Sifting Through the DNA Matches

I continue to sift through mom's AncestryDNA matches, making identifications and grouping them into family groups using the shared matches feature.  I've been pleasantly surprised at how accurate and helpful this feature has been.

For each match that I can identify how they are connected with mom, I am looking at the shared matches and marking each of the shared matches with a note of my hypothesis of how they are connected.

For example, mom's maternal first cousin has tested at AncestryDNA, and their MRCA (Most Recent Common Ancestor) couple would be Lambertson-Gilliland.  I am then theorizing that any of these shared matches between mom and her first cousin would also share ancestry somewhere along the upline of this couple.  In essence, this should give me places to expect to find the connection.

By taking a look at each of these 'shared matches' and seeing if they have a tree where I can make a connection, I can bolster my theory.  For those who do not have a complete tree, I can create a 'Quick & Dirty' tree at Ancestry to see if I can get the automated system to generate a tree back far enough to make a connection.

Depending on how far back the identified match goes, I could move shared matches 'up-the-line' as far the hypothesis goes for which branch they should be on. 

I have currently worked my way through all of my mom's DNA matches down to the 20 cM level.  I'm using that as my cut off for now.

What You'll Find on my Public Tree

I've hemmed and hawed through the years about whether to make my family tree at Ancestry public or keep it private.  I've finally decided that it should remain public, though I've added "Working File" to the title to make sure that fellow researchers know it is an evolving file.  I sync my RootsMagic database with Ancestry fairly regularly with my results.

I'm not getting any younger, and I want to make sure the research is out there for someone else to pick up the torch.  The link to my public tree is here. There are several types of information in my tree:

• Cumulative research on my direct family lines, started back in the 1980s when I was a young Boy Scout;
• The ancestry of my wife's family lines;
• The ancestry of my daughter's family lines (ex-wife's);
• The ancestry of my step-children's family lines;
• One name studies - such as LeMaster families that are either distantly or not yet connected to my main lines.
• Place name studies - such as records of related families in locales such as Madison or Jay Counties, Indiana where I have concentrations;
• Quick & Dirty trees of DNA matches that have undiscovered connections to my main lines (before I learned to keep them separate)

In a nutshell, there is a little bit of everything in my tree, which has grown quite large - over 40,000 individuals.  My citations and facts from RootsMagic are tied to the profiles in Ancestry, though I haven't uploaded documents in every case to attach.  Some of that I am hoping to get around to adding - I have Dropbox files for each surname of the families I am researching where I keep the images.

I'm hoping that by keeping it public, more researchers might reach out to me to share information.  What has been your experience with public versus private trees?

The Ultimate Sacrifice

Today in the United States it is Memorial Day, a day to remember and recognize those who have given the ultimate sacrifice while in military service to our country.  

Looking through my RootsMagic database, I found the following individuals who gave the ultimate sacrifice (undoubtably, not a complete list) :

• Daniel Beals (1822-1863), died in Louisville, KY while a member of Company A, 101st Indiana Infantry during the Civil War.  He was the son of Nathan C. & Elizabeth (Chew) Beals, making him my maternal 4th-great granduncle.
• Samuel Chew (c1743-1778), died in Connecticut during the Revolutionary War while serving in the Continental Navy.  He was the son of Thomas & Martha (Taylor) Chew, making him my maternal 7th-great granduncle. The USS Chew was named in his honor.
• Joseph Davis ( -1777), died in New York City after capture by the British on 13 Feb 1777, while serving in the 1st Regiment out of Monmouth, New Jersey.  He was the son of Thomas & Bethia (Maxson) Davis, making him my paternal 1st cousin 8 times removed.
• Johann Jacob Deutsch (1821-1863), died of yellow fever while serving in Company D, 13th Connecticut Infantry during the Civil War.  He was the 4th-great grandfather of my daughter, Corinne.
• John W. Duffey (1845-1863), died at Cumberland Gap while serving in Company G, 118th Indiana Infantry during the Civil War.  He was the son of Daniel L. & Susanna (Freese) Duffey, making him Eileen's 2nd-great granduncle.
• John Wesley King (1837-1865), died at Paducah, Kentucky while serving in Company G, 17th Indiana Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War.  He was the son of William & Nancy (Owings) King, making him my maternal 3rd-great granduncle.
• John Cooper LeMaster (1934-1953), Marine Pfc., killed in action in Korea.  He was the son of Donald Cooper & Luella (Gibbons) LeMaster, making him my paternal 2nd cousin.
• Gurdon Lord Pierce (1841-1864), died at Cold Harbor while serving as Lt. of Company C, 112th New York Volunteers.  He was the son of Austin & Mary Ann (Sterlin) Pierce, making him my maternal 1st cousin 5 times removed.
• Reuben Sherman (1845-1864), died at Andersonville Prison while serving in 135th Ohio Infantry.  He was the son of Lorenzo & Sophia (Moulton) Sherman, making him my paternal 1st cousin 4 times removed.
• Frederick Charles Wildt (1921-1944), killed in action 20 Jul 1944 in France.  He was the son of Arthur & Anna Magdalena (Damm) Wildt, making him Corinne's great-granduncle.

Looking over this list, I am honored by their sacrifice and proud of their history.  Though I have the service records for some, there are many in this list that I need to document their time in service.