Are we related? Checking at Family Search's RootsTech

Until the end of March you can check if you are related to me by using the link below. You will need a free account and a tree on Family Search. This relies on the information entered by the users and is for use as HINTS and not to be taken as correct until you have verified each link.

One example is my Ball ancestry. I am NOT related to Col William Ball, a grandfather of George Washington. See my earlier article on the Washington-Ball ancestry. My ancestors John Ball and his son, Moses Ball, owned land that became Mt Vernon, and Moses worked for George Washington. In his writings, Washington refers a coorespondent to Moses Ball for information about "family land" because Moses and John Ball had owned the land before the Washington family. He nowhere refers to Moses Ball as kin.

https://www.familysearch.org/en/connect/787b5034-edf8-465c-b6fa-f301452de294/friend/MMM9-XB3?cid=rar_copy

Let me know if you find a verifiable connection. Happy Hunting!

What's New at Family Search?

https://www.familysearch.org/blog/en/category/about-familysearch/whats-new-at-familysearch/

Over 57 Million New Records!

FamilySearch expanded its free online archives in April of 2020 with millions of new indexed family history records from all over the world. FamilySearch is continuously adding new records every month that you can access for free. Make new discoveries about your tree in our most recent collections.

See New Records

A Few of our Most Popular Records Collections Find A Grave Index BillionGraves Index United States Census, 1940 United States Census, 1930 United States Social Security Death Index United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014 England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 England and Wales Birth Registration Index, 1837-2008 England Marriages, 1538–1973  England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005

See what else is new on the FamilySearch.org blog.

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Do you have a DNA match to me? Please add a family tree.

While there are different reasons to take a DNA test, one reason is to find unknown relatives. If you have taken a genetic genealogy oriented DNA test you are probably interested in determining your genealogical link to people you match. When you add a family tree at either the DNA testing company, FamilyTree DNA, MyHeritage, LivingDNA, or AncestryDNA, etc., or at a genealogical website which you link your DNA results to, GENI, WIKITREE, TribalPages, etc., please be as complete with the data for deceased individuals as you can. This means that you include locations, at least county and state in the USA, and full dates of birth, marriage, and death, as far as you know them.

Please don't list deceased persons as Private unless you don't want genealogical relations to find you. In the USA the most recent public population census is that for 1940. The 1950 census will be available in 2022. Having locations and dates allows the person looking at your family tree to make connections with people in their tree to allow identification of the most recent common ancestor/s, (MRCA). This will greatly enhance the possibility of extending your genealogy research.

My suggested minimum family tree would go back to your Great Grandparents with their spouses and children, and work forward and stop at living people on each line. Ideally going back to before the 1850 census would probably work for most people in the USA.

If your ancestry in the 1800s or 1900s was mostly in Europe or otherwise outside of the USA, testing at MyHeritage and/or AncestryDNA will probably be of most use to you. For genealogical records I also suggest using FamilySearch.org due to its worldwide coverage.

I hope this will help you find your relatives.