Southern California Jamboree 2016 ~ The last two days were fantastic and my brain hurts!

 Above are pictures of friends at Jamboree - Left to right - Marcia Huntley Maloney of the Mayflower Society, J. Paul Hawthorne and Randy Seaver and my friend, George, who helped me collect many of those ribbons

It’s been nearly a week now since the 2016 Jamboree ended.  Such a busy week for me that I’m just now getting around to finishing up the blog posts for Jamboree.

Here’s a summary of the last two days.  They were pretty marvelous.

Saturday – June 4 

Fire Insurance Maps – The Google Maps of Their Day by Jill Morelli

Jill talked about fire insurance maps.  What are they?  How can they be helpful to genealogists?

• Fire insurance maps were used by companies who stood to have a loss should a fire catastrophe occur.
• By sending out surveyors to measure and record each building the companies could then decide how insurable a building was.  A wood building would certainly not be as good a risk as a brick building.
• The thought of insurance first began in 1666 with the Fire of London
• The first fire insurance policy was issued in the American colonies in 1728.
• Daniel Sanborn was hired as a surveyor and by 1909 he had a monopoly on fire maps.
• Maps are prominent in urban areas, but can also be found for rural areas.
• These maps can fill in details about how our ancestors lived.  Did they live close enough to walk to work, or did they take a trolley?  Perhaps there was a living area in a business where your ancestor worked.  Or, did they own that particular business?  How has the area changed over time?

Get Me to the Church on Time: Finding Religious Records by Janice M. Sellers

• Church records can be wonderful resources for our research
• All church records are not created equally.  The information contained in the records will vary from church to church and religion to religion. 
• If a particular congregation is made up of primarily immigrants, you may find the records are in a language other than English.  In this case, remember Google translate is your friend.
• Remember, if you are looking at a transcription of a record, there may be errors.  It’s always best to find the original and look at it yourself.
• Many churches kept membership records.  Who joined and when, who left and when.  These can be very useful.

Cracking the Case with DNA by Anna Swayne

Anna shared with us a step by step process to break down brick walls using DNA.  Like the other DNA classes I attended, this one gave me many more pieces of knowledge in using DNA for my own ancestor research.  Because this was a case study I will just share my takeaways from the class.

• Use a fan chart to see where you have gaps in your direct lines. Who is missing?
• Use DNA circles to pull in those matches closest to you.
• Remember if your Ancestry DNA is attached to a private tree, it will not be included in circles.  I’ve created a separate DNA tree with only names & dates and that’s what I’ve attached my DNA test to.

SATURDAY NIGHT DINNER WITH GUEST SPEAKER KENYATTA BERRY, Esq.

co-host on Genealogy Roadshow

Kenyatta gave us a behind the scenes look at Genealogy Roadshow.  She was an eloquent speaker and we all appreciated learning more about her and the show.  About 200 people attended this dinner.  The dinner service was very good and so was the food. 

At the end of the evening Kenyatta drew a ticket from amongst all the attendee tickets and presented a grand prize.   

Surprise!  My friend, fellow blogger and roomie for Jamboree, Debby Warner Anderson won!!

The prize was free registration for next year’s Jamboree

Here are some pictures from the dinner

P.S. Debby won another prize on Sunday.  I told her that I think I’m her lucky charm and she has to take me everywhere now.
Sunday – June 5

I attended four classes on this day.  By now my head is exploding from all the information I have collected.  This post will go on forever if I list the highlights from these classes.  I will tell you that I learned something new at each one and the most informative, for me, was the class about Pennsylvania.  Simply because it’s a difficult state to conduct research and I have lots of family from there.

The four classes I attended were:

• Getting to Know Fold3 by Trevor Hammond

• Back Home in Ireland: Following the Trail to Patrick Murphy’s Origins by Kathy Warburton

• Finding Family on Newspapers.com by Trevor Hammond

• How to Overcome Brick Wall Problems in Pennsylvania Research by Michael D. Lacopo, DVM

I had a wonderful four days at my very first genealogy conference.  I can’t wait to attend Jamboree next year.  I also hope that I can attend other conference like RootsTech, in the near future.  I made some new friends, met fellow bloggers I had only known virtually on Facebook and saw other friends I hadn’t seen in a while.

Here are links to my other two posts from Jamboree.

Southern California Jamboree 2016 ~ Day One ~ My first time at Jamboree
Southern California Jamboree 2016 ~ Day Two ~ Things I Learned

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION 

Southern California Jamboree 2016 ~ Day Two ~ Things I learned

Me and J. Paul Hawthorne comparing our conference ribbons 

Attending a conference is about planning.  Since this is my first genealogy conference (or any other kind of conference).  I registered a few months ahead, so that was good.  What I didn’t know was that I needed to pre-register to attend some of the workshops.  Live and learn – I’ll do better next time.

What that meant was having yesterday morning with no plans.  I visited with friends for a while.  Then I went to the big tents and tried to join a round table.  Most of the ones I was interested in were filled.
 
Debby and I had lunch and then I attended two afternoon classes, which were very good.

Here’s a short summary of some of the things I learned:

The Combined Power of Y DNA and Autosomal DNA by Diahan Southard

Diahan talked about how testing both types of DNA can help you in your effort to connect those lineages.

• DNA testing can help us with the difficult areas of our research.  However, the work is actually in our own genealogy research.  We need to comb through the DNA results and pick the low hanging fruit.  In other words, the close cousin matches.  Then we can map their ancestors and find links to our own.
• When we do our DNA tests, we get a “pretty picture” but they could all bring different results.  The work is up to us to bring it all together.
• Pay attention to those relationship ranges.  Such as – we know that a 3rd cousin is someone with whom we share a great grandparent.
• Count birthdays and be aware of how old your match is.  If you are 40 and a first cousin match shows up as being 80, you probably aren’t first cousins.  Of course there are always anomalies.
• Search by surname and location on your autosomal matches
• Track your matches.  I heard this from every speaker in the first two days.  Develop a system (most of them use spreadsheets) to track matches.
• Use this free site for a form you can use to track, if you aren’t comfortable with spreadsheets. transpose.com
• And the other common advice from every speaker was this……

PUT YOUR PEDIGREE ONLINE!

The next class I attended was about cluster genealogy to help us solve our brick wall mysteries.

Cluster Methodology: A case study in upstate New York by Karen Mauer Jones, CG FGBS

Brick wall problem

- You’ve collected everything on the surname

- Searched every record at the locality

- Cited every source faithfully

Still the brick wall stands.  How do we break through?

Cluster genealogy is all about conducting reasonably exhaustive searches for ALL the people in your ancestor's life circle.

• Friends, Witnesses, Neighbors, anyone mentioned on court records etc.
• The most common mistake we can make is to focus on the surname – look for all the other names, some of which keep showing up in the various records you find.
• Back up and start over – looking at your records with new eyes and try not to have pre conceived ideas.
• Study ALL associates – in-laws, neighbors and especially those females with different surnames.  They could very well be sisters.
• Don’t be a “source snob.”  Even though we know those family trees that are online, can be full of incorrect information.  Don’t ignore them.  Use them as a source for hints.  Then follow that name or piece of information yourself.
• Document and keep track of everything you find and write your explanation of what you think.  Does the same surname or the same person keep showing up?  Try to figure out who this person is and how they might be related to your ancestor.

Even though I only attended two classes, I was reminded of things I need to remember and learned new strategies.

In the afternoon the vendor hall opened up and I was able to visit most of the booths.  The most important one for me was the FtDNA booth.  I had several issues with FtDNA testing that I’ve had run on my brother.  I needed to find out why I couldn’t get the Family Finder feature to upload, even though I’d paid for it.  Then there was another issue with my husband’s recent FtDNA test.  I’m so happy to report that, thanks to Jim Brewster, my problems have been addressed and I can move forward.  I’m really excited about this, as Y DNA testing is a big issue for me because of a paternal brick wall.  Thank you Jim and the Family Tree DNA staff!!

Here’s a couple of pictures from my time with friends.

Me and Debby	Me and Geoff Rasmussen
Me, J. Paul Hawthorne and Elyse Doerflinger	The Legacy booth with Geoff helping some attendees

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

Southern California Jamboree 2016 ~ Day One ~ My first time at Jamboree!

This is my very first time at Jamboree and here’s how day one went.

My friend and fellow blogger Debby Warner Anderson who writes Debby's Family Genealogy Blog and I live within 5 miles of one another in Ramona.  I got to her house at 5 a.m. (thank you to my husband who got up early to drive me to her house).  Debby has been to Jamboree before and offered to drive.  She also made hotel reservations and guided me through the registration process and picking classes.

The drive through L.A. traffic was mostly uneventful, I’m happy to say and we got to the Marriott here in Burbank about 9 a.m.

I’m already seeing people I know from the San Diego Genealogical Society and various Facebook groups.

Day One is DNA day at the Jamboree.  I picked four classes to attend.  I really need to expand my knowledge about DNA and how it can work to connect with ancestors and their descendants.  I’ve tested with Ancestry and the following members of my family have been tested with one or more companies: My Mom (thankfully, since she just passed in March), my brother, my half brother, my husband and several cousins.

Here are some of the highlights from all four classes.  Certainly not a complete synopsis of what was covered in an hour long class.

10 a.m. – Autosomal DNA-Specific Steps to Insure Success – Speaker: James Vincent Bartlett

• Develop a robust tree going back many generations.  Even if you have not yet proven for sure that they are your ancestors, add them to the DNA tree.  Note:  I have a completely separate tree on Ancestry that is connected to my DNA test.
• Make an alphabetical list of about 50 of your surnames to send to people who contact you via the DNA testing
• Create a standard email that you use to respond.  Don’t make it long, but be very upbeat in your response.
• Send an email to every match.

12:30 – DNA forGenealogists – Breaking Brick Walls – Speaker: Kitty Cooper

• R1B is the most common haplogroup
• 1 marker equals about 100 years.  So if you are 4 markers from another person, that would be approximately 400 years
• Y DNA won’t break all your brick walls until more people test

2:30 – Why Y? Case Studies for Y-DNA Solutions – Speaker: Katherine Hope Borges

• Test as many family members and cousins as you can afford to or who will offer to be tested.  Maybe some of them will pay for their own tests.  Offer to give them family trees or information on their ancestors in return. (you have probably already done the research any way)
• The Mayflower Society has a YDNA project. 
• At Ysearch.org you can upload your results
• Test at the larger YDNA companies like FtDNA. Several smaller companies have gone out of business over the years.
• Notes to myself from this class – have my first cousins tested and see if I can upload my brother’s YDNA to the Mayflower site

3:30 – Using Autosomal DNA to Solve a Family Mystery – Speaker: Thomas Wright Jones

Thomas presented an excellent case study from his own ancestor and took us through all the steps used to solve the mystery of “Who was Calista’s Father?”

• When we put together a puzzle picture of our ancestor, remember that not all the pieces will be completed.  But, if the pieces you have fit, and you have enough of them, you can complete the picture.
• When pieces don’t fit – set them aside.
• Missing pieces can augment what we already know.
• If our hypothesis has only one conclusion and we can explain that conclusion, then we have an answer.
• 6 generations is at the very edge of the ability of DNA to be helpful to us. 
• Focused questions, like the one about Calista, make our research more efficient.
• Target people to test, rather than just randomly testing.
• Use GEDMatch to compare your tests to others

Those are just some of the tips I took away from the classes yesterday.

Were they helpful to me?  Absolutely!  Will this allow me to make better use of the DNA tests I currently have and future tests?  Yes!

Stay tuned for Day Two of my Jamboree experience.

OTHER POSTS THAT MAY BE OF INTEREST

My Trip to Scotland - What I Did Right and What I Did Wrong

FHL Trip - Day Two - A Red Letter Day!

Happy hunting,

Michigan Girl

 

Copyright ©  2010-2016   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION