Sorting DNA matches is a science, but it is an inexact one and sometimes requires a little bit of creativity in order to see the best way. What worked for DNA matches that were connected to my grandfather was to put matches into one of four groups (if I knew how they were related to me): To help with match analysis, I broke my Neill only matches into those who stayed in the same geographic area as my family and those who left and settled in Montana. The Montana families married into completely different families which makes the analysis easier. I do have three additional groups not shown here: Sometimes just sorting is helpful.
A good reminder… Abbreviations for place names can change over time. What is used for a location today may not be what was used one hundred years ago. Sometimes old forms fall out of use or governmental or postal regulations change the “standard” abbreviation. Some census takers or other record officials make their own abbreviations when they tire of writing the same location over and over. Self-made abbreviations may be unique to the creator and are best analyzed with local geographic names in mind. Sometimes two location can have the same abbreviation. In some US census records Canada and California are both abbreviated “Ca.” Others chose to abbreviate it as “Can.” And sometimes Indiana was abbreviated as “Ia.” Today that’s the state of Iowa. But if you see […]
We are still taking registrants on my two remaining group genealogy research trips–to Salt Lake City and Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Find out more here.
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