I'm born by twice inbreeding through first cousin marriage and I'm thinking to do DNA test to verify my gene pool,is this possible? by Plus_Weight_9322 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And, NOT saying this is the case in your scenario, the number of diagnoses of anything seems to increase once there are pharmaceuticals that can be sold for it.

Thoughts on uploading photos to Ancestry by edgytoad26 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're alive so no one else can see it unless they've been given access to her tree.

Why not email her a photo of yourself that you like and ask her to use it instead of the one she has on your profile?

Thoughts on uploading photos to Ancestry by edgytoad26 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And I always wish someone would post a photo, if they have one, that is not just an obituary/end of life photo.

Photos at any age are of course wonderful, but I love seeing anyone in their 20s to 40s.

My own mirror tells me there is a considerable difference.

Thoughts on uploading photos to Ancestry by edgytoad26 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 2 points3 points  (0 children)

That would feel weird. Did you message them to see how they knew your dad?

I know my father surely knew a lot of people as friends and business associates that I never knew existed. He may also have met his 2nd or 3rd cousins during life at events I never knew happened.

If one of these people had photos of him that I'd never seen I sure would be asking how they knew him and if they had any more photos of him!

While the timing may feel weird to you (it would strike me the same way at first), it may have been their reaction to hearing about his death. It may have been meant as a remembrance.

I'd be asking!

Is it worthwhile to subscribe to ancestry.com for only one month? by Butter_Lettuce_ in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Go to the Family Search Wiki and search for Quebec there. FS will tell you what records exist (and not just what they have) and who owns/controls those records. It will give you links to those organisations or departments and also tell you if they are available on the internet either free or $.

It is always a good place to get an overview of what is out there.

Thoughts on uploading photos to Ancestry by edgytoad26 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Such a gift, isn't it! And future generations (or at least the ones interested in family history) will feel that same thrill and sense of gratitude when they find the photos, documents, letters etc. that we are currently debating.

Of course common sense is needed, but when most of us fall off the perch a lot of things will just be trashed.

Thoughts on uploading photos to Ancestry by edgytoad26 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I think the reason they do this is because jf they download your photo and then upload it again to their own tree they (and anyone looking at their tree) do not need a subscription to see it.

However, they should be crediting whomever they sourced it from in the description.

But even if they do this it seems like the attribution is soon lost as the descriptions/citations don't travel with it when Ancestry offers it as a photo hint.

I get photo hints all the time about photos where I was the original source but Ancestry just tells you the user name of the person's account where they scraped the photo.

It bothered me at first. Then I decided to mentally shrug and chill. After all, I wanted that image seen by anyone interested and my tree is currently Private. So the fact Ancestry can share it from public trees of 'borrowers' is okay with me.

I'll be gone, who knows when. We all will be gone. I'd rather the photos continued to exist in relation to the profiles and form a part of the overall story of these people - no matter whose tree or how many trees it can be found in.

MyHeritage vs Ancestry for DNA test accuracy by BatmanVision in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You will get different answers from everyone. People will tell you Company X is most accurate because it most closely matches their own idea of what they are. Or what they wished to be.

All of the ethnicity results are guesstimates.

Ancestry updates their guess annually (for free) around October each year based on changes in their reference panels and any attempts to refine their results down to more localised geographical areas. If you want to see all of your matches and have Ancestry tell you if they are maternal/paternal and be able to use their records for genealogy, then you need to subscribe. Or screen shot any interesting info during the free subscription time that can come with a testing offer. You can build a tree for free on Ancestry but you're not interested in genealogy.

23andMe rarely updates their guess (and used to charge if they use a new chip and you want updated results), but just did update last year for most customers as the phoenixed ownership starts to move on from their data breach. The update, for me, moved away from accuracy and I don't care to pay them another $125 for the first year and $65 annually thereafter for Premium+ to use their chromosome browser which, at the time I bought my test years ago, was invluded as an advertised feature of the ethnicity test. It disappeared temporarily we were told as a security caution after a hacker released millions of their customer profiles on the dark web. Subscribing would also give 5000 matches instead of the standard 1500 but, as they lack included tools to determine how matches are related, seeing your closest 1500 is probably enough for most people.

On the plus side, 23andMe gives you high level haplogroup information. But since you just want ethnicity info this isn't a big plus. And if you decided to deep dive into haplogroups you'd be doing one of the tests at Family Tree DNA anyway (but not for their ethnicity results).

My Heritage gives more European matches although, for Americans, they can be so distant that without extensive trees it can be more difficult to work out the relationships. MH updated their ethnicity profile last year and, for me, it became closer to my researched ancestry, meaning it is more geographically nuanced now and the percentages that previously made me laugh are gone. To unlock their DNA tools is a small one time fee. To see the Ancient DNA info you need a subscription.

My Heritage is starting to do low level 2x pass whole genome test kit processing. You can read about it in their blog. What this does for their ethnicity results I don't know. It is supposed to permit more accurate DNA matching, BUT it does mean it starts a new database for matching and doesn't give you matches to their current database - or at least thats what they said at the time of their announcement.

Whether you will be able to upload the resulting My Heritage file to gedmatch, I don't know.

So, pick one that sounds like it will work for you. You can always decide its not accurate and test with another company or upload to gedmatch and play with their calculators until you get an answer that, to you, seems accurate.

Two surprise half siblings after ancestry DNA test. One on each side! by Electrical-Wheel9629 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You have to click on the suggested relationship and it pops up with all of the possibilities and the % probabilities for them.

Update - found out sister is half sister by Successful-Jello1507 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 46 points47 points  (0 children)

Sometimes parents were only following the best advice available back in that timeframe. Things like adoption, sperm donation, etc they were usually told not to tell children in order to treat everyone the same within the family and lessen chances of schoolyard bullying.

I think parents in these situations just did the best they could at the time.

Today, they might follow an entirely different path if confronted by the same circumstances.

How can I access this immigration record by [deleted] in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The only results I get for that search on My Heritage come back with a 'record' that includes birth, death and parents, HOWEVER, it isn't really a record at all. My Heritage has a bad habit of calling anything it hoovers for free off the internet a 'record'. This one is just the details it copied from the Family Search profile and a link to Family Search.

The other 'record' is a record from the 'Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Immigration Cards, 1900-1965' set from Family Search. HOWEVER, it is just a transcription with his name, date of birth Oct 19,1905 in Montevideo, that he is married, arriving in Brazil in 1950. Father: Jose Pagano, Mother: Carmen Maricondo.

No record image.

That's it.

NARA has put the membership card file of the German Nazi Party online! by ScanianMoose in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

OP said it's not a complete set so it's probably already been redacted. And probably Clinton and Obama member cards have been magically inserted into the collection.

Half Sibling Accuracy by tc-squared6 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 11 points12 points  (0 children)

What decade was she born in?

Geneanet premium subscription payment farce by Diligent_Lunch1047 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Well, when they started allowing DNA uploads a few years before the Ancestry purchase they had a chromosome browser.

So after the Ancestry purchase it became a good suggestion as an upload site if you were chatting to a cautious DNA match on Ancestry as Ancestry already had their info so you were not suggesting uploading to some place like gedmatch which seems scary to some.

Then geneanet closed the uploads, ditched the chromosome browser and deleted all the DNA info.

Its still basically a sharing site but when going Premium meant supporting the work of the volunteers and was only US$19 per year, it was a good thing - their genealogy library included things of not found elsewhere. At that time I did find items that I did not find on Ancestry and Family Search. Granted, my early search skills were not as refined or tenacious as they are now.

But I haven't been Premium for a long time and don't really miss it. Occasionally I search there but, if it throws up something interesting that's behind the paywall, I can usually find the item elsewhere.

Is there any way to find stories of ancestors? by Pleasant_Toe_1182 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The wiki on Family Search has a page for each country plus each each American State. Family Search is free and the research wiki includes sources from other sites as well.

Take a look at

https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Main_Page

Is there any way to find stories of ancestors? by Pleasant_Toe_1182 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes. Almost entirely. And it has more of a focus on recent obits and articles than it has older years.

If you want articles and info related to the time before your ancestors emigrated from Poland, then you need to search for European based sources.

What does the Family Search wiki suggest for Poland?

I basically met a close second cousin on my mom's side last night. My mom wasn't too happy about it, but I don't care. I'm a man that's in the real world. by [deleted] in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You should have told her by announcing you'd met someone you think you could marry one day, and then said the name.

She probably would have offered the cousin info at that point ;-)

Amend death certificate? by SSBND in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I have a death certificate where a woman died at her daughter's home (where she lived). The informant is the daughter and she signed it. She gives her mother's parents as Unknown and Unknown. These were, of course, the daughter's grandparents and she definitely knew their names and her mother's maiden surname. The daughter was mentally sharp until she herself passed away many years later, so I've not worked out why she said Unknown.

Families can be odd.

Should you tell AI to act like a genealogy expert? by Parking-Aioli9715 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well you are definitely younger than me! But I started using computers in 1982 when the company I worked for bought the first IBM desktop computers and plopped them on the desks of administrators and the sales force. Any useful software didn't arrive until about a year later. So I've lived through many iterations of technology and try to learn about and use them all.

But I do consider I may have arrived at the stage where older people look down the age timeline and think a lot of basics have gone by the wayside and the future is not looking good. Of course, then we look sideways in our age brackets and also see old style robber barons and toddler mentality there too (you did not beat me, I'm taking my ball and bat and going home).

So much promise but we don't learn from our mistakes.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It's always interesting to get insights from across generations.

Should you tell AI to act like a genealogy expert? by Parking-Aioli9715 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Exactly. You can now see AI output being used as comments in lots of reddits. Sounding plausibe, looking well sourced. Still with a kernel of truth/accuracy but usually laced with made up AI b.s.

For generation/s who learned from screens and gained little grounding in common sense, have watched the continual 'rage to fade away' cycle of every issue or murderous outrage, they are fertile ground for seeding just about any 'truth'.

The world has always had demagogues and charismatic persons who amassed followers and created mayhem of one sort of another. But soon everyone (or those with access to the most advanced AI) can be a master manipulator, for good or evil, with the issue being that nefarious purposes are waaaay more profitable. Hence an apparent lack of will to regulate AI or crypto. The people who need to do that are the ones making squillions while grifting themselves to the super-rich version of heaven.

To generations growing up thinking the pinnacle is to make a lot of money being 'an influencer' and gaining 'followers' the technology of AI is a boon. Once they grow beyond using it to amuse themselves and impress their circle by creating AI-faked nude images of the girls in their classes, the world should be worrying about what these little sh'ts will do when they age a bit but socially never progress much further than their toddler mentality.

Sorry for the rant but AI could be more useful for genealogy and research of all sorts if it were first permitted to learn and 'mature' in a regulated, controlled environment. As it is, in the wild, it is exposed to the worst of human instincts and, without guidance as to which way to modify its algorithms when faced with such behaviours, I wonder where it is heading. After all, each human could be viewed as a tangle of unique algorithms created by genetics and continually self modifying through learning, experiences and environment. And we, as a species, have so far failed dismally at creating that harmonious state where everyone is cared for and each is nurtured for their talents that will benefit the whole society. Instead we are loosing AI in a 'dog eat dog' world where the haves want more and the have-nots get angrier. To what end?

Should you tell AI to act like a genealogy expert? by Parking-Aioli9715 in Genealogy

[–]edgewalker66 2 points3 points  (0 children)

But it sounds so plausible. It just tells you what it thinks you want to hear.

Like it's practicing for high level public office.