The Genealogy Guys Podcast & Genealogy Connection

The Guys announce the winner of the drawing for the “Basic Birth Certificates” quicksheet as Francis from Cumming, Georgia. The next drawing is announced later in the program.

News You Can Use and Share

• MyHeritage announces its new and improved colorization model for MyHeritage in ColorTM.
• MyHeritage has added two significant new collections. They are the Newspaper Name Index, USA and Canada, and the Scotland Census, 1841-1901. MyHeritage will be adding an index to the other half of the newspaper collection soon.
• The Society of Genealogists in London announced that its library catalog has been made available on the Library Hub Discover service.
• Findmypast has added the largest collection of historical local photographs, the Francis Frith Collection, to its searchable collections.
• Findmypast has added a new feature to the 1891, 1901, and 1911 censuses. It is a link for every search result to the Comprehensive Gazetteer of England and Wales 1895 and a detailed map is displayed on which you can see where your ancestors lived.
• Findmypast has added new parish records for Warwickshire, the Warwickshire, Coventry, Midwife’s Birth Register 1845-1875, and Turks & Caicos Life Events.
• Ancestry has released its new DNA ethnic estimates and includes 8 new regions.
• Drew recaps the vast new and expanded collections at FamilySearch.

DNA Segment with Diahan Southard

Drew discusses endogamy vs. pedigree collapse with Diahan.

Listener Email

• Judy writes to discuss challenges with New York State marriage records.
• Pam asks about records included in the updates from FamilySearch. George responds with suggestions, including a detailed discussion about how to use the search records facilities at FamilySearch for the following categories of records: indexed collections; image-only collections; and the catalog. He also recommends the use of the FamilySearch Research Wiki to access records online.
• Stacy Cole shares keen insights into the idea that the enslaved, once emancipated, took the surname of their last enslaver.
• Ryan wrote to provide an update on his research from six years ago about records relating to his great-grandmother’s suicide. He has had success finding elusive records and shares his experience.

Update on the Zion Cemetery Project

Drew provides an update on the fascinating Zion Cemetery Project in Tampa. He and volunteers are working to identify descendants and family members, gather information about the interred's lives and historical context, and create a lasting memorial. They are collaborating with University of South Florida faculty and alumni, members of local genealogy societies, community members, and nationally known professional genealogists. More updates will be shared in future podcast episodes.

Quicksheet Drawing

The Guys will give away a quicksheet reference guide for “Brick Wall Research Strategies”. Send an email to [email protected] no later than 12 midnight Eastern Time on October 1, 2021. Put BRICK WALL in the subject line and your name and postal address in the body. The winner will be announced on the next Genealogy Guys Podcast.

Thank you to all our Patreon supporting members for their support. Your Patreon support helps us improve our technology and provide even more podcast content to you! You can join us for as little as $1 a month or as much as you’d like to contribute. Visit https://www.patreon.com/genealogyguys to get started.

Please also tell your friends and your society about our free podcasts, our free blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website.

Let us hear from you at [email protected].

George and Drew are available for virtual presentations for your local society. Contact us at [email protected].

News You Can Use and Share!

• The Genealogy Guys Learn subscription website has added several new written and video courses, with more coming regularly. You can subscribe at https://genealogyguyslearn.com/.
• MyHeritage released 22 new collections in June.
• Findmypast has added new records to its Middlesex Baptisms, Surrey Baptisms, and Greater London Burial Index collections.
• Drew highlights new and updated collections added at FamilySearch this week.

DNA Segment

• Drew and DNA expert Diahan Southard discuss AncestryDNA's new SideView feature. https://www.yourdnaguide.com/ydgblog/ancestrydna-sideview

Vivid-Pix Memory Segment

• Drew interviews Allison Singleton of the Allen County Public Library about their plans to mobilize photo scanning to retirement facilities.

Listener Email

• Kathy writes to thank George for his spot-on coverage of the 1950 U.S. Federal Census and what is and isn’t available.
• Karen in Australia tells us the difference of update frequencies at Ancestry’s ThruLines and MyHeritage’s Theory of Family Relativity.
• Brian writes about digitizing your family history research as a method of guaranteeing that your work is preserved after you are gone. He also talks about surname binders and other organizational considerations. He suggests you check out the Ancestral Lines Pairing System at https://www.ancestrallines.net/overview/.
• Judith is interested in the possibility of obtaining records from the Orange Orphan Home in East Orange, Essex County, New Jersey.
• George responds to Jim about James Berry Holder [Sr.] and available records to verify both his birth and death dates.
• Mark shares his six-step plan for organizing his genealogical materials. It is a focused task list that can be used by anyone.

Please Support Our Sponsors

You can support our sponsors who bring these podcasts to you for free by visiting their links as follows:

• MyHeritage at https://www.myheritage.com/
• RootsMagic at https://rootsmagic.com/
• Vivid-Pix RESTORE at https://www.vivid-pix.com/restore/

Thank you to all our Patreon supporting members for their support. Your Patreon support helps us improve our technology and provide even more podcast content to you! You can join us for as little as $1 a month or as much as you’d like to contribute. Visit https://www.patreon.com/genealogyguys to get started.

Please also tell your friends and your society about our free podcasts, our free blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website.

Please let us hear from you at [email protected].

The Guys celebrate the publication of their 400th episode (of the two podcasts taken together)!

George’s first article in The In-Depth Genealogist magazine (http://theindepthgenealogist.com) has just been published. He will be writing a column called Genealogy, by George in every issue. Podcast listeners can get a $10 discount on a subscription using the coupon code GUYS+IDGmag at http://www.theindepthgenealogist.com/subscription-form/.

Family Tree Magazine has published an e-book compilation of George’s popular Document Detective column at https://www.familytreemagazine.com/store/document-detective-ebook?.

The news includes:

• MyHeritage has become a Presenting Partner with Eurovision for its 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.
• RootsTech 2019 registration has opened for the annual Salt Lake City conference on February 27-March 2, 2019
• Church of Ireland records will be digitized with the award of a €100,000 government grant.
• 200 million records for the Netherlands are now accessible at the multi-lingual website Open Archives – http://www.openarch.nl.
• Fans of Nathan Dylan Goodwin can preorder his new book, Ghost Swifts, Blue Poppies and the Red Star, in Kindle version at all Amazon websites.
• The Genealogical Institute on Federal Records (Gen-Fed) has announced the opening of the Richard E. Lackey Scholarship to support attendance at Gen-Fed 2019. Details and application are available at http://www.gen-fed.org/.
• Findmypast has released new records for Welsh Parish Records, Kent Parish Records, Northumberland and Durham Burials, Middlesex Baptisms, the 939 Register, and more.
• Drew summarizes the new and updated collections at FamilySearch.

Listener email includes:

• Jean writes about a Long Island library conference and the inclusion of The Guys’ books as recommended buys.
• Ed writes about a cousin who is beginning her search for birth parents.
• Brad asks for advice on getting started on preparations for his family’s upcoming 300th anniversary, including recommendations for what software or websites to use to collaborate with relatives.
• Robin is looking for a free GEDCOM viewer.
• Kelly follows up on her earlier email about mega-trees.
• Nikki poses questions about:
  • Mega-trees
  • Ancestors in psychiatric hospitals and suicides
  • What to expect at a local genealogical society meeting
  • Resources for researching slave ancestors
  • What kind of education might be pursued so she can help others with their genealogy
• Richard asks Drew for more information about researching manuscript collections.

Drew discusses GEDmatch, a tool for extending your research reach with your autosomal DNA test results and matching others who have tested.

The Guys have several announcements:

• Genealogical Publishing Company has just published a new Genealogy at a Glance laminated reference guide. This one is titled “Ancestry.com Research” and is written by George G. Morgan. You can order it from GPC or at the Aha! Seminars, Inc., website.
• All of George and Drew’s publications can be ordered at the Aha! Seminars, Inc., website, and the links there take you to the best pricing available.
• The company that purchased Ancestry Publishing’s business several years ago has published the second edition of The Official Guide to Ancestry.com in Kindle format and Nook format. That book was published in 2008 and is extremely outdated. In addition, the current publisher has not paid any royalties to this author for more than two years. Therefore, George strongly recommends that you do not purchase either ebook version of this book.
• Drew will be an Official Blogger at RootsTech 2014.

The news includes:

• Ancestry.com announced the Fold3 Honor Wall at Fold3.com. They also announced the addition of man new record additions to the Ancestry.com site.
• DC Thomson, owner of findmypast.com and Genes Reunited, and formerly known as brightsolid online publishing, has announced a deal with FamilySearch.org to make billions of records available online.
• MyHeritage has announced a strategic partnership with FamilySearch.org to make billions of records available online.
• Drew covers major additions from mid-October to mid-November by FamilySearch.org to its collections of records available online.
• MyHeritage announced a partnership with BillionGraves to add 5.5 million gravestone records and with Tributes.com to add 3.5 million obituaries to their site.
• MyHeritage announced an enhancement to their site that allows users to extract information form historical records into multiple profiles on your family tree.

Listener email includes:

• Lee asks about Family Tree Maker 2014. He also provides information about the Ohio Genealogical Society’s important library holdings.
• Matt Miller discusses genealogical proof in the attempt to demolish a brick wall in his blog at http://matthewkmiller.blogspot.com/2013/10/what-constitutes-proof.html.
• Maria Northcote, producer of the Genies Down Under podcast in Australia, wrote to thank us for our review of Betty Kreisel Shubert's book, Out of Style, in our March 2013 podcast.
• The Guys shared information from an article from the New York Public Library about “Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island (and One That Was).”
• Ben wrote about name changes at Ellis Island as well.
• Mike asked if there is an equivalent of the SSDI in other countries, specifically Italy.
• Mac writes that she believes that the suggestion that silhouettes and clip art in family trees was made by genealogist Lisa Louise Cooke in her Genealogy Gems podcasts.

The Guys reviewed a number of books in this episode:

• Applications for Enrollment of Chickasaw Newborn Act of 1905, Volumes 1, 2, and 3, transcribed by Jeff Bowen. Printed for Clearfield Company by Genealogical Publishing Company.
• Without Indentures: Index to White Slave Children in Colonial Court Records [Maryland and Virginia], by Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D. Published by Genealogical Publishing Company.
• Sustainable Genealogy: Separating Fact from Fiction in Family Legends, by Richard Hite. Published by Genealogical Publishing Company.
• 19th Century Photos Kwik Guide: A Step-by-Step Guide to Identifying and Dating Cartes de Visite and Cabinet Cards, by Gary W. Clark. Published by PhotoTree.com.

The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com has published many new articles since the last podcast.

The news includes:

• The Society of Genealogists in London (http://www.sog.org.uk) has accorded to Cyndi Ingle the prestigious Prince Michael Of Kent Award for services to genealogy for many years of dedication with Cyndi’s List (https://www.cyndislist.com).
• Blaine Bettinger has announced that DNA Central (www.DNA-Central.com), the world’s first and largest membership website dedicated entirely to DNA and genetic genealogy education, has issued a request for webinar proposals for its 2018-2019 webinar schedule.
• Findmypast has released new Berkshire registers and records, Scotland Jacobite Histories, and 109K additions to the Greater London Burial Index.
• Drew shares highlights of new and expanded FamilySearch collections.

Listener email includes:

• In response to the topic of the slave bill of sale discussed in Episode #346, we obtained permission to post the document images. We received several listener and reader comments almost immediately:
  • Sharon advises us that the images are actually two separate documents: the bill of sale for the slave named Jack, and one page from the estate inventory of Major Joseph Ryan.
  • Jerry suggested using ArchiveGrid and its Beta site at https://beta.worldcat.org/archivegrid.
  • Laura suggested checking the North Carolina State Library, beginning with its LibGuide at http://statelibrary.ncdcr.libguides.com/c.php?g=151276.
• Laura asks for advice about how to enter data on transgender family members since their gender and name changes.
• Nick discussed the Family Historian program and alternatives.
• Linda is a longtime genealogist and is feeling overwhelmed with many new areas and features of genealogy. Drew provides some methods for becoming savvier over time and setting goals for yourself.
• Steve writes about locating World War II Draft Cards for the younger men’s draft at FamilySearch.
• Debra Dudek has written a book, World War I Genealogy Research Guide, and is sending a copy for The Guys to review. Stay tuned for this and other reviews!

The Guys discuss the importance of setting research goals to avoid getting distracted by the BSOs (Bright Shiny Objects) or going down the genealogy rabbit hole. There are some great ideas for you, and Drew has posted about Goals at The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com. Let us hear your best ways to set goals and focus your research.