Jennifer Mendelsohn is an expert on Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jewish genealogical research and the use of DNA.  She and Drew discuss how she applies her journalistic skills to her research, how she demonstrates the universality of the immigration experience of our ancestors, and how she ended up being part of the 2019 memoir Inheritance by Dani Shapiro. You can follow Jennifer on Twitter - @CleverTitleTK

Genealogy Connection #063 - Jennifer Mendelsohn, Researcher, Writer, and Speaker

"The Genealogy Guys" are two avid genealogists who host a weekly chat. The podcast includes news of the genealogy community, book and software reviews, guest interviews, and a lot of fun chat.

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News You Can Use and Share!  MyHeritage added 168 million historical records in February. MyHeritage launched OldNews.com, a new website for exploring historical newspapers. MyHeritage introduced all-new profile pages with hints. Vivid-Pix announced the roll-out of Memory Stations, integrating scanning, its correction software, tagging, and more. Findmypast has begun digitizing, indexing, and publishing British Home Children records. The National Archives (TNA) announced that it will digitize the 1941 National Farm Survey records thanks to a generous grant from Lund Trust.  DNA Segment with Diahan Southard In our DNA Segment, DNA expert Diahan Southard discusses Family Tree DNA and Y-DNA haplogroups with Drew Smith. Listener Email  Laura writes about backup GEDCOM files and MyHeritage, and Daniel Horowitz responds. Jenna writes to respond to Sheila’s quest to digitize and tag a 30” long x 6” high-resolution photograph. She shares FamilySearch’s ability to tag people in a Memory at  https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/tagging-people-in-a-memory. Anne writes in response to Jean Daniels' email about researching an ancestor. Anne cites Anabaptists in New York State. Kristen is seeking more advice for locating records for a missing family member, Arthur Tozer. Ashley wrote about changes that people make to FamilySearch records without sources.  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. And don’t forget to order Drew’s new book, Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy, from Genealogical Publishing Company (https://genealogical.com/) or Amazon.com. Please let us hear from you at genealogyguys@gmail.com.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #425

David from Addison, Texas, is the winner of our drawing for a MyHeritage DNA kit. More drawings will be announced later this year. News You Can Use and Share!  RootsTech, the world’s largest genealogy conference, takes place in Salt Lake City, Utah, and online next week, 29 February through 2 March 2024. FamilySearch International and American Ancestors announced a collaboration on the 10 Million Names Project. The project “seeks to recover the names and restore information to families of the estimated 10 million men, women, and children of African descent who were enslaved in pre- and post-colonial America, including the area that would become the United States.”  DNA Segment In our DNA Segment, DNA expert Diahan Southard discusses Ancestry DNA with Drew Smith. Listener Email  Douglas responds regarding our discussion of slide and negative scanners. He reminds people to check with their local library for the availability of a scanner for checkout. He was able to use a Wolverine slide and negative scanner. (It and the Kodak model discussed on the last podcast are available through Amazon.) Jeannie discusses FamilySearch’s computer indexing problems. Mike writes again to provide additional information about the Old Fulton Postcards website and the New York local government historians’ (LGH) roles. Ryan asks about two different marriage records dated the same date in adjoining states for the same couple. Laura writes in response to Dennis’ questions about writing a family history, and uses the “52 ancestors in 52 weeks” approach presented by Amy Johnson Crow. Matt is seeking a missing Pennsylvania death record from 1914. He has conducted extensive research and is looking for more suggestions. Kristen is seeking advice for locating records for a missing family member, Arthur Tozer.  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 genealogical society about our free podcasts, blog, and the Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website. And don’t forget to order Drew’s book, Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy, from Genealogical Publishing Company (genealogical.com/) or Amazon.com. Please let us hear from you at genealogyguys@gmail.com.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #424

Drew's guest is Donna Moughty, who led the research trip to Dublin that Drew joined in October 2023. In this episode, Drew and Donna discuss her experiences over many years in leading research trips to Ireland, and how researchers need to prepare before going on a research trip (no matter where their ancestors were from). To learn of Donna's background, see GC episode #002. 

Genealogy Connection #84 - Donna Moughty, Irish Research Expert and Research Trip Leader

News You Can Use and Share!  Don’t miss the opportunity to win a free MyHeritage DNA Kit. Listen to the MyHeritage ad later in this episode for details on submitting your entry to our raffle. MyHeritage recapped their activities in 2023:  4M DNA kits in their database 9M faces tagged with Photo Tagger 700M historical records added in 366 new collections 320M new Family Tree profiles added 4M MyHeritage and Reimagine mobile app downloaded 19M new Theories of Family Relativity™ New AI tools added: PhotoDater™, AI Record Finder™, and AI Biographer™ 3M photo dates estimated with PhotoDater 26M photos uploaded 2,112 webinars on Legacy Family Tree Webinars 605 articles added to the MyHeritage Wiki   George recaps MyHeritage’s Historical Record Collections added in December 2023. Drew recaps FamilySearch’s 2023 highlights. FamilySearch announced the historic release of the 1931 Census of Canada. Drew shares what to expect from FamilySearch in 2024.  DNA Segment Our popular DNA Segment returns with expert Diahan Southard and Drew Smith in conversation about 23andMe. Listener Email  Mike writes about genealogy podcasts and the lack of references made to the newspaper research site, Old Fulton New York Postcards website at https://www.fultonhistory.com/ for a collection of New York newspapers and postcard images, and Advantage Archives at https://www.advantagearchives.com/. Sheila writes concerning how to get a “long photo” (30” long x 6” high) scanned and then how to locate software to tag each person’s face with their name. The Guys suggest obtaining advice from archivists at university archives and special collections, and state/provincial/national archives, to find out who offer large scanning jobs services. Julie writes to discuss her and her daughter’s interesting DNA matches (and non-matches) with another individual on different websites. Dennis’s 40 years of collecting data in Germany and Ireland was entered into Family Tree Maker and uploaded to Ancestry. The data seems to have disappeared and he asks for suggestions. He also seeks suggestions about how he and his sisters can/should format the family history they are planning to compile. Laurie writes to ask about the possibility of a researcher being able to bulk-download data from databases such as Ancestry for a specific county. Diana writes to advise us that there is a law in New York state requiring that each county have a county historian to help preserve and promote the history of that county. They can guide you to resources and other organizations. There is a website at https://www.aphnys.gov where you can identify and contact these people. Judy asks for advice and recommendations about sorting potential ancestors who share the same name in a specific area at the same time. Tom has inherited family photos, slides, and negatives from his mother. He is seeking information about scanners to effectively digitize these things. George suggests the Kodak Slide N Scan with a 5” color LCD screen which scans to an SD or SDHS card.  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 genealogical society about our free podcasts, blog, and the Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website. And don’t forget to order Drew’s new book, Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy, from Genealogical Publishing Company (https://genealogical.com/) or Amazon.com. Please let us hear from you at genealogyguys@gmail.com.

The Genealogy Guys Podcast #423

News You Can Use and Share  The Genealogy Guys Learn site is still on sale through January 1, 2024! MyHeritage announces the release of a new exclusive collection: marriage certificates for North Rhine and Westphalia from 1874 through 1899. MyHeritage announces the release of AI Record Finder™, an interactive, free text chat to help locate historical records about an ancestor among MH’s 20 billion records. MyHeritage announces the release of AI Biographer™, which compiles a Wikipedia-like article about a person’s life. It uses details from matching historical records and family tree profiles. The Society of Genealogists has officially reopened at its new address on Wharf Road in London, England. The Society of Genealogists has launched a brand-new search tool called SoG Explore. The Guys give a shout-out to Graham Walter, who has been named Chairman of the Society of Genealogists’ Trustees. Scottish Indexes reached a new milestone with the addition of 180,000 prison record entries among over half a million records from 38 Scottish Prisons. Visit https://www.scottishindexes.com/ScotlandsCriminalDatabase.aspx. Drew recaps the highlights of the newest record releases at FamilySearch from October and November 2023.  Listener Email  Ashley asks about uploading Ancestry DNA results to MyHeritage as compared with taking a test there. Ashley also asks about searching probate court books for records of the institutionalization of a great-grand-uncle in Dayton, Ohio, and needs suggestions to help find his records. Jean Daniel from Metz, France, asks for suggestions about locating records for a 4x grandfather who spent some years in the U.S. Kelly is looking for ideas to help locate records about her great aunt, Wilhemine Mae Rauch (b. 1909 in Dayton, Montgomery, Ohio, USA), and twice married to Floyd Stevens. Listener suggestions are also requested.  The Guys give a shout-out to Scott Fisher for his years of work on the Extreme Genes Podcast, which is ending this month. The Guys recommend a new podcast by Mike Scozzari called “Roots: Everyone Has a Story,” which can be found at https://www.michaelscozzari.com/podcast. Drew and George talk about some of the topics most likely to dominate in 2024, including AI, DNA, and conferences. 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 genealogical society about our free podcasts, blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website. And don’t forget to order Drew’s new book, Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy, from Genealogical Publishing Company (https://genealogical.com/) or Amazon.com. Please let us hear from you at genealogyguys@gmail.com.

Genealogy Connection #063 - Jennifer Mendelsohn, Researcher, Writer, and Speaker

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