Citing Your Sources

How important is it to cite your sources?

So you do genealogy as a hobby... your family knows you as the 'family historian', how important is it that you cite your sources?

I am always amazed at the number of family trees on Ancestry.com that go unsourced.

When I conduct preliminary searches for information, I rely on sites like Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, and FamilySearch.  Many people place a lot of information online that is not sourced through Ancestry.com failing to indicate where they get their information.

This makes it harder for the next person that comes along who may want to check/verify the information.

I have found many written reports from ancestors that dabbled in genealogy.  Some offered information that is not found anywhere else.  Perhaps they asked a living relative who knew the facts because they were only one generation removed.  Or perhaps it was hearsay. 

Without proper documentation, citing your sources, it is impossible to duplicate the information. 

I had one relative who had the privilege of asking the last living daughter of our immigrating ancestor questions about that immigrating ancestor.  And she did a wonderful job writing up a brief report concerning the family.  But...

She failed to cite her sources.  I haven't a clue what information was taken from the immigrating ancestor's daughter and what was not.  Furthermore, she states information as if they were facts: information pertaining to the childhood of our immigrating ancestor.  Where did she get this information?  Did she find it in a book?  Did she have privy to a lost document? 

Even documents that I order: birth, death, and marriage certificates, these should be properly sourced on the certificate itself.  This allows any family member either now or after I am dead, to find the same document.

So how do you properly source your information?

The authoritative guide to citing your sources that covers everything offline and online is: Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills. 

This hefty volume will assist you in how to properly cite any source.  Then you'll know where you got all your information and so will your family.

Using DNA for Family Research

Have you hit a brick wall in your research?  Has the paper trail brought you to a seeming end?  If so your DNA may hold the answers.

Your gene pool... it is unique.  There is no-one else just like you.  All of the ancestors before you have added to your pool.  And it is from this pool that you have been created: your appearance, your personality, your likes, your dislikes, your genetic makeup.

You are the sum total of all the ancestors that walked before you.

And because of this... it is possible to use your DNA to trace your ancestors, many generations removed.

Modern technology has made it possible to discover the genetic composition of your entire family tree using what is called "Autosomal DNA".  This differs from both Y-DNA and Mitochondrial DNA that follow a single line backward: either the father's or the mother's lineage.  Using Autosomal DNA it is possible to see ALL the in-betweens.

Autosomal (or Nuclear) DNA is clearly the better choice when it comes to defining one's genetic composition but it may be lacking in definition.  Let me explain.

In my own Family Tree I was fairly certain that I was of  100% European ancestry.  Through testing my Autosomal DNA I was able to confirm this percentage with a certain accuracy.  I say 'near' because there were a few differences amongst the various testing companies.

AncestryDNA defined my genetic composition as:

100% European: 34% West Europe; 33% Great Britain; 16% Scandinavia; 11% Ireland; and trace amounts - 3% Italy/Greece; 2% Finland/North Russia; <1% Iberian Peninsula; and <1% Europe East.

23andMe defined my genetic composition a bit differently:

99.9% European: 18.6% British/Irish; 9.1% French/German; 1.4% Scandinavian; 66.5% Nonspecific Northern European; 4.3% Nonspecific European; and .1% Unassigned.

FamilyTree DNA broke away from the 100% European with the following:

93.09% Western European (Orcadian) and 6.91% Middle East (Palestinian/Bedouin/Druze/Jewish/Mozabite).

With all three of these companies I was placed into a database with hundreds (some thousands) of DNA matches which is great.  And the companies can even break it down to whether the matches are 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or distant cousins.  

The problem is that there is no way of knowing exactly HOW we are related and along WHAT line.  Some testee matches have placed their family trees online and this simplifies the process in helping to determine possible lines, but these are seldom easy to trace but it is possible.

Autosomal DNA is the cheapest option but I don't feel that it should be a standalone product.  What do I mean by this?

I think Autosomal DNA complements either the Y-DNA test, the Mitochondrial DNA test, or both.  

For what purpose would you use these other two tests?

Y-DNA (see figure) traces one lineage - your father's.  It follows the male chromosome up the line.  Thus, your Y-DNA is virtually the same as that of your grandfather's or your 2nd great grandfathers.  This type of DNA test is available for MALES ONLY.  Women would have to have a brother or male cousin tested on their behalf.

What are Y-DNA uses?

I have used Y-DNA to assist in breaking through a brick wall in my family tree.  Way back across the pond in the year 1765, I had a male descendant born out of wedlock.  There is no paper trail to assist: his parish baptismal record is missing, and his mother's ancestry is not known.  All we have to go on is a single document that tells us he was illegitimate.  

Using my Y-DNA at a 67 level (sufficient for genetic testing), I did not find a single match.  There were several at the lower levels (25/37) but blank at the 67 level.  The Y-DNA test looks at certain areas of the chromosome for short-tandem repeats (STRs) which indicate, if there is a match, relationship.  Testing at the Y-67 level means that I had 67 of these areas defined with no matches.

This does not mean that I give up just because I had zero matches.  With any sort of DNA testing you need to be proactive.  Take the initiative.

I sought out cousins who live in the Netherlands - known relationships to assist me in my efforts.  Looking back through parish and civil records I found a couple possibilities: people who lived in the same areas, with similar names, who might possibly be the father of our ancestor.

So what I did, with the help of my cousins, is trace a potential candidate's lineage forward.  We ran into a dead end when a male heir failed to produce a male descendant.  So we backed up.  We found the father of the possible match and other sons that would carry the same Y-DNA.  We moved a line forward and found a living descendant of this son, brother to our possible match.

Because my Dutch is "niet zo goed", my Dutch-speaking cousins were able to reach out to this male descendant, explaining our situation, proving that we had the right guy, and having him tested for a match.  

We anxiously awaited the result.  This was our best candidate - one that made complete sense: this man was married, his wife was pregnant at the time our ancestor was born, and his surname matched our own (surnames weren't generally defined in the Netherlands until 1811 under a mandate by Napoleon who had ransacked the country).  

He was not a match.  

But he could have been.  And that would have been a remarkable breakthrough in our brick wall.  But now we are back to researching other possible candidates.

And it is very possible that a male heir (distant cousin) of my ancestor's father, some male who possesses the same Y-DNA as my own, will one day be tested.  But sitting around waiting for that to happen... that could take decades.

Mitochondrial DNA works the same way as Y-DNA exact it follows the mother's lineage upwards: from mother to mother.  

I have tested with the three largest companies and must admit that, while I am somewhat suspicious of their findings concerning my genetic composition, they are the absolute best for testing because they offer more than just a standardized autosomal DNA test.  It is no wonder why 80% of the world's genealogists recommend FamilyTree DNA over all other companies.

Their database is the largest.  

I hope I have helped you in your decision to take a DNA test, whether man or woman.  I recommend FamilyTree DNA for combined testing AND AncestryDNA for autosomal DNA genetic composition.