Artificial intelligence (AI) excels at teaching basic concepts, serving as a personalized tutor across various fields, including genealogy. In this way, AI can act as our tutor whether we are trying to learn terms and skills related to genealogy or to another part of our life. Recently, when prompted, it did a nice job of explaining the Genealogical Proof Standards (GPS). I went a step further, requesting an example of the third step: analysis and correlation of information. I appreciate how AI tools like ChatGPT provide quick responses to our specific questions. Searching for an example of genealogical analysis and...
As genealogists, we find ourselves at the intersection of history and technology. Today’s example comes from the evolving field of AI-generated imagery. Earlier today, Steve Little from AI Genealogy Insights highlighted a resource that addresses a common challenge with DALL-E 3: fine-tuning the generated images to fit our specific needs by using seeds. As part of a private Facebook group for Steve’s NGS “Empowering Genealogists with Artificial Intelligence” course, a Twitter post by Rowan Cheung was shared which sheds light on the concept of using ‘seeds’ to refine these images. While I had come across the term earlier in the week,...
Have you clustered your DNA matches but are wondering what to do next? Whether you’ve used the Leeds Method, an automated tool, or identified a group of Shared Matches, the work (and fun) has just begun! I’ve put together my top 5 strategies for working with your DNA clusters to determine how the matches are related to each other and then how the tester is related to the matches. These steps can help you identify close biological family as well as more distant relatives. Step 1: Identify Repeating Surnames Although trees are not required to do the Leeds Method, they...
If you follow me on Facebook, you’ve probably noticed that I’ve fallen in love with generating Artificial Intelligence (AI) art. I’m also embracing AI in my genealogy work as well as my broader life! This technology really started becoming possible less than a year ago in December 2022. My journey began a short time later. So, what have I experimented with so far, how has it been helpful, and what concerns have arisen? March 2023 I first tried the free version of ChatGPT in March. At that point, I was trying to use it more like Google; I wasn’t impressed....
In February 2019, about 6 months after I introduced the Leeds Method, AncestryDNA introduced their Custom Groups or “Colored Dot” system. These colorful dots worked wonderfully with the Leeds Method! Over the years, I’ve used them in various ways. Earlier this month I presented at CeCe Moore’s i4GG (Institute for Genetic Genealogy). And one of my new methods uses these dots in a slightly different way. But I was frustrated that, despite trying to create a “beautiful” and useful dot labeling system, the dots were getting scrambled! What was happening? Messy Dots Here’s an example of my mom’s DNA results...
Hi, everyone! I wanted to let you know that I’ll be doing my first Legacy Family Tree webinar on Wednesday, May 4th, at 11:00 a.m. PDT. It’s titled “Quickly Organize Your DNA Matches with the Leeds Method.” You can register to attend live for free at this link! And the recording is available free for a week. Then it is available to subscribers. If you aren’t a member, I highly recommend it! They have hundreds of presentations by some of the best speakers on all kinds of topics. Hope to “see you” Wednesday!
If you aren’t familiar with WikiTree, it’s a free, crowdsourced, single-family tree that stresses collaboration, accuracy, and sources. This year they are doing the WikiTree Challenge where teams of amateur genealogists attempt to break down brick walls of “leaders in the genealogy industry and top professional genealogists.” I’m honored and thrilled to have been chosen as one of the September guests! My week kicked off last Wednesday, September 15th, with an interview, and my “big reveal” was this Wednesday, September 22nd. (You can watch them on YouTube here and here.) The WikiTree Challenge created a highlight page for my week....
I often get questions about which matches should be used when doing the Leeds Method. For the most part, it depends on what you already know about your family and matches. Unknown Biological Parent or Grandparent If you are trying to identify an unknown biological parent or grandparent, you probably don’t know your 2nd and 3rd cousins. In that case, I recommend using matches who share between 90 and 400 cM of DNA with you. This is because we are hoping to find 2nd and 3rd cousins and avoid any first cousins who share two grandparents with you. And, for...
I recently discussed how and why you might need to consolidate your clusters when doing the Leeds Method. I also shared an example and went through the process step by step. But even after consolidating your clusters, some of you will still have more than 4 clusters. In fact, some of you will still have quite a few clusters. But, why? Well, for many of you it’s because you don’t have any—or don’t have enough—2nd cousins. Why Second Cousins? The Leeds Method attempts to use 2nd and 3rd cousins to sort your DNA matches into groups of people who are...
I posted earlier this week about how and why you might need to consolidate (or combine) your color clusters on your Leeds Method chart. Today, I’d like to share an example from a reader named Bruce. Original 9 Clusters When Bruce sent me his chart, he had sorted 50 people into 9 clusters: With a lot of clusters and a lot of overlap, Bruce’s chart would be more helpful if we consolidated some of his clusters. Although not always possible, we are hoping to be able to create 4 clusters based on his 4 grandparent lines. Rearranging the Clusters To consolidate clusters,...
