Why I Prefer Researching Dead Ancestors

It started out so innocently. "Let me find one new DNA match to research." A few hours later, I have a 6th cousin who's a registered sex offender and had planned several murders. I'll take a pass on adding his name to my family tree.

Years ago I jumped on the chance to upload my AncestryDNA zip file to a site called FamilyTreeDNA for free. I hadn't checked that site for new DNA matches in a long time, so I logged in to see what's new.

Discovering this living 6th cousin is making me run back to my dead ancestors.

Scrolling down the list, I found someone with the same last name as my great grandmother, so I opened his tree. I also found a tree for the same family on Ancestry. I consulted the Ancestry tree because it has plenty of source citations.

I saw that my DNA match's grandmother also had a last name from my family: Ricciardelli. Researching the grandfather with the familiar last name did not lead back to my family. So I got to work on the Ricciardelli side.

That name comes from Santa Paolina, Avellino, Italy. My 2nd great grandmother Colomba Consolazio was born there. And she had a grandmother named Colomba Ricciardelli. I've added my closest relatives from this town to my family tree. But there are so many more relatives I can add.

This DNA match gave me that chance. I got to work adding birth, marriage, and death dates to the ancestors on this Ricciardelli branch. It was easy to see that the Ricciardelli line provides my connection to this DNA match.

After I went up my match's tree as far as I could, I came back down to add U.S. source citations. I added facts and citations for:

• censuses
• draft cards
• immigration records, and
• Social Security Death Index records.

When I came down to a generation that's about my age, I realized the family moved from the east coast to California. I love California's records! If you know their mother's maiden name, you can find birth records through 1995 and death records through 1997. These records show the person's:

• full name
• full date of birth or death
• mother's maiden name
• county of birth or death.

Need some DNA research tips?

• 4 Practical Methods for Identifying a DNA Match
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I got to the point where I knew my DNA match was the son of one of 4 brothers. But I couldn't tell which brother it was. I took another look at my match's tree on FamilyTreeDNA and realized I know his mother's maiden name! In the California Birth Index I found two people with the correct mother's maiden name. One of the two, a female, owns the Ancestry family tree I used for my research. The other person, a male, has a middle name that made him a good prospect for a regular internet search.

The results made me push myself away from my desk. The crime he attempted, and the criminal content in his possession, were the last thing I expected to discover. There are enough facts there for me to be sure this 6th cousin and the registered sex offender are the same person.

But things get more interesting. Remember I found California birth records for a brother and a sister. My FamilyTreeDNA match does not have the criminal's name. His test account has a description that is very helpful. It says that my DNA match is the uncle of the brother and sister from the California Birth Index. But the account is (was?) managed by the sex offender. He says he and his sister (whom he names) are trying to get past a brick wall on their paternal line. To do this, they convinced their uncle to take a DNA test.

The family tree connected to the DNA test doesn't have the uncle as the home person. That was throwing me off by a generation. The home person is the criminal, and IT SHOWS HIS NAME. This should be private since he's living. His sister's name is private. His parents and uncles' names are private. But his name is there despite having no death date.

I don't know if this peculiarity has any connection to legal proceedings, but it's all very creepy.

In the end, I marked the uncle as a DNA match in my family tree. Then I added a private note, one that will not appear in my online tree, explaining what I discovered.

This was not the playful genealogy romp I expected. I'll continue building out this Ricciardelli branch from Italian vital records. Then I'll find some more dead people to hang out with.

House Hunters: Genealogy Edition

I roll my eyes when I see posts detailing the history of homes in England. Oh, you can dig up details about your grandmother's house from the 1700s? Isn't that special. In the United States, the oldest building my ancestors ever lived in dates back to about 1900. And the city tore it down decades ago. Nothing lasts too long here.

Anything in this country built in the 1700s is a museum. I had the pleasure of volunteering in one such museum years ago. The Court Inn on Court Street in Newtown, Pennsylvania, dates back to 1733. It's surrounded by elegant old homes. Walking down the street, you feel as if you're back in the Colonial Era. Two doors down from the inn is a beautiful brick home built in 1836. Two blocks down is a house built in 1880, but the original part of the house dates back to 1811. Next door is a stone house built in 1870.

That's ancient for America!

Different websites may offer different details about the houses in your family tree.

If you want to research a house in the U.S., real estate websites are your best bet. I use 3 different websites because they can have different contents. It's a lot of fun when you can view interior photos. I particularly enjoyed looking at the old homes in Newtown, Pennsylvania. They're what I loved most about living there.

Which homes do you want to research? Or do you want to snoop on the neighbors?

Note that I've used purple text in the lists below for features that are very much the same on each website.

1. Zillow.com

My favorite feature of Zillow.com is that it shows property boundaries. Enter an address (or a street and town), then scroll down past the regular map. Look for a satellite image of the neighborhood. If it isn't showing white boundary lines, click the Lot Lines button. Zillow places an estimated home value on each house in the satellite image. Based on my neighborhood, this seems to be the last sale price. Zillow:

• Shows property boundaries with estimated property values.
• Shows the realtor's photos if the house is on the market or was on the market in recent years.
• Provides their own estimate of the property's value.
• Includes many details, including:
  • number of bedrooms and baths
  • square footage
  • lot size
  • type of heating
  • architectural style
  • year built
• Shows the property on a map with comparable homes for sale nearby.
• Shows the price history: the asking price when listed and the sale price going back several years.
• Shows the local tax and assessment history going back several years.

2. Realtor.com

This is my first stop when I know a house is for sale. Realtor:

• Shows property boundaries as you hover your mouse over the map. But it's ignoring my house. I wish the tax assessor would ignore my house.
• Shows the realtor's photos if the house is on the market or was on the market in recent years.
• Provides an estimate of the property's value. They base it on tax records and recent sale prices of comparable properties.
• Includes many details, including:
  • number of bedrooms and baths
  • square footage
  • lot size
  • type of heating
  • architectural style
  • year built
• Shows the price history: the asking price when listed and the sale price going back several years.
• Shows the local tax and assessment history going back several years.

3. Trulia.com

Zillow owns Trulia, but Trulia doesn't have the property boundaries. Trulia:

• Shows the realtor's photos if the house is on the market or was on the market in recent years.
• Provides their own estimate of the property's value.
• Includes many details, including:
  • number of bedrooms and baths
  • square footage
  • lot size
  • type of heating
  • architectural style
  • year built
• Shows the property on a map with comparable homes for sale nearby.
• Shows the price history: the asking price when listed and the sale price going back several years.
• May show recent local tax and assessment.

For me, it was fun looking up the house in California where I was a baby. When I was born, there was a farm in the backyard. Now a huge highway is right over the back fence! Our New Jersey house has interior photos from its last sale in 2020. The last owner upgraded so much, I don't recognize any rooms!

We are a weird place. This is why actual ancient architecture blows our minds.

Recent articles you may have missed:

• Get In-Depth Answers to Your Genealogy Questions
• Find the History of Any Date in Your Family Tree
• Get Familiar with Your Ancestral Homeland for Free
• Six 2025 Articles to Elevate Your Family Tree

Does Your DNA Control Your Traits?

Mom is a pessimist who gets mad when I share Dad's optimistic opinions. But is that my fault? Or did I inherit my optimism from Dad?

My 2012 AncestryDNA test gives me access to 93 genetic traits. These are physical, mental, and emotional tendencies built into our genes. And Ancestry can tell you which parent gave you each trait. Check your Ancestry account to see if Traits is available in your DNA menu. It seems new AncestryDNA tests do not include traits unless you pay an extra $20 for your kit. This is from the Ancestry website:

"Some DNA features require an Ancestry subscription. Traits inheritance is not yet available for some customers. Access to Traits is included with AncestryDNA+Traits and in any active subscription."

This month MyHeritage launched their own DNA Traits. Choose Traits from the site's DNA menu to generate your traits report. It works on your MyHeritage DNA test, no matter when you bought it. It also works on another company's DNA test that you uploaded to MyHeritage in the past. You do not need to buy a new test. Right now, MyHeritage DNA Traits are available as an add-on for $19.

What do your DNA traits say about you?

Let's take a look at some of my traits based on my 2012 AncestryDNA test. The categories are not identical on Ancestry and MyHeritage. But I'll choose traits that are similar. Note that MyHeritage gives me only 40 traits.

Sweet or Savory

I love sweets. I crave sweets. When I want a snack, I always go for the sweet snacks.

• AncestryDNA says I'm "somewhat more likely" to prefer sweet over savory. It says this trait comes from my maternal side. (Tell that to the chocolates Dad eats every night.)
• MyHeritage says that I'm only "slightly more likely" to crave sugar. MyHeritage also shows exactly which genes contribute to each trait.

And speaking of DNA tests:

• 4-Tool Combo Solves a DNA Problem
• What Do You Think You Are?
• Do Your DNA Ethnicity Results Make No Sense?

Morning Person or Night Person

Over the years I've evolved into a morning person. I slept very little in high school. I would go to bed, then sneak out to the family room to watch a movie at 2 a.m. In college I hated early classes, but I had no choice. And I got my best creative ideas as I drifted off to sleep.

By age 40 I realized I was no good mentally after 9 p.m. If I did any work after that I was going to make mistakes. By age 50 I started getting up by 6 a.m. and working for a couple of hours before getting dressed. That's still my routine, and I love it.

So if I am an early bird, was I fighting it from age 14 to 40?

• AncestryDNA says I'm "more likely" to be a morning person, and it comes from my paternal side. It's interesting that they say I'm more creative during my non-peak hours. If my genes make me a morning person, it makes sense that my creative inspirations happen at bedtime
• MyHeritage says I'm quite a bit "more likely" to be an early bird.
• AncestryDNA says this trait is about 17% genetic and 83% environmental.
• MyHeritage says it's about 50/50. Either way, this seems to justify how my sleep habits changed over time.

Physical Traits

AncestryDNA shows your likelihood to have a host of physical traits. I like that it shows which parent passed which traits down to you. Some traits are intriguing.

• My lighter eye color comes from Mom's side, which I could have told you.
• The thinness of my hair strands comes from Dad, which I would have guessed.
• My curly hair comes from Mom (I knew that), but it's much curlier than my DNA suggests.
• My light complexion comes from Mom's side, which is also pretty obvious.

I don't have these types of physical traits on MyHeritage. The closest they have if the Fitness category. This covers traits such as:

• endurance
• muscle mass
• power
• strength

I score well only on endurance. I am, to quote Charlie Chaplin in "The Great Dictator", a puny human.

Personality Traits

AncestryDNA says I'm more confident (inherited from Dad). But I'm unlikely to be optimistic (inherited from both parents). I have to disagree, as would my parents. And it says Mom's side makes me more likely to take risks. Oh no it doesn't.

It also says Mom made me an introvert. That's for sure. And MyHeritage DNA Traits agree that I'm quite the introvert.

My DNA seems to want me to play a musical instrument and be quite good at it. I can think of three times in my life when I tried to learn a musical instrument. It did not go well.

One very helpful feature of the MyHeritage DNA Traits is their advice on how to improve in certain areas. Since our traits come from genetics and our environment, we can work to change them. For example, they say my memory is very good. MyHeritage says we can improve our memory performance by:

• being active
• getting enough sleep
• eating well
• exercising our minds through reading, puzzles, and active learning.

I don't have an infallible memory for little details like Dad. Or a word-for-word memory of conversations like Mom. But I read and do puzzles like crazy. And doing genealogy research requires active learning all the time, doesn't it?

MyHeritage DNA Traits and AncestryDNA Traits results provide links to scientific references. This makes it easy for you to learn more.

Can DNA Traits Help Your Research?

Here's what MyHeritage says about these tests: "Trait reports reveal how your genetics influence your personality and characteristics, from taste preferences and sleep patterns to exercise response and more. They don't provide medical or diagnostic information. They offer a fascinating glimpse into many characteristics that make you unique."

Here's what AncestryDNA says about these tests: "These tests have no medical purpose. Nothing in these trait reports are a diagnosis of a health condition or medical disorder. These reports are not a substitute for medical advice. Before making any lifestyle or dietary changes, or if you have any questions about how your genetic profile might relate to your health or wellness, please contact your healthcare provider."

For the most part, DNA Trait results are more entertaining than anything else. But, if you never knew one or both of your parents, your AncestryDNA Traits may be more useful for you. If you wonder where some of your traits came from, AncestryDNA can tell you which parent passed them down to you. (Note the parental side works only if you can separate your closest DNA matches by parent.)

Check your DNA accounts to see if DNA Traits are available to you. You're more than your ethnic pie chart.

12 Genealogy Projects to Put on the Calendar

Because I have so many big genealogy projects going on at the same time, I can't seem to follow my own advice. Sometimes I re-read my old blog posts and think, "I need to do this project." But I never find the time.

My massive source citation project could take another two years to finish! Meanwhile, I've been ignoring all these smaller genealogy projects. But here's an idea. What if I commit to one of these 12 projects a month in 2026? I can complete some of these projects in a couple of days. Then I can get back to my source citations.

That's what I'll do. Early each month in 2026, I'm going to devote time to one overlooked project. Projects that I've recommended to you! Which genealogy projects should you add to your calendar?

Want to get those genealogy projects done? Commit to one project a month and stick to the schedule.

January 2026: Crop document images

I wrote about this project in "How to Improve Your Digital Genealogy Documents". I had tons of document images that I downloaded from Ancestry. Almost all had a big black border around them, and a large file size. For a while I pushed myself hard on this project, and I almost finished it.

All that's left to crop are city directory images. There are less than 100 of them, so I know I can complete this project in 2 or 3 sittings.

February 2026: Look for father's death date

In "5 Details to Review for a Richer Family Tree" I told you how some Italian birth records say the baby's father is dead. In most cases, the death record is not available online. Then I realized that sometimes the father's date of death is there at the bottom of the baby's birth record.

When I enter a birth date in my tree for a child born to a dead father, I make a note of it in the birth date's description field. I always use the same wording, which means I can search my GEDCOM file for every instance of those words. Then I can double-check the birth record to see if it includes the missing date of death.

March 2026: Add to your life story

I wrote about an easy way to start writing your autobiography in "4 Steps to Writing Your Own Life Story". I haven't added to my life story Word document in a while. Now that I have a new daughter-in-law and grandson, it's overdue. I'm not sure I added my first daughter-in-law to the story yet!

April 2026: Add more war casualties

I have access to lots of military records for Italians who died in World War I. Italy lost major battles in that war that cost thousands of lives. I've downloaded many records, which I talk about in "Free Italian Military Records for WWI and WWII". But I have many more to download and add.

Can't access military records for your people? Find the draft registrations cards for men of the right age.

May 2026: Find ship images

In "Your Immigrant Ancestor's Ship Has a Story to Tell", I showed how to dig into your ancestor's immigration. That reminded me of something. I've always wanted to find more photographs of the ships that brought my people to America.

Years ago on Ancestry, when you searched for an immigration record, they had a column with a link to the ship's image. I don't see that anymore, and I'd only saved a few. I'll spend a few days in May searching for images of the ships that carried my closer relatives to America.

June 2026: Digitize more pages

I told you about HandwritingOCR in "Finally! A Great Tool to Transcribe Handwritten Documents". I used it to digitize a few books and handwritten pages. I digitized Italian books, dropped the text into Google Translate, and saved it in English.

HandwritingOCR performed very well on my handwritten notebook of ship manifest entries. This notebook dates back to my earliest days of family tree-building. Now that it's digitized, I can make sure I've followed up on every lead.

My task for June is to find other texts to digitize and put them to good use.

July 2026: Find new details in family photos

Last July in "How to Use AI to Analyze Family Photos", I used AI to analyze and date old family photos for:

• clothing styles
• military uniforms
• locations
• automobiles

There's so much more I can explore! This July I'm going to dig through my photos and see how much more I can learn.

August 2026: Look into local social conditions

The immigrants in your family tree always left home for a reason. In "Why Did Your Ancestor Leave Home?" I wrote about the reasons so many people left their countries.

When I visited Italy, I wondered why my ancestors left such a beautiful place. What we need to do is research the history of their location at the time they left. We're bound to find stories of oppression, poverty, unemployment, and disasters.

Pick a few ancestors and look into the social conditions at home when they emigrated. These historic facts will be a great addition to your family tree.

September 2026: Solve more DNA matches

In general, I've gotten all I can out of my DNA matches. But you never know when a new one will break open another branch of the family tree. In "5 Steps to Making a Cousin Connection" I explained my process for solving DNA matches.

This month, I'll spend a few days solving new DNA matches.

October 2026: Find more immigrants

All my roots are in Italy, so I spend most of my time looking at Italian vital records. Often the only way I find out which Italians came to America is by spotting them in a DNA match's family tree.

I'll spend time this month following my own advice in "Use a Wide Search to Find New Connections". I'll dig into the records and find more cousins who came here. That'll tie up a lot of loose ends.

November 2026: Find out-of-town marriages

In "How I Found My 8th Great Grandparents" I described how I found my ancestors' names in another town. They were born too early to be in their hometown's vital records. But their grandson married for the 3rd time in another town at age 83—which was a huge break for me!

I'm going to look for missing marriage dates in my family tree. I'll research the marriages that could have taken place in another town and see what new facts I can learn.

December 2026: Research the boarders

In "That's No Stranger in Your Relative's House" I wrote about researching a man living in my uncle's home. His true identity was a wonderful surprise!

On many census forms in my family tree, I made note of the fact that a boarder, roomer, or lodger was also in the home. I also noted when my relative was a boarder in someone else's home. I'll search for those notations in my GEDCOM file and research the unknown people. They could very well be cousins who belong in my family tree.

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I've created a calendar reminder for each of these monthly tasks to make sure they get done. Many won't take much time, and January's project starts today. It's going to be a very productive year!

P.S. I wrote this article on Sunday—finished my January project on Monday!

That's No Stranger in Your Relative's House

When I got interested in genealogy, my husband gave me an Ancestry.com subscription. The census records seemed like a great place to start. I enjoyed going page-by-page through my family's Bronx, New York, neighborhood. Most of the last names on those pages rang a bell. Some were my cousins, and some were family friends whose names I've known all my life.

A bit of genealogy research into the boarders in your relative's home can yield crucial results for your family tree.

Over time I found that many people in this neighborhood came from the same part of Italy. My father's side of the family came from Colle Sannita, Italy. There are lots of Colle Sannita families in these buildings.

I noticed that many families in these Bronx apartments had one or more boarders living with them. They all seemed to be Italian immigrants. But I've spent very little time trying to research these boarders. Were they related to the head of household, or were they just a paesan?

Note: A boarder may be listed in a census as a roomer or a lodger.

Today I looked at the records I have for one of my Bronx relatives. He was my 2nd great uncle, Giuseppe Antonio Iamarino, born in Colle Sannita in 1871. When my father was a little boy, his family moved from Girard, Ohio (where he was born) to the Bronx. He told me his family lived with his Uncle Joe at 275 East 151st Street until they got their own apartment.

Thinking about this, I wondered when Uncle Joe first moved into that address. I know my father left Ohio in 1935 or 1936, and his family lived in their own place by the 1940 census. Can I make those facts line up with the documents? Here are Uncle Joe's documented facts:

• 1871 born in Colle Sannita, Italy
• 1900 immigration to the United States (per the 1905 New York census; ship manifest never found)
• 1905 lived at 464 East 151st Street with his first wife and their son and daughter
• 1910 lived at 275 East 151st Street with his first wife and their daughter
• 1915 lived at 302 East 150th Street with his first wife and their son and daughter
• 1920 lived at 302 East 150th Street with his first wife and their son
• 1928 lived at 300 East 150th Street when he married his second wife
• 1930–1938 lived at 275 East 151st Street again with his second wife

Who are those boarders, roomers, or lodgers in your relative's house on the census? Do the research and you may place them in your family tree.

He died at that address on 9 Jan 1938. These dates and the 275 address do line up with my father's recollection. It's the 1930 census where Uncle Joe has 3 boarders living with his second wife and himself. They are:

• Frank Pauluchio, age 30, born in Italy, single
• George DeGrosso, age 33, born in Italy, married
• Marces DeOffrio, age 19, born in Italy, single

I guarantee the census taker misspelled these names. If you get familiar with the names from your ancestors' towns, you can see past misspellings. I'm positive "Frank Pauluchio" is Francesco Paolucci and "George DeGrosso" is Giorgio DelGrosso. The third boarder's last name might be D'Onofrio. But that name isn't found in Colle Sannita, so I'll put him aside for now.

The first boarder, Francesco Paolucci, is of particular interest to me. Why? Because Uncle Joe's second wife is Filomena Paolucci from Colle Sannita. I searched for anyone named Francesco Paolucci born in Colle Sannita in about 1900. There were 2 possibilities, both of whom are in my family tree.

I hit the jackpot on the first try. Francesco Paolucci, born on 30 Aug 1900, has a ton of documents in my family tree. They tell me he lived at 275 East 151st Street when he married his first wife on 18 Nov 1922. He's also there in the 1925 New York State census, but not with Uncle Joe. He's with his first wife's family from Colle Sannita.

It turns out I had never found Francesco Paolucci in the 1930 census. That's because he's listed as Frank Pauluchio and living with my Uncle Joe! The census says he's single, but he was a widower.

Francesco (or Frank) is the 1st cousin once removed of Uncle Joe's second wife, Filomena.

It gets better. Frank's 2nd wife is Costanza Paolucci, whose father was born in Colle Sannita. Uncle Joe's wife Filomena is Costanza's aunt and Frank's 1st cousin once removed. That's a surprise.

But wait! There's more. Costanza and Frank Paolucci had one child called Johnny when they lived at 275 East 151st Street. Johnny and my father were lifelong best friends! I'm sure my father never knew his best friend Johnny's father had lived with Uncle Joe like he did.

Add this to the long list of interesting genealogy side-projects to explore:

• Research the boarders living with your relatives in the census sheets. You never know what you might discover.

How I Found My 8th Great Grandparents

This month I found something I never expected. A pair of my 8th great grandparents! And they happen to be my double 8th great grandparents. He is Nicola Iamarino, Ahnentafel numbers 1,024 and 1,280. She is Lorenza Cocca, Ahnentafel numbers 1,025 and 1,281. They are the direct ancestors of my father's parents who were 3rd cousins.

I know the names of 9 of my 9th great grandparents (out of a possible 2,048). And I knew the names of 29 of my 8th great grandparents (out of a possible 1,024). But I didn't expect to find any more. I'd exhausted every available vital record from their hometown of Colle Sannita, Italy.

Should you care where your 5th great grandfather's 3rd wife was born? You should if you hope to bust down a brick wall in your family tree.

You see, old Italian marriage records can provide a treasure trove of information. They include:

• the bride and groom's birth records
• their parents' death records, if they are dead
• their paternal grandfathers' death records, if their father and his father are dead

This is how you can discover Italians born in the mid- to late-1600s. They didn't start keeping vital records until 1805–1809. And few church records are available to the public. So the marriage records, called matrimoni processetti, are priceless.

So how did I find the names of Nicola Iamarino and Lorenza Cocca? By following up on an out-of-town marriage. My 5th great grandfather, Giovanni Iamarino, married 3 times:

• He married my 5th great grandmother Libera Pilla in about 1785. They were both from Colle Sannita. She died in 1825.
• He married Rosaria Antonia Maria d'Agostino in 1826. She was from the neighboring town of Circello, whose records I've also exhausted. She died in 1837.
• He married 64-year-old Lucia Ferrone in 1839. He was 83 years old!

His third wife Lucia died 2 years later in Colle Sannita. I noticed her death record says she came from another town called Castelpagano. That's on the northern border of Colle Sannita. The only way I knew about their marriage was because I saw the image of their 1839 marriage banns in Colle Sannita.

Each clue in a genealogy document can lead to new discoveries for your family tree. Are you looking in the right places?

I came upon Giovanni and Lucia during my ongoing quest to fill in all my missing source citations. I decided to look for their missing marriage record. Since the bride came from Castelpagano, it was a safe bet they married there. Whenever you can't find a marriage record for a couple, be sure to check both their hometowns. In Italy, it was common to marry in the bride's town and live in the groom's town.

I opened the 1839 marriage records for Castelpagano on the Antenati website. There I found everything I wanted:

• Their marriage record.
• Their marriage banns in that town.
• Their birth records.
• The death records of their previous spouses.
• Their mothers' death records.
• Their fathers' death records.
• Their paternal grandfathers' death records.

That last one was the missing piece I never knew I needed. Giovanni Iamarino's paternal grandfather was my double 7th great grandfather, Vincenzo Iamarino. I knew that. Vincenzo's 1776 death record, found in the Castelpagano marriage records, named his parents. Nicola Iamarino and Lorenza Cocca, my double 8th great grandparents!

I'll bet you have incomplete facts in your family tree. Take another look! Are you missing a marriage record from a year that should be available? Was the bride or groom from another town? You never know what mysteries you may solve by following up on every possible lead.