Using DNA to Identify German Connections

Who: Members of the Hamilton County Genealogical Society are invited.

What: A zoom webinar on "Using DNA to Identify German Connections"

This presentation will be given for the San Diego German Interest Group. Spaces will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Presenter: Kathy Reed

When: Wednesday, March 17th from 4:00 - 6:00 PM EST

Note that the webinar is scheduled from 1:00 - 3:00 PST. Given the time difference, we will not begin until 4:00 PM EST.

You must register in advance for this webinar:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vnAA9kDiT9KDvmEZNEDXDw

 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.  

We hope to post a link to the presentation at a later date.

Here is a link to the handout: Making German Connections Using Y-DNA Handout.docx

Questions? Contact Kathy Reed 

                   Email: dna.interest@hcgsohio.org

German Connections

It's a great time to have German heritage and live in Cincinnati. This summer Palatines to America is holding their national conference in Cincinnati from June 17th-20th. Check out their website. I am proud to be among the presenters who will be speaking at this event.

The International German Genealogy Partnership will hold an international conference in Cincinnati from July 16-18 2021. The Hamilton County Genealogical Society is the local host. You can read more about the conference here.

In anticipation of these events, and my love of DNA and its potential to make connections between Germans and their American descendants, I created an Ancestor Project that is housed on Gedmatch. I'm proud to say that in a very short period of time, 851 kits have been submitted. In addition, the facebook group has 133 members in one week. This is open to anyone with German ancestry and allows participants to use powerful Gedmatch tools to try to find connections both in the U.S. and abroad.

It became apparent that members did not understand how to use some of the tools. To this end, I created a facebook group for members who wanted to share results, connect with "cousins" and get suggestions from other members about the tools and techniques that have worked for them. It is listed as a "private" group because it is a violation of the Gedmatch Terms of Service to post DNA results in a public forum. In order to join the "German Connections" facebook group, you must supply your Gedmatch kit number to the moderator. Use the facebook link listed in the project.

I am excited about the possibilities of collaboration. Already I've received a great deal of assistance and encouragement from Tanja Bals. Tanja has also started an Ancestor Project called the Former Duchy of Oldenburg (Lower Saxony) that you can join if you have ancestors from Oldenburg. There are also several other regional German Ancestor Projects, as well as other ethnic groups, that may be of interest to you.

If you have questions, please don't hesitate to email me at dna.interest@hcgsohio.org

Submitted by Kathy Reed
dna.interest@hcgsohio.org