by Lisa Cooke | Dec 23, 2016 | 01 What's New, Records & databases
Happiest of holiday greetings to you! Celebrate with us as we share the gift of new and updated genealogical collections like censuses, histories, and school records from all around the world. This week: the United Kingdom, Australia, France, Peru, Ecuador, and the U.S.
United Kingdom – Military
New records at Findmypast this week include the British Army discharges, 60th Foot 1854-1880. These British Army discharges will allow you to find your ancestor who served in the King’s Royal Rifle Corps. The records will contain service numbers, ranks, and the reason for discharge.
The 60th Regiment of Foot saw action in the Seven Years War, Napoleonic Wars, and Peninsular War. They have served in India, Burma, Afghanistan, China, and South Africa. The men found in these records most likely fought in The Indian Mutiny (1857-1859), in Canada during the Fenian raids (1866-1867), and The Zulu War (1879).
United Kingdom – Histories
Over 13,000 records have been added to Findmypast’s collection titled Britain, Histories & Reference Guides. The collection consists of 65 volumes on genealogy, heraldry, palaeography, geography, and more. The information found in these records may provide you with more insight into the lives of your ancestors and an better understanding of British life. For a more detailed description of the history publications and what each may offer, see the list at the bottom of the collection page.
England – Middlesex – Military
The Middlesex War Memorials at Findmypast contain over 21,000 transcripts of memorials from over 40 parishes across the English county of Middlesex. The new additions to this collection list the names of soldiers who died while on active service between 1845 and 1998.
Each record will include a transcript of the individual entry from the war memorial and a full transcript of all the names that appeared alongside your ancestor. Other information found on the records may include the conflict they served in, where and when they were killed, a brief description, and additional notes. Transcripts also include links from the West Middlesex Family History Society providing greater detail about the memorial such as the memorial’s location and explanations of abbreviations.
Australia – Queensland – Passports
Also at Findmypast this week, the Queensland Passports Index 1915-1925 of over 13,000 names is a helpful collection for those searching traveling ancestors! This collection is an index. The original registers were compiled by the Collector of Customs, Brisbane, and are currently held by the National Archives of Australia. Each record includes a transcript and may
contain the following information:
- Name
- Year the record was taken
- Address or residence
- Date they applied for or renewed a passport
- Their intended destination
Depending on the period covered, the registers themselves may include additional information such as passport numbers, warrant numbers, and remarks. Remarks may include details about soldiers returning home from the Great War.
Australia – New South Wales – Census
Explore the only surviving records from the New South Wales 1841 Census at Findmypast. Containing almost 11,000 names, this collection includes both fully searchable transcripts and scanned images of the original household returns, affidavit forms, and abstracts of returns.
Censuses like these often help piece together the family unit. Names, sex, ages, and birth places are common finds in this record set. Images of the original forms may also occasionally provide you with additional information such as:
- Religion
- Occupation
- Civil condition
The amount of information included will vary depending on the type of document.
France – Dordogne – Census
New and updated genealogical collections at FamilySearch this week include the France, Dordogne, Censuses, 1856 and 1876. These censuses may contain the following information:
- Surname
- Given name
- Age
- Occupation
- Nationality
- Position in the household
Each record contains a transcription and digital image. These census records are in French.
Peru – Civil Registration
Civil registration records are particularly helpful when church records are unavailable. FamilySearch has added new records to their collection titled Peru, La Libertad, Civil Registration, 1903-1998. Births, marriages, deaths, and other records are contained in this collection set. Some of these records have been indexed and are searchable. Additional images and indexed records will be published as they become available. These records are written in Spanish.
Ecuador – Church Records
FamilySearch collection Ecuador, Catholic Church Records, 1565-2011 contain some new Catholic Church records created by parishes and dioceses in Ecuador. These records include: baptisms, confirmations, marriages, pre-marriage investigations, deaths, and indexes. Some of the records have been indexed and are searchable. Remember, you can always browse the collection of nearly 1.5 million records. Church records are a great resource when civil records have been lost or damaged.
United States – Oklahoma – School Records
Oklahoma, School Records, 1895-1936 are now available to search on FamilySearch. This collection includes school records and annual censuses of pupils who attended schools in Woodward County, Oklahoma between 1895 and 1936. The records are generally arranged by years and then in numerical order by school district. Many of them list the name of pupil, pupil’s date of birth, and the names of parents or guardians.
The records helped local governments determine funding needs for individual schools so the information is generally reliable. These records can also provide supporting evidence of parental and familial relationships.
Learn More About School Records for Genealogy
From schools and orphanages to prisons, hospitals, asylums, workhouses, and more, there’s a good chance one or more of your ancestors might be found on record in one of the many types of institutions. In this Premium eLearning video, Institutional Records Research Methods, Lisa Louise Cooke presents methods for finding your ancestors in institutional records, from establishing a workflow and investigating clues found in the census and other records to resources and strategies for digging up the records. This 40-minute video includes a downloadable handout and is available right now to all Premium eLearning members. Click here to sign up!
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!
by Lisa Cooke | Dec 22, 2016 | 01 What's New, Genealogy Gems Podcast
This episode’s got a bit of holiday sparkle! Lisa Louise Cooke welcomes Genealogy Gems Book Club author and Victorian lifestyle expert Sarah Chrisman to the show to talk about Victorian holiday traditions, some of which may still live on in your own life. Following that conversation, Lisa shares a fun description of Victorian-era scrapbooking: how it’s different than today’s scrapbooking hobby but also how it reminds her of modern social media.
More episode highlights:
Three success stories from Genealogy Gems listeners: a Google search with great results, a brick-wall busting marriage record and yet another YouTube find for family history (people keep telling us about those!).
Your DNA Guide Diahan Southard chimes in with what she likes so far about MyHeritage’s new DNA testing service.
An internationally-themed German research conference and a makeover for the Scotland’s People website.
NEWS: GERMAN-AMERICAN GENEALOGY PARTNERSHIP CONFERENCE
First-ever German-American Genealogy Partnership Conference: Minneapolis, MN, July 28-30, 2017.
70 presentations over 3 full days on the theme, “CONNECTIONS: International. Cultural. Personal”
Topics will include major German-speaking regions; social networking opportunities each day for those with common interests in specific regions
For the full scoop, at www.GGSMN.org and click “2017 GAGP Conference”
Trace Your German Roots Online by Jim Beidler. Click here to get your copy of this terrific book.
NEWS: SCOTLAND’S PEOPLE
The newly-relaunched ScotlandsPeople website has several exciting new features:
Mobile-friendly web design and an enhanced search function;
A quick search option for searching indexed records by name and an advanced search for specific types of records;
Free access to several records indexes;
More than 150,000 baptism entries from Scottish Presbyterian churches (other than the Old Parish Registers of the Church of Scotland) have been added and more are coming, as well as marriages and burials;
More types of records held by National Records of Scotland are coming, including records of kirk sessions and other church courts;
Explore the site for free, including handy how-to guides for using Scottish records such as statutory records, church registers and census returns.
MAILBOX: GOOGLE SEARCH SUCCESS STORY
From Joan: “I used one of the handy hints from your presentation at the South Orange County California Genealogical Society’s all day seminar in Mission Viejo, CA. I entered some of my common named ancestors, used the quotes, added a time frame and included some key words, like locations. Most of what I found were my own queries and posts. That shows it works!….
One thing I was amazed at was a multi-page article I found: ‘The Lincoln Kinsman,’ written in 1938. It included a lot of information on the Bush family [which is another of her family lines]. The article even included what I think is my ancestor Hannah Bush Radley.” (Click here or on the image above to see a copy of “The Lincoln Kinsman” at Internet Archive.)
Listen to a free 2-part series on cold-calling distant relatives or others as part of your genealogy research: “Family History: Genealogy Made Easy podcast, episodes 14 and 15.”
BONUS CONTENT for Genealogy Gems App Users:
A handy cheat sheet with 14 tips from that series on cold-contacting distant relatives. It’s updated with brand-new suggestions, including ways to find potential relatives’ names during the research process. The Genealogy Gems app is FREE in Google Play and is only $2.99 for Windows, iPhone and iPad users.
MAILBOX: VONDA BLOGS A MARRIAGE RECORD DISCOVERY
Genealogy Gems Podcast episode 197 that inspired her discovery
Vonda’s blog post on her discovery: “Right Under Your Nose, or at Least, Your Fingertips! Dickey Family about 1909”
MAILBOX: YOUTUBE SUCCESS STORY
Gay entered “Freeport Texas history” in YouTube and found historical newsreel footage of the opening ceremony of a local water treatment plant. She and the women in her family were seated on the front row. Here’s a screenshot from that footage: maybe this is a stylish young Gay in sunglasses? (Watch the video here.)
Another amazing YouTube family history find in an old newsreel: Gems Editor Sunny Morton finds an ancestor driving his fire truck?with his dog
Lisa’s book The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox has an entire chapter on discovering family history gems such as these on YouTube.
More tips and success stories on using YouTube to find your family history in moving pictures:
Lisa Louise Cooke uses and recommends RootsMagic family history software. From within RootsMagic, you can search historical records on FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com and MyHeritage.com. By the end of 2016, RootsMagic expects to be fully integrated with Ancestry.com, too: you’ll be able to sync your RootsMagic trees with your Ancestry.com trees and search records on the site.
Keep your family history research, photos, tree software files, videos and all other computer files safely backed up with Backblaze, the official cloud-based computer backup system for Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems. Learn more at http://www.backblaze.com/Lisa.
INTERVIEW: VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS WITH SARAH CHRISMAN
Sarah Chrisman lives her life every day as if it’s the Victorian era. Her clothing, household, pastimes, chores and more all reflect the time period.
Listen as Lisa and Sarah talk about the Victorian Christmas tree; gift-giving, crafts, decorating and things that might surprise us about holiday celebrations during that time.
Books by Sarah Chrisman:
This Victorian Life: Modern Adventures in Nineteenth-Century Culture, Cooking, Fashion and Technologies, a memoir Sarah’s everyday life. The Book Club interview in December will focus mainly on this book.
Victorian Secrets: What a Corset Taught Me about the Past, the Present and Myself;
True Ladies and Proper Gentlemen: Victorian Etiquette for Modern Day Mothers and Fathers, Husbands and Wives, Boys and Girls, Teachers and Students, and More;
First Wheel in Town: A Victorian Cycling Club Romance. This is from her series of light-hearted historical fiction set in an era she knows well!
Sarah Chrisman joins me again later this month on the Genealogy Gems Premium podcast episode 142 to talk about what it’s like to live every day like it’s the late 1800s. Don’t miss it! Not a Premium member? Click here to learn more about the perks of membership!
Legacy Tree Genealogists provides expert genealogy research service that works with your research goals, budget and schedule. The Legacy Tree Discovery package offers 3.5 hours of preliminary analysis and research recommendations: a great choice if you’ve hit a brick wall in your research and could use some expert guidance. Click here to learn more.
MyHeritage.com is the place to make connections with relatives overseas, particularly with those who may still live in your ancestral homeland. Click here to see what MyHeritage can do for you: it’s free to get started.
GEM: VICTORIAN SCRAPBOOKING
The Victorians coined the phrase “scrapbooking:” they literally pasted paper scraps into books. As an embellishment, those who could afford to bought “relief scraps,” such as the ones shown here. These were like the precursors of modern sticker sheets or die cuts, printed just for the scrapbooking hobby. You could buy colorful images of everything from flowers or children to animals, or angels or Father Christmas. These images were raised or embossed on the paper, which is why they called them reliefs.
Relief scraps could be used as embellishments around other items on scrapbook pages, but sometimes they were the only decoration on a page, arranged in pretty patterns.
This Ladies Home Journal magazine from May 1891 at HathiTrust Digital Library describes quote “a Sunday Scrap-book?as a source of almost unlimited pleasure and profit to children who can read and write.”
Victorian Scrapbook Gallery at the Library of Birmingham
DNA WITH DIAHAN, Your DNA Guide
I don’t think there is any dispute that the four major online resources for genealogy include Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Find My Past, and My Heritage. Of those four, only Ancestry.com has attempted any real integration of DNA test results into traditional genealogy.
That is, until recently. On May 19, 2016 MyHeritage announced that they will be adding a DNA matching service to their offering, and then on November 7th announced they would be conducting DNA tests themselves. Now, MyHeritage has enjoyed partnerships with 23andMe and Family Tree DNA for quite some time now, but those partnerships have been woefully underutilized and are little more than an affiliate service, where MyHeritage provides a discounted rate to test at those companies.
There is no question that the launch of DNA Heritage fully into the genetic genealogy market is exciting news. In fact, it is something I have been pushing for ? we absolutely need someone to challenge AncestryDNA. Competition is good.
In September they began to provide matching results for individuals who had uploaded their results. As of today, uploading your results is still free, so if you have been thinking about it, you may want to take advantage sooner rather than later. As expected, the matches are only as good as the depth of the database, and it is early in the game, so their database is small, but even now we can get an idea of what to expect from MyHeritage as they take their first steps into genetic genealogy.
One of the most exciting elements of their November 7th announcement is their development of a Founder Population project where they have handpicked individuals to represent their reference population for calculating ethnicities. They plan to launch with 25 population groups, but will likely increase to 100 in a fairly short amount of time. This is a far more advanced ethnicity report than is currently offered anywhere else.
After you have figured out how to download your raw data from your testing company (see my instructions here: http://www.yourdnaguide.com/transferring), and then managed to add it to My Heritage (you have to add a family tree to MyHeritage to do this, see further instructions in their May press release), and waited the requisite time to process, you will receive a notice that you have new DNA matches.
For a full review of the features and ins and outs of where to click and what to look at, please refer to the September blog post from MyHeritage.
As for my favorite features, I like how they list all the possible relationships that make sense between you and your match taking into account multiple factors like your age, gender, and your genetics instead of a simple, generic range like 2nd-4th cousins. The accompanying chart that visually shows you all possible relationships is also very helpful. You can access it by clicking on the little question mark icon next to the relationship suggestions. I like that these suggestions remind us that our genetic relationships have different genealogical interpretations. Meaning that genetically, a 2nd cousin once removed, a first cousin twice removed, and a second cousin, all fall within a similar genetic range and it is impossible to determine your exact relationship based on the genetics alone.
I also like that they are providing all three genetic descriptors of your relationship: total amount of shared DNA, how many segments are shared, and the size of the longest piece of shared DNA. While this more of an intermediate to advanced piece of your results, it can be important as your relationship analysis becomes more involved.
One unique claim made by MyHeritage in their press release about their matching feature addresses a main concern that genetic genealogists have: the lack of pedigree information provided by their matches. MyHeritage claims that 95% of their DNA samples have pedigrees attached. That is remarkable! However, from my own quick calculation of my matches, the number with pedigrees is more like 60%.
They also indicated that they will soon be doing a bit of pedigree analysis for you by providing a list of shared surnames and locations between you and your match based on the pedigrees you have both submitted. This will certainly be a welcome addition.
According to the November 9th Q and A they haven’t decided yet if the ethnicity features will be available to those who only transfer, and they hint at many more features they have in the works that may only be offered to those who purchase their test.
In short, the MyHeritage site is currently functioning much like the top three genetic genealogy sites (Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, and 23andMe) and like the free tool Gedmatch, offers a meeting place for those who have been tested at one company to meet those who have tested at another, with the added bonus of a promise of new features on the horizon.
PROFILE AMERICA: A DICKENSENIAN TALE
PRODUCTION CREDITS
Lisa Louise Cooke, Host and Producer
Sunny Morton, Editor
Amie Tennant, Content Contributor
Vienna Thomas, Audio Editor
Lacey Cooke, Additional Production Support
Check out this new episode!
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!
by Lisa Cooke | Dec 21, 2016 | 01 What's New, DNA, MyHeritage |
MyHeritage DNA is new on the scene of genetic genealogy. With the recent launch of their DNA Matching, I decided to give it a test drive for you. I have now uploaded my test results from another company. Follow along as I share what I like about the MyHeritage DNA site…maybe it is just what you’ve been looking for!
By James Tourtellotte, photo editor of CBP Today[1] [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
In September, MyHeritage began to provide matching results for individuals who had uploaded their test results from another company to their site. As of today, uploading your DNA test results to MyHeritage DNA is still free, so if you have been thinking about it, you may want to take advantage sooner rather than later. As expected, the matches are only as good as the depth of the database, and it is early in the game. Their DNA database is small, but even now we can get an idea of what to expect from MyHeritage as they take their first steps into genetic genealogy.
One of the most exciting elements of their November 7, 2016 announcement is their development of a Founder Population project where they have hand-picked individuals to represent their reference population for calculating ethnicity. They plan to launch with 25 population groups, but will likely increase to 100 in a fairly short amount of time. This is a far more advanced ethnicity report than is currently offered anywhere else.
Transferring Your DNA Results to MyHeritage DNA
After you have figured out how to download your raw data from your testing company (see my instructions here: http://www.yourdnaguide.com/transferring), and add it to MyHeritage (you have to add a family tree to MyHeritage to do this), you will need to wait the requisite time to process. Then, you will receive an email notice that you have new DNA matches:
Email notice from MyHeritage regarding DNA matches.
You can access DNA matches when you log on to the site: under Discoveries, click DNA Matches (as shown below).
My Favorite Features of MyHeritage DNA
As for my favorite features, I like how they list all the possible relationships that make sense between you and your match, taking into account multiple factors like your age, gender, and your genetics instead of a simple, generic range like 2nd-4th buy chlamydia medication uk cousins. The accompanying chart, which visually shows you all possible relationships, is also very helpful. You can access the chart by clicking on the little question mark icon next to the relationship suggestions.
I like that these suggestions remind us that our genetic relationships have different genealogical interpretations. Meaning that genetically, a 2nd-cousin-once-removed, a first-cousin-twice-removed, and a second-cousin, all fall within a similar genetic range and it is impossible to determine your exact relationship based on the genetics alone.
I also like how MyHeritage offers all three genetic descriptors of your relationship:
- total amount of shared DNA
- how many segments are shared
- the size of the longest piece of shared DNA.
While this is more of an intermediate to advanced piece to your results, it can be important as your relationship analysis becomes more involved.
Addressing a Concern of Genetic Genealogists
MyHeritage makes a unique claim in their press release about their matching feature addressing a main concern genetic genealogists have: the lack of pedigree information provided by their matches. MyHeritage claims that 95% of their DNA samples have pedigrees attached. That is remarkable! However, from my own quick calculation of my matches, the number with pedigrees is more like 60%.
They also indicated that they will soon be doing a bit of pedigree-analysis for you by providing a list of shared surnames and locations between you and your match. This will be based on the pedigrees you have both submitted and will certainly be a welcome addition.
According to their November 9th Q and A, MyHeritage hasn’t decided yet if the ethnicity features will be available to those who only transfer, and they hint at many more features they have in the works that may only be offered to those who purchase their test.
In short, the MyHeritage DNA site is currently functioning much like the top three genetic genealogy sites (Ancestry, Family Tree DNA, and 23andMe) and like the free tool Gedmatch: it offers a meeting place for those who have been tested at one company to meet those who have tested at another.
More on DNA Testing and Genealogy
DNA testing is an incredible tool for genealogists. With several different types of tests and testing companies, hundreds of matches, and lots of technical jargon, it can be challenging to make sense of it all. My DNA Quick Guides to help you pick the right test, understand your results, and take the next steps with your matches. These guides can be purchased in printed format or digital downloads.
These genealogy sleuths used Facebook for family history when they responded to a plea to help return a family Bible to its family.
That video post got 34,000 views, thanks in part to more than 600 people who shared it! Family history fans immediately stepped up to the challenge. They looked for names on Ancestry.com and reached out to tree owners. Within two days, several descendants were aware of the Bible and asking for copies. The bible eventually went to a woman in California named Carrie Robinson, who has been researching her tree for several years. It contained obituaries clipped from newspapers and handwritten vital family events. (Wouldn’t you love to receive that kind of family treasure?) Click here to watch the follow-up video about when Donna took the bible to the new owner.
Our 10th anniversary together isn’t quite here yet (February 2017), but I do want to dip back into 2007 and share with you one of the first videos I created for you. It was a Christmas story about the origins of Christmas seals, and my own personal story about when I first fell in love with them. I know, the images in the first part of the video are a bit grainy. Online video production was in its infancy way back then in 2007. But, it’s a lovely story just the same, and the Christmas wishes I sent then are still as strong today.
