DNA Update

 Background Information 

After I started writing this post I attended a zoom presentation by Sophie Kay entitled Six Hats for Genealogy.

This post covers the first of those which is Organisation. It is important to get together everything you know and how you know it before starting to look at anything which might add to your knowledge. Using the Six Hats approach allows us to make considered decisions.

Since my last post I have tested at Ancestry and have made further discoveries. 

I have also decided that I need to share some background information in order to explain some results so before I go further with my DNA posts I want to share some of what I knew from searching the records.

I have needed to be somewhat creative when trying to ascertain where some of my family were and whether I have found the right person in the record. These were illiterate times when most people could not read and write a few could just scrawl their name if required but there was no real consistency in how names would be recorded. 

It is important to consider this and how any accent might change what someone heard. If the person making a record was not familiar with local names or either party was from another area the interpretation could change.

First I will look at my Buckle surname which could be spelt several ways and was even transcribed as Bartlett on one census record for my great grandfather. 

Research on this line lead me to find my 2xgt grandfather who was christened in 1827. His parents were not married and the father although named had no occupation recorded in the register.

However when he married he gave the correct name for his deceased father and an occupation.

I wrote this post in July 2024 but did not publish it. However further developments may make this information relevant for future posts I intend to make so I am publishing it almost 2 years later.

Week 11 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks

Lucky

Two lucky ladies who won their registration the first time they came to Rootstech.

Robbin Smith and Hilary Gadsby

The ancestor who I highlighted last week could be classed as being unlucky so this week I will be highlighting the opposite and talking about lucky finds and contacts and good fortune.

If I had started my research earlier I think my luck would have been so different. I could have spoken to my mother in law about her family and would have had grandparents who could have helped with personal experience and family stories. 
Judy G. Russell aka The Legal Genealogist gave a presentation at RootsTech and highlighted how quickly the knowledge of our ancestors disappears. So we all need to start our research as early as possible and record it before we lose it or we lose the ability to record it. Don't forget family members do not have to die for us to lose their stories. Speak to everyone you can they may each have something to add.

I lost my father before I had thought to speak to him and my mother lost her ability to speak due to illness. Fortunately, I did manage to interview my father's older sister who was the record holder for her generation and she told me about things that do not show up in the records correctly. She also told me about a missing child who I have now tracked down see my post.

I have also found records at an archive by chance such as the settlement examination for my 3 x gt grandmother Louisa Richards see more about this in my earlier post and my other blog. 

If I look back at my research I will also find other instances where luck has intervened. 

I think for me the luckiest thing to happen since I started to research is the way that the internet has changed genealogical research. Contacting others who I haven't, and may never, meet but can provide me with breakthrough information has never been easier.

Don't rely on luck, it is great when it helps but most breakthroughs are due to good research and understanding more about how to do things right.
Speak to others, attend classes and watch webinars. 
If something has helped another researcher it may help you.