Miscellaneous

A New Meme: How Many of Your Ancestors Are In The SSDI?

Blaine Bettinger 4 Comments

The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) is a searchable database created from the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Death Master File, which contains the name and social security number of deceased persons reported to the Social Security Administration since roughly 1962.  In addition to being used by genealogists, the Death Master File and SSDI are used by financial firms and government agencies for various reasons such as preventing identity fraud.

A Genealogy Meme Using the SSDI

Michael Neill at RootDig has two posts – “Have You Searched for All Your Ancestors in the SSDI?” and “My in-laws in the SSDI” – that list his and his wife’s ancestors in the SSDI.  Michael has 7 ancestors, while his wife has 6. ... Click to read more!

Who Is The Oldest Relative You Remember Meeting?

Blaine Bettinger 16 Comments

The Evansville Courier & Press has a great article – “At 97, life is worth a big fuss: Six generations gathered at matriach’s birthday party” – which contains a picture of six generations of the Moore Family of Indiana.  The picture shows a newborn and 5 generations of her ancestors; her mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandfather, and great-great-great-grandmother!  It is truly amazing and I highly recommend clicking over to the article to see it.

My Mother’s Mother’s Mother’s Father’s Mother (whew!)

The picture led me to wonder who was my mother’s mother’s mother’s father’s mother (following the same lineage in the article’s picture), and whether I ever met her.  After consulting my family tree software (maybe I could have done it from memory, but I thought I’d save some time!), I discovered that her name was Jemima Cooper.  I never had the opportunity to meet Jemima because she died 53 years before my birth.  She would be 118 years old today. ... Click to read more!

TGG Ranked as #9 on ProGenealogists’ List of Top 25 Genealogy Blogs

Blaine Bettinger 6 Comments

This has been a great week for The Genetic Genealogist, and I just wanted to send out my gratitude.

First, TGG was included by Chris Dunham of The Genealogue in his list “10 Genealogy Blogs Worth Reading” at Blogs.com!  I’m truly honored to be listed among the other great bloggers in the article.  (Like Chris, I was recently asked to create a Top 10 list which I believe will be posted soon, but my list focuses more on genetic genealogy and personal genomics blogs).

imageAnd second, TGG was listed as #9 on the ProGenealogists list of The Top 25 Genealogy Blogs of 2009!  The rankings were based on “overall content, Technorati rating, and industry experience.”  It is an honor to be included among this group of incredible bloggers.  Be sure to visit the website to check out the other blogs on the list. ... Click to read more!

Visualizing Your Genetic Genealogy

Blaine Bettinger 8 Comments

In my genealogical research, I have sometimes found myself missing the trees by focusing on the forest.  I think it happens to many genealogists – we get caught up in the research, the dates, the places, and we forget that there was so much more to people than their vital statistics.

This can happen to genetic genealogists as well.  The connection between the results of a DNA test and the individuals in our tree can be easy to forget and difficult to visualize.  Take the results of an mtDNA test, for example.  The results are obtained from a tiny piece of DNA that has traveled thousands of years (and often thousands of miles) through hundreds of individuals to end up in your cheek cells and on the tip of a swab.  Everyone’s mtDNA is the product of an amazingly rich story that has largely been lost to history. ... Click to read more!

Spending Time on Facebook

Blaine Bettinger 7 Comments
Image representing Facebook as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

This isn’t about genetic genealogy or even genealogy, but it’s too interesting to pass up.

A recent Fortune article titled “How Facebook is taking over our lives” points out that roughly 175 million people are members of Facebook, and that the total daily use of Facebook is over 3 billion minutes.

Here are some rough calculations using that 3 billion minutes per day value (and feel free to check my math, please!):  three billion minutes equals 50 million hours, which equals 2.08 million days, which equals 5,707 years.

Thus, every single day humanity spends the equivalent of over 5,000 years on Facebook!

The Genea-Bloggers Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt #1

Blaine Bettinger 2 Comments

I don’t often post pure genealogy on this blog, but I thought I would take a break from genetic genealogy and join in on the Genea-Bloggers Weekly Genealogy Blogging Prompt, which was:  “Upload your favorite picture and talk about it on your blog. Answer the who/what/when/where/why of the subject matter and explain why it is your favorite.”

Although it is nearly impossible to pick a single favorite from my extensive photo collection, I chose the following photo as one of my favorites:

Three Generations of the Bettinger Family 2

People (L to R): Frank Bettinger (my great-grandfather), Angeline Taylor Bettinger (my great-great-great-grandmother born in 1815!), Ward Bettinger (my great-great-uncle), Melissa Albro Bettinger (my great-great-grandmother), Edgar Bettinger (my great-great-grandfather), and George Bettinger (my first cousin three times removed).  Unfortunately, I never met anyone in this photo, although I’ve heard a great deal about them. ... Click to read more!

Dick Eastman Interviews The Genetic Genealogist at FGS 2008

Blaine Bettinger

On September 5th at the 2008 Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, I was interviewed by Dick Eastman.  In the interview we discuss my blog, DNA testing in general, and my free ebook, “I Have the Results of My Genetic Genealogy Test, Now What?” (which is available for download in the sidebar of the blog).

If the player doesn’t appear in the post, the interview is available here (http://rootstelevision.com/players/player_conferences.php?bctid=1811559654).  It was a pleasure to meet and talk with Dick, and I hope you enjoy the interview.

The Summer 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games

Blaine Bettinger 2 Comments

I’ve decided to join the 2008 Genea-Blogger Group Games (see here for more info).  I’m a little late, but the organizers have decided to allow entrants until tonight at 9:00pm PDT.  The Opening Ceremonies were held on Friday.  I’m hoping to put a genetic genealogy twist on my entries, if possible, to highlight how genetics can augment traditional genealogical research.

image

The categories I plan to participate in are:

  • Back Up Your Data!
    • A. Prepare a comprehensive backup plan for your digital research files and a security plan for your hard copies and photos
    • C. Backup all your data using a flash drive, an external drive, CDs, DVDs, or an online resource
    • E. All your data is backed up digitally and secured physically and you can recover from any disaster while losing only one month or less worth of research
      • ... Click to read more!

    • TGG Interview Series IX – Ana Oquendo Pabón

    Blaine Bettinger 7 Comments

    image The ninth and final edition of the TGG Interview Series is with Dr. Ana Oquendo Pabón.  Dr. Oquendo Pabón is DNA and Historical advisor to the Lost Colony DNA and Research Group, and is an Administrator or Co-Administrator to numerous DNA projects.  Her bio is can be seen here.

    In the following interview, Dr. Oquendo Pabón discusses her introduction to the field of genetic genealogy, her own experiences with genetic testing, and her thoughts about the future of genetic genealogy.  It’s a terrific interview, so read on.

    TGG: How long have you been actively involved in genetic genealogy, and how did you become interested in the field?

    Ana Oquendo Pabón: I have been involved in genetic genealogy since very early in 2003. My brother and I have been traditional genealogists for about 28 years. Due to the excellent records on the island and hard research, we had long known all of our 64 grandparents except for one and all except 4 or 5 couples of our 128 ancestors. I had been keeping track of the news online concerning the “new science” and unique way of tracing your ancestral roots. I think everyone had heard about the Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings story by that time. I had also read about a particular genealogist named Bennett Greenspan’s own amazing quest to confirm his paternal DNA with an individual in Argentina and how he had started a genetic testing company to help others accomplish what he had done using yDNA. In 2003, I decided to give my brother a DNA kit as a combined birthday and anniversary present. We were among the first ten thousand genetic genealogy pioneers to take advantage of this new way of research. This spurred the idea of helping others in our field of expertise which was the genealogy of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican Project (Proyecto ADN de Apellidos Puertorriqueños) was born. ... Click to read more!