Blog – Page 2 – Dana Leeds

06 Mar

Exploring FamilySearch’s New Full-Text Search Tool & AI Transcription Comparison

Posted by Dana Artificial Intelligence 7 Comments

A Revolutionary Tool: FamilySearch “Full-Text Search” During RootsTech, an exciting development was announced: the launch of FamilySearch Labs. Among these experimental tools is one described as “Find Results with Full-Text Search.” Although more databases will soon be added, currently this tool can search United States land and probate records from 1630 to 1975. What makes this tool a game-changer? Full-text Searches: Discover records previously difficult to locate, including unindexed documents and those where ancestors are mentioned in less direct roles, such as witnesses or neighbors. Dynamic Search Functions: Utilize quotation marks for exact searches, “+” for mandatory inclusion of specific […]

22 Feb

AI: Introducing My FREE Census Bots

Posted by Dana Artificial Intelligence 7 Comments

While taking Stephen Little’s Advanced AI course through NGS, I discovered how to create custom GPTs. If you’re active on Facebook, you might have seen the images I’ve been crafting of Lilly and Bo, Mateo and Shadow, and my grandmother, Hazel. Stay tuned, as I’ll be sharing those “bots” soon! Today, I’m excited to share two bots I created that assist in calculating birthdates from census records. (Note: You will need the paid version of ChatGPT to access these.) 1790 to 1840: Tick Mark Calculator (click here) My first creation was programmed using plain English. Simply input the data from […]

4th Great Grandparent ThruLines Hint for John Vaughan & Millie Jones

29 Nov

AncestryDNA ThruLines Part 2: Evaluating Matches and Exploring Y-DNA Possibilities

Posted by Dana DNA 7 Comments

Have you struggled with an AncestryDNA ThruLines hints that you were sure was incorrect? You’re not alone! In my last post, I started analyzing the ThruLines for the potential parents of my dad’s 3rd great-grandmother, Sarah “Sally” Vaughan (1787–1859). Case Study: John and Amelia (Jones) Vaughan ThruLines, an AncestryDNA tool that provides hints or suggestions for potential ancestors based on DNA matches and family trees, indicated that Sarah’s parents might be John and Amelia (Jones) Vaughan. However, my research suggested otherwise. ThruLines proposed 19 DNA matches that might connect my dad to other children of John and Amelia. Over the […]

22 Nov

Sometimes AncestryDNA ThruLines are Wrong: Disproving an Ancestral Hint

Posted by Dana DNA 31 Comments

While I’m a big fan of the hints from AncestryDNA ThruLines, we know they aren’t always correct. In my classes, I always emphasize the need to “prove or disprove” these hints. Just yesterday, I decided to put this into practice with a ThruLines hint that resurfaced this weekend while I was teaching about AncestryDNA’s tools. ThruLines pointed to a certain couple as the potential parents of one of my direct ancestors. Hundreds of online family trees agreed. But were they right? As it turns out, traditional research led to a strong conclusion: hundreds of trees, along with AncestryDNA ThruLines, had […]

12 Nov

The Power of AI in Tutoring

Posted by Dana Artificial Intelligence 5 Comments

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 […]

02 Nov

Creating More Consistent Images with DALL-E 3

Posted by Dana Artificial Intelligence 5 Comments

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, […]

31 Oct

5 “Next Steps” to Do After the Leeds Method

Posted by Dana Leeds Method 2 Comments

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 […]

24 Oct

Using Artificial Intelligence in Genealogy

Posted by Dana Artificial Intelligence 17 Comments

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. […]

30 Apr

My First Legacy Family Tree Webinar

Posted by Dana Leeds Method 5 Comments

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!

10 Feb

Leeds Method: Which Matches Should You Use?

Posted by Dana Leeds Method 46 Comments

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 […]