Author Archives: Alicia M Prater, PhD

Read now – A Beginner’s Guide to Given Family Names

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New in GenTales on Medium – Surnames Vary by Region

There are many factors to consider when attempting to follow a lineage via surname. There are also many types of surnames depending on which region you’re working in.

When tracing surnames, it may be a simple process of following the name through the generations. But if you hit a wall, consider where and who you’re investigating, as it may require a bit of detective work to uncover a name change either between generations or for the person of interest themself.

New on Substack – Limitations of Genetic Ethnicity Estimates

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I’ve written before about lowering expectations for genetic genealogy, particularly in the context of ethnicity estimates. In the Lineage Research space at Quora, a lot of questions are asked about why certain ‘known’ ancestries don’t show up in DNA test results. Amidst this confusion, I feel that this topic certainly hasn’t yet been exhausted and compelled to address it once again.

Read about the limitations of genetic genealogy on Substack.

New on Ko-Fi – Genealogy

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This month’s subscriber-only post in GenTales on Substack provides info on one pairing that causes pedigree collapse in My Lineage from the Roots Up, vol. 2. William Musick Prater was born about 1787 in Russell Co., Virginia, to Jonathan Prater and Sarah Elizabeth (Musick) Prater. Obedience “Biddy” Prater was born about 1790-1794 in Virginia to Elizabeth Fugate and another William Prater who was thought to be Jonathan Prater’s brother. Below the cut on Substack or available for download on Ko-Fi are their children and siblings.