Discovering New Family Tree Branches using Ancestry DNA

Earl Schultz has been an avid genealogist for over 60 years having started collecting information as a teenager.  A first generation Canadian, his research has been focussed primarily on the records, customs and people living in the communities around Rypin, Poland, about 75 km NW of Warsaw.  This area was called Dobriner Land by the Germans.

Earl’s DNA expertise has allowed him to help a number of people who have hit brick walls or who have obtained unexpected DNA results.  He has been a speaker about DNA genealogy at several Genealogy conferences over the years and is the DNA Project Administrator for the SGGEE DNA projects and for a number of surname projects.

Earl encourages everyone to take a DNA test to not only find your own cousins but to verify the paper records we use to build our family history.

Presentation: You’ve done your DNA test at AncestryDNA and now you are waiting for something to happen or wondering what to do next.  You see the coloured dots, the “Common Ancestor”, Shared Matches, Thrulines and the green leaf hints.  But no one responds when you contact them and most don’t have family trees.  Don’t give up.  This workshop will give you some ideas on how to add these DNA matches to your family tree creating new branches by using real life examples of things you can do using AncestryDNA.  Earl will share some success stories from his own DNA research and from helping others to give you an idea of how to use AncestryDNA to discover new branches for your family tree. 

The SGGEE website: New look, new future

Edie Adam has been researching her ancestors since the 1990s, when the fall of the Berlin Wall created the opportunity to access information in the former Soviet Union. On her father’s side, the Adam family migrated from Poland to Ukraine to Russia before reversing that journey during World War II. They were her Volhynian Germans.

Edie retired from a career in journalism, with a detour into Information Technology, and has volunteered her time for record extraction projects, a book translation project and various genealogy societies. She is a former board member and president of the SGGEE and has been helping with plans to update the website since her time on the board.

Presentation: The society’s website was state of the art when it was developed almost 30 years ago. And there is a wealth of information to be found there. But much has changed in 30 years, and the need to update the site — both from the user perspective and technologically — became more critical. Over the last two years, SGGEE has invested time and money to deliver a website for the 2020s that will continue to serve society members and visitors. Edie will provide background on the project and do a live show and tell on new features. Bring your questions!

Every Source Matters: Using a variety of clues to find distant family members

Dave Obee has been researching his family history for more than 40 years, and has made several trips to Europe to learn more about his mother's Volhynian ancestry.

A journalist by day, Dave has an honorary doctorate from the University of Victoria, where he is also the honorary archivist and librarian. He was on the advisory board for Library and Archives Canada for several years.

Dave was a founding member of SGGEE and spoke at the first conference in Calgary in 1998. Much of what he said then would not be worth mentioning in a presentation today, with one notable exception: Work every source you can, because you never know which one will have the information you need.

Presentation: Researching the Germans who lived in Congress Poland and Volhynia has never been easier, because of the ever-increasing number of records available as well as the information you can unlock from your spit. Many of us have pushed into new territory with our family history work, but we should never think we have learned all that we can. Dave has several examples from his own research to show what can be done if we keep at it. Remember: Every time you go through a brick wall, you will likely find at least two more brick walls. And whenever you get an answer to a question, you will probably have more questions. And that'd a good thing.  

Convention schedule

 Now that you have marked your calendar for the 2025 SGGEE convention, here is the schedule. Note: still subject to change, but you get the idea. Future posts will provide more details on the presentations. (Click schedule to view full size)

Save the date

 The 2025 SGGEE convention will be a virtual event the weekend of Aug. 16-17. Our theme is "All in the Family." The goal was to focus in on the wealth of information held among our society members, and we have succeeded!

Our speakers will be:

• Ray Bloch on combining genealogy with business trips to the former USSR
• Heidi O'Guntke on doing research in Poland
• Edie Adam on the new society website
• Dave Obee on researching his Volhynian grandfather
• Earl Schultz on more adventures in DNA

We'll close the weekend with our popular "open forum" where you can ask questions and share information with other participants.

Both days will start at 9 a.m. Pacific | noon ET and end in early afternoon.

Program details and registration information will come over the next weeks. Stay tuned!

By the way, we are looking for presenters for our next series of webinars, and welcome SGGEE members with a story they want to share. If that's you, please contact us by email at convention-sggee@googlegroups.com.

 

 

Speaking of webinars

The last webinar before the convention will be Saturday, June 7, 2025 starting at 9 a.m. Pacific | noon Eastern.

The speaker is genetic genealogist Kate Penney Howard on Untangling Endogamy in Your Tree Using DNA. Navigating complex DNA scenarios can create difficulties in genealogical research. However, there are tools and techniques available to differentiate and interpret DNA data in situations where the Leeds Method and WATO do not work. Kate will give examples from our members' matches. We will compassionately and clearly review the various challenges, ways to identify particular problems, and discuss tools and techniques to develop a hypothesis. Register to receive a ZOOM link.