on 23andMe who were 4th cousins shared a mutual ancestor not that far back and that for 4th cousins we should be looking at 3rd great grandparents. So the cousin who replied back to my inquiry and said that we probably shared an ancestor too far back to know about didn't have it right. Mom and I know who the 3rd great grandparents are... but maybe that cousin match doesn't.
Here's how I'm remembering it: whatever degree cousin we are, subtract one to find the degree of great grandparent. Example: 4th cousin = 3rd great grandparent. And for gosh sake, if this is wrong, wrong please tell me!! Remember, I'm slightly dyslexic and very math-challenged:)

Photo of the Day from Aunt Betty's Archive:

Jane Price Williams (1862 - 1939)

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/wisdom-wednesday-why-did-i-not-see-that.html

SNGF: Where I'm From

The little town of Frostburg, Allegany, Maryland:

Where I'm From.

 

 

Randy Seaver has fun every Saturday night and invites the rest of us to come along and paly with his ongoing series, "Saturday Night Genealogy Fun", or SNGF. This last Saturday night's challenge was a goodie and so I played. Had a hole in the week's line-up of blog posts so thought to plunk it down right here on Tursday.

The challenge is to write a poem entitled "Where I'm From" and you can find the link to the origins of this challenge here. We are, each of us who work to discover ancestors, discovering ourselves along the way, and this poem challenge sets it out in a lovely art form. It's easy and fun to do and you might want to try it:) So here's mine.

WHERE I'M FROM

I am from front porch swings and back porch swings from Ivory Snow and big Jell-o molds with fruit cocktail shimmering inside.

I am from jam in the pantry and a rocking chair in the corner and a pie cooling.

I am from the land of big rhododendron growing wild, lilacs so fragrant, orange day-lilies wild along narrow back roads that get you blessedly lost.

I am from whistlers, and gardeners, from Cutie and Chrissie and Ginny, GranMa and Pop-Pop.

I am from coal country and hills so soft and green it will make you cry and break your heart.

From war vets and war wives, from thse who served.

I am from Irish Catholic / German Lutheran, Democrats, pro-union all the way. And a living wage fairly earned (because so many who worked the coal mines didn't get one.)

I'm from Welsh, Irish, German, Dutch, and English, baking and candy-making, desert freaks.

From baseball on the radio (because Grandpop’s brother played pro ball in Texas), fruit trees in the yard, sitting on that front porch (that got a good sweeping every morning) waving to all who came by cause you knew ‘em real well.

I am from a treasury of old photos, that are loved and cherished.

I’m from a family that will drive you crazy, but in the best way possible.

 

Some of the ancestors from Frostburg:

The Williams family during the Great Depression.

The Kelly family during the Great Depression.

Two of the Kelly brothers served during WWII.

One of our coal miners.

The Kelly family, 1942.

 

The Kelly house with the front porch swing on Main Street. "Yoo-hoo neighbor!"

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/sngf-where-im-from.html

DNA Monday: Where Are the Cousins?

Generally, I'm having a blast with my DNA results from 23andMe because it's so fascinating. The thing that's been my obsession is trying to figure out what's the very best way to discover a cousin match from the test results. And now I can report that I have tested out a better way to proceed. Let me explain.

You need to know that I have only tested with 23andMe and I am stumbling my way through this uncharted wilderness without much of a map. The seminar a week ago with Ce Ce Moore has shed ample light on the scientific aspects of this work so that's to the good. She did mention, if I remember correctly, that AncestryDNA uses the Ancestry Member Trees and gives you a head start showing the section of your tree and the cousin match's tree that seem similar. That would be a big help! A clue, any clue, is a big deal!

My problem over here is that the cousin match folks, while mostly enthusiastic about working together to discover a connection, really do lose energy when looking at Mom's Big Tree on Ancestry with over 60,000 people! Where to start?

Alternately, of the folks who replied and are in contact with me and willing to discover where we match, few have trees on line. The one experience I had with a cousin match who did have a large tree on Ancestry gave me an insight into how difficult it is looking at someone else's tree and try to find that elusive ancestor with whom we share a bit of DNA. It's a pain!

So as mentioned here previously, my job is to provide them with a list of surnames going back maybe a half-dozen generations with the locations associated with each surname. This idea came from Ce Ce Moore at the seminar and it was a super good one! This last week I reached out to those cousin matches again and mentioned the list I was working on to get a reaction from them. All of them responded warmly! They would be happy to have a list of surnames and where each lived. One even replied with the longest message I'd received from him yet with even more of his surnames and locations. Cool! Am starting to see that you need enthusiastic cousins to work this problem because it is work.

I have to say that checking in with the prospective cousin match folks first before I went off to work on that surname and location list was a better idea... granted, any other person would have thought of a while back;)

Photos of the Ladies Aide Society (above)

and Children's Choir (below)

of the Congregational Church, Frostburg, Maryland.

Circa 1930s.

 

 

The URL for this post is: http://nutsfromthefamilytree.blogspot.com/2013/04/dna-monday-where-are-cousins.html