The Intrepid Sleuth • Professional Genealogist and DNA Specialist

Genetic Affairs’ AutoCluster now has “Enriched Surnames” feature!

I swear Dr. Blom’s brain never sleeps. His AutoCluster tool quickly and easily forms shared match clusters from DNA test results without users having to download any software. It should be in everyone’s DNA analysis toolbox. And thanks to that brain of his, now AutoCluster also analyzes the prevalence of all user-entered site profile surnames and locations. […]

A How-to for Genetic Affairs AutoCluster Hello fellow DNA enthusiasts and the AutoCluster curious. It’s been a thrillingly wild ride since Evert-Jan Blom released Genetic Affairs AutoCluster yesterday morning. Response has been amazing and I’ve been able to tell him, “I told you so!” about a million times. Thanks to everyone who took the time […]

AncestryDNA recently announced that they sold about a gazillion kits over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday period. That translates into more shared matches for everyone! Woohoo! But who else is a bit overwhelmed by the sheer number of matches in our match lists? Who are all these strangers? What does it mean? What should you do? Empower […]

#52ancestors in 52 Weeks- Week 3- Longevity

This week’s topic for #52ancestors is “Longevity”.[1] Hello kind readers. I need to dash off a quick post so I can get to the Mother Ship early enough to later claim I spent “my entire day” scrolling through and squinting at miles of 18th-19th century German church records, some of which are in Latin. This […]

#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks- Week 2- Favorite Photo

This week’s topic for #52ancestors is “favorite photograph”.[1] That’s my dad sitting on a motorcycle. Years ago, I had heard his younger brother, Uncle Jim, laughingly tell a vaguely remembered story wherein my dad supposedly rode an Indian motorcycle onto and across his high school’s stage. We were all gathered at my father’s after-funeral “reception” […]

“Start” Me Up! (With Genealogy)- #52Ancestors in 52 Weeks- Week1

Fellow genealogist Amy Johnson Crow has thankfully created “52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks” to provide a weekly blog topic for those who want to start, enhance, continue, or revitalize their genealogy blogs.[1] I’ve been woefully neglectful of my own blog because, truth be told, I had nothing much to say. Now, each week in 2018, […]

I’m here in Norwich, England, the town where our 9th Great Grandfather and immigrant, Michael Metcalf, moved to as a young man. Here he married, engaged in business, and started a large family. Michael thrived in Norwich for almost twenty years before the ever shifting religious scene resulted in his being persecuted for refusing to […]

Ohio Infantryman

I’m not one to read another person’s diary, let alone shout its contents to the world. A diary is the first-person account of someone’s life, often written as the last act of the day, the diarist alone, in reflection, settling into the quiet night. It’s intimate, just the writer and the page, the writer deftly […]

Mention Cyndi’s List, I’m There! On Saturday, Cyndi Ingle of Cyndi’s List fame presented a whole day of genealogical enrichment at Colorado Genealogical Society‘s sold out spring seminar (which I am informed was really a joint effort between them and their CIG). I don’t know if they lucked into her or if she just always […]

Death Slaps Me, Hard For the first time since I’ve become the family genealogist, we had a death in the family. I mean a close death, one that deeply affected those nearest to me. The death was swift, unexpected, and heart-breaking. I suddenly found myself back in my old desert town, surrounded by a large, devastated […]

Genetic Affairs’ AutoCluster now has “Enriched Surnames” feature!

Genetic Affairs AutoCluster – How does that work??

AutoCluster Your AncestryDNA Matches!

#52ancestors in 52 Weeks- Week 3- Longevity

#52Ancestors in 52 Weeks- Week 2- Favorite Photo

“Start” Me Up! (With Genealogy)- #52Ancestors in 52 Weeks- Week1

Michael Metcalf, Our English Immigrant Dude

Victor D. Clark’s Civil War Diary

Cyndi’s List Comes to Colorado

Death Visits A Genealogist

Seek Me on The Socials