Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Keeping Track Of The Intermarriages and DNA Matches Within My Family Tree

I work on the family tree primarily within a program. I do have a of woefully outdated online family tree, from 2016, on Ancestry. The online tree is kept private as my method of updating it is through deleting the older version and uploading a new gedcom which means I have to create a new tree then re-invite people to the newer copy. Not the most advisable method of 'updating', I agree, but an online copy of a tree has not ever been my primary, or main, tree.

That being said, in the program, I have created my own 'citations' that I add to some folks within the family tree. More for my personal research thoughts.

The first of these personal citations is for keeping track of the intermarriages and, therefore, any changes in relationships that those may cause. For example, I have "Descendant of Hans George Wampfler/Wampler, son of Hans Peter Wampfler, Sr." which, naturally, I add for his children and their descendants. of him. I have created similar worded citations for Hans George's siblings, including his sisters, and also for his wife and her siblings. I also have "Descendant of Blaney Palmer, Sr., son of <unknown> Palmer" and similar one for his brother, John, descendants. As their father and mother are still unknown, the citation is able to edited at a later date when I have come across something (beyond a debunked "naming tradition theory" thought or a blank certificate that is turns into being used for a "set of twins", that is).

Using the citations have helped me to follow the intermarriage thoughts to a fairly decent degree. This method doesn't highlight more than one intermarriage between the same two branches, but it can help share when a new one comes in and how that may change some relationships, in terms of between their then-cousins and/or myself. So it's not perfect, but does what I wanted for the most part as, in using this citation guide, thanks my great-grandparents' marriage that has me being a descendant of Hans George and Hans Michael Wampfler/Wampler and Elisabeth Steffan/Steffey ... and my grandparents marriage had me also being a descendant to another person, Elisabeth's brother, Heinrich/Henry Steffan/Steffey. However, by others, I would be considered, or listed, as a descendant of Hans George and Elisabeth within books or the Wampfler/Wampler database type thoughts thanks to the male ancestors had more Hans George and his wife's 'connection' as it was more in thanks to the female ancestors, who married those particular males, who helped bring in the other descendancy thoughts.

Now all this may not seem all that scintillating of information, until looking over at my first husband's side of the tree and unbeknownst (to either one of us), he was also a descendant of Hans Michael Wampfler/Wampler (so far in my research) and at least two twigs of his side married into Hans George's side. So he and I were distant cousins when we met and later married. Also, when hopping over to my mother's side of the tree, it appears that even though her branches came to America almost a 100 years after the Wampfler/Wamplers and Steffan/Steffeys did, and also settled more toward the midwest from almost the get-go, there appears to been two intermarriages between some of her side and my paternal side of the tree as well.

For the DNA matches, I add those to the offline tree using a "DNA Match Ancestry - <name of person tested>" or "DNA Match MyHeritage - <name of person tested>". I didn't personalize or individualize the citations further to include the person's match's name. I didn't feel the need to do so at this time. For the URL/page of the source, I list the match's profile page from the particular site they shared a DNA test with. If the match's DNA is managed/maintained by another family member, then I list the managing person's profile URL and, in notations where I share a cut & paste of how many cMs and such info, I share the match page's URL. With my above described usage of citations of who is who's descendant, for trying to track the intermarriage thoughts, then I also know which side and what branch of the tree the match stems from as well. This has also helped me to see, when not on a particular site, who matched with a person and who didn't share a match with a particular person, as that has also been interesting to see on my side of the researching thoughts.

Anyway, that is how I try to keep track of some thoughts on my side of the deal within my family tree work. As my citations for tracking the descendants or DNA matches is not likely a type of source that would be included in something like a genealogy/family research book type of thought, that has me being a bit more lax with their wording and not worrying about having each one individualized. Since I am a heavy cut & paster, I have enough info kept with the tree that I could individualize them, if feeling a need to, at a later date.