Genetic Genealogy Videos for All Skill Levels: From Newbie to DNA Master One Video at a Time

 This post is one I originally wrote for the Fall 2020 issue of the Wake Genealogy Watch newsletter. The topics are still pretty fresh. I hope you find something useful here.  - Cyndi Deal

DNA for genealogy is a big topic and there are no shortcuts on the learning curve, but there is so much DNA education at our fingertips right now. With so many great genetic genealogy webinars available on line, why not sharpen your skill set?  (Bonus - All but two of these are free!) - CD

Beginner 

You Can Do DNA (series 2024), presenter - Diahan Southard.  (Updated and expanded to a series in 2024. Parts 1-4 are here, Part 5 can be viewed on YouTube)
New to DNA? Start here. This covers test types, test companies, testing strategies, best explanation of ethnicity estimates ever, and basic concepts in a very beginner friendly format. 

What Exactly is a Centimorgan? An Introduction to the Science of DNA Testing, presenter - Ran Snir.  Watch video
This is an overview of the science and terms you will encounter regularly in the study of genetic genealogy.
CentiMorgan, SNP, Segment, etc.

DNA is Dynamite - How to Ignite your Ancestral Research, presenter Michelle Leonard. Watch video
This is an overview of Y and Mito and good coverage of using Auto and X. It uses examples from several testing companies. Good overview of evaluating match trees and shared matches. 

DNA the Glue That Holds Families Together, presenter - Diahan Southard.  Watch video
Diahan tells the story of the discovery of her Mom's bio family. The work flow up the tree to a common ancestor and back down are well covered here. The process is the same for linking to your DNA matches, adopted or not.

Getting started with DNA, presenter - Debbie Kennett. Watch video
This video covers intro to Y, and Mitochondrial, with emphasis on Autosomal. It highlights the useful new "predictive tree" tools at the major companies.

Intermediate - Advanced

Adoption and Unknown Parentage ($), presenter - Michelle Leonard. Watch video
I am working on my 3rd viewing of this webinar. It is not to be missed. The workflow is basically the same whether you are working an adoptee, NPE, or DNA match with little to no tree. It covers match organization, age considerations, endogamy, segment data, contacting close family. There is a fee ($9/month or $45/year). This is very worth the fee.

 DNA For Your Family Knot, presenter - Jennifer Patterson Dondero. Watch video
Do you sometimes get confusing results with your DNA matches? Do your family lines cross in ways you don't expect? This video covers pedigree collapse and endogamy.

DNA Painter, presenter - Jonny Perl. Watch video
If you have your DNA at sites that share segment data and provide chromosome browsers, you can take advantage of this powerful segment mapping tool.

WATO, presenter - Jonny Perl. Watch video
Introduction and explanation of the What Are the Odds Tool at dnapainter.com. Use this tool to figure out where a mystery match fits into a tree. It includes a live demo of the tool.

Connecting the dots - Intro to Auto Clusters, presenter - Paul Woodbury. Watch video
This is a good introduction to genetic networks and the new Auto Cluster tool at My Heritage. This is a good first stop for working with any cluster tool. 

3 Genealogy DNA Case Studies and How I Solved Them ($), presenter - Roberta Estes. Watch video
There is no substitute for seeing the process in action. Use autosomal, Y and mitochondrial DNA to solve 3 genealogy puzzles. There is a fee ($9/month or $45/year). This is very worth the fee.

Autosomal DNA - a step-by-step approach to analysing your atDNA matches, presenter - Maurice Gleeson. Watch video
This is an older video but presents solid technique. The DNA SIG spent the summer of 2018 learning and practicing Maurice's techniques. It has served us well. 

$ - if you decide to spring for a Legacy Webinar Subscription, check out the Tech Zone short videos and the whole Foundations in DNA series by Blaine Bettinger.  - CD

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Register for the next two WCGS events - It's not too late!

 Don't forget to sign up for these two events. Both are free and open to all with registration.

Our next virtual meeting and presentation is next Tuesday, Jan 28 at 6:30pm. If you are not making full use of the free content available with registration at FamilySearch, you are missing out. Join us as Jill Morelli guides us through the most up-to-date search methods at the international site. You will be glad you did. Sign up here.

If you are local, there is still time to register for the Wakecogen Meetup on February 10 at 10am. We will tour both the NC Archives and the NC State Library (in same building) and lunch at the legislature cafeteria right next door is optional. Tours are free with registration and open to all. There are 30 spots available. Full details are here. 


We look forward to seeing you on Zoom and in person!

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Wake Wednesday - John Lawson - Did He Pass Through Wake County?

I found this great account of John Lawson's 1700 exploration of the area that would become North and South Carolina, in a book written back in 1922 - History of Wake County, North Carolina, by Hope Summerell Chamberlain. It is a fantastic book, fast paced and pleasant enough that I am frankly captivated. You may see more posts inspired by it pages in the future.

Chamberlain describes Lawson's voyage:

"The first historian of North Carolina, the explorer Lawson, although known to have passed through the central part of this State, cannot actually be proved to have trod the soil of Wake County. One authority on our local history thinks that he did, and indeed it seems more than possible.

Lawson made a journey through western and middle Carolina in the year seventeen hundred or thereabout. His course was a long loop coming out of South Carolina and crossing the Catawba and the ''Realkin" (or Yadkin) and other streams, continuing in a northeasterly direction and then due east, until he finally reached the settlements of the North Carolina seaboard. His descriptive traveller's journal reads as fresh and as crisply Interesting as if penned last year, and we get the impression of a writer alert in every sense and perception. He was a fine optimistic fellow, and though he was hired no doubt to praise the new colony, and so draw In settlers from among the readers of his account, yet no one can close his book without the feeling that he too, like many another coming to North Carolina to live, soon fell in love with the climate, and delighted to bask under the sunny sky.

Hear his account of leaving ''Acconeechy Town" (which must have been near Hillsborough), and marching twenty miles eastward over "stony rough ways" till he reached "a mighty river." This river is as large as the Realkin, the south bank having tracts of good land, the banks high, and stone quarries. We got then to the north shore, which is poor white sandy soil with scrubby oaks. We went ten miles or so, and sat down at the falls of a large creek where lay mighty rocks, the water making a strange noise as of a great many water wheels at once. This I take to be the falls of News Creek, called by the Indians 'We-Quo-Whom.'

For a first trip through an unknown wilderness, guided only by a compass, this suggests the neighborhood, and describes the granite ridges that traverse Wake County, and produce the Falls of Neuse, where the river flows across one of these barriers.

During the next days' travel he comments on the land ''abating of its height" and ''mixed with pines and poor soil." This, too, makes it sound as if he perceived the swift transition which may be seen in the eastern part of Wake County from one zone to the next, from the hard-wood growth to the pine timber, and from a clay to a sandy soil.

Lawson highly praised the midland of North Carolina, between the sandy land and the mountains, and it is pleasant to read his enthusiastic account of this home of ours, and learn the impression it made on a good observer in its pristine state, and before the white man's foot had become familiar with the long trading path, which must have crossed west, near this section, but not certainly in the exact longitude of Wake County. This trail is known to have passed Hillsborough, and to have crossed Haw River at the Haw Fields. It may well have followed the same course, as later did the Granville Tobacco Path, which certainly traversed Wake County near Raleigh."

Lawson's map c. 1709

Chamberlain really wants Lawson's path to have cut through Wake County and his descriptions of portions certainly do sound like our wild surrounds. The "large creek where lay mighty rocks," The granite ridges, the land ''abating of its height" ... ''mixed with pines and poor soil." I feel I have walked those very spots.

Was he describing "News Creek" (Neuse River)? Others feel it could easily have been the banks of the Little River.

For more insight, see Scott Heuler's blog. Scott planned and executed his own trek in Lawsons footsteps and wrote a book about it. There was an exhibit and presentation at the City of Raleigh Museum in 2019-2020.

https://www.lawsontrek.com/along-the-path-blog

For John Lawson's personal account, visit his digitized diary from 1700 at the UNC North Carolina collection here. 

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So I think I might have mentioned that of all the crazy things that have happened regarding this Lawson project, kind of the coolest and a little bit craziest is the exhibit about Lawson's journey...

Wake Wednesday - Norwood Cemetery - Wake Cemetery Collection Use Case Tutorial

An effort to get out and enjoy a mild December day before the cold set in resulted in a hike in northern Wake county that led to an encounter with this small graveyard sitting just off a trail head at the Shinleaf Campground area of Falls Lake. Surrounded by it's dilapidated fence, the tiny graveyard contains three graves naming a Norwood family.

I was curious to know if they were logged in the Wake County Cemetery Image Collection. I snapped a few photos so I could compare when I got home and made a mental note of the location for my search.

The cemetery dates to the late 1890s - 1920s. The stones and fence around them look newer than that, but they are very disheveled. There are two very large trees growing within the fence, one having taken on the role of sentry post disallowing any entry. The condition of the fence tells the story of a great storm passing through. The panels are mangled and bent. I wonder if it was Hurricane Fran that did this or some other storm passing through. 

Despite all the damage to the fence, the stones are still very readable as these photos show. (Click images for readability.)

John Norwood 7/3/1822 - 8/16/1898
Ann Mangum Norwood 7/3/1834 - 6/4/1920
They had the same birthday.

Valera Hunter Norwood
Dates are unreadable currently in real life.

View on Google

Once back at my computer, I wanted to compare what I saw in real life against what might be recorded in the Wake County Cemetery Image Collection. I had no idea if I would find it or not. I am sharing the steps of my search to help others explore the collection when they are hunting a family cemetery. 

I knew I was looking for a Norwood Cemetery and it would be in the northern part of Wake County. To speed things along, the first place I looked was the Surname Finder file. This file catalogs surnames from small family cemeteries. It is quite a help when looking in rural areas. 

Note that larger community cemeteries were not included in the Surname Finder. For the most part, the burial lists for those were typed and can be searched with in the file as any other OCR document would be.

I see the Norwood surname in four townships. I could rule out Neuse and Little River since they were not in the right part of Wake County. I needed to check New Light and Bartons Creek. I started with New Light since the park entrance was off  New Light Road. 

When I browse through a list I like to be sure I am seeing all the included cemeteries so I increase the listings per page to the maximum number of 250. With most townships, you will see everything at this setting. There are a couple of exceptions. (Wake Forest twp. being one.)  Set New Light to max 250 listings per page. 

I did not find this cemetery in the New Light list. I checked the list for Barton's Creek (again setting the listings per page to 250) and success!  I found a listing for a Augustine Norwood that references a John Henry Norwood. 

The Augustine Norwood file is a delightfully nonstandard submission. Instead of the usual form, this file contains a three page letter describing two related Norwood families in different parts of Wake county. Best of all are the hand drawn maps included. This is just one example of the treasures with in the collection. The good news for us is that the map confirms this is the right cemetery in the right location and the dates match the stones. Here is the map from the letter and you can view the file for yourself here. 

Next, I opened the Bartons Creek New Index spreadsheet to see what notes were recorded there. You can view the snippet below on the spreadsheet and see that we did find the cemetery listed on Find A Grave and that the link is attached. I clicked the F/G link and from there I was able to add the dates for daughter, Valera. She was born 8/2/1853 and died 11/11/1920. 

view on Bartons Creek spreadsheet

I was also able to determine from looking at the Find a Grave entry for this Norwood cemetery that the GPS location recorded at F/G is incorrect. The cemetery is not located next to the public restrooms, but at the opposite end of the parking lot. It is directly across the parking lot from the "Mountain to Sea" trail as shown in the Google map satellite image above. Should you go looking you will see a trail marker for a path going down to the lake. The Norwood cemetery is just a short walk down that trail.

In addition to finding links to other cemetery sites, the New Index spreadsheet for each township houses newer information about cemeteries as it becomes known such as updated addresses as Wake County grows, street names are added to the State Road numbers (something we could not accommodate in the images) making them so much easier to follow, and GPS coordinates are included in most cases. Some are to the last verifiable point, but that is at least a starting place and the site can usually be found by following the given directions from that point. This is very valuable information that will speed up your discovery process so, ALWAYS check the township spreadsheet! They are linked several places on the township page so you can find them quicker. You will find a link right under the township name on the township page and you will find another in the 02 section of each township listing.

This was a fun exercise with a totally serendipitous discovery. It really helps illustrate all the features we put into the Wake Cemetery Survey Image Project to help you in your search and discovery of  family resting places. If you have any questions or tips of your own that help with finding, please reach out to me.   newsletter@wakecogen.org

Don't hesitate to jump in and start searching the Wake County Cemetery Survey image files!

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Next WCGS Virtual Meeting - Tuesday, January 28, 2025 at 6:30pm

Here are the details for the WCGS virtual meeting of 2025. This promises to be a popular topic! Please join us.

Tuesday, Jan 28 @ 6:30pm - Virtual

Topic:  Be a Super Sleuth! Accessing and Using Images on Family Search

Speaker: Jill Morelli, CG, CGL

Did you know that Family Search is placing their recently digitized material online in less that 24 hours after it is scanned? Did you know that they were placing them, not in the Catalog but in Images? This makes the images tab (under Search) as the most up-to-date repository of records--not the Catalog. These records are also not yet indexed and so they cannot be accessed using a surname search. What is a Super Sleuth to do? We will learn how to access these records and perhaps how to use other tools to find your ancestor in the document easier. You will want to see what FS has put on line in the geographic area where you are researching! Treasures await!

 

Join us!  Free and virtual!

*Please register by 4pm day of meeting.

*Please save your passcode and link for ease of entry at start time.
*Presentation starts promptly at 6:30 pm.

Click here to register at the Wakecogen website events page. 

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Wake Wednesday - FamilySearch new tool and search within county tip!

Update -- See the helpful tip from Barbara McGeachy that she learned at an Olivia Rainey Library tour.

This just passed through my Facebook feed. It will certainly provide new placed to look for ancestors and could really be a game changer. Hope you have a little time to kill...

Read details at FamilySearch

This link pulls up Wake County records, but...

You can take it anywhere you want to go here.

A free log in is required for access.

Barbara McGeachy has passed along a handy tip she learned from a class taught by Hannah Cox of Olivia Raney Local History Library. During a recent OLLI presentation, it was noted that searches within a county do not always turn up all cities within the county. One should conduct a "county name" search and a "county, city name" search. as in the illustration. 

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Wake Genealogy Watch - Winter Edition 2025, v8.2 - Live Now at our website

The Winter 2025 issue (Vol. 8, Issue 2) of our award-winning newsletter, Wake Genealogy Watch, is now available online for reading or download. Visit the WCGS website or click the link here: Wake Genealogy Watch, Winter 2025. 

This issue features:

• Genealogy New Year's Resolutions: Three engaging group activities to make 2025 your year of genealogy!
• Barbara McGeachy introduces an important record service for finding Union Soldiers’ pension records.
• Details about the Feb. 10 WCGS Meetup, including a tour of the NC Archives and State Library.
• A heartwarming story of a WCGS member reuniting a family with their lost Bible—read the nationally published account!
• Instructions for joining our new Facebook group. We’ve moved—don’t miss our updates!
• Tips from Olivia Raney Library on preserving local memorabilia.
• Meet Jessica Conklin, our newest Board Member.
• Lynne Deese highlights a local woman military veteran buried at Raleigh National Cemetery.
• A sneak peek at the new interface for Chronicling America.
• Introducing the "From Naming to Knowing" project, featuring names, records, and biographies of the enslaved builders of the NC State Capitol.
• Gain access to NC Cohabitation Records from the 1860’s, now available online.
• A full calendar of exciting events!

Photo Note: If you choose to read a printed version of this newsletter, some of the photos will be difficult to view due to size constraints. Please refer to the online edition where you can enlarge the photos to accommodate better viewing. 

Click this newsletter page link to view this and all past newsletter content. 

We welcome your feedback, input, and submissions for inclusion in future editions. Please address all concerns to newsletter@wakecogen.org.

Visit the WCGS Blog for more events, late breaking news, tutorials, updates, and other special posts.  

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Next Wakecogen In-person Meetup - February 10, 2025 - Tour NC Archives and State Library with Wakecogen

The Wake County Genealogical Society's first in-person outing of 2025 will be a popular tour of the NC Archives and the State Library, organized by President Barbary McGeachy.

February Meetup Details:

• Event: Tour of NC Archive and State Library
• Date: Monday, Feb. 10, 10 AM - Noon (lunch optional)
• Location: 109 E. Jones St., Raleigh (meet in the lobby)

Lunch: Optional at the cafeteria in the basement of the legislature building, featuring hot food, salads, and sandwiches. Security check required; no special ID needed.

Source: Wikipedia

This tour is open to everyone, with 30 spots available. Sign up here: Signup Genius. 

Each tour lasts 45-60 minutes, concluding by noon. The Archives tour is optional; participants can choose to visit only the library first. Research is not permitted on this day as both facilities are closed to the public on Mondays.

The NC Archives has original documents and some books but it's only about North Carolina.The staff will explain the types of materials in the archives and how to request them. They will have documents ready for us to look at. You can ask questions. The tour includes the vault which is normally closed to the public.

The State Library (Genealogy Room) has books and materials from other states in addition to N.C. The staff will explain the types of materials and how to request them. The library has many resources including vertical files (miscellaneous documents donated to the library), free access to databases including newspaper websites and Fold3, an overhead copy machine, and more. N.C. residents can get a free library card to check out books and to use some databases from home.

For questions, contact Barbara McGeachy at President@wakecogen.org.

We look forward to seeing you on February 10!

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