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.  

13 November 2025:- Total 54,339.  Following another Dowling family living very near another Dublin family subject of a correspondent's line.

12 November 2025:- Total 54,327.  Two entries for existing people and some source refurbishing for same line.  WhatsApp call with researcher in Ireland.

11 November 2025:- Total 54,325 including living.  Just a couple of hard to find people in Dublin just popped up today.  Busy with other stuff.

10 November 2025:- Total 54,322 including living.  Mostly adding and refurbishing sources for existing people in Dublin and Kent.

9 November 2025:- Total 54,322 including living. Sunday Double Back Up.  Today mostly refurbishing some old sources for a Dowling family with Laois-Dublin-Kent locations.  Years ago I was uncomfortable I remember leaving a John Dowling with some confused deaths to the point I doubted the double marriage and years later it still doesn't feel right, so more digging to do.

8 November 2025:- Total 54,316 including living.  A few more and merge from Carlow, so some simplification.  New email in from a Dowling family having a reunion next Easter... It would be nice to support that where I can and maybe update their line at the same time.

7 November 2025:- Total 54,311 including living.  More Carlow records with Carrolls and Dowlings.  I don't want to do full family searches for every non-Dowling whoever lived but this tactic certainly helps in getting a grip of candidates for hard-to-find people.

6 November 2025:- Total 54,297 including living.  More Carlow records with Carrolls and Dowlings, with some unravelling.

5 November 2025:- Total 54,286 including living. Lots more Carrol's, some with a Dowling link but others to deal with correspondence.  While I think I have tracked one difficult person, the critical link is still not in a currently available record.

4 November 2025:- Total 54,259 including living. Continuing to find why the Carroll correspondent thought she had the family tree brick wall, a genuinely elusive family.  Before I stop and wait for the next Irish census I'll just check Leighlinbridge Carlow again.

3 November 2025:- Total 54,255 including living. Added a little detail from Carroll correspondent, with a lovely heirloom of an Army Pay Book, and a marriage but this is one of those lines that needs a new census release to shed, hopefully, a little more light.

2 November 2025:- Total 54,254 including living. Sunday Double Back Up.   Spent much of today looking and not finding on this Carroll family.  I'll try for some more information from the correspondent or will have to examine candidates in the USA.

1 November 2025:- Total 54,254 including living. Working on some Carroll's at present for a correspondent, it's a very tricksy challenge as the family seem to avoid registration!

28 October 2025:- Total 54,239 including living. Added some Welsh Dowlings and after lots of hunting found, in a school attendance record, that they went to Australia.

 

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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Compiler: Brian Thomas Dowling (1955-)
Site updated on 13 November 2025 at 19:29; 47,587 people (this number does not include 'Living' people excluded automatically for data protection purposes)
Page created by John Cardinal's GedSite v5.08  |  Much altered from a design by Contented Designs