Busby Genealogy Resources Web Site

This web site relates to resources available
for genealogical, or family history, or ancestry, research
involving the family name Busby and its variants.

So, this web site is intended to help people find resources that can assist them, in researching Busby genealogy, or, Busby family history, or, Busby ancestry.

However, whilst this web site refers to genealogy resources applicable to researchers of Busby (and like names) genealogy, the information is equally applicable to all genealogy researchers. Where a resource is directed to Busby genealogy, simply substitute whatever family names you are researching, for the name Busby, or, otherwise, search the applicable resource web site, for whatever family names, you are researching.

My name is Bret Busby, and I have done some research into my Busby ancestry, which is traced back to England in the early 1800's.

Many people, from many different countries, have done research into their family history, involving the Busby family name, and its variants, going back much further than what I have been able to achieve, and resources have been established to assist researchers into genealogy, involving the Busby family name and its variants.

This web site needs for me to be working on it, and I hope to be, as time goes on.

Page Contents

1. Genealogical autosomal DNA testing
2. Busby name genetic genealogy (DNA testing and analysis) project
3. Genealogy mailing lists
4. Wikitree web site
5. Online Courses And Other Online "How To" Resources
6. A Suggested Strategy

Genealogical autosomal DNA testing

A good start for people interested in genealogical research, is to undergo genealogical autosomal DNA (also named atDNA) testing. This test is available for both males and females, and, can be used for finding probable relationships, across both genders of ancestry.

This is the genealogical DNA testing, that is performed by the major genealogical DNA testing companies. A comparison of these companies, is at https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_testing_comparison_chart .

Another ISOGG wiki page that is quite useful, regarding autosomal DNA testing, is the web page at https://isogg.org/wiki/Cousin_statistics , especially, the Company Statistics table.

A popular recommendation, from people more knowledgeable than me, in genealogical DNA testing, is to first undergo the testing at AncestryDNA; https://www.ancestry.com/dna/ (you need to go to the branch web site for the country in which you are resident). As at Rootstech 2024 , AncestryDNA is the biggest genealogical DNA testing company, with the database of test subjects, with a population of about 25 million, as at March 2024, exceeding the number of test subjects, of all of the other testing companies together.

On the AncestryDNA web site for Australia and New Zealand, at https://www.ancestry.com.au/dna , are three options available for order.

As at 01 October 2023, in the (Australia and New Zealand) applicable discount offer, are
1. AncestryDNA (just the test kit, with what the price involves), for 85AUD (reduced from 129AUD).
2. "AncestryDNA + membership" (the test kit, "plus a 3-month World Heritage Membership for you - only $1.**"), for 86AUD (reduced from 130AUD).
3. "AncestryDNA + Traits" (the test kit "plus learn how your genes can influence your personal traits"), for 100AUD (reduced from 159AUD).
Read the applicable web page, fully, and, my comment below, before deciding which option you choose.

The option to order, that I recommend, is the second option. This is about genealogy, not inferences like whether you may be more likely to have a bigger than normal, nose, or blue eyes, or black hair with grey streaks through it (like the wife of Frankenstein), due to your genes. The second option will get you the AncestryDNA genealogical DNA test, and, access to ancestry.com World Heritage Membership, so that you can use the resources that involves, for researching your genealogy and family history, for the period of the membership. From the normal (not having discounts applied) prices for each of the three options, the three months access to the World Heritage Membership, costs only 1AUD more than the price for the DNA test, so, it is well worth getting, even if you do not extend the membership beyond the initial three months.

The next recommended step, is to, when you get the test results; so that the test data is available, download the test data, and, upload it to MyHeritage DNA, which can be done, as can finding and contacting matches, free of charge.

As at 15 September 2024, the web page at https://isogg.org/wiki/Autosomal_DNA_testing_comparison_chart shows the number of genealogical autosomal DNA test data sets in the MyHeritage DNA database, as being 8.5 million. MyHeritage DNA is the largest testing company that provides for uploading of test data from the other testing companies, and, is more than four times bigger than the other two, combined.

Information about downloading your test data from AncestryDNA, and uploading the test data to MyHeritage, is at
https://blog.myheritage.com/2018/12/starting-today-new-dna-upload-policy/
and
https://www.myheritage.com/dna/upload/
and
https://education.myheritage.com/article/upload-dna-results-to-myheritage-why-its-worth-it/
and
https://faq.myheritage.com/en/article/how-can-i-upload-a-dna-file-to-myheritage
and
https://www.yourdnaguide.com/transfer-myheritage ,
and, the Unlock Fee (29USD) is well worth it, or, taking out a subscription plan, to access the extra features, such as the Shared Matches analysis. See
https://www.yourdnaguide.com/ydgblog/myheritage-dna-advanced-tools-worth-29-unlock-fee .

Please read all of those web pages, to get a fuller understanding of what is involved; it is not an overly complicated procedure - stepwise instructions are included, but, it is better to understand what is involved, as best as possible.

Also worth viewing, are the web pages at
https://www.ancestry.com/cs/dna-inheritance
and
https://www.yourdnaguide.com/ydgblog/siblings-dna-tests .

Also, if you have already undergone genealogical autosomal DNA testing, at another company, it would be worth uploading your test data to MyHeritage DNA, to expand the pool of available test subjects and increase the prospects of finding more matches.

Note: While, at the time of writing this, these two companies seem okay for protecting their clients' privacy, be careful, and, read the privacy conditions, and, "What we do with your data" information, before signing up with any company, as some unscrupulous companies, sell their clients' data on the open market, and, clients only find out about this, later.

However, at the time of writing this, both AncestryDNA and MyHeritage DNA, appear to respect and protect the privacy of their clients.

Busby name genetic genealogy (DNA testing and analysis) project

A Busby name Y-DNA genetic genealogy Project, which provides for investigation of the probability of links between known Busby lines throughout the world, and between those lines and lines of families with variants of the same root as the Busby family name, including the family names Busbee, Busbey, Busbice, Busbie, Busby, Busbye, Buschebi, Bushby, Buskebi, Buskeby, Bussby, Busseby, Buzbee, Buzby, Buzzebia .

Y-DNA genealogical genetic testing

The Project involves a male with one of those family names, or a sufficiently similar family name, who is descended from a male line with the same family name, joining the Project, and being sent a kit for taking a sample of the male's DNA, and sending the sample to be analysed, and the result compared with the results of other males within the Project, to determine the probability of a relationship between the different lines.

If you are a female, who has a brother or father, or husband or son, who is still alive, who is from a direct male line of one of the above family names, and the male immediate family member, is willing to undergo the genealogy Y-DNA testing, then this could be used to determine the probability of your family's descent from, and, relationship to, another known line with one of the above family names.

Similarly, if you are a female and your maiden name is Busby or one of the above family names, and you have an uncle or a male cousin, who is still alive, who has the same family name, and that male family member, is willing to undergo the genealogy Y-DNA testing, then this could be used to determine the probability of your family's descent from, and, relationship to, another known line with one of the above family names.

Similarly, if your mother's maiden name is Busby or one of the above family names, and you have an uncle or a male cousin, who is still alive, who has the same family name, as your mother's maiden name, and that male family member, is willing to undergo the genealogy Y-DNA testing, then this could be used to determine the probability of your family's descent from, and, relationship to, another known line with one of the above family names.

My preference is for, and, I recommend, joining the BUSBY name Y-DNA Project, and undergoing the 37 marker Y-DNA test, for all males with the family name Busby, or one of the above family names or names similar to the name BUSBY, where the biological father has the family name BUSBY, or one of the above family names or names similar to the name BUSBY, and is of a bloodline with the family name BUSBY, or one of the above family names or names similar to the name BUSBY.

My understanding (and, this is my understanding as a layman, and I do not pretend to be an expert in genetics), from information from the familytreedna.com web site as viewed on 27 July 2015, is that a match for males with the same surname or with similar surnames, with the familytreedna.com Y-37 DNA test, is thus;

Probability that your Most Recent Common Ancestor lived no longer than this many generations ago:

Genetic Distance-|--50%--|--90%--|--95%
--------00------------|--02-----|--05-----|--07
--------01------------|--04-----|--08-----|--10
--------02------------|--06-----|--12-----|--14

Thus, from the table, as an example, if two males with the same family name, or with sufficiently similar family names, undergo the 37 marker Y-DNA test, and all 37 markers match (thus, a "zero genetic distance"), then the probability that they have a Most Recent Common (paternal) Ancestor within the last 5 generations, is 90% and, the probability that they have a Most Recent Common (paternal) Ancestor within the last 7 generations, is 95%.

That is my understanding.

Now, for a comparison between the different numbers of markers test result matches. The data in these five tables, is from the familytreedna.com web site, as displayed on 21 April 2018.

1. 12 marker Y-DNA test match

Probability that your Most Recent Common Ancestor lived no longer than this many generations ago:

Genetic Distance-|--50%--|--90%--|--95%
--------00------------|--07-----|--23-----|--29
--------01------------|--17-----|--39-----|--47


2. 25 marker Y-DNA test match

Probability that your Most Recent Common Ancestor lived no longer than this many generations ago:

Genetic Distance-|--50%--|--90%--|--95%
--------00------------|--03-----|--10-----|--13
--------01------------|--03-----|--10-----|--13
--------02------------|--03-----|--10-----|--13
This table appears weird, but, the numbers are from results as provided by familytreedna.com

3. 37 marker Y-DNA test match

Probability that your Most Recent Common Ancestor lived no longer than this many generations ago:

Genetic Distance-|--50%--|--90%--|--95%
--------00------------|--02-----|--05-----|--07
--------01------------|--04-----|--08-----|--10
--------02------------|--06-----|--12-----|--14


4. 67 marker Y-DNA test match

Probability that your Most Recent Common Ancestor lived no longer than this many generations ago:

Genetic Distance-|--50%--|--90%--|--95%
--------00------------|--02-----|--05-----|--07
--------01------------|--04-----|--08-----|--09
--------02------------|--06-----|--12-----|--14
These results appear almost identical to the 37 marker results, but they are as published by familytreedna.com

5. 111 marker Y-DNA test match

Probability that your Most Recent Common Ancestor lived no longer than this many generations ago:

Genetic Distance-|--50%--|--90%--|--95%
--------00------------|--02-----|--04-----|--05
--------01------------|--03-----|--06-----|--07
--------02------------|--05-----|--08-----|--09
--------03------------|--06-----|--10-----|--11

So, it is up to you, given your particular circumstances, to determine which of those, is most appropriate option for you, given the applicable test prices, but I maintain my recommendation for the 37 marker Y-DNA test.

I note that, whilst the 12 and 25 marker matches are included, and, whilst notifications of matches at those levels, are sent to customers of familytreedna.com, the lowest number of markers test, available for purchase, in the familytreedna.com Y-DNA testing, now, is the 37 marker test. That is the Y-DNA test that I recommend for males, for genealogy research.

The Busby name genetic genealogy Project web page, with applicable fees for tests done within the Project, is at https://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Busby .

For more information about the above tests, including, when available, discount pricing for the tests, see
https://www.familytreedna.com/products/y-dna
for the Y-DNA Test.

Please, if you have Busby (or a similar sounding family name) ancestry, and, if you are interested in genealogy, or family history, and, if you are male, and, if you can afford it, join the Busby name genetic genealogy project described above, and get the 37 maker Y-DNA Test.

A considerably more expensive Y-DNA test, that is available at FamilyTreeDNA, that can also be ordered (and, an upgrade to it, ordered) through the Busby name genetic genealogy project described above, is the Big Y-700 test, which can apparently, show the origin of your male family line. See https://www.familytreedna.com/products/big-y . for more information about this test.
The more males that undergo the Y-DNA testing, especially, the Big Y-700 test, for those who can afford it, the more useful and helpful, it becomes.

The facility also provides for the results of your genetic Y-DNA analysis, being compared with people from lines with a family name of the above group of names, who are yet to join the group, so that, if someone from your family line, has a genealogy analysis performed, and your family line is found unlikely to be related to existing members of the group, it may happen that someone in the future, joins the group, and their genetic Y-DNA analysis, when compared to a sample or samples from your family line, shows a distinctly high probability, of the lines being related.

The results from the Project, can also show the geographic distribution, of different known lines of related people with the Busby family name, or one of its variants.

For more information about the Busby Y-DNA Project, send an email to me at Bret

Genealogy mailing lists

With ancestry.com, the owner of the free Rootsweb genealogy mailing lists, closing down the free Rootsweb mailing lists facility, as of 02 March 2020, a number of mailing lists List Administrators of the free Rootsweb mailing lists, have moved to groups.io, and have set up groups at groups.io, to replace the free Rootsweb mailing lists.

I have also done this, and, have set up a group at https://groups.io/g/Busby-genealogy .

To post to the group, you would need to join the group, which is easy.

I recommend visiting that web page, if any of the family names Busbee, Busbey, Busbice, Busbie, Busby, Busbye, Buschebi, Bushby, Buskebi, Buskeby, Bussby, Busseby, Buzbee, Buzby, or, Buzzebia, are similar to a family name in your ancestry, and joining the group, and posting an initial message introducing yourself and your lineage, and the geographical history of your lineage, as much as you know of it, including where you are now located (country/state/province), and posting queries seeking information, to the group, to enhance your research, and, the research of others, who may be related.

It is best (but, not necessary - simply, more useful) to use the link "Sign Up", at the top of the web page, to create an account at groups.io , if you do not already have an account there, as it makes managing your mailing list(s) subscription(s) easier.

Now, that mailing list, applies to only genealogy applying to the Busby name and any of the possible variants of the name. The Busby name (or, one of its variants) should not be the only family name that you have in your family tree. At the top of the web page, is a link "Find or Create a Group". For each family name that you have in your ancestry, that you want to research, in terms of ancestors (and, living relatives (but, do not mention living relatives, on genealogy mailing lists) ), search for the family name, and, the word "genealogy", to find whether you can find a mailing list for it; for example, in the "Find a Group" facility, put "Busby" and "genealogy" in the search text box, and press enter. Then, go to the group/mailing list web page for the family name, read its description, and, if you think it suitable, subscribe to it, and, when you receive confirmation of the subscription, post an introductory message, stating in which country you live, and, the furthest ancestor that you have with that family name, and, the birth and death dates and locations that you have, and, also, the details of any marriages of which you are aware, involving the ancestor. Then, wait until you receive a copy of the message, that has gone through the mailing list, so that you will know that your message has passed the necessary first message moderation.

Now, in addition to family name genealogy mailing lists, groups.io also has (also, some transferred from Rootsweb), geographical genealogy mailing lists, which may be continental, country, state, province, county, city, or, region, based. So, for example, for England, each of a London mailing list exists, a Greater London mailing list exists, a Surrey-London-Middlesex list exists, etc. So, it can also be useful, and, a good idea, to find, join, and, post introductory messages, showing what ancestors were in which locations (applicable to each geographical mailing list), for each location where your ancestors were present.

And, posting queries to these mailing lists - both the family name genealogy / family history mailing lists, and, the geographical genealogy / family history mailing lists, when you get stuck, can lead to both solving research problems (including being told of previously unknown resources, and, improving your research methodology), and, discovering new relatives; both dead, and, living, and, the living relatives that you can find, can be a priceless source of additional family history and genealogy information.

Wikitree web site

Another resource to which, I refer you, on the basis that, if you have read this web page, this far, then I expect that you are interested in researching genealogy involving the Busby name, is the Wikitree ( https://www.wikitree.com ) web site, which is an internationally collaborative effort in building a massively big, single family tree, I believe, on the premise that everyone is related to each other, by varying numbers of degrees.

For a Busby part, that lists Busby people of different Busby lines, from different countries, please see https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/BUSBY .

One of the things of which to be wary, regarding the Wikitree web site, is that the powers that be, of that web site, insist on using archaic and anachronistic locality names, including country, state, and province names, that have since faded into oblivion. Otherwise, the web site is a useful resource.

The more people who publish their ancestry on the web site, the more useful, it becomes.

Because of the internationally collaborative nature of Wikitree, it is a very powerful genealogical and family history resource, for genuine researchers.

And, if you join Wikitree, and create a profile for yourself, and add (or link to) your ancestry, you can include whatever genealogical DNA tests, you have undergone, and, after a day or so after the information is added, you will be included as a DNA connection to applicable relatives on Wikitree, and, applicable relatives who have undergone genealogical DNA testing, will show on your profile, as DNA connections.

Please note - whenever publishing genealogical, or, family history information on the World Wide Web (what most people refer to, when using the term "Internet"), the names and information of living people, other than the name of the person publishing the information, should not be published, without their express consent, out of respect for their privacy. And, information such as birthdates and birth locations (other than the birth country) of any living person, including the person publishing the information, should not be published, as publishing such information, can lead to identity fraud.

So, genealogy, or, family history, research, can be interesting, but, be careful, for the sake of yourself and your living relatives, and, respect the privacy of living people.

Online Courses And Other Online "How To" Resources

Online Courses

For people who are not aware, two useful MOOC's (Massively Open Online Courses) exist, relating directly to genealogy research, both offered online, by "the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland", through Futurelearn.

This one should be taken first;
Genealogy: Researching Your Family Tree
and, after taking that one, to learn how to deal with genealogical DNA testing and the results from that, this one;
Genetic Genealogy: Researching your Family Tree using DNA

For both courses, the following applies;
"
6 weeks
4 hours per week
Digital certificate when eligible
"

Depending on what you want to do about those two courses, and, how you want to go about it, I suggest that you read the whole of the content of each web page, remembering that, if you want to be able to just cover the course content for each of the two courses, and, you are confident that you can complete each course before it ends, participation is free of charge, as described on the web page for each course, and, also remembering that the two courses should be done in the order above.

Other Online "How To" Resources

For people who use genealogical DNA testing in your genealogy research, I recommend visiting the web site at
https://www.yourdnaguide.com/
and, viewing all of that web page, then, going to
https://www.yourdnaguide.com/ydgblog
and exploring the articles there, and, also,
https://www.yourdnaguide.com/webinar
and, the youtube channel for yourdnaguide.com;
https://www.youtube.com/c/YourDNAGuide
and, Diahan Southard's presentation at Rootstech 2023; "Shared DNA Matches - the only DNA Tool You will Ever Need"

Also, from Rootstech, is
https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/home
where you can access recorded sessions from Rootstech 2023, video recordings since then, and, recordings from previous years' Rootstech sessions.

A Suggested Strategy

This is a suggested strategy, for starting (or improving) the genealogy research adventure. If a person is genuine about genealogical research, it is like working to maintain a person's health and fitness - it is something that takes work, every day, for the rest of the person's life, or, as long as the person is capable of continuing, and, expenses are involved. And, as with maintaining a person's health and fitness, it also requires ongoing research into the methodology used to achieve the desired goals.

These are my recommendations, and, these recommendations are from me, as an unqualified lay person, and, as we all have different experiences and opinions, some may agree with my suggested strategy, and, some may disagree. This does not mean that any one person; me or anyone else, is any more right than any other person; what may be better for a particular person's circumstances, might not be so good, for another person. But, I believe that my suggested strategy is worth considering.

1. Undergo an AncestryDNA genealogical autosomal DNA test

The first thing to do, is to undergo an AncestryDNA autosomal DNA test. See the section above, with the heading "Genealogical autosomal DNA testing", regarding this, and, for more information about the process, and, for my recommendation about which of the three options for ordering the test, I regard as best.

From the time that it took, from when I ordered a test kit, to when I was notified that the results were available, was about ten weeks, so, I believe that it is a good idea to allow that period of time, and, to order a test kit, as the first step. The AncestryDNA DNA test can, through its DNA matches, reveal newly discovered living relatives, and, new branches of your family tree, of which, you might not have previously been aware. The ten week waiting period for the results, provides a period of time, in which to do other tasks, to make the most of the DNA results, when they become available. And, if your parents and any siblings are alive, try to persuade them to also undergo the test. Visit each of the links in the section with the heading "Genealogical autosomal DNA testing", to understand why it can be beneficial, to get both any living parents and any living siblings, who are willing, to undergo the testing. But, it is not worth jeopardising your relationship with your parents and your siblings, if they are not willing to undergo the testing. Explain why you want them to undergo the testing, and, ask them whether they would be willing to undergo the testing, and, respect whatever decision they make, regarding the DNA testing. After ordering the Ancestry DNA test kit, it should be delivered within one to two weeks. If you have not received it within three weeks, contact ancestry.com - the branch that services your country - for example, for Australia and New Zealand, it is ancestry.com.au - and, ask them to investigate the missing test kit. At each stage in the process involving the test kit, follow the instructions, exactly, to avoid unnecessary complications.

So, now, you have about ten weeks, to complete the next tasks.

2. Gather what family tree information you can, from your parents, and create a family tree on paper

The next thing to do, and, hopefully, one or both of your parents are still alive and lucid, is to ask them to wrote down for you, all the information that they remember, about themselves, and their parents, and, any siblings of your parents, and, any siblings of your parent's parents, and, similarly, for the grandparents of your parents, and, any siblings of the grandparents of your parents. That would take you to your great-grandparents, and, great-grandaunts and great-granduncles, if the information is available. You need the full birth names and married names, and the birth dates, dates of marriages, dates of deaths, and, the locations of each of those events, as applicable. If any documents are available through your family, that are copies or certificates of the registrations of the events, you want to get a copy of them, if you can. Then, you write down all of that information, collated, linking each family within your family tree.

3. Join Wikitree and add your family tree to Wikitree

The next thing to do, is to join Wikitree ( https://www.wikitree.com ) , add yourself as a guest to Wikitree, then, consent to the Honour Code.

See https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Membership , and https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:Honor_Code , for information about this.

Then, making sure that you are logged in to Wikitree, add each of the people for whom you have the information, in your family tree, watching to see whether they are already in Wikitree. It may be a good idea, for the person furthest back in each of your ancestral lines, to search in Wikitree for the person, and, if you find that the person already exists in Wikitree, click on the link for the person, which should take you to the person's profile web page, and, click on the Descendants button, to find how much information about the person's descendants, already exists in Wikitree. Once you have done this, for each of your most distant known ancestors, then, start adding any people that you have, and their information, that are not already in Wikitree. When you are required to input a source for the information, if you have documentary evidence, then, name the documentary evidence and its source (for example, "Birth Certificate from registry of Birth, Deaths and Marriages"

4. Download your GEDCOM file from Wikitree, and save it to your computer