From: "IsraelP" Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2014 12:59:02 +0200 Subject: Genealogy #80 . Dear Cousins, A bit of "this and that" as we move through the winter. I was interviewed for a weekly podcast series called "The Genealogy Professional." You can hear it at http://www.thegenealogyprofessional.com/israel-pickholtz/ I have mentioned my blog to you before. It's now into its third year and a new post has gone up almost every Sunday. The last four have dealt specifically with the Pikholz Project. In http://allmyforeparents.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/h-is-for-hellenberg-halpern- Husiatyn.html I talk about a Pikholz-Hellenberg marriage from a famiy from Husiatyn, 27 miles from Skalat. It's a family that has been a puzzle for some time and the new findings have not done much to confirm their place in the family structure. In that blog post, I discuss the new findings and my theory on who this branch and where it belongs. In http://allmyforeparents.blogspot.co.il/2014/01/no-stone-unturned-no- paper-either.html I write about Zisl Pikholz and her husband Yaakov Kling. After fifteen years, I finally have contact with the family, but still don't know where they belong in the Pikholz structure. We know the names of Zisl's parents are Mordecai and Sarah, but we have no known couple with those first names. In addition, Zisl lived in Lwow, the provincial capital, so her family could have come from Rozdol or Skalat or any of the other Pikholz towns in the area. But the story itself is interesting and I invite you to have a look. The last two weeks, I have written about some of the difficulties we are having analyzing the DNA results. Determining the relationships among our branches is proving to be no simple matter and it appears there are all kids of connections between our non-Pikholz sides farther back than any of our information. The fact that we have barely two dozen Pikholz descendants who have tested does not help. We have a few branches of our families where no one has tested at all and even in most of the others, it's a sparse group. (The really serious families test much more densely, including sometimes every individual sibling.) A number of you have said you will test but haven't and some others have not repolied to my requests at all. The test I want people to take is the Family Finder at Family Tree DNA, which costs US$99 and involves a simple do-it-yourself cheek swab with a kit they send you. You can order at https://www.familytreedna.com/order-now.aspx?ty=1331#SelectAProduct . (There are also a few of you with male Pikholz lines, whom I have asked to do Y-37 tests. You know who you are!) For those so inclined, we have a fund at FTDNA to help cover costs.and you can contribute to it at http://www.familytreedna.com/group-general-fund- contribution.aspx?g=Pickholtz We have had a dozen or more non-Pikholz who have significant DNA matches with half of us or more. We probably have family connections with these folks back in the 1700s, when none of had surnames. I am being as cooperative as I can with most of these, but nothing has yet come of any of it. I also blogged on the subject of online family trees and you can see that at http://allmyforeparents.blogspot.co.il/2013/12/genealogy-as-quilting- bee.html This online collaboration is all the rage among some researchers, but many many others, myself included, have issues with the whole subject. This morning I successfully registered for a course in Practical Genetics being given by the Genealogy Research Institute of Pittsburgh (gripitt.org) in late July. That is no small thing because it was heavily oversubscribed. It's a full week course and I am hoping that it will help me learn how to get the most out of our DNA tests. The week after the course is our conference on Jewish genealogy in Salt Lake City. I have submittted two proposals for talks, plus participation in a panel discussion. They notify of acceptance 15 March and usually have three-four times as many proposals as slots. The parameters of the trip seem to be 13-14 July until 3 August - with the first few days in Baltimore-Philadelphia and weekends in Chicago before and after SLC. I have a new Twitter address only for matters of genealogy @allmy4parents . Followers are welcome. That will do. Please try to keep me upto date with births, marriages etc. Israel P. -- End --