52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2023: Week 8 (I CAN IDENTIFY)
This month I have been busy connecting with relatives via the RootsTech Relative Finder.
At the beginning of the month I had a few hundred matches. On February 12th that number jumped to 1,154 relatives.
They are sorted in order of closeness.
My closest relatives are three 5th cousin X1 removed.
One is in California & one in Virginia via my mother's maternal line.
One is my father's maternal line in England.
My most intriguing relative is via my mother's paternal line - My 7th cousin X2 removed lines in Vanuatu - a country in the pacific ocean made up of islands that I had never heard of before clicking that connection.
RootsTech Relative Finder is very similar to ThruLines on Ancestry. It depends on the accuracy of open sourced trees.
The difference between them lies with the Family Search Tree that is sourcing RootsTech Family Finder.
I attended RootsTech 2022 due to the ease of attending virtually.
That year I hadn't worked on our Bramble Bush on FamilySearch so my Relative Finders was a bit disappointing even with 11034 matches because they were all on my mother's maternal line which is a well researched line.
My goal at the end of RootsTech 2022 was to connect our lines to the main tree so that 2023 would provide better matching results.
I also joined the Are We Related RootsTech Facebook Page. In this group my relatives range from 9th cousin X2 removed to 15th cousin.
By adding a link to your profile others in the Facebook group can click it, and discover if they are related & exactly how.
This week I discovered I get a message every time someone clicks to see if they are related that tells me if they are related.
In looking at the shared matches I can identify all but my father's paternal line.
My mother's paternal line doesn't go back as far as I would like. This is the line I expect to find the most assistance with via open source trees.
In my quick looking this week I discovered a potential crossover with my mother's paternal line & my father's maternal line. This is the first time I have had to be cautious working on my side of the Bramble Bush. It's a common occurrence on my husband's side of our Bramble Bush.
The tool at RootsTech Relative Finder lets you filter by relative. Of the 1154 relatives 39 are via my dad. None are via his paternal line - my brick wall. I know this because the same 39 relatives appear when I filter by my paternal grandmother (his mother).
Last year's planning for this event didn't do anything for our brick wall. Then again RootsTech doesn't officially start until March 2nd so there is still time for more matches to appear.
RootsTech Relative Finder 2023 will end on March 31st, and then I will have a whole year to work on the Brick Walls to make 2024 more productive.
I have future plans to attend RootsTech in Salt Lake City in the future, but for now attending virtually is an amazing opportunity.
This is why I search -
Cause ...
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!
***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***
Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/
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