What's New

I add names to the Family Tree Maker database almost daily. The database, converted to GEDCOM format, gets updated to this website using GEDsite.
I am slow... because its not just about collecting names, I am after connections and stories. The 'Living' are excluded from this website, the total viewable in website can be seen in footer at the very bottom of the page.  

12 May April 2025:- Total 52,511 including living.  A lot of sources for existing people as Dale County in Alabama is all now in the Study from 1840 to 1900.

11 May April 2025:- Total 52,504 including living.  Sunday Single Back Up.  Upgraded my software from Family Tree Maker 2019 to 2024.  I added some censuses, a few people, updated existing people with census entries and generally did a 'usual' day, and the new software seemed the same as before.  This, assuming there is more stability under the hood, is fine as I don't really need a new learning curve.

10 May April 2025:- Total 52,500 including living. A merge of two identical people.  Mostly sources for existing people.  What appears to be, post US Civil War, a black Dowling family next door to a white Dowling family in 1870.  The black family were unrecorded before the Civil War.

9 May April 2025:- Total 52,496 including living. Some 1870/80 US censuses added today.  Completed a long awaited merge in Alabama, adding to the Dowling Family of The South.

8 May April 2025:- Total 52,476 including living.  Mixed records today and some sorting.  Also added some frameworks for non-Dowlings, related pending further investigation.  Found a family linked to Ireland with no evidence attached, I can't think how it happened, other than an Ancestry World Tree entry, but I have separated them now.

7 May April 2025:- Total 52,445 including living.  A lot of searching and no finding so went back to Ohio until a correspondent contacts me regarding the rabbit-hole!

6 May April 2025:- Total 52,433 including living.  Followed a bit of a rabbit-hole today with a Richard Dowling Wetzel in Texas... from here I cannot see a Dowling connection.  Oh well, nothing wasted as its all in the system for future reference.

5 May April 2025:- Total 52,418 including living.  A few censuses from Ohio and start of a new correspondence.

4 May April 2025:- Total 52,408 including living.  Sunday Single Back Up.  Busy with other things but managed some Find a Grave entries.

3 May April 2025:- Total 52,398 including living.  Some Find a Grave entries and census in USA.

2 May April 2025:- Total 52,384 including living. A hotch-potch of a day with decorating in-between entries from US and UK, including a US merge in Georgia.

1 May April 2025:- Total 52,376 including living. Monthly Double Back Up. Added a few census entries to existing people in UK.

30 April 2025:- Total 52,371 including living. An email with some death information on English Dowlings gave an excuse to change focus.  This information allowed the person to show on the website as up to this point I thought she could still be living.  Refurbished some sources while reviewing the family and added two censuses.

 

Legend:

 

Sunday Single Back-up: On Sunday of each week my computer gets backed up to a separate hard drive on my network (NAS).
Monthly Double Back-up: On the 1st of every month my computer gets backed-up to a separate hard drive on my network (NAS). The NAS, which also has other files not on the computer then gets backed-up again to another separate hard drive on the network that is normally off-line for the rest of the month, disconnected from the internet and powered-off.
Merge: A merge is where evidence has emerged to allow two separate people on the database to be merged into one individual.  For example, there may be two people called Michael Dowling, one as a son of John Dowling and the second as a census entry.  The two initially start off from records as separate entries but a marriage of Michael to Mary Phelan showing a father of John and matching other factors allows me to say with some confidence that they are one and the same person.  This can be quite complicated with much playing around with probabilities and numbers of candidates for merging or occasionally very simple.  The number of people in the database drops by one and it is a major cause for celebration as it increases accuracy and future confusion.
Join: A join is where evidence emerged to allow one person to be connected to another.  For example, a daughter to be added to a father.  A cause for celebration as it reduces the number of separate families in the database and increases accuracy and future confusion.

 

Projects

There are a huge number of entries in my database form a variety of sources. So, even though there is no project that covers a particular source or region does not mean there are no entries for that source or region. The projects cover where I systematically extract entries from a source to make sure the source has been 'milked' for all it's worth. The What's New page also shows when I have worked on a particular project.

Activity


Activity follows the Guild of One-Name Studies "Seven Pillars of Wisdom":

  1. Data Collection - from correspondents, projects (see below) and serendipity! I include maintenance in here as, with a large study over 30 years, a significant number of flaws creep in that need correcting.

  2. Analysis - researching, investigating, linking, etc. Also constant review for corrections;

  3. Synthesis - drawing conclusions about the Dowlings, making sense of it all!

  4. Publicising the Study - This website... I am not particularly technical so this is a challenge, I also promote the study on some DNA sites;

  5. Responding to enquiries - helping where I can, adding their families to the database or trying to make sense of DNA matches. I will reply, maybe not immediately, but I will always respond.;

  6. Publication of results - again this website, as much as possible is available as I believe widespread sharing is the basis of its permanent legacy;

  7. Preserving the study - A more significant challenge than it sounds, some arrangements have been made through the Guild for the study to be available when I am dead and gone!


 
I use Family Tree MakerFind My Past
I use FamilyTree DNA for my DNA testsI use GedMatch for Autosomal DNAI am a member of the Guild of One-Name Studies
NOT on Facebook! as wastes more time than it savesNOT on Twitter! it becomes a distractionNOT with Ancestry!NOT on MyHeritage as they took their subscription without notice!
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---- Click my name below to e-mail me ---- I would like to hear from you ----
Compiler: Brian Thomas Dowling (1955-)
Site updated on 12 May 2025 at 19:32; 46,015 people (this number does not include 'Living' people excluded automatically for data protection purposes)
Page created by John Cardinal's GedSite v5.04  |  Much altered from a design by Contented Designs