by Pa Rock
Researcher
I have now completed two full days at the National Genealogical Society's annual Family History Conference. Yesterday I attended two workshops dealing with the new practice of using DNA in the process of trying to identify ancestors, and one workshop that explained a program for finding military records on the internet.
Today I attended four workshops, again focusing on DNA research and military history records. The DNA class dealt with how to figure relationship probabilities when working with DNA. This class looked at some genealogy programs that have features which can calculate possible relationships when people have matching segments in their DNA - and also explored some some facts which should be considered when trying determine the most likely relationships.
The three military classes focused on records relating to three separate wars in United States history. One dealt with researching ancestors who fought in the revolutionary war, and another involved official records for Union and Confederate soldiers and sailors of the Civil War and explained ways to access those records - both over the internet as well as through government agencies.
The third military workshop centered on bounty land grants that were awarded to individuals who served in the War of 1812. Most of those individuals eventually received 160 acres of land from the government, much of it in Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. Veterans who applied for these land grants often submitted long , handwritten statements detailing their personal history and military service, and many were accompanied by statements of others who served with the people who were trying to claim their land grants. In addition to all of that good narrative information that can be incorporated into a family history, these land grant records also give information that identifies the military units in which the service members served - and a researcher can use that to locate copies of the individual's service record.
Military record gathering used to be done slowly and laboriously through the mail or with visits to government respoitories of records - such as the National Archives in Washington, DC. But now much has been digitized and is available over the internet. That easy access, particularly when combined with with the new research avenues opening up with DNA analysis, is transforming genealogy into a far more dynamic endeavor than it has ever been before.
A novice researcher can begin doing genealogy at home, and with all of the new tools available and easy access to records, they can accumulate vast amounts of information easily, quickly, and relatively inexpensively. For those who have thought about rolling up their sleeves and getting to work collecting the family history, this is an ideal time to do it!
Researcher
I have now completed two full days at the National Genealogical Society's annual Family History Conference. Yesterday I attended two workshops dealing with the new practice of using DNA in the process of trying to identify ancestors, and one workshop that explained a program for finding military records on the internet.
Today I attended four workshops, again focusing on DNA research and military history records. The DNA class dealt with how to figure relationship probabilities when working with DNA. This class looked at some genealogy programs that have features which can calculate possible relationships when people have matching segments in their DNA - and also explored some some facts which should be considered when trying determine the most likely relationships.
The three military classes focused on records relating to three separate wars in United States history. One dealt with researching ancestors who fought in the revolutionary war, and another involved official records for Union and Confederate soldiers and sailors of the Civil War and explained ways to access those records - both over the internet as well as through government agencies.
The third military workshop centered on bounty land grants that were awarded to individuals who served in the War of 1812. Most of those individuals eventually received 160 acres of land from the government, much of it in Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas. Veterans who applied for these land grants often submitted long , handwritten statements detailing their personal history and military service, and many were accompanied by statements of others who served with the people who were trying to claim their land grants. In addition to all of that good narrative information that can be incorporated into a family history, these land grant records also give information that identifies the military units in which the service members served - and a researcher can use that to locate copies of the individual's service record.
Military record gathering used to be done slowly and laboriously through the mail or with visits to government respoitories of records - such as the National Archives in Washington, DC. But now much has been digitized and is available over the internet. That easy access, particularly when combined with with the new research avenues opening up with DNA analysis, is transforming genealogy into a far more dynamic endeavor than it has ever been before.
A novice researcher can begin doing genealogy at home, and with all of the new tools available and easy access to records, they can accumulate vast amounts of information easily, quickly, and relatively inexpensively. For those who have thought about rolling up their sleeves and getting to work collecting the family history, this is an ideal time to do it!
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