as of Aug 2005 Jim Rader is available most evenings and most afternoons except Thursday and Friday Topics currently in demand ------------------------- 1. Genealogy and DNA In this world a genealogist MUST find a man, one she is related to who has the surname being researched. Most Surname Projects start with the objective to identify others who are related. This lecture is designed to help the family researcher understand how to use this tool in her research ! This talk will use the surname Rader as an example , we have established two distinct (meaning unrelated) lines of the Rader family, as well as five unrelated individuals. We will have to wait until more Raders, Roeders, etc. test before we can fill in their lineages. The "Ancestral Signature" is a prediction of what the shared Rader ancestor's genetic result would have been if tested. It is based on the results received thus far, but with small groups it is possible that some of the numbers predicted in the signature could be different. The first line is the R1b. James and Earl Rader match exactly all the way out to 37 markers. You mentioned that you share a common ancestor 7-9 generations ago, depending on who you count back from. The test is supporting that connection, especially since a match at 37 markers means there is a 90% chance you share a common ancestor within 5 generations, 95% within 7 generations. The second group is in haplogroup I. I highlighted any mutational differences from the ancestral signature in pink. There are a relatively low number of differences between these individuals, and it looks like they may share a fairly recent common ancestor. Without additional samples we cannot tell who is more closely related to whom because none of them share the same mutations (unless some of the 25 marker or 37 marker values are shared mutations). As additional people test with us, we will begin to see multiple people with the same mutation, such as another person with a 30 at 389-2, which will connect him more closely to 17292 than to the other Raders of haplogroup I. -------------------------- 2. Stand on the shoulders of previous researchers If you take the time to go through all of those online sources and extract all of the GEDCOM records which contain people which have the surname which you are working on. You can then merge those files together, and end up with the ultimate genealogy book on that surname Now you are ready to add sources particularly how to work with those online US Census sites. Is it good to be a "collector of Genealogies" ------------------------------- 3. Genealogy Software What can a computer program do for your genealogy research? Is Legacy version 6 better than Family Tree Maker 2005. Or is "RootsMagic the easiest to use family tree software available for Windows XP, 95, 98, ME, NT, and 2000, yet is also one of the most powerful, And now version 2 makes the best even better, with powerful wall charting, full publishing capabilities, the easiest merge feature available, and much more!" My Bio (as of Aug 2005 I am available most evenings and most days except Thursday and Friday) Jim Rader specializes in the Rader "one-name-study", collecting all people with that surname or a variation on it. Self Published "First attempt to collect all of the Rader/Roder/Rotter families in America" 1992 and "Second attempt to collect all of the Rader/Roder/Rotter families in America" 1995. That That book is now a Legacy data Base with over 80,000 individuals