The Genealogy Guys Podcast & Genealogy Connection

The Guys have been on a hiatus because of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and the damage in Florida.

News You Can Use and Share!

• David Rencher, Chief Genealogy Officer at FamilySearch, received the Italian Heraldic Genealogical Institute’s Lifetime Achievement Award.
• MyHeritage has given its Inbox a fresh new look.
• MyHeritage added 56 million new records in September 2004.
• MyHeritage has updated its Theory of Family Relativity facility by 40%.
• Ancestry has launched its largest update to DNA matches.
• Findmypast has added large numbers of Cornwall baptisms, marriages, and burials.
• RootsTech 2025 registration Is now open and an early bird discount registration rate is available through 31 October 2024.

Listener Email

• Kelly asks for suggestions to locate marriage annulment records.
• Kristina has located her grandfather’s WWII draft registration card and wants to know how to proceed to obtain his service records.
• Jean shares a website, “A Guide to Interpreting Passenger List Annotations” at the JewishGen website.

Drew discusses the WikiTree Symposium online on 1-3 November 2024. He will be presenting a talk about Copyright and Plagiarism. Schedule.

Please let us hear from you at [email protected] with your questions and comments.

News You Can Use and Share!

• MyHeritage has acquired MesAieux.com, Quebec’s most popular family history service with more than 15 million historical records.
• MyHeritage added more than 84 million new records across 16 collections in August 2024.
• MyHeritage has added 261 million obituary records to its OldNews facility.

Listener Email

• Julie is searching for any Pennsylvania birth records from ca. 1810 and marriage records. The Guys share some suggestions.

Drew talks about his recent participation in WikiTree.com’s WikiGames over two weekends.

Drew is currently taking Nathan Dylan Goodwin’s online mystery writing class and learning how to develop a compelling genealogical mystery novel.

The Guys discuss U.S. immigration and the naturalization process. They recommend Loretto Dennis Szucs’ book, They Became Americans, as a definitive guide to naturalizations.

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 book, Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy, from Genealogical Publishing Company (https://genealogical.com/) or from Amazon.com.

Please let us hear from you at [email protected] with your experiences with U.S. immigration and naturalizations, and with other questions you have about your genealogical research.

News You Can Use and Share!

• MyHeritage added 20 million historical records in June.
• MyHeritage and Family Tree DNA announced a new partnership to connect DNA tests to family trees.
• JewishGen announced a new partnership between its Romania Research Division and the Jewish Federation of Romania to photograph and document Jewish graves.
• Drew talks about 19.4 million historical records released by FamilySearch in May 2024.

Book Review

The Guys review the latest book by Nathan Dylan Goodwin, The Deserter’s Tale, a new Morton Farrier genealogical crime mystery.

Listener Email

• Sam writes about the new RootsMagic 10 update and the book. Drew warns listeners about some fake book entries in Amazon.
• Stacy Cole responds to an earlier email about her strategies in researching the James James family in Georgia.

The Guys discuss their experiences at the South Carolina Genealogical Society's summer workshop at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.

George shares how Patrick McCawley, the Deputy Director of Archives and Records Management, spent time sharing with him a history of South Carolina’s geopolitical organization from colonial times to the present. From parishes to electoral districts to counties and boundary changes, George now has a deeper understanding of South Carolina for his research there.

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 [email protected].

News You Can Use and Share!

• MyHeritage added 123 million historical records in April and May.
• MyHeritage added millions of Nordic newspaper pages to OldNews.com.
• RootsMagic has released Version 10 of its award-winning software.

Listener Email

• Jean-Daniel wrote to share an update about his research into Blaise Farny.
• Karin educates us about names for Austrian ‘sailors’.
• Lisa wrote to compliment Cathleen from New Hampshire’s research of her mother’s paternal grandfather, Georg Sokop. She was inspired to research a friend’s Jewish ancestry using DNA.
• Ray has been researching his third great-grandfather, James James, and located two people of that name in close proximity. The county courthouse burned, and he is asking for other records to distinguish between the two men.

Drew discusses the upcoming South Carolina Genealogical Society’s upcoming conference at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History on 12-13 July 2024. He is presenting, and George will be there observing and conducting personal research in the archive.

George shares how he is preparing for his genealogical research at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, at the Newberry County courthouse, and in the upstate South Carolina environs.

Drew discusses new features of AncestryDNA tools.

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 [email protected].

News You Can Use and Share!

• MyHeritage added 71 million historical records in March, including French censuses!
• MyHeritage added three important New York City historical records collections, including indices and images.
• MyHeritage has added a multi-photo scanner to the MH mobile app.
• The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in College Park, Maryland, has unveiled a new Mass Digitization Center. It will address digitizing records in various formats up to 10 times faster yearly.
• American Ancestors has announced the appointment of Ryan J. Woods as its new President and CEO.
• Ancestry announced its largest partnership with the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) to date. As part of the project, Ancestry will invest over the next five years to digitize tens of millions of records that will be added to Ancestry.com.
• Ancestry has made a new record collection available to honor the 125,000 persons of Japanese descent who were unjustly imprisoned in the U.S. between December 1942 and January 1948.
• FindMyPast has added more recent new records to its collections of Scotland Deaths (1855-2024), England and Wales Deaths (2007-2024), and Northern Ireland Deaths (1980-2024).

Listener Email

• Cathleen describes her research into her mother’s paternal grandfather, Georg Sokop, including traditional and DNA investigations. She is looking for advice to extend her research.
• Don writes about Swedish research, including Swedish churches and membership lists, and the resources at Ancestry and ArchivDigital.
• Jean-Daniel wrote to thank us for sharing an email about Blaise Farny. He now has a great to-do list. He has located an Ivoryette photo of Farny from 1892, and is investigating to locate the original among family members so that he can see if anything is written on the back.
• Tom wrote to follow up on slide scanning, and to suggest resources for scanning long panorama photos. He also discusses the Stories Behind the Stars Project, which seeks to preserve and expand the information about the more than 421,000 Americans who lost their lives in WWII. Check the STARS website at https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org/.
• Nick let us know about his efforts to organize thousands of notes in Evernote, doing several each day.

Drew discusses attending his 50th high school reunion, what a wonderful time we had, and how important it was.

Drew will be presenting at the South Carolina Genealogical Society Conference on 12-13 July at the South Carolina Department of Archives and History in Columbia. George will also be attending and conducting personal research.

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].

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. 

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 [email protected].

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 [email protected].