The Genealogy Guys Podcast & Genealogy Connection

Drew's guest is Bruce Buzbee, the RootsMagician himself. In this episode, Drew and Bruce discuss the recent release of RootsMagic 8. To learn of Bruce's background, see GC episode #027

Drew's guest is Lynn Turner, Assistant Director of the Family History Library. Learn more about the Family History Library at familysearch.org/family-history-library/

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].

Nicka Sewell-Smith returns to Genealogy Connection, and the discussion focuses on the newly released Freedmen's Bureau records freely available on Ancestry. To learn more about Nicka, listen to episode #073 of Genealogy Connection, and visit her website at Who Is Nicka Smith?

News You Can Use and Share! Ancestry announces the release of a massive collection of Freedman's Bureau records with every-name indexing and images. The records are free to use with your free Ancestry guest membership. Ancestry announced a change in its Terms of Service concerning their rights to use content that members upload. MyHeritage announced that it is acquiring Filae, the French genealogical company. MyHeritage has released 9.7 million new and updated records for Pernambuco, Brazil, and 4.7 million birth, marriage, and death records from New Zealand. MyHeritage has made major improvements to its Online Family Tree, and these improve navigation and access to records links. The Society of Genealogists in London, England, has appointed Dr. Wanda Wyporska as its new CEO, effective 1 October 2021. Findmypast has released new and updated collection records: Scotland, Parish Births (1564-1929), Marriages and Banns (1561-1893), and Deaths (1564-2017); British Army, Royal Engineers (1900-1949); British Army tracer cards; Essex Parish Records; Royal Engineers Casualty Cards; an expanded Greater London Burial Index, and more. Findmypast is making over 1 million pages of 158 historical British newspapers available for free. Drew recaps the vast new and expanded collections at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew discusses the importance of descendancy research with Diahan. Listener Email Stuart reported on his recent success with Drew's Key Lime Pound Cake recipe. (Drew originally discussed this recipe in a December 2019 episode, and emailed copies to anyone who requested it.) Jane asks for suggestions about what to do with her mother's 60+ years of genealogical research files. Quicksheet Drawing The Guys will give away a quicksheet reference guide for "Basics of Birth Certificates" in the U.S. Send an email to [email protected] by midnight U.S. Eastern Time September 1, 2021. Put BIRTH in the email subject line and your name and postal address in the body. The winner will be announced on the next podcast. Drew's WikiTree Challenge Drew's genealogy was the focus on a one-week genealogy challenge at WikiTree. Volunteer researchers delved into his genealogy to break through brick walls and to expand his knowledge. Watch the two YouTube videos – the Challenge and the Results – to share the excitement. Here are the links: The Challenge (the first 5 minutes and then again starting at minute 31): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDAtp16w5pU&t=5s The Results!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lmu1Lc-fVM&t=4s 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].

Drew's guest is genealogy speaker and writer Pat Richley-Erickson, known to her many fans as DearMYRTLE. Learn more about Pat at blog.dearmyrtle.com

New subscriptions to the Genealogy Guys Learn video and written lessons are on sale through July 31st. Save 25% off your first year's subscription. Visit http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2021/07/genealogy-guys-learn-summer-sale.html for details and the special coupon code. News You Can Use and Share MyHeritage has released 10.7 million records for the Austria-Hungary Roman Catholic Indexes. 1612-1966, and Austria, Vienna Catholic Church Records Index, 1585-1918. MyHeritage has upgraded their Theory of Family Relativity facility for DNA matches to allow you to confirm or reject a theory. American Ancestors has introduced a new database for the only surviving copy of the 1810 U.S. Federal Census for Salem, Massachusetts. ScotlandsPeople has announced a delay of the release of the images of the 1921 Scottish Census until the latter half of 2022. Thanks to the Society of Genealogists for providing us with that news! Findmypast has published new or expanded collections: Ireland, Court of Chancery Bill Books (1627-1884); Ireland, Court of Exchequer Bill Books (1627-1884); Ireland, Petty Sessions Court Registers; Scotland, Dumfries and Galloway Census & Population Lists (1792-1821); Manitoba Vital Records; U.S. Census of Revolutionary War Pensioners (1840); U.S., Lord Dunmore's Ethiopian Regiment, 1776; additional England Roman Catholic Parish Registers; Pembrokeshire Parish Registers; Scotland, Modern and Civil Deaths & Burials (1855-2021); Australia, Inward, Outward & Coastal Passenger Lists (1826-1972); and Canada, Black Nova Scotians (1784-1837). FamilySearch has announced dates and details about RootsTech 2022. Drew recaps the vast new and expanded collections at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew discusses with Diahan the new Ancestry DNA feature that allows you to identify how you are related to your matches, if you know. Listener Email Alan wrote to discuss questions about reducing his library's holdings. Kristina shared details about how she solved a brick wall using Geni.com, newspapers, and DNA. Pam wrote about the dilemmas faced when trying to sort through donations to her local historical society. Drew and George discuss the need for library and archive policies to guide both libraries and donors. Drew shares insights from the GENEALIB mailing list. Note that the following link will work only for GENEALIB subscribers: http://listserv.usf.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A1=ind2107&L=GENEALIB&X=O6A5CAB430DB224809C#4 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].

We gave away two copies of Genealogical Publishing Company's Russia Genealogy Research at a glance reference guide and announced the winners. News You Can Use and Share The Genealogy Guys Podcast is one of Family Tree Magazine's 101 Best Websites 2021. See full list at https://www.familytreemagazine.com/best-genealogy-websites/. MyHeritage announced its new Photo Repair tool. The FamilySearch Family History Library is reopening 6 July 2021. The Society of Genealogists announces that negotiations for a new home are underway. 1871 Irish Census transcriptions for the Roman Catholic parish of Drumconrath are now online at http://registers.nli.ie/registers/vtls000635150#page/5/mode/1up. The Early British Census project is now online at http://ebc.byu.edu. A new webpage has been launched for the Maps for Local History at the National Library of Scotland at https://maps.nls.uk/communities/local-history/. NARA's National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) has a backlog of 500,000 outstanding records inquiries. It is estimated that it will take 18-24 months to resolve the backlog. The British Library and Findmypast have announced the renewal of their long-term partnership to digitize the British Newspaper Archive and make it available online. Findmypast has added new collections or new records to: Middlesex Baptisms; Carmarthenshire, Wales, Parish Records; Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Registers; Yorkshire Monumental Inscriptions; England Roman Catholic Parish Registers; and Crime, Prisons & Punishment records and mugshots. More than 400,000 naturalization records for the Bronx and Queens, New York, will become available online as part of a new federally-funded project. FamilySearch International announced the release of the FamilySearch GEDCOM 7.0 standard. The new data standard will accommodate media and other data in addition to text. Developers will certainly be busy programming to implement the new GEDCOM standard. Drew recaps the vast new and expanded collections at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew discusses working with distant matches with Diahan. Listener Email Jean congratulated us on our inclusion in Family Tree Magazine's 101 Best Genealogy Websites. She also shared that she had success with using the old Ancestry message boards to locate a grandfather's cousin. Donna Moughty won one of the Russia Genealogy Research guides and it gave her the incentive to restart her research into her grandfather who was born in what now is Ukraine. She also has a few openings for her Ireland research trips this October. Learn more at https://www.irishfamilyroots.com/ or email her at [email protected]. Graeme wrote about the discovery of 215 unmarked graves on the property of a residential school in Canada for indigenous children. He asked Drew for what processes of investigating and repatriating the children's remains can be used. Tom wrote about his DNA research for his wife's biological grandfather. 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. You should also tell your friends or 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 MyHeritage announced a new filtering option for the DNA Matches page. You can filter based on any of their 2,114 Genetic Groups. Ancestry announced that it now has more than 1,400 regions offered between communities and ethnic regions in its DNA matches. The Society of Genealogists in London, the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, DC, and The National Archives in Kew, Richmond (London) have all reopened with limited capacity and required reservations required. Findmypast introduces new and improved address search in census records. Findmypast has added new collections or new records to: Australia, Military Commemorative Rolls & Rolls of Honor; Kent Parish records; the 1939 Register; British Army, Royal Engineers; Coldstream Guards; Monmouthshire Parish records; Glamorganshire Parish records; Australia Inbound, Outward & Coastal Passenger Lists 1826-1972; Middlesex Poor Law records; Scots Guards' service records (WWII); Norfolk Churchyard and Memorial Images (browse); Scotland, Modern and Civil Births 1855-2019; Scotland, Modern and Civil Marriages 1855-2019; Scotland, Modern and Civil Deaths & Burials 1855-2021. Drew recaps three weeks of vast new and expanded collections at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew discusses with Diahan what the TiP report is on Family Tree DNA and how to use it. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle says that we shouldn't worry about what others are doing. Russia At a Glance Reference Guides Giveaway We are giving away two copies of Genealogical Publishing Company's at a glance reference guides. If you are interested, send us an email to [email protected] by June 1st. Include RUSSIA in the header line and your name and mailing address in the body. We'll draw two winners after June 1st. Listener Email Floreen wrote to thank us for the Genealogy Connection interview with Drew Smith. Margaret wrote to update us on her work on Pointe Coupee, Louisiana plantation journal transcription records. She has a blog at https://lakeland-briarsplantationrecords.blogspot.com/ with details. Patrick shares his success locating family members in Iowa who "disappeared" after 1881. James wrote to share his frustration with delays with obtaining military records from the National Personnel Record Center. (The facility was closed for over a year with the pandemic and is now beginning to work to catch up.) Cindy couldn't locate her grandparents in the 1930 census. She reminds us all not to forget newspaper research. Terri is looking for an unknown father. Drew suggested using DNA testing and joining the Facebook group DNA Detectives for more help. Laura shares how MyHeritage helped her discover an uncle she never knew existed. We'd like to thank all our supporting Patreon 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. You should also tell your friends or 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].

Drew's guests are Rick Voight, CEO of Vivid-Pix, and Edith Wagner, Publisher and Editor of Reunions Magazine. Learn more about Rick and Vivid-Pix at the Vivid-Pix News Blog. Learn more about Edith at her LinkedIn page and about Reunions Magazine at reunionsmag.com.

Drew's guest is...Drew Smith! After receiving a number of requests from listeners, George interviews Drew as the Genealogy Connection guest. Drew is the genealogy librarian at the University of South Florida Libraries in Tampa, has authored or co-authored several genealogy books, is a regular columnist for the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly, and speaks regularly at local, national, and international genealogy meetings and conferences. Learn more about Drew by visiting: Aha! Seminars The Genealogy Guys Podcast/Genealogy Connection The Genealogy Guys blog Drew's Rootsmithing blog

News You Can Use and Share The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has made a grant to Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade (enslaved.org). MyHeritage announced significant updates to their website Navigation Bar. MyHeritage has introduced Deep NostalgiaTM special animations to its photo collection. The National Archives in the UK (https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/) will reopen its reading rooms on 27 April 2021. Advance reservations are required. Findmypast has added new records to existing collections: Norfolk Baptisms; Norfolk Banns & Marriages; Norfolk Burials; Philadelphia Roman Catholic Parish Records; England & Wales Deaths 2007-2020; Ireland, Northern Ireland Deaths 1998-2020; Cincinnati Roman Catholic Parish Registers; Cambridgeshire, Licensed Victuallers; and more. Drew recaps huge new and expanded collections at FamilySearch numbering in the millions of records. The DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew and Diahan discuss MyHeritage's new Genetic Groups and how to use them. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle of Cyndi's List tells us that it's time to refresh. Our Listeners Speak Laura discusses the fact that her family cannot be found in the 1920 U.S. federal census. Jeffery has built his own cemetery website so that he can see people's information the way he prefers. You can check it out at http://www.wikigrave.com/. Pat writes about the probate for her South Carolina ancestor. Vic wrote seeking advice for how to label his photographs so that they are easier to organize, file electronically, and quickly locate. George recommends Vivid-Pix RESTORE software (https://vivid-pix.com/) that can enhance all types of images, add metadata, and then allow quick searching. Joshua writes about FamilySearch and its multiple collections of birth and marriage records, and that sometimes each collection's content is often different. George addresses marriage records: marriage indexes, marriage bonds, and marriage books. And finally... We'd like to thank all our supporting Patreon 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. You should also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our free blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website at https://genealogyguyslearn.com/. 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].

The Genealogy Guys Podcast is back after a 3-month hiatus! NEWS YOU CAN USE AND SHARE! The new International African American Museum has launched its membership programs. RootsMagic has invited the public to participate in a community preview of RootsMagic 8 to provide pre-release feedback. Visit https://www.rootsmagic.com/preview/get/ to get involved. MyHeritage ... ... announced the release of a new record collection, United States Border Crossings from Canada, 1895-1956. ... introduced Photo Storyteller, a new way to record stories and add narrative behind your favorite family photos. ... .announced Deep Nostalgia to animate faces on your family photos. ... added millions of historical Lithuanian-Jewish records from the LitvakSIG's work, 1795-1940. ... introduced Genetic Groups using high resolution of 2,100+ geographic regions. Nathan Dylan Goodwin has a new book, The Chester Creek Murders, featuring new characters and forensic DNA research. Findmypast has introduced a new and improved image viewer and has added many new and expanded collections: Ireland, Londonderry City Burials (1853-1961); New York Catholic Parish Registers (browse) for Bronx, Yonkers, and Ulster Counties; additions to the Denbighshire Parish Records; and additions to Essex Baptisms, Kent Baptisms, and Kent Marriages FamilySearch has remodeled its library in Salt Lake City and has launched a new webpage. Drew recaps huge new and expanded collections at FamilySearch. We'll be participating in the Wisconsin State Genealogical Society (WSGS) Gene-A-Rama on April 9-10 and the Ohio Genealogical Society Conference on April 14-17. Drew has been writing a daily blog entry throughout March about his work with his ancestors on the collaborative FamilySearch Family Tree. Drew is also coordinating the project to document African Americans interred in Tampa's Zion Cemetery and their descendants. We have new Patreon members this week. We'd like to thank all our supporting Patreon 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. You should also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our free blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website. Visit our Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/ for even more news between podcasts. 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].

The Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education site is on sale through December 31, 2020 for $69 for your first year's subscription (new subscribers only). Regularly $99, this is our lowest price of the year! Visit http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/11/genealogy-guys-learn-on-sale-through.html for full details of obtaining the discount and our current course catalog. (Listen to the podcast to get the discount code.) The winner of the Genealogy Publishing Company's At a Glance sheet on "Polish Genealogy Research" is John from North Tonawanda, New York. The call deadline for submitting applications for the Unsung Heroes Awards and the Unsung Heroes Awards Society Grant is January 1, 2021, at midnight EST. Don't miss it! Details can be found on our blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/12/the-genealogy-guys-and-vivid-pix-call.html. News You Can Use and Share! MyHeritage announced the release of a new colorization model for MyHeritage iIn ColorTM. RootsMagic 8 is making progress with thousands of testers. Listen for a new announcement soon, and listen to their ad for a great holiday sale price. The Germans from Lithuania Name Index is now online at https://www.germansfromlithusania.org. The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) presented its 2020 awards. Included are Loretto Dennis "Lou" Szucs as recipient of the Laura G. Prescott Award for Exemplary Service to Genealogy and Amy E. K. Arner, who received the Honorary Life Membership. Michael J. Leclerc has been selected as the new managing editor of the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly. Findmypast has added new collections or new records to: Scotland Monumental Inscriptions; US World War II Casualty Lists; Essex Baptisms; Devon Baptisms; Berkshire Probate Index; Yorkshire Monumental Inscriptions; U.S. Obituary Notices; and Ireland Billion Graves Cemetery Index. Enslaved.org has built a robust, open-source online facility to discover and explore nearly a half million people and 5 million data points for enslaved Africans. From archival entries to spreadsheet entries, the lives of the enslaved can be seen in richer detail. Visit https://enslaved.org/. FamilySearch has announced that it is has added 20 languages – up now to 30 languages – for researching in its website. Drew recaps three weeks of huge new and expanded collections at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew and Diahan discuss CODIS, the DNA database used by U.S. law enforcement, and how the major DNA testing companies interact (or not) with U.S. law enforcement. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle tells us that it is time to review. We Hear from Our Listeners! Tom wrote to thank The Guys for leads to books and other materials about life in Scotland and its history between 1900 and 1930. He also describes some ironies he has discovered in WWI and WWII in his wife's family. Mark shared his brick wall happy dance that resulted from locating a social item in a 1902 newspaper gossip column. William is trying to locate a birth certificate in Texas for his grandfather. He has located one for his grandfather's brother but not for his grandfather. Suggestions are welcome from our listeners. Lisa wrote to discuss her genealogical numbering using the Ahnentafel method and how she files her evidence. We'd like to thank all our supporting Patreon 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. You should also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our free blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website and the current sale through December 31, 2020. Visit our Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/ for even more news between podcasts. 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].

Announcement The Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education site, is on sale through December 31, 2020, for $69 for your first year's subscription (new subscribers only). Regularly $99, this is our lowest price of the year! Visit http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/11/genealogy-guys-learn-on-sale-through.html for full details for obtaining the discount and our current course catalog. News You Can Use and Share! ProQuest and Ancestry have extended remote access to Ancestry Library Edition in participating libraries through March 2021. MyHeritage announced that Family Tree Builder software is now available for the macOS Catalina and macOS High Sierra platforms. MyHeritage has published three new collections from Wales: Wales, Parish Births and Baptisms; Wales, Parish Marriages and Banns; and Wales, Parish Deaths and Burials. MyHeritage announces a Gift membership at a 50% discount. See their blog at https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/11/introducing-the-myheritage-gift-membership/. The National Archives (TNA) in the UK has announced that they are doubling the monthly limit on downloading free digital records from their website from 50 to 100. You must register for a free account on their site. Findmypast has released: Warwickshire, Coventry Blitz, German Air Raids 1940-1941; British Armed Forces, First World War Soldiers' Medical Records; new Yorkshire Baptisms; new Yorkshire Monumental Inscriptions; British Armed Forces Soldiers' Wills 1850-1986; Ireland, Londonderry (Derry) War Memorial 1914-1918; and British Red Cross & Order of St. John Enquiry List, Wounded & Missing 1914-1919. Newspapers.com announces the first phase of their Marriage Index Collection – 50 million wedding announcements. Geni announced that its World Family Tree now connects over 150 million profiles. Drew recaps the huge new and expanded collections at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew discusses with Diahan how traditional paternity tests differ from the autosomal DNA tests that genealogists use. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle tells us to file as we go. We Hear from Our Listeners Tom asks about having hired a consultant who created his tree at Ancestry.com under her account. He wants to download that GEDCOM to RootsMagic but cannot share that tree with other people per the Ancestry settings. He is looking for suggestions for how to deal with this. Tom is looking for books and other materials about life in Scotland and its history between 1900 and 1930. Drew provided some book references, but we welcome our listeners' input and suggestions. Mark is searching for a great-grandfather ostensibly born in Alabama in 1881. He thinks his great-great-grandfather may have been "insane". He is seeking suggestions on how to research the legal and practical aspects of "insanity" in the 1800s. We ask our listeners to share their knowledge and suggestions. Review and Drawing Drew reviewed "Polish Genealogy Research", a Genealogical Publishing Company quick sheet by Rosemary A. Dembinski Chorzempa. GPC is giving one copy of this quick sheet away to one Genealogy Guys Podcast listener. Listen to the episode on how to enter this drawing. But act fast! Contact Us! We'd like to thank all our supporting Patreon 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. You should also tell your friends or your local genealogical society about our free podcasts, our free blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website and the current sale through December 31, 2000. Visit our Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/ for even more news between podcasts. 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].

Drew's guest is Michael Cassara, a New York City-based genealogy speaker specializing in Italian and Sicilian research topics, as well as topics about research in NYC and New Jersey. In addition to being a speaker at genealogy conferences, he is a casting director. Learn more about Michael by visiting his website at DigiRoots.net.

News You Can Use and Share! MyHeritage has just released a major collection of Historical Norwegian Church Records (1815-1938) including millions of digitized and scanned records of births and baptisms, marriages, deaths, and burials. MyHeritage has released three historical record collections from Wales: Parish Births and Baptisms; Parish Marriages and Banns; and Parish Deaths and Burials. Ed Thompson of Evidentia will be producing a new YouTube Livestream, the "Genealogy Software Showcase" to showcase the software in detail, its functionality, and more. Get in at the beginning by joining for free at https://genealogyshowcase.tech/. Findmypast has released: England & Wales Non-Conformist Births and Baptisms for Surrey Methodists; Jamaica Life Events; Caribbean Rolls of Honor WW I; new records of Kent Baptisms and Burials; 90K new Warwickshire Burials (1874-2016); Scotland, Ayrshire Census & Population Lists (1801-1831); and records from the Greater London Burial Index for St. Olave's (1583-1665). Drew recaps the huge new and expanded collections at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew asks Diahan to explain why some DNA testing companies ask for saliva (spit!) and some are fine with cheek scrapings. Learn more at: https://www.yourdnaguide.com/ydgblog/2019/11/26/dna-test-no-saliva-spit Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle tells us about the importance of doing screenshots. How to Take a Screenshot, https://www.take-a-screenshot.org/ Use Snipping Tool to capture screenshots, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/13776/windows-10-use-snipping-tool-to-capture-screenshots How to take and annotate screenshots on Windows 10, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-take-and-annotate-screenshots-on-windows-10-ca08e124-cc30-2579-3e55-6db63e36fbb9 Mac screenshots: 4 ways to capture your MacBook's screen, https://www.cnet.com/how-to/mac-screenshots-4-ways-to-capture-your-macbooks-screen/ How to Take a Screenshot on a Mac, https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/how-to-take-a-screenshot-on-a-mac Take a screenshot on your iPhone, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200289 Take a screenshot or record your screen on your Android device, https://support.google.com/android/answer/9075928?hl=en SnagIt, https://www.techsmith.com/screen-capture.html LightShot, https://app.prntscr.com/en/index.html Zion Cemetery Drew is actively involved with researching the African-American Cemetery in Tampa that was "erased and built over. Here is his presentation for the 2020 Family Heritage Festival coordinated by the Tampa Hillsborough Public Library system. Drew's Family Research Drew discusses his recent focus on his Weinglass ancestors and their descendants. He has made some progress on one of the family lines. We'd like to thank our newest Patreon member, Simona MacAngus. 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. You should also tell your friends or 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 to your local society. Contact us at [email protected].

Drew's guest is Nicka Sewell-Smith, host of BlackProGen LIVE, an online show focused on people of color genealogy and family history. In addition to being a popular speaker at genealogy conferences, she is a professional photographer. Learn more about Nicka by visiting her website at Who Is Nicka Smith?

News You Can Use and Share! The National Genealogical Society and the Federation of Genealogical Societies officially merged on 1 October 2020. Vivid-Pix launches a new version of their RESTORE software for Windows and macOS with new features. MyHeritage has just refreshed the data for its Theory of Family Relativity for the third time since its release, expanding the connections you can make with DNA matches with other users. Findmypast has released: Swiss Emigrants to the American Colonies, 1733-1734; Emigrant [Church of England] Ministers to the Americas; Winthrop Fleet Passenger List, 1630; London, Black Poor, 1786; Sierra Leone Resettlement Scheme, 1787; Caribbean Marriage Index, 1591-1905; and new Devon Burials. FamilySearch, American Ancestors.org, and the General Society of Mayflower Descendants announce that more than 10K Mayflower Society member applications and family trees have been placed online. FamilySearch will present RootsTech Connect, a free virtual conference on 25-27 February 2021. Registration is open at https://www.rootstech.org. Drew recaps the huge new and expanded collections at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew asks Diahan about why different family members have different DNA matches. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle reminds us that life is short. You Send Us Email Lisa asks about the status of RootsMagic 8 and whether it will run on her MacBook Pro. We plan to interview Bruce Buzbee, the RootsMagician, when the new version of the software is released. Margaret is transcribing plantation journals from the 1840s to 1860s for two plantations in Pointe Coupee Parish, Louisiana, owned by William Taylor and wife Lucy Lewis Thom Taylor. She asks for advice about where to place originals and place them online. Laura shares information about a transcription resource used by archives, universities, libraries, and others called From the Page (https://fromthepage.com/). Marianna, Victor, and Nancy all wrote about downloading Ancestry messages and describing their methods of doing so. Robert is a genealogist and a licensed private investigator. He would like to help others and asked for suggestions about the best ways to let yourself be known. Kim wrote about Jim's experiences with his half-brother and her own similar experiences. Neal is writing an extensive family genealogy book and asked for recommendations about using Ahnentafel formats for the work. We'd like to welcome and thank our newest Patreon member, Simona MacAngus. 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. You should also tell your friends or 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 to your local society. Contact us at [email protected].

Drew's guest is Else Churchill, the Genealogist at the Society of Genealogists (SoG) in London, UK. Learn more about Else and the SoG by visiting sog.org.uk.

We are happy to celebrate our podcast's 15th anniversary this week! News You Can Use and Pass On! We have lots of news and awards information to share this week: The Genealogy Guys Podcast and Vivid-Pix announced the winner of the Unsung Heroes Society Grant for scanning equipment and software. It is the Morgan County Partnership in Martinsville, Indiana. They won a scanner and software worth $500! This win will enable then to scan and index much more before their bicentennial in 2022. See our blog for all the details. The Genealogy Guys Podcast and Vivid-Pix announced the winner of the Unsung Heroes Awards. The Individual Winner is Rosemary McFarland of Mount Eden, Kentucky, for her vast work on a wide variety of Kentucky records. The Society Winner is the Eller Family Society for its digitization of decades of their newsletters and chronicles and many other materials. The Palo Alto Battlefield National Historical Park announced that park volunteer Pat Rand was awarded the Regional Hartzog Award for 2020 for her work on the U.S.-Mexican War Soldiers and Sailors Database. The Federation of Genealogical Societies held its virtual conference on 9/2-4, 2020. They announced a wide range of awards. You can read the full press release in our blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/09/federation-of-genealogical-societies.html. FamilySearch has announced RootsTech Connect 2021: A Free Global Virtual Event on February 25-27, 2021. Registration is open at rootstech.org. MyHeritage has announced that their search engine for historical records has been redesigned. It makes searching their treasure trove of 12.5 billion records easier and more intuitive. Read more about that at their blog at https://blog.myheritage.com/2020/08/the-myheritage-search-engine-for-historical-records-just-got-better/ and many other topics. Ancestry will provide for up to 10,000 K-12 teachers across the USA a free 6-month World Explorer subscription. The deadline to apply is September 30, 2020. Ancestry has completed digitization of archives featuring 19 million Holocaust records. They are available free and in perpetuity as part of the Arolsen Archives Collection. Findmypast has added new records to the Wales Probate Index (1544-1858); the Caernarvonshire Parish Registers; Denbighshire Burials; Montgomeryshire Monumental Inscriptions; Scotland, Burgess & Guild Brethren Index; and Scotland, Banffshire & Moray Life Events. Dick Eastman, author of the weekly update for the Plus Edition of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter, has announced that the newsletter is now offline for a variety of reliability problems. However, he is working with professionals to create a new Plus Edition website and hopes to have the newsletter back up very soon. FamilySearch has partnered with Ontario Ancestors to announce a new book scanning project. They hope to commence the project before the end of 2020. Drew recaps the huge new and expanded collections at FamilySearch. The Guys also talk about what they have been doing with their own genealogy. We'd like to welcome and thank our new Patreon members. 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. You should also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our free blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website.

There have been numerous genealogical institutes over the last several weeks. As a result, we were unable to schedule a Genealogy Connection podcast recently. However, it will be back soon! News You Can Use and Share! The Blackstone Group Inc. has reached an agreement to purchase a majority stake in Ancestry.com. Ancestry has extended to late August the deadline for saving your small DNA matches. Drew shares some recent large collection additions and changes for Ancestry. William Dollarhide has published a new 2020 multiple volume set of Census Substitutes and State Census Records at Family Roots Publishing Company - https://www.familyrootspublishing.com/store/product_view.php?id=3770&title=Census%20Substitutes%20&%20State%20Census%20Records,%20Third%20Edition,%20Volume%205%20%E2%80%93%20Western%20/%20Pacific%20States%20&%20Nationwide%20Chapter%20(Printed%20Book%20&%20eBook%20Bundle) Findmypast has updated their collections of Hampshire Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials. Drew recaps two weeks of highlights of FamilySearch record collection releases. Drew has been attending the virtual International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies conference this week. In preparation, he reviews Genealogical Publishing Company's Genealogy at a Glance publication "Finding Eastern European Jewish Ancestors" by Janette Silverman, available at https://genealogical.com/store/genealogy-at-a-glance-finding-eastern-european-jewish-ancestors/. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew asks Diahan to explain how the various DNA testing companies determine the best minimum matching thresholds. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle is taking this episode off because of backlogs from institutes and a family medical situation. (Don't worry, Cyndi herself is fine!) Our Listeners Talk to Us In response to Lori's email in Episode #382 about becoming a transcriber, we had two responses: Floreen suggests getting involved with the National Archive and Record Administration's Citizen Archivist program at https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist. You can choose which records you want to transcribe. Dana also suggests the Citizen Archivist program. She also suggests Zooniverse, a site that allows transcribing of many disciplines. They are at https://www.zooniverse.org/. Five projects of especial interest to genealogists are "Anti-Slavery Manuscripts", "The American Soldier", "Every Name Counts" (Nazi murdered persons), "American World War I Burial Cards", and "Measuring the Anzacs". Linda writes in detail about the upcoming changes in the Ancestry Message Boards and her experiences. (We welcome email and comments from our listeners on this topic.) Jim shares his experiences having used DNA to locate a half-brother and the bad experiences he had. He also located a new half-niece and contacted her to find her "aloof" to the knowledge. (We'd love to hear from our listeners about their experiences with this, good or bad, to represent their own experiences. We'd like to welcome and thank our new Patreon members: Kendell Carr and Melanie Green-Armstrong. 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. You should also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our free blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website. The Genealogy Guys are available for webinars using Zoom, a simple-to-use online video meeting tool that handles up to 100 people logged in at a time. Our catalog of Genealogy Topics is available at https://ahaseminars.com/ along with information about Genealogy Webinars. Contact us to schedule a webinar for your society. Send us email at [email protected].

News You Can Use and Share with Others The Upper Midwest Jewish Archives at the University of Minnesota is working to digitize its Jewish World archives, its collection of Jewish World Newspapers, 91 bound volumes from 1915 to 2007. The first three years' newspapers are complete. The Society of Genealogists will reopen their library in London on 7 August 2020. Only a limited number of simultaneous SOG members will be admitted. No food or drink will be allowed. Findmypast added new records: Surry Baptisms; Surrey Marriages; Surrey Burials; Warwickshire Burials; Warwickshire, Coventry Pawnbroker Tickets 1915-1923; Idaho Reconstructed 1890 U.S. census; Yorkshire Monumental Inscriptions; Derbyshire Deaths and Burials; National School Admission Registers & Log Books 1870-1914; Peru Civil Registration Records 1874-1996; and 12 new newspaper titles. Ancestry added new collections in July: Wyoming BMDs; Idaho BMDs; Women of Protest (suffragette photos from the LOC); USC Shoah Interviews – Index only to be released at Ancestry; Doubs, France Censuses; and Westminster Parish Records. Ancestry is ready to change its messaging system. You can download the existing folder structure but you'll need to do it soon. Ancestry will shortly be eliminating the display of very small DNA matches, most of which likely would be nearly useless to researchers as they are false positives. Fold3 recently completed their collection of U.S. Veterans Gravesites (1775-2019). Records date to the Revolutionary War and include veterans, spouses, and dependents interred in military cemeteries. Drew recaps two weeks of highlights of FamilySearch record collection releases. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Diahan and Drew discuss best practices for managing messages exchanged with DNA matches. Best strategies for contacting matches: How Contacting Your DNA Matches is Like a First Date Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle tells us to pay attention to collateral relatives for our brick-wall ancestors. Our Listeners Talk to Us Debbie asks how to subscribe to the Genealogy Guys Blog using Feedly. You'll find some information on the blog itself at blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/01/day-10-organize-your-rss-feeds.html, but Drew will create more instructions soon. John writes to add two more strategies for potentially identifying formerly enslaved persons after the U.S. Civil War. Edward shares his experiences with expanding information about family members, especially siblings, using cemetery records. Robin poses a great question about ways to publish errata for a previously published family history book that contains errors. The Guys offer several suggestions and encourage listeners to share their ideas and techniques in handling errata. Lori wants to know how to become a records transcriber. We welcome suggestions from our listeners. John writes from Scotland wanting to know why the iOS/iPadOS Ancestry app will be available only to users of the next iOS/iPadOS operating system. The Guys suggested contacting Ancestry directly, but we welcome input from our listeners. Marise writes about having heard about the Leeds method of using colored dots at Ancestry. She uses then to identify the town of origin of DNA matches. She also talks about using pseudonyms in her searches. The Genealogy Guys are available for webinars using Zoom, a simple-to-use online video meeting tool that handles up to 100 people logged in at a time. Our catalog of genealogy topics is available at https://ahaseminars.com/ along with information about genealogy webinars. Contact us to schedule a webinar for your society. Thank you again to our Patreon supporters! You can support us at https://patreon.com/genealogyguys. You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website. Send us email at [email protected].

Drew's guest is LaBrenda Garrett-Nelson, the President of the Board for Certification of Genealogists, and a specialist in African Ancestored Families in the South. Learn more about LaBrenda at her website at https://www.labgarrettgenealogy.com/

The Genealogy Guys and Vivid-Pix announce two exciting programs: The Unsung Heroes Societies Grant Program will award grants to two societies each year to facilitate their digitizing, indexing, and transcribing photographs and documents. The grantees will each receive a high-quality scanner, a backup and online storage software package, and two copies of Vivid-Pix RESTORE software to improve the legibility of documents, the color/contrast of photographs, and to add image tags and other important information to the image metadata. The grant package is valued at $500. The Unsung Heroes Awards Program continues to recognize individuals, societies, and libraries for their work in digitizing, indexing, and transcribing photographs and documents and making that work accessible to the genealogical community. Award winners will receive a commemorative certificate, a customized mug that can include an image of their choice, and a copy of Vivid-Pix RESTORE. Individual winners will also receive a one-year subscription to Genealogy Guys Learn. Grant applications and award nominations are due by midnight EDT on 1 August 2020. Full details are available on our blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/05/the-genealogy-guys-podcast-and-vivid.html. News You Can Use and Share MyHeritage has added 7 new reports to MyHeritage Health. MyHeritage launched its Photo Enhancer in June and within 10 days had enhanced more than one million photos. The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) will hold its 40th international conference virtually on 10-13 August 2020. Details and registration are available at iajgs2020.org. The Georgia State Legislature has passed SB372 which extends the privacy of birth records to 125 years and the privacy of marriage, divorce, and death records to 100 years. The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) has established three new scholarships. They will afford persons of color and those from underrepresented groups in society and culture the opportunity to attend APG's Professional Management Conference. Two of the scholarships, honoring Kenyatta Berry and the late James Dent "Jimmy" Walker, are intended to benefit genealogists of African-American or other African-rooted heritage. The third scholarship is intended to support a lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, or gender-questioning genealogist in attending APG's flagship conference. The Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) announced a new scholarship, the "Board for Certification of Genealogists Scholarship for African American Students." Up to three scholarships will be awarded each year to offset the cost of participating in an intensive genealogical education program, as well as the cost of applying for the CG credential. Findmypast has added: Scotland Roman Catholic Church Parish Records; Scotland, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), Electoral Registers (1864-1931); more United States Marriages; U.S., Pennsylvania, Civil War Veterans' Card File; U.S., New Jersey, Military Records Index; U.S., Rolls of Soldiers in the Revolutionary War; and Yorkshire Baptisms. More than 400,000 U.S. naturalization records from the Bronx and Queens will become available online in 2022 as part of a three-year project. Drew recaps new record additions, updates, and indexes at FamilySearch. Diahan Southard Drew asks Diahan about the Leeds method. https://www.yourdnaguide.com/leeds-method Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle discusses how to stay focused. Tools for Research Plans - Create them in: Word Google Docs Evernote OneNote Trello Templates and forms for research planning: Cyndi's List > Charts & Forms, https://cyndislist.com/charts/research/ Cyndi's Routine Records Sources, https://bit.ly/2EY54CS Cyndi's Records Checklist Template, https://bit.ly/2xZhDXR Cyndi's Research Log or Research Notes, https://bit.ly/2R9lE4L Cyndi's Simple Research Plan, https://bit.ly/2xLC6jp Cyndi's Preferred Research Plan, https://bit.ly/2xKPLaI Adventures in Genealogy Education, Research Plan Template in Word, https://bit.ly/2Y9lhgj See also: Cyndi's List - Research Methodology, https://cyndislist.com/research-methodology/ Our Listeners Talk to Us Jean on Long Island congratulates The Guys on their inclusion in the 101 Best Genealogy Websites for 2020 published by Family Tree Magazine. Donna writes asking why Facebook has removed a friend's individual obituary posts made to multiple groups as "spamming" and has issued the friend a "final warning" to stop. She wants to talk with a human being at Facebook to explain her work and motivations. Our listeners are encouraged to share their suggestions. Andrew's great-great-grandfather owned three enslaved persons according to the U.S. federal census records of 1860 and no names are listed. He would like to trace the enslaved individuals and is looking for suggestions. Our listeners are encouraged to share their suggestions. Genealogy Guys Learn Subscription Sale The Genealogy Guys have placed Genealogy Guys Lear

Drew's guest is John Boeren, a former archivist and an expert in Dutch Genealogy. Learn more about John at his website, Antecedentia.

Family Tree Magazine announced the 101 Best Genealogy Websites of 2020 and The Genealogy Guys Podcast was on the list. Thank you! The Genealogy Guys and Vivid-Pix announce two exciting programs: The Unsung Heroes Societies Grant Program will award grants to two societies each year to facilitate their digitizing, indexing, and transcribing photographs and documents. Each grantee will receive a high-quality scanner, a backup and online storage software package, and two copies of Vivid-Pix RESTORE software to improve the legibility of documents and the color/contrast of photographs, and to add image tags and other important information to the image metadata. Each grant package is valued at $500. The Unsung Heroes Awards Program continues to recognize individuals, societies, and libraries for their work in digitizing, indexing, and transcribing photographs and documents and for making that work accessible to the genealogical community. Award winners will receive a commemorative certificate, a customized mug that can include an image of their choice, and a copy of Vivid-Pix RESTORE. Individual winners will also receive a one-year subscription to Genealogy Guys Learn. Grant applications and award nominations are due by midnight EDT on 1 August 2020. Full details are available on our blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/05/the-genealogy-guys-podcast-and-vivid.html. News You Can Use and Share MyHeritage is seeking users of their mobile app with more than 100 individuals in the app to observe their behaviors while using the Discoveries feature. Users will be interviewed while using the app. If interested in helping out, contact Keren Szabason, the Product Designer, at [email protected]. MyHeritage launched an exclusive new collection: Germany, North Rhine Westphalia, Death Index 1870-1940. MyHeritage has introduced Cross-Language Record Matches to help users locate ancestors' records in different and often unexpected languages. Joel Weintraub has been working in advance of the release of the 1950 U.S. Federal Census. He has created YouTube videos about that, as well as other topics such as immigration. Visit https://tinyurl.com/ycsg7af8 for a page showing the title of the videos, running time, and YouTube address of each of the videos Vivid-Pix brings back memories of family reunions past and makes new reunion memories for this year. See our blog post at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/06/relive-past-reunions-create-this-years.html for all the details. The FamilySearch Family Tree has added support for the entry of same-sex couples. BillionGraves has launched a new feature called QualityCheck to improve the accuracy of its searchable cemetery inscriptions. The Family History Show in the UK has moved online at https://thefamilyhistoryshow.com/online. It will be held on 20 June 2020. Early-bird registration is now available. All content on British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk is currently free through 30 September 2020. See their blog at https://blog.history.ac.uk/2020/03/british-history-online-makes-all-research-content-free-to-individual-users/. Findmypast has added 1939 Register Map Search. Findmypast has added new and additional content to: British Army Service Records; Royal Engineers Journals (1939-1945); Royal Air Force, Operations Record Books (1939-1945); Royal Air Force, Combat Reports (1939-1945); England & Wales, Electoral Registers (19201932); Britain, Histories & Reference Guides; Canadian Directories & Almanacs; and Canada, Ontario, Toronto Emigrant Office Records Index. Drew recaps new record additions, updates, and indexes at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew and Diahan talk about why someone might not share any ethnicity with a DNA match. https://www.yourdnaguide.com/ethnicity-results Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle discusses her own website, Cyndi's List! Our Listeners Talk to Us Lisa Tompson of the Martin County [Florida] Genealogical Society tells us what their society is doing to conduct meetings these days. Jeff shared information with Drew about Private William Boddy in the Civil War. He provided a link to Boddy's journal: http://new.webfreemanual.asia/?q=Private+william+boddys+civil+war+journal+by+william+boddy&ref=cespolora.duckdns.org&base=pdfmans. Bruce is researching the Sailors' Snug Harbor retirement home on Staten Island, New York (1833-1976) and the mariners buried there. He is compiling information and stories, and listeners are encouraged to email us if they'd like to contact Bruce about his project. Floreen wrote about Drew's interview with Diahan Southard and about her own DNA research into her great-grandfather. Judy wrote to alert people that if you are paying for someone else's DNA test, make sure you will have access to the information. The Genealogy Guys are available for webinars using Zoom, a simple-to-use online video meeting tool that handles up to 100 people logged in at a time. Our catalog of Genealogy Topics is available

MyHeritage is offering our podcast listeners and blog readers a discount on their Complete collection through 29 May 2020. (New subscribers only.) Regularly $300.00, the price is $213.87, a great deal for all family researchers! Read our blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/05/myheritage-offers-special-price-for.html for the details and your order form. We appreciate your feedback on our new microphones. We're working on techniques and welcome your comments. We welcome Diahan Southard to the podcast in the regular DNA Segment feature with Drew Smith. She is a leading voice for consumer DNA testing from her position as Founder of Your DNA Guide. Diahan teaches internationally, consults with leading testing companies and forensics experts, and is the author of Your DNA Guide: The Book. News You Can Use and Share MyHeritage recapped the additions to its collections for April and George shares those. MyHeritage has just added three new Greek collections: Greek Electoral Rolls (1863-1924); Corfu Vital Records (1841-1932); and Sparta Marriages (1835-1935) including images of licenses and the marriage register. Findmypast has added records: Durham Home Guard (1939-1945); Faces of the Fallen (1939-1945); UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors (2002-2020)' The War Illustrated (1938-1947); U.S. National Veterans Cemetery Index; Georgia WWII Draft Registration Cards (1940-1942); and additional Louisiana Draft Cards. Drew recaps new record additions, updates, and indexes at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Diahan Southard Drew asks Diahan about why DNA testing companies give us two different numbers for each of our matches, and whether or not both numbers matter. Learn more about shared centimorgans and segment length at YourDNAGuide.com. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle shares some quick text tips for your computer! Keyboard tools: CheatSheet (Mac), https://mediaatelier.com/CheatSheet/ TypeIt, https://www.typeit.org Keyboard Maestro (Mac), https://www.keyboardmaestro.com AutoHotkey (Windows), https://www.autohotkey.com Keyboard shortcuts in Windows, https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/12445/windows-keyboard-shortcuts Text expanders: TextExpander (Windows or Mac and a Chrome extension), https://textexpander.com QuickKey (Mac), http://quickkey-app.com Keyboard Maestro (Mac), https://www.keyboardmaestro.com TypeIt4me (Mac), https://www.ettoresoftware.com/mac-apps/typeit4me/ FastFox (Windows or Mac), https://www.nch.com.au/fastfox/index.html 9 Best Text Expander Apps for Windows (Free and Paid), https://techwiser.com/text-expander-apps-for-windows/ Browser extensions and add-ons: Auto Text Expander for Google Chrome, https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/auto-text-expander-for-go/iibninhmiggehlcdolcilmhacighjamp Auto Text Expander for Firefox, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/auto-text-expander/ Text Blaze for Google Chrome, https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/text-blaze/idgadaccgipmpannjkmfddolnnhmeklj ProKeys for Google Chrome, https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/prokeys/ekfnbpgmmeahnnlpjibofkobpdkifapn Shortkeys (Custom Keyboard Shortcuts) for Firefox, https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/shortkeys/ Our Listeners Talk to Us Michael discusses his big descendancy research project and has traced thousands of descendants for only several of eight brothers. Our listeners are encouraged to email us to share suggestions and to discuss their own similar projects. Sara commented on research logs and timeline software we discussed on 3 December 2019. She hasn't found the right research logs for her work. Suggestions from listeners are welcome for us to share with her. Tom is looking for a DNA researcher to analyze his wife's matches. He is looking for her father from ca. 1925 in Reno, Nevada. Anonymous is a younger member of a genealogical society. She and a few others have suggested virtual seminars/webinars but the proposition has fallen on deaf ears. She is seeking suggestions for how to move the society forward and to develop and sustain it. The Genealogy Guys are available for webinars using Zoom, a simple-to-use online video meeting tool that handles up to 100 people logged in at a time. Our catalog of Genealogy Topics is available at https://ahaseminars.com/ along with information about Genealogy Webinars. Contact us to schedule a webinar for your society. Thank you again to our Patreon supporters! You can support us at https://patreon.com/genealogyguys. You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website. Send us email at [email protected].

Drew's guest is Margot Note, an archives and records management consultant. We talk about Margot's new book, Creating Family Archives: A Step-by-Step Guide to Saving Your Memories for Future Generations. Learn more about Margot at https://www.margotnote.com/

The Genealogy Guys have invested in new microphones and cables to improve the sound quality of the podcast. They discuss the new equipment and thank our Patreon supporters for supporting us in this investment. Bear with us as we learn to use the new mikes! News You Can Use and Share MyHeritage has improved its MyHeritage In ColorTM facility by providing new technology to use colorization settings to further enhance photographs. The MyHeritage Yearbook collection now allows you to toggle between black-and-white and color on yearbook pages. MyHeritage' Theory of Family RelativityTM facility in its DNA matches has grown tremendously. In the next few weeks, a banner will appear at the top of your DNA Matches page. Click on "View Theories" to see all theories found, old and new. Ancestry offers 450K yearbooks and more than 62 million pages in its huge searchable collection. Findmypast launched a photographic collection of more than 10,000 images in celebration of VE Day. Findmypast added additions and new records to the collections: Scotland, Edinburgh & Lothian Death and Burial Index; Scotland, Aberdeenshire Poll Tax 1696; Yorkshire Memorial Inscriptions; and Cambridgeshire Burials. The Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference registration is now open. It will be held 2-5 September 2020 in Kansas City, Missouri. Drew recaps new record additions, updates, and indexes at FamilySearch. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle reminds us to remember the beginners. Our Listeners Talk to Us Vic thanks us for discussing LibraryThing and tagging on Episode #377. Legacy Libraries is another facility at the site to look at famous people's libraries at https://www.librarything.com/index_catalog.php?search=legacy&page=legacy. Mary posted at our FB page that she listened to Drew's interview with Libby Copeland (Genealogy Connection #68) four times! Tell us about how your society is meeting virtually/online, the tools you're using, the positive things, and any negative things. This will help other societies connect their members. The Genealogy Squad The Genealogy Squad just celebrated its one-year anniversary with more than 33.5K members! Welcome Cari Taplin, CG, as a new Administrator of The Genealogy Squad, along with George G. Morgan, Drew Smith, and Cyndi Ingle. We have moderators in England and Australia to help answer your questions and direct you to resources. And our members help one another in a friendly environment. Thank you again to our Patreon supporters! You can support us at https://patreon.com/genealogyguys. You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website. Send us email at [email protected].

Drew's guest is Libby Copeland, a freelance journalist who has written over the last twenty years for numerous well-known newspapers and magazines. They talk about Libby's new book, The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who We Are. Learn more about the book at https://libbycopeland.com/

The Genealogy Guys Learn site (https://genealogyguyslearn.com/) April sale ends at midnight Eastern U.S. Time on 30 April. Look for details and instructions on the Genealogy Guys Blog on March 31 and at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/04/the-genealogy-guys-learn-is-on-sale-for.html. Don't miss your opportunity to get written and video education and more at a bargain price, and new content is added every month. News You Can Use and Share MyHeritage makes its entire yearbook collection available for free through 23 May 2020, and you can now display pages and photos in color as well as black-and-white. AncestryDNA has added many new communities around the world, and their ethnic estimate research panel has been updated to include indigenous communities in Australia. Drew discusses Ancestry's records and developments in the coming months. The National Archives in the UK has announced that it is offering free access to its records. Check their blog at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/digital-downloads/. A list of records available can be found at https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/help-with-your-research/research-guides/?research-category=online. Findmypast has added Northumberland Baptisms and Marriages, Durham Baptisms, Surry Burials, and more. Drew recaps new record additions, updates, and indexes at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Blaine T. Bettinger Blaine explains what a centimorgan is, who it is named for, and why it's important. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle discusses why working with others is so important to genealogical research. Our Listeners Talk to Us Tom discusses the recent interview with Diahan Southard and whether or not he needs her new book. Vance recounts his family's excitement at developing the family's tree, information found on our podcast episode # 295 (4 October 2015), and recording telephone calls with relatives. Organize Your Books with LibraryThing Drew reminds you to "Organize Your Books" as he wrote about on Day 11 of his January Getting Organized series of blog posts (http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/01/day-11-organize-your-books.html). The Guys then discuss LibraryThing (https://www.librarything.com/) and the ease of cataloguing your entire collection of books. As of 18 March 2020, LibraryThing is free and allows you to add an unlimited number of books. You can tag and organize your books into groups. There is a LibraryThing app for the Apple iOS that allows you take it with you anywhere. The app allows you to snap an image of the ISBN and immediately add the book to your library. Pre-ISBN books also are easily added using a search of author and partial title. George reminds you to back up your browser bookmarks. Thank you again to our Patreon supporters! You can support us at https://patreon.com/genealogyguys. You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website.

Drew brings back Diahan Southard to Genealogy Connection in order to discuss Diahan's new book, Your DNA Guide: the Book. Diahan explains how the book is structured and outlines the 4 basic DNA research concepts that have made her own work successful. More information about the book can be found at https://www.yourdnaguide.com/your-dna-guide-the-book Diahan's previous interview can be found in Genealogy Connection #047: http://genealogyguys.com/genealogy-connection-047-diahan-southard-dna-expert-speaker-and-writer

The Genealogy Guys Learn site (https://genealogyguyslearn.com/) is on sale for the entire month of April. Look for details and instructions at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2020/04/the-genealogy-guys-learn-is-on-sale-for.html. This is your opportunity to get more written and video education at a bargain price, and new content is added every month. News You Can Use and Share Vivid-Pix announced it's "Round Tuit" education program at https://vivid-pix.com/education.html. MyHeritage provides free access to all its U.S. census records through 12 April 2020. MyHeritage has added new content to its Knowledge Base. The Society of Genealogists in London is working with FamilySearch to digitize approximately 9,000 family history books and over 5,000 pamphlets in a project to take at least two years. Findmypast added 116 million new records to their collection of English and Welsh Electoral Registers. Findmypast added new Scottish records including the Ayrshire, Kilmarnock Valuation Roll (1874), Ratepayers (1838-1846), and Voter Lists (1837-1852). Drew recaps new record additions, updates, and indexes at FamilySearch. Another article about The Guys will be published in Podcast Magazine at the end of March at https://podcastmagazine.com/. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle discusses whether you should have only one family tree or more than one. Splitting or Combining Family Trees | Ancestry by Crista Cowan, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrdQXvtP0yE Splitting an Ancestry® Family Tree https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Splitting-an-Ancestry-Family-Tree Merging Ancestry® Family Trees https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Merging-Ancestry-Family-Trees How do I divide my existing tree into parts if I edit online? (MyHeritage) https://faq.myheritage.com/en/article/how-do-i-divide-my-existing-tree-into-parts-if-i-edit-online How do I merge two family trees (MyHeritage) https://faq.myheritage.com/en/article/how-do-i-merge-two-family-trees Your Legacy Database - Should You Split It? https://legacynews.typepad.com/legacy_news/2006/03/your_legacy_dat.html WikiTree Help: Splitting a GEDCOM With instructions on how to do this for several programs https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Help:Splitting_a_GEDCOM Our Listeners Talk to Us Shannon asks us to let our listeners know about free genealogy resources. Jean thanks us for reminding people to use their library cards to access the many online resources available at their websites. Book Review Drew reviews the latest book by Nathan Dylan Goodwin, The Sterling Affair, and gives it a great thumbs-up. Thank you again to our Patreon supporters! You can support us at https://patreon.com/genealogyguys. You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our blog, and our Genealogy Guys Learn subscription education website.

Drew speaks with Mike Scozzari, a New Jersey-based researcher who has spent years working on his New Jersey and Italian ancestry. Mike also happens to be a long-time Genealogy Guys Podcast listener! To learn more about Mike, visit his website at Roots: Everyone has a story.

The Genealogy Guys Learn site (https://genealogyguyslearn.com/) will be on sale for the entire month of April. Look for details and instructions on the Genealogy Guys Blog on March 30, and links to the blog will be placed on Facebook at The Genealogy Guys Podcast and The Genealogy Squad pages. This is your opportunity to get more written and video education at a bargain price, and new content is added every month. News You Can Use and Share MyHeritage introduced MyHeritage in ColorTM to colorize your black-and-white photos. MyHeritage has added 1.3 billion records of U.S. City Directories. MyHeritage has introduced fan charts as a way to display your family trees online. Geneanet, the leading genealogy website in Europe, has launched its DNA matching service. Ancestry announced the completion of a project to digitize and index 36 million of the U.S. WWII young men's draft cards. Ancestry has updated and improved its collection, New York, New York, Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909. Findmypast added 18 million new U.S. marriage records for Texas, 1937-2010. Findmypast added 36K new Wales Billion Graves records, Hampshire baptisms, marriages, and burials, and Surrey baptisms, marriages, and burials. Findmypast published more than 190K new records in partnership with the Galway County Council. They include Galway Poor Law Union Records, Galway county burials, and more records from the Waterford Poor Law Union Board of Guardians Minute Books. Church of England will begin a project, "Google Maps for Graves." The Genealogy Squad Facebook group passed 30,000 members this week. Share the link with your friends so that they can join! FamilySearch has introduced the Explore Historical Images tool to search digital-image-only records. Drew recaps new record additions, updates, and indexes at FamilySearch. Use your library card to explore all the databases offered at their website. ProQuest has arranged for Ancestry Library Edition to be made available remotely from home. JSTOR is offering free registration. Be sure to use Google Books for public domain content. The Guys are featured in an article at Indie Podcast News at https://indiepodcastnews.com/2020/03/20/from-no-facebook-group-to-13000-plus/. Another article about The Guys will be published at the end of March in Podcast Magazine. DNA Segment with Blaine T. Bettinger Blaine and Drew discuss the use of DNA data for research at the 23andMe site. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle says that there is no such thing as a brick wall! She suggests: The brick wall is you - what you don't know, where you don't know to look, etc. She encourages you to take advantage of: Genealogical education Read, read, read Books, magazines, guides, wikis Podcasts Webinars Seminars Conferences Institutes Our Listeners Talk to Us Tom wrote some time ago about the availability of facial recognition software for personal use. Rick Voight of Vivid-Pix tells us that this is a combination of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. It's not available to individuals yet at any kind of reasonable price, but he believes "the ability and technology are on the horizon.". Jenn wrote to ask how to research ancestors' patents. Mark wrote a follow-up to his sharing of the article about Mt. Vesuvius and survivors. Archaeologists in Italy are trying link remains they found in Pompeii in the 20th century to Pliny the Elder at https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium-remains-found-by-pompeii-really-are-pliny-the-elder-new-tests-indicate-1.8439072. Susan wrote a fascinating account about she discovered that she was donor-conceived. Marise is looking for information about marriage and naturalization records that were probably destroyed in the fire that was an aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Listeners, share whatever you can with us! Thank you to our Patreon supporters! You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts, our blog, and Genealogy Guys Learn.

Drew speaks with Cari Taplin, a Texas-based genealogist who blogs, writes courses and quick guides, and speaks at national and state genealogy conferences. To learn more about Cari, visit her website at Genealogy Pants.

One last reminder of the deadline to respond to the proposed price increases by the USCIS. Details are here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2020/01/24/2020-01189/us-citizenship-and-immigration-services-fee-schedule-and-changes-to-certain-other-immigration News You Can Use and Share Both 23andMe and Ancestry have announced layoffs related to the downturn in the DNA testing market. MyHeritage has released millions of new records in late December and throughout January. The Society of Genealogists has alerted us through their newsletter of several new British and Irish collection news updates, including updates at the PRONI website, the ability to share screenshots from the GRO, and an addition of more civil marriage records at IrishGenealogy.ie Bucks County in Pennsylvania has put deeds online back to 1684. The U.S. National Archives has put Record Group 77 (Civil Works Map Files) online and has digitized Record Group 145 (Aerial Indexes). Findmypast has added Britain, Royal and Imperial Calendars, plus more baptisms, marriages, and burials for Durham. FamilySearch is celebrating Black History Month with new collections and articles. Drew provides a long list of updated collections for FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Blaine T. Bettinger Drew asks Blaine about X-DNA and how it can be used. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle discusses "Research the Records before the Ancestor": FamilySearch Wiki - wiki.familysearch.org For US research - Ancestry Wiki - wiki.rootsweb.com Libraries, archives, genealogical & historical societies in that area too. Anne Moss-Biggs Library at Robeson Community College, https://guides.robeson.edu/c.php?g=632482&p=4422915 BYU - North Carolina Research Outline, http://files.lib.byu.edu/family-history-library/research-outlines/US/NorthCarolina.pdf How-to guides, research outlines, pathfinders. For example, Robeson County, NC: Don't forget to look at each level of government or record-keeping. Don't stick with just the parish or the county, look also at the state, the territory, and the federal government too. Our Listeners Talk to Us Janet follows up on George's discussion of Pompeii in a previous episode with a link to the article, provided here: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-rome/the-survivors-of-mount-vesuvius/?mqsc=E4108051&dk=ZE022EZF2&utm_source=WhatCountsEmail&utm_medium=BHDDaily%20Newsletter&utm_campaign=ZE022EZF2 Janet also provides a link to an article about the possible identification of a skull that may have been that of Pliny the Elder: https://mysteriousuniverse.org/2020/02/dna-tests-suggest-skull-found-near-pompeii-likely-to-be-pliny-the-elder/?fbclid=IwAR1QO1VcshOeybYVUjpgcxkhtRk2NsSyDW5WDjsh--3onCB1xalaVOcjXRw Katherine shares with us the perfect children's picture book for Black History Month: Emma, by Cheryl Wills. It's available here: https://www.amazon.com/Emma-Cheryl-Wills/dp/168265642X Donna asks about how to search online library catalogs for a list of 800 books, all at once. Please tell your friends and your society about our free podcasts. Enroll in Genealogy Guys Learn at https://genealogyguys.learn for written courses, videos, and helpful resources. New content is added every month! And join The Genealogy Squad Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad/ for the highest quality help from the administrators Blaine T. Bettinger, Cyndi Ingle, Drew Smith, George G. Morgan, and more than 28,000 members worldwide!

Drew speaks with Randy Fredlund, co-founder of Vivid-Pix, the makers of RESTORE. Randy explains how an electrical engineer who once worked for Eastman Kodak became interested in how to improve personal underwater photography, and how that led to developing software to help genealogists recover the details in old faded or discolored family photos. To learn more about Vivid-Pix RESTORE, go to https://vivid-pix.com/restore.html.

We hope you are enjoying Drew's "31 Days of Getting Organized" series at The Genealogy Guys Blog. Day 0 begins at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2019/12/day-0-introducing-31-days-of-getting.html, and you can follow each day. (Use the Tag labeled Organization for quick access to all of these entries.) News You Can Use and Share MyHeritage added millions of new records in November 2019 and in the first half of December. MyHeritage added new records for Germany in late December: the Hesse Birth Index (1874-1911) and the Hesse Marriage Index (1849-1931). The Federation of Genealogical Societies and the National Park Service announced the launch of the U.S. Mexican War Soldier & Sailor Database, coming on 27 January 2020. (See press release at our blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/search/label/Mexican%20War. Fold3 has recently added the "UK Militia Attestation Papers, 1806-1915," containing great personal information for each individual. The Royal Air Force Museum has launched a new website containing casualty forms of the officers of the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. The site is located at https://www.casualtyforms.org. Donna Moughty announced her two annual research trips to Ireland: the Belfast trip October 10-17, 2020, and the Dublin trip October 17-24, 2020. Space is limited. Details are available at https://www.irishfamilyroots.com/2020-research-trips. Findmypast has released updates to the 1939 Register, British Armed Forces' World War I Medical Records, and the U.S. National Veterans Cemetery Index. They also have released records for Kent Baptisms, Marriages and Banns, and Burials. FamilySearch has released GEDCOM Version 5.5.1, the first update in ten years. FamilySearch's 2019 highlights include 1.24 billion people in the Family Tree, 6.3 billion searchable records and images online, 8.75 million new photos and stories added, and 15.5 million volunteer hours contributed. FamilySearch has announced new things coming in 2020: sitewide support for new languages; improvements to the user experience with the Family Tree; updates to Memories to allow topic tagging; improvements in social interactions and social media; and a new tool, Explore Images, allowing users to view images within days of their capture. Drew recaps new record additions, updates, and indexes at FamilySearch. DNA Segment with Blaine T. Bettinger Blaine and Drew discuss chromosome mapping at the DNA Painter site. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle discusses thinking of your end goal. Our Listeners Talk to Us Robin wrote about loose papers and about oversized documents and photographs and how she approached copying them. Now, the question is where to send them for permanent storage. Mark captured George's interest with an article from the Biblical Archaeology Review (January-February 2020 issue) titled "Rescuing and Recovering Vesuvius's Survivors." The report addresses the people who escaped the volcano's eruption on 24 August 79 C.E. [A.D.], where they moved, the customs they took with them, and intermarriages. The author, Steven L. Tuck, performed extensive research, including identifying people and events using genealogical standards. Excellent article! Don't forget! The Genealogy Guys and Vivid-Pix have issued a new call for nominations for the Unsung Heroes Awards. Submissions will be accepted until midnight EST on 1 February 2020. Awards will be announced at RootsTech 2020 in Salt Lake City. Full details and links to nomination forms can be found on our blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2019/12/genealogy-guys-and-vivid-pix-issue-call.html. You can even nominate yourself! Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts. Enroll in Genealogy Guys Learn at https://genealogyguys.learn for written courses, videos, and helpful resources. New content is added every month! And join The Genealogy Squad Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad/ for the highest quality help from the administrators Blaine T. Bettinger, Cyndi Ingle, Drew Smith, George G. Morgan, and more than 27,500 members worldwide!

On 14 November 2019, the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS) proposed a sudden and unprecedented 492% increase in fees required to access historical records held by the USCIS Genealogy Program. Many of these records should already be publicly accessible under the law. The USCIS is essentially holding them hostage, demanding individuals pay exorbitant and unjustifiable fees to access documents of our immigrant ancestors. YOU HAVE UNTIL DECEMBER 30, 2019, TO SUBMIT COMMENTS TO HELP STOP THIS FEE INCREASE. We strongly urge you to visit https://www.recordsnotrevenue.com/ and protest this action! News You Can Use and Share Verogen, Inc., has purchased GEDmatch. Drew explains the new opt in/out requirement to accept the terms of service in order to continue to use the site. MyHeritage added 18.6 million new historical records in October 2019. In the first half of November, they added another 18.8 million records. In the second half of November, they added another 8.8 million new records. Drew announces those record collections. The Ohio Genealogical Society has issued a call for lecture proposals for its 2021 Conference to be held in Columbus, Ohio. Nathan Dylan Goodwin has a new book coming out in January 2020 titled The Sterling Affair. Findmypast has released Yorkshire Memorial Inscriptions; Scotland, Renfrewshire Death & Burial Index; Scotland, Stirlingshire & Perthshire Burials; Northumberland Baptisms, Marriages, and Burial collections; Northumberland and Durham Memorial Inscriptions; and Texas County Tax Rolls (1846-1910). FamilySearch celebrates its 125th anniversary. FamilySearch adds the ability to document all family relationships, including same-sex marriages and adoptions. Drew discusses many new and expanded collections from FamilySearch. Cyndi Says Cyndi Ingle recommends that listeners try something new. Our Listeners Talk to Us Lili wrote a great follow-up to our previous discussion of research logs. The Guys talk about more options and setting up a calendar/to-do list to recheck online sites. Linda wrote to compliment us on what she is learning at the new Genealogy Guys Learn subscription site. Linda also wrote to discuss RM7 not running under the new macOS Catalina operating system. Drew discusses downloading and installing CrossOver software from CodeWeavers. Dianne encourages people to regularly recheck FamilySearch and other online sites frequently for the addition and update of records. Eugene shares a story about a man whose 1870 diary details his departure from Michigan to California and each day until his wife and children joined him. Janet responded concerning a recent listener email about foreign service. She shared a link concerning foreign service list resources at the Hathi Trust Digital Library website at https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001719572. Jeryl of the Genealogical Society of Sarasota [Florida] wrote to discuss their work to record and map all the cemeteries in the county. They are looking for cemetery mapping software in which to record their work. We ask our listeners to share any information they have to help the GSS in its endeavor. The Genealogy Guys and Vivid-Pix have issued a new call for nominations for the Unsung Heroes Awards. Submissions will be accepted until midnight EST on February 1, 2020. Awards will be announced at RootsTech 2020 in Salt Lake City. Full details and links to nomination forms can be found on our blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2019/12/genealogy-guys-and-vivid-pix-issue-call.html. You can even nominate yourself! Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts. Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more free news and interesting ideas for your genealogy. Enroll in Genealogy Guys Learn at https://genealogyguys.learn for written courses, videos, and helpful resources. New content is added every month! And join The Genealogy Squad Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad/ for the highest quality help from the founders Blaine T. Bettinger, Cyndi Ingle, Drew Smith, and George G. Morgan, and from more than 26,000 members worldwide!

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

The Genealogy Guys enjoyed Thanksgiving with friends and Drew's dessert (a key lime pound cake). Listeners can email for the recipe. George reminded everyone that new content is being added every month to the Genealogy Guys Learn educational subscription site, and there's currently a sale price that is available until December 14. News You Can Use and Share George discussed the plans by Bruce Buzbee of RootsMagic to delay release of RM 8 until some issues have been addressed. This will push the release into 2020. Drew talked about the new health reports available from MyHeritage through its DNA product, and the new list view for MyHeritage family trees. George and Drew shared new record collections from Findmypast and FamilySearch. Drew raised the alarm for the USCIS proposed rate increases for obtaining information, and listeners should visit the Records, Not Revenue site to learn more and to register their objections to the new costs. Blaine T. Bettinger and the DNA Segment Blaine explained to Drew how the new beta product for 23andMe works in creating proposed family trees based on nothing but DNA matching. Learn more from Blaine at his DNA Central subscription website. Cyndi Says with Cyndi Ingle Cyndi took listeners through the sometimes difficult process of figuring out how the records in online databases were sourced. And don't forget to visit Cyndi's List to find links to all the genealogy sites you'll ever need! Our Listeners Talk to Us Leslie asked about research logs, and Drew gave his thoughts on using a blog for a public research log or using Evernote or Microsoft OneNote for a more private and flexible research log. And As Always... Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts. Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more free news and interesting ideas for your genealogy. Enroll in Genealogy Guys Learn at https://genealogyguyslearn.com for written courses, videos, and helpful resources. New content will be added every month! And join The Genealogy Squad Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad/ for the highest quality help from the founders Blaine T. Bettinger, Cyndi Ingle, Drew Smith, and George Morgan, and from more than 25,000 members worldwide!

Michael J. Leclerc returns to Genealogy Connection to talk to Drew about Michael's new book, Benjamin Franklin's Family (Volume I: English Ancestors). More information about the book can be found at http://franklinsfam.com/ Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your genealogy friends or your local genealogy society about our free podcasts. Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy.

The Genealogy Guys Learn educational subscription site launched on October 1st and is a great success. New content has been added at the beginning of November and more is scheduled soon. Drew reports on his trip to present at RootsTech London. He reminisces on his profound trip to the Cambridge American Cemetery, where he visited the grave of his father's brother who was killed in 1943. News You Can Use and Share The Australian government has provided $10M in funding to the National Archives of Australia to digitize 850,000 World War II records over the next four years. Ancestry has significantly updated its collection of U.S. obituaries. AncestryDNA has expanded its reference panel to deliver more precise DNA ethnicity results. This is being rolled out by year's end. Ancestry has introduced AncestryHealth® to provide health insights for testers and their families. Findmypast has released: Scotland, Will and Testament Index, 1481-1807; Scotland Monumental Inscriptions; Westmorland Baptisms, Marriages, & Burials; Philippines Births, Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths, and Burials from 1642-1974. DNA-Central.com has released a new newsletter and discusses updates to courses about 23andMe, ANC101, and YDNA101, and announced 6 new courses: Introduction to Autosomal DNA, Introduction to GEDmatch, GEDmatch Advanced, Introduction to DNA Painter, and Introduction to Shared Matches and Genetic Networks. Kevin Borland released a press release about Borland Genetics at https://www.borlandgenetics.com/, a toolkit that acts on raw DNA files of related individuals, enabling to reverse-engineer your ancestors. Drew discusses many new and expanded collections from FamilySearch. Blaine T. Bettinger This week's discussion between Blaine and Drew focuses on the meaning and use of FIR and HIR. Book Review George reviews William Dollarhide's brand-new book, The Census Book: Facts, Schedules & Worksheets for the U.S. Federal Censuses. George recommends the book highly, saying it should be on every U.S. researcher's and library's bookshelf. Our Listeners Talk to Us Faye heard us mention Augsburg, Bavaria, records and asked where they were. George wrote back with a link from the FamilySearch News. Gail asked if Genealogy Guys Learn includes content from all learning levels. We firmly believe that so many of us started at different levels with disparate documents that everyone would benefit from starting over again. This approach allows everyone to build or rebuild the foundation for solid research. You can, of course, use portions of the written courses or videos for the topics for which you have an immediate need. However, we guarantee that you will find important new "Aha! moments" in each course or lesson. Nancy recalled that Drew is a member of the Guild of One-Name Studies and whose study focuses on Bodie, Boddie, and all other spelling variations. She sent information about a Stephen Body from Maryland. Drew is always interested in more of these links. Tom inquired about an individual whom he believes was a doctor who departed from Norfolk, Virginis, for Stamboul [Istanbul], Turkey at the end of September 1931. He wants to know if this person could have had some affiliation with the U.S. State Department. Ryan asked a fascinating question about what primary photograph to use to represent an ancestor in an online tree or in software. What age is preferable? We'd love to hear opinions from our listeners. Darren attended RootsTech London and asks about relationship software that might exist to link friends, associates, neighbors, witnesses, and others. Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts. Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more free news and interesting ideas for your genealogy. Enroll in Genealogy Guys Learn at https://genealogyguyslearn.com for written courses, videos, and helpful resources. New content will be added every month! And join The Genealogy Squad Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad/ for the highest quality help from the administrators Blaine T. Bettinger, Cyndi Ingle, Drew Smith, and George Morgan, and from almost 25,000 members worldwide!

The Genealogy Guys Learn educational subscription site launched on October 1st. Podcast listeners receive a 10% discount. Listen to Episode #368 for the details. News You Can Use and Share MyHeritage added 44.4 million records in September, including NYC Birth Index (1878-1909); NYC Death Index (1862-1948); Netherlands Civil Births, Marriages, Deaths, and Church Burials; and more. The Society of Genealogists in London has announced it is searching for new premises to move into after 35 years. Findmypast announces the launch of its Tree-to-Tree Hints. Findmypast announces Pennsylvania Cemetery and Burials collection; New Jersey Vital Records and Vital Records Browse; Cumberland Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials; U.S. Directories & Almanacs; transcripts of Ukraine births and deaths 1784-1879; and 12 million transcripts from Spain of baptisms, marriages, and burials spanning 1502-1950. Findmypast has updated the 1939 Register with new entries. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has turned over 4 centuries of digitized Catholic records to the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) for archival storage. RootsTech 2020 on 26-29 February 2020 in Salt Lake City, Utah, is open for registration. The FamilySearch Research Wiki has surpassed the publication of 90,000 excellent articles. Drew discusses many new and expanded collections from FamilySearch. The DNA Segment with Blaine T. Bettinger This week's discussion between Blaine and Drew focuses on the Big Y test. Cyndi Says with Cyndi Ingle Cyndi Ingle's "Cyndi Says" segment discusses how to keep an open mind. Our Listeners Talk to Us Kirstin loved our blog article, "Yearbooks Can Reveal Great Clues," and shared her own story. Walter asked how to obtain the RSS feed to The Genealogy Guys Blog. Mike responded with more details about his genealogical filing system. Bill responded to Kelly, the teacher in Idaho, looking for resources for her genealogy instruction. He tells us about Ancestry.com's K-12 program at https://www.ancestryk12.com/ that helps provide Ancestry.com, Fold3.com, and Newspapers.com for use in classrooms. Eric shares an interesting story about discovering family members within your group of friends. Book Review George provides a review of a new book about researching U.S. Christian church records. It is How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records (With Specific Resources for Major Christian Denominations before 1900) by Sunny Jane Morton and Harold A. Henderson CG. George recommends this book to every genealogist and to every library collection. He gives this book a 10-star review for this much needed and well-written book. Thank you to our Patreon supporters! You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts. Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more free news and interesting ideas for your genealogy. Enroll in Genealogy Guys Learn at https://genealogyguys.learn for written courses, videos, and helpful resources. New content will be added every month! And join The Genealogy Squad Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad/ for the highest quality help from the administrators Blaine T. Bettinger, Cyndi Ingle, Drew Smith, George Morgan, and almost 24,000 members worldwide! HAPPY FAMILY HISTORY MONTH!

In this special episode of The Genealogy Guys Podcast, the Guys announce their newest business offering, Genealogy Guys Learn (genealogyguyslearn.com), a subscription-based educational website designed to provide genealogy courses and videos for researchers of all skill levels. To learn more about the site and see screenshots, visit The Genealogy Guys Blog (blog.genealogyguys.com).

Julianna Szucs speaks at many national genealogy conferences and is part of the Research Team at Ancestry.com that uncovers the stories behind some of the genealogy-themed videos we see. Learn more about Julianna at https://www.biography.com/author/juliana-szucs Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your genealogy friends or your local genealogy society about our free podcasts. Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy.

Listen for a major announcement from The Guys on October 1, 2019! News You Can Use and Share MyHeritage acquires Promethease and SNPedia. MyHeritage announced the launch of MyHeritage Education to enhance your understanding of their website platform. MyHeritage has added a new French record collection, the Nord Civil marriage Records, 1792-1937. Findmypast has added Scotland Roman Catholic Parish Baptisms, Marriages, Burials, and Congregational Records. The JewishGen website has reorganized its homepage and made vast improvements to the organization and speed of access to its databases. The National Genealogical Society and the Federation of Genealogical Societies have announced their intent to merge. Drew discusses many new and expanded collections from FamilySearch. Blaine T. Bettinger This week's discussion between Blaine and Drew focuses on triangulation. Cyndi Ingle FamilySearch is much more than just a large family tree. FamilySearch is misunderstood. FamilySearch is made up of multiple pieces and parts. Today Cyndi Says pay attention to the FamilySearch Catalog. FamilySearch - Search Historical Records https://www.familysearch.org/search/ Currently more than 2,520 databases of records FamilySearch Catalog https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/search/ Search the catalog of genealogical materials (including books, online materials, microfilm, microfiche, and publications) made available by FamilySearch online and in libraries and centers worldwide. FamilySearch Digital Library https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/ The Family History Library is actively digitizing its family histories, local histories, and other collections to make them searchable and available online to researchers worldwide. FamilySearch Family Tree https://www.familysearch.org/treeOne large family tree that we can all contribute to FamilySearch Genealogies https://www.familysearch.org/search/tree A collection of individual genealogies contributed to or collected by the church FamilySearch Wiki https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page A free, online genealogy and family history guide that lists websites, provides research strategies, and suggests records and resources to help you find ancestors from all over the world. FamilySearch Learning Center How-to videos and articles for education https://www.familysearch.org/ask/landing… FamilySearch Memories https://www.familysearch.org/photos/ The Memories Gallery is a place where all of the photos, stories, documents, and audio recordings that you add to FamilySearch are collected. FamilySearch Indexing https://www.familysearch.org/indexing/ The volunteer indexing project running worldwide to index all the record collections on FamilySearch. Our Listeners Talk to Us Debra thanks us for the podcast and for The Genealogy Squad on Facebook. Kelly is a teacher in Idaho and asks for inexpensive suggestions of materials to help her students' research. Jim commented about Mike's ahnentafel filing system discussed in episode 366. Robin wrote to describe another personal filing system. Tom asked for learning links about GEDmatch. Ginny asked whether there is a DNA testing company that only matches to your paternal side. Corrine found a DNA cousin match on both sides of her family that helped with multiple brick walls. Kim was talking at work about a funeral she had just attended, when a coworker commented that the name was familiar. It turned out that their grandmothers were cousins. It's a very small world! Thank you to our Patreon supporters! You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts. Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy. Join The Genealogy Squad Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad/. And listen for our major announcement from The Guys on October 1, 2019!

Elissa Powell is a popular Pittsburgh-area genealogy speaker and instructor. She has been heavily involved with the Board for Certification of Genealogists, and she is the co-director of the Genealogical Research Institute of Pittsburgh (GRIP). You can find out more about Elissa and her available lectures at http://www.powellgenealogy.com/ Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your genealogy friends or your local genealogy society about our free podcasts. Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy.