Genealogy has a way of tying all my other interests together. It's a scavenger hunt, a giant puzzle, and something that gets people talking to each other! It provides a way to meet and help others... and Its fun!
What makes you who you are?
- A leaning toward a favorite flavor in food or type of music
- Comfort or discomfort in a specific environment
- Willingness to persevere in the face of hardship
How much of this did we get from our ancestors?
One way of understanding our world is learning about the people who came before us. We are the result of our collective history. The amount of information passed down through the generations by our genetic structure is still in research, but it is not to be denied. We already know that, on a cellular level, we are all descended from one woman, in Africa - the real Eve if you like.
Below is a map I did in 2000 to show my ancestors genetic movement. I started adding color to the various ethnic areas and very few areas could be assigned a single color.
The actual geneitc map from 2015 is on the right. Solid colors are major areas, circled areas are trace amounts.
All the major European ruling families are closely related.
 
© Sandra Ragan 2000
The fascinating thing about Western European history is that every area is and has been affected by every other area and the boundaries we are so familiar with have changed many times over the centuries.
Today the online resources are so much better then what we've had in the past.
These services charge money for a reason. The services that disapeared are the ones that could not afford to maintain their staff and computer systems. Most of the ones who survived the shakeout are bigger and better. That being said, there is plenty of misinformation in all of them.
Please learn how to verify the information that you find. We all benefit from your caution.
| |
By far the biggest and best: Ancestry.com
Several levels of membership available. You can change levels at any time and the diference will be refunded or prorated. FamilyTreeMaker support. Links to hundreds of external databases, world wide including FamilySearch
|
Ancesty Search
Autosomnal DNA testing. Download but no upload yet. Information
Trees can be shared with the public or kept private. They can be shared and/or managed by others. Upload existing trees and download basic Ancestry Tree information.
Genealogical Help available as part of the membership packages. Gift subscriptions available. |
| |
The National Geographic Genographic Project. Both autosumnal and Y-DNA connects to an international database of famous and historical figures. |
The Legal Genealogist provides information about various services
Autosomnal DNA information |
| |
FamilyTreeDNA - FTDNA does its own testing but also links to the Genographic Project and others. |
Find A Grave - recently remodeled and still working the bugs out |
| |
GEDmatch provides tools for DNA and genealogical research. Upload your tests and compare to others. |
Fold3 - military and governmental records. Not an easy interface. - a basic membership can be included in your Ancestry membership |
| |
FamilySearch has been around for awhile and absorbed ROOTSWEB which closed recently. |
Newspapers.com - a basic membership can be included in your Ancestry membership |
| |
|
|
| |
AmericanAncestors |
Genealogy.com |
| |
23andMe - includes medical DNA information. Connected to Google |
Migrations |
| |
Forbears |
RecordSeek |
| |
GENi - has DNA tools and allows matching but use with caution. They market aggressively to get you to upgrade. They send endless emails about matches that can only be used if you pay more. Many of the lines in their system are full of errors and erroneous links. |
Reunion for Mac my family database software program of choice for nearly 20 years. |
|
