30 July 2018

Texas State GS 2018 Annual Conference Schedule

Texas State Genealogical Society (TxSGS) has announced the conference schedule for San Antonio on 2-4 November 2018. This year celebrates 300 years of history since the founding of San Antonio with three days (and over 3,000 minutes) of great genealogy education!


Registration is available at http://www.txsgs.org/txsgs-2018-conference-registration/.

Lodging and venue information is available at http://www.txsgs.org/2018-conference-lodging-and-venue/.

Nearby restaurant information is available at http://www.txsgs.org/2018-conference-restaurants/. Note that lunches are not available through the conference this year.

The conference schedule details and list of sessions are available at http://www.txsgs.org/2018-txsgs-schedule-overview/. Exciting sessions start at 9:30 a.m. on Friday and run through 4:30 p.m. on Sunday.

If you are like me and need the conference schedule in a grid format to make your session choices you can use the grid I created at http://debbiewayne.com/temp/Txsgs_2018_schedule_grid.pdf.

This year I will be presenting a two-hour workshop on autosomal DNA analysis from 1:30 to 3:30 Friday afternoon. This workshop has limited seating available and an add-on cost of $30.

I will be presenting "Organizing Genetic Genealogy" at 11:00 on Saturday and "Documenting DNA Analysis" at 2:00 on Saturday. I am scheduled before and after lunch; it will be a busy mid-day on Saturday.

Our plan is to unveil our new Early Texas DNA Project website at this conference. I will be answering questions and featuring the website at a TxSGS booth when I am not speaking.


Speakers include Mic Barnette, Jim Brewster, Evan Christensen, Schelly Talalay Dardashti, Debra Dudek, Mary Esther Escobedo, Patti Gillespie, Sharon Gillins, Sara Gredler, Colleen Greene, Tony Hanson, Kevin Klaus, Devon Noel Lee, Janice Lovelace, Bernard N. Meisner, Kelvin Meyers, Betsy Mills, Laurel Neuman, David Passman, Lisa Reed, Diane L. Richard, Mary Kircher Roddy, Lisa Toth Salinas, Carl Smith, Kathy Strauss, Michael L. Strauss, Pam Vestal, Eric Wells, and Ari Wilkins.

Normal sessions include diverse topics with research tips on African Americans, DNA, Germans, Hispanics, land, methodology, military, publishing and preservation, records and repositories, Russian Jewish immigrants, and technology.

Workshops include Autosomal DNA Analysis, Metadata and Digital Archiving Your Family History Photos and Documents, Researching Your World War II Ancestors, and Spreadsheets 101—An Excel-lent Hands-on Tutorial.

There is something for every researcher at every knowledge level. I hope to see you there.


Debbie Parker Wayne will receive remuneration as a speaker for this conference and is a board member as the DNA Project Chair.

All statements made in this blog are the opinion of the post author. This blog is not sponsored by any entity other than Debbie Parker Wayne nor is it supported through free or reduced price access to items discussed unless so indicated in the blog post. Hot links to other sites are provided as a courtesy to the reader and are not an endorsement of the other entities except as clearly stated in the narrative.

To cite this blog post:
Debbie Parker Wayne, "Texas State GS 2018 Annual Conference Schedule," Deb's Delvings, 30 July 2018 (http://debsdelvings.blogspot.com/ : accessed [date]).

© 2018, Debbie Parker Wayne, Certified Genealogist®, All Rights Reserved
Posted by Debbie Parker Wayne, Certified Genealogist® at 12:31 PM 0 comments
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21 July 2018

Learning DNA and Getting Help with Analysis Tools

More people are jumping into DNA testing and genetic genealogy who are not experienced in DNA or genealogy before taking that first DNA test. Joining a social media group or a mail list or forum provides exposure to many programs and tools, terms, and techniques that make it seem like a fire hose is aimed at you at full blast.

It is great to jump in. It is great to ask questions to learn. But you never know how much the person answering you knows. And they may not even know they are giving you information that is not completely accurate because they misunderstood your question.

Below are some places to (1) learn more about DNA and (2) get better help when one of the DNA tools does not work as you expected.

To learn the basics of DNA you can

Start small when learning something new and build up to higher levels. This applies to studying DNA using the recommendations above and to learning new tools.


When learning a new tool or process test first with a small dataset. For example, when I first downloaded the version of Progeny Charting Companion that creates DNA analysis charts, I created a small RootsMagic database with only four DNA test takers and the direct lines back to their shared ancestors (as shown in the chart above). I created a dummy CSV file with the minimum amount of data needed for those test takers' DNA data (as defined in the Charting Companion's help files). I used this small dataset to play with the charts offered by Charting Companion until I understood how the options worked to get the output I desired. Once I was comfortable using the tool I then accessed my full RootsMagic database after adding the new facts needed for DNA charts to work properly (like DNA kit numbers for each test taker).


After you begin using a new tool, it may not always work as expected and you may need help. To get better help when one of the DNA analysis tools does not work as expected (most of this applies to any program or app)
  • read the instructions (built-in help files, a user's guide, how-to instructions on the program's website)
  • really read the instructions—do not just scan them—and be sure you followed every step carefully, including the steps that are linked into or referenced from the first help page you access (most problems are due to not following instructions; trust me on this, I worked tech support and trained computer users for much of my "life before genealogy")
  • if you followed the instructions carefully and still have problems, make note of any error messages displayed (or failure mode) and step-by-step what you did just before the failure or error
  • use Google or another engine to search for the error message or failure mode (if the program uses Facebook to offer technical support, use Facebook's "Search this group" feature)
  • if potential solutions are found try them
  • if no solution is found by searching or the solutions found do not work for you, then post a message asking for help; include
    • the tool name and version of the tool you are using (also indicate if you recently updated the tool)
    • the error message received or exactly what you saw that was not "right"
    • the step-by-step list of what was done before the error message was received or the program failed
    • whether you are using a Windows, Mac, Android, iOS, or other device and the version of that operating system
    • whether this is something that worked in the past or this is your first time to try this procedure

These recommendations should help you get better technical support and help you learn new programs and DNA analysis more productively.

Update 23 July 2018: Fixed minor typo, added NGS online training courses, and added to disclaimer royalties for courses and books.

All statements made in this blog are the opinion of the post author. This blog is not sponsored by any entity other than Debbie Parker Wayne nor is it supported through free or reduced price access to items discussed unless so indicated in the blog post. Hot links to other sites are provided as a courtesy to the reader and are not an endorsement of the other entities except as clearly stated in the narrative.

Debbie Parker Wayne receives royalties for the NGS course she authored on autosomal DNA analysis and books for which she is an author or editor.

To cite this blog post:
Debbie Parker Wayne, "Learning DNA and Getting Help with Analysis Tools," Deb's Delvings, 21 July 2018 (http://debsdelvings.blogspot.com/ : accessed [date]).

© 2018, Debbie Parker Wayne, Certified Genealogist®, All Rights Reserved
Posted by Debbie Parker Wayne, Certified Genealogist® at 5:16 PM 0 comments
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DNA Simulation added to DNA Matrix in Progeny Charting Companion

Pierre Clouthier, president of Progeny Genealogy, has been raising the bar for DNA analysis charts in a genealogy program for the last year or so. He was the first to automate the "McGuire Chart" in his "DNA Matrix" tools. See http://debsdelvings.blogspot.com/2017/03/wanted-genetic-genealogy-analysis-tools.html and http://debsdelvings.blogspot.com/2017/06/one-dna-analysis-chart-process.html for more info.

Progeny just released Charting Companion version 7 with a major addition to help during DNA analysis as described in his announcement below (URLs were changed to go directly to the Progeny website and not to the advertising site in the email sent to me so as not to mess with stats from email accesses).

Charting Companion 7 features a new technology to help place adoptees and orphans in a family tree: the DNA Simulation. Based on the DNA Matrix, the DNA Simulation will construct a Descendant tree, then will systematically try to link the "orphan" to every person in the tree, one at a time. Charting Companion will validate the tree by calculating the expected centiMorgan (cM) implied by the hypothetical relationship, and comparing it to the actual laboratory DNA test results. Each iteration is called a "scenario". If the DNA test results are outside the cM range, the scenario is bad, will be discarded, and Charting Companion will advance to the next possible position of the orphan in the tree. If the DNA results are consistent, the good scenario will be recorded. All possible scenarios can then be reviewed for further investigation. (see video [at https://youtu.be/yBe6Pd8g5no]).


In addition to linking to existing persons, Charting Companion will also insert hypothetical or placeholder spouses and children, and attempt to link the orphan to these additional people. The added persons represent potential extramarital relationships, previous unknown marriages, unknown children, children given up to adoption, non-paternal events, etc. They are meant to suggest possible connections that would otherwise be very time-consuming to evaluate manually.

The DNA Simulation is available in Charting Companion 7. See video [at https://youtu.be/yBe6Pd8g5no] for detailed explanation.

If you have an earlier version of Charting Companion, our upgrade policy is:

If you purchased within the last year, you get a free upgrade (contact [Progeny]).
If you purchased within two years, you get a 20% discount (contact [Progeny]).
Within three years, purchase a Registration Key [at http://progenygenealogy.com/Products/Family-Tree-Charts].

Charting Companion works with all genealogy programs: Family Tree Maker, RootsMagic, Legacy, Ancestral Quest, Family Historian, GEDCOM, etc.

Progeny Genealogy
10037-20 Silver Fox Ave. New Minas, Nova Scotia B4N 5K1 Canada
(902) 681-3102


All statements made in this blog are the opinion of the post author. This blog is not sponsored by any entity other than Debbie Parker Wayne nor is it supported through free or reduced price access to items discussed unless so indicated in the blog post. Hot links to other sites are provided as a courtesy to the reader and are not an endorsement of the other entities except as clearly stated in the narrative.

To cite this blog post:
Debbie Parker Wayne, "DNA Simulation added to DNA Matrix in Progeny Charting Companion," Deb's Delvings, 21 July 2018 (http://debsdelvings.blogspot.com/ : accessed [date]).

© 2018, Debbie Parker Wayne, Certified Genealogist®, All Rights Reserved
Posted by Debbie Parker Wayne, Certified Genealogist® at 11:25 AM 0 comments
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