AncestryDNA is making several during August 2020 to improve accuracy and validity of matches. From late August (no specific date) they will remove matches which only share 6-7.9 centimorgans because there are many matches in this range that are not valid 5-8th cousins. They could be as distant as 20th cousins. These false matches tempt […]
Archive | Studying Family History
Historiography is the study of the methods of historians in developing history as an academic discipline
Knight Hungerford ancestry – what the DNA showed
Following the story that John Knight appeared to be the son of Emanuel Hungerford, John’s great-grandson Alan Knight did an AncestryDNA® test and a Y-DNA test to confirm this link to the Hungerfords. Our former HAFS president John BS Hungerford did the same so we had a comparison. The results were exciting and a bit […]

John Knight DNA breakthrough
John Knight The family of John Knight (1812-1912) grew up with the story that he was the illegitimate son of Emanuel Hungerford [E]. Now, two hundred years later, we have proof. Who was John Knight? John Knight was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1812. He came to Australia in 1828 on the Alexander Henry […]

Summer with SAG
This summer I joined the Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG) and attended four of their lectures and workshops – A Deep Dive into FindMyPast, AncestryDNA, and meetings of the Intermediate DNA group and Advanced DNA group. All sessions were held at their historic sandstone building Richmond Villa at Millers Point, which is a experience in […]

The finer points of ‘FindMyPast’
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DNA2Tree – A Discovery Tool
How do you deal with all that data in your AncestryDNA results when your matches don’t provide family trees or when the names in their trees don’t look familiar? In past posts, we’ve advised you to start with your closest matches and look at their shared matches. We’ve also talked about colour coding them using […]

DNA Opportunities
If you have been pondering doing a DNA test, then now might be the time. We have two special offers for HAFS members only – 10 Ancestry DNA kits at special prices, and FamilyTreeDNA Y-DNA and mt-DNA kits for people who can help us solve a puzzle. Why not join HAFS now if you want […]

A New Role for Phillipa Shelly Jones
Philippa Shelly Jones [E.2.3a.6b.5c.2d.1e] was recently elected to the Board of the Society of Australian Genealogists. She is also the Editor of the publication ASSOCIATIONS at Associations Forum and has previously worked as a solicitor. She has a Bachelor of Arts/Law, Grad Dip in Education and Certificate in Genealogical Research. Philippa brings with her a […]

New AncestryDNA features – ThruLines™ and Grouping
It’s just over two years ago that I wrote an overview of the types of DNA tests and why you might use them as part of your genealogy methods. Since then, over 26 million people have done a DNA test (AncestryDNA and 23andMe being most popular). Every time I log in to AncestryDNA, I can […]

DNA – Following the Mothers
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The Saga of Heritage
by Dr Thomas Hungerford OBE (Patron of the Society) (Originally published in Journal Vol. 1 No. 1 – May 1991) Sir Walter Scott said: Breathes there a man with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said This is my own, my native land? Land or heritage or something passed down from preceding generations; […]
Which DNA Test?
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