Planning a visit to the National Archives

Many records are not available on the local level. An in-person visit to the National Archives may be what you need to do. While the main branch is located in Washington, D.C. there are other branches which may be more convenient.  

National Archive Branches are located in

• Washington, DC
• College Park, MD
  Atlanta, GA
• Boston, MA
• Chicago, IL
• Denver, CO
• Fort Worth, TX
• Kansas City, MO
• New York City, NY
• Philadelphia, PA
• Riverside, CA
• St. Louis, MO
• San Francisco, CA
• Seattle, WA

Not every branch will have all records, it is important that you check before you visit what records are available at each branch. You can use the National Archives Catalog to determine where the records you want are located. Also check the times when the archives are open, each branch has different hours. 

When you arrive at the branch you plan to visit you will need to fill out call slips so that the records you want to view can be pulled. Arrive as early in the day as possible and try to avoid the weekends. I speak from experience when I say, if you are driving any distance you should probably plan on an overnight visit. Getting and working with the records is likely to take longer than you anticipate. You don't want to rush through things and if you are like me, one visit won't even be enough. 

I did my research and even though the archives in Pittsfield was closer and much easier to get to, I had to go to the one in Waltham, Ma. (Boston). I was wanting to look for naturalization records and ship records and these were in Waltham. 

Staff is available for questions and are very helpful at least in Waltham they are. I now need to go another route to look for my father-in-law's naturalization and it will not be at Waltham since he wasn't a resident of Connecticut in those days. 

What types of records can you hope to find?

Military service records, naturalization records, immigration records, ship manifests, passenger lists, land records, court records, fugitive slave records and a whole lot more. 

NERGC 2019

Registration has now opened for the 2019 NERGC in Manchester, New Hampshire April 3-6.  If you haven't made your hotel reservation yet, the Doubletree Hotel is filling up fast and you may have to use the Hilton Garden Inn. Some of the tracks have a limited number of spaces so if you have very specific things you are looking for, it is imperative that you register as quickly as possible. 

And yes, I have already registered.  Follow the link and register and I look forward to seeing you there. 

Meeting With DNA Cousins

While I was in Ireland last month I met up with a DNA cousin whom I matched on Family Tree DNA. I am not usually the one who contacts people but in this case, I did. David Malloy is my second cousin once removed. My grandmother and his great-grandmother are sisters. We exchanged a few emails and when he found out that I was visiting Ireland, he made reservations to come to Dublin and stay while I was there.

We met in the Den Bar at the Landsdowne Hotel. Did I recognize him at first sight? No, not really. I did look at him as he stood at the bar but since we hadn't exchanged pictures I didn't immediately recognize him. Luckily he came over to our table which had me jumping to my feet and into his arms.

We were immediately chatting away like we had always known each other. I have found this to be a common reaction. We know right away we have two things in common, ancestors and the love of genealogy. I have met quite a few of my cousins who I didn't know I had over the years and it has been the same every time.

We had some really interesting information that I didn't have and I have my knowledge of using DNA to nail down relationships.

We met again the next day for breakfast and then spent 5 hours figuring things out. We found that we have a lot in common and it is obvious that we share lots of DNA. I am not suggesting that it will always work out this well, but in my experience it has. Be sure to meet in a public place and if possible not alone. 

I wish I had asked our friends to take a picture of us together but we were so busy talking that it never occurred to me. 

My Genealogy Road Trip to Cape Ann Massachusetts

I have been on many genealogy trips. For me, coming to Cape Ann was a journey of discovery. I have early New England ancestors who were residents in the area at about the time of the infamous Salem witch trials. That, of course, made me very curious. I had one ancestor who had died in Gloucester in 1728 but I had no idea where he was buried.

The Cape Anne Museum, in addition to some wonderful exhibits, has a genealogy library that is the ideal place to start any research into ancestors in the area. I checked in on Friday morning and began my quest to find out where Michael Webber was buried.

Staff is available to send you in the right direction and let you know what is available. Lots of people were searching that morning so it took me a while to get the help I needed. I was given the cemetery registers for all of the cemeteries in Gloucester. It was a painstaking search that yielded nothing. I was quite defeated. The death record was no help as it only said that he died not where he was buried.

I was looking through a book about the area when I came across a section about my ancestor Michael’s son of the same name and his wife. A minister was named who had visited their home. I mentioned it to one of the librarians and she immediately responded: "he is the minister from the First Parish". It seems inadvertently I had stumbled upon the information that I needed. As members of First Parish, they would have been buried in the First Parish Cemetery. Since they were not listed in that cemetery, they are unlikely to have a stone.

I immediately asked about the location of the cemetery and got a rather vague answer. Later that day, at the Sargent House Museum, the director looked it up for me and printed a map that showed me where it was. Even with that information, I was not able to find it on my first attempt.

I refused to leave town without finding it so returned to the street, driving very slowly and there it was. It is off the road, there is a small sign but the cemetery is completely overgrown. A few gravestones standing in a field of hay. Too bad because this is a very historic place and many of the early settlers of Gloucester are no doubt buried here.

Another piece of information I acquired at the Cape Anne Museum was the location of my ancestor's land. It seems he was quite well off and had a large holding in an area that is quite amazing today.

As I visited the Fisherman’s Memorial on the waterfront, I realized that I had a relative on the memorial. Michael Webber's grandson lost his life and is memorialized here. I really loved my visit to Gloucester and I feel very connected to the area.  

Before you head off on your own genealogy road trip be sure that you have done the necessary research not only about the dates and places but about the possible sources of information in the area. 

Ancestry Updates Your DNA Results

When I logged into Ancestry this past week and looked at my DNA results I saw that I had the option to look at and then accept updated results. I was naturally curious and couldn't wait to see what my new results said. It was not shocking but it was certainly much more in keeping with what I have always personally thought my DNA results should look like.

Current results:

Ireland and Scotland 49%
England, Wales and Northwestern Europe 31%
France  20%

Previous results:

Europe West 45%
Ireland 38%
Iberian Peninsula  11%
Great Britain 3%
Scandinavia 2%
Finland/Northwest Russia <1 %

Given the fact that my mother is half Irish and my father is half Irish, and the other halves are English and French, I think that the new results are much closer to reality. 

Alfred's has really changed he is now 100% Portuguese, guess what,  all 4 of his grandparents are Portuguese so this is not at all surprising and he is delighted that he is no longer Italian/Greek, English and Irish. He prefers to just be Portuguese. 

More Finds with DNA

When I did my husband's DNA it was a pretty big shock to us. This man who is 100 percent Portuguese was 34 percent Southern European (Italian Greek), 27 percent Iberian which is Portuguese, 24 percent Great Britain and some other things. But the 24 percent Great Britain was the most shocking. My grandmother is from England and I am only 4 percent Great Britain. 

We really had no idea where this came from. Al's father once told me that one of his sisters had blond hair and blue eyes which is pretty interesting. I have had contact with a DNA relative of Al's, their great-grandfathers are brothers, so they are 3rd cousins, I shot Danny off a message to ask him if he had any Great Britain in his DNA and he responded immediately, not one drop!!

I then contracted Trinda who is related to him on his mother's mother's side and asked her if she has any English. Not a drop but they do have Irish and Scottish, which Al also has.

Since their matches are on Al's mother's side, this tells me that Great Britain comes from his father's side. Now, of course, I still have no idea where and who but it at least is the first step in identifying this one aspect of his genealogy. 

DNA can tell us things about ourselves that we never knew. Al was quite stunned by all this, he identifies as Portuguese and finding out that his roots are more Italian and Greek than Portuguese has confused him, to say the least. What I will do with this information I can't tell you yet but hopefully something.  

Update: In the two years since I wrote this Ancestry has changed his DNA summary and he is now 100% Portuguese which is good news for him but I am 8% Welsh which has confused me. I think I will just wait and no doubt it will change again. 

New Genealogy Findings Using DNA Triangulation

DNA is fascinating, especially when used in conjunction with traditional genealogy techniques. When you look at all your matches, no matter which testing site you used, it can be a little intimidating. I have over 1,000 4th cousins. In some cases, it is pretty evident how we are related. Most of them have French Canadian names in their list of ancestors. 

But if they don't have names that you recognize but they are still a match, maybe even a pretty close one, what then?  If you had your DNA tested by Ancestry, you will need to move it over to another site and hopefully, the person you match will already be there or is willing to move theirs as well. Be prepared for the worst but hope for the best. 

Once you are on another site like My Heritage or Gedmatch, or Family Tree (there is a $19 charge to get the reports you will want) you can then isolate the chromosome that you match on. While knowing the chromosome in and of itself is not the answer, it can lead to an answer. 

It may take a few matches with the same Chromosome to identify which line you all have in common. This is triangulating. Of course, you will be counting on someone perhaps knowing more about the family than you do but it is very exciting when you realize that yes, that common match you have on your #4 or 12 or whatever chromosome belongs to the ........ family. 

I have identified a couple of families through this method and it is very exciting. Let me know if you have any luck with this method.