family trees | Genealogy Gems

MyHeritage News: Pedigree View, End of WorldVitalRecords

by Sunny | Jun 13, 2018 | 01 What's New, MyHeritage

We have three pieces of MyHeritage news to share with you. First: a quick summary of the billion records they’ve added recently–including U.S. newspapers. Second: a much-requested feature for their online family trees launches. Third: they’re retiring the site that launched their entry into online historical records: WorldVitalRecords.

Our friends at MyHeritage.com, one of the Genealogy Giants and a sponsor of the free Genealogy Gems Podcast, recently made three announcements we are sharing below.

MyHeritage news you can use

1. A Billion New Records

“We’ve reached a new huge milestone — we now have over 9 billion historical records in MyHeritage SuperSearch™! After achieving our huge milestone of over 8 billion historical records, we have added another one billion records in less than 10 months!”

In this update, we are announcing 11 new collections with a total of 9.8 million new historical records, including Newspaper Collections from Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Delaware, and Rhode Island, a Danish Census from 1840 [and they’ve since added the 1834 Danish census, too!], New Jersey Birth, Marriage and Death Indexes and Queensland Passenger and Crew Lists.”

2. New Pedigree View updates

“As you may recall, we recently released the long awaited and highly requested Pedigree View for online family trees, which was very well received by our users. This new view enables you to see a person in your family tree and their direct ancestors. (It does not show siblings, spouses, or anyone else who is not a direct ancestor. In this view you can navigate to anyone else in your tree and view their pedigree as well. The new Pedigree View doesn’t replace the current view, which we call Family View. It comes in addition, and you can toggle between the two and a third view, which is a List.)

“We initially released Pedigree View as read-only. We are happy to announce that you can now add, edit, and delete tree profiles directly from the Pedigree View. It is no longer necessary to switch to the Family View to edit your tree. Click here for more information.”

3. End of WorldVitalRecords and BackupMyTree

“In 2011, MyHeritage acquired the services World Vital Records/Family Link and BackupMyTree. We are now announcing that these services will be retired on September 1, 2018.”

BackupMyTree
“BackupMyTree was a free service for backing up family trees consisting of a software client and server backup at www.backupmytree.com. At its peak, the service was used by a few thousand users. The BackupMyTree software did not survive recent updates that Microsoft has made to the Windows operating system. The data that was backed up on BackupMyTree will be deleted on September 1, 2018. Any user of the service who would like a copy of their family tree data from BackupMyTree is encouraged to download their backup from the service before September 1, 2018, and to contact MyHeritage support if they require any special assistance.” [Genealogy Gems Premium eLearning members can watch the Premium video, “Take Control of Your Family Tree” to learn a master strategy for safeguarding your family tree data.]

World Vital Records/Family Link
“These two similar services provide a searchable collection of historical records and were the basis for MyHeritage’s expansion into historical records in 2011. Both these services share the same pool of historical records. In 2012, all of the data on those services was transferred to MyHeritage SuperSearch™ where the number of available records is more than triple what was originally available on these services. MyHeritage also includes superior tools for searching and matching. World Vital Records/Family Link underwent silent sunset under which almost no new subscribers have been added in the past three years.

“Any current subscriber of these services is entitled to a free Data subscription on MyHeritage for the same duration. Subscribers of World Vital Records or Family Link that still have an active subscription that extends beyond September 1, 2018, and who find that they do not yet have an equivalent subscription for free on MyHeritage, are welcome to contact MyHeritage Support and a free Data subscription on MyHeritage will be provided to them for the duration of their current subscription.

“We will work with subscribers of the World Vital Records Library Edition to transition them to the MyHeritage Library Edition which is a superior product with three times more content. We will give the Library subscribers an equivalent subscription on MyHeritage plus six additional months for free to ease their transition.”

More MyHeritage News from Genealogy Gems

We help you keep up with changes and progress at the world’s biggest genealogy websites, which we refer to affectionately as the Genealogy Giants. MyHeritage.com is one of these giants. Here’s an interview I did with Daniel Horowitz from MyHeritage.com at RootsTech 2018 with MORE MyHeritage news you should know–whether you’re a subscriber or not. For example: they’ve found that your genes have nothing to do with your longevity! Check it out.

About the Author: Sunny Morton

Sunny is a Contributing Editor at Lisa Louise Cooke’s Genealogy Gems; her voice is often heard on the Genealogy Gems Podcast and Premium Podcasts. She’s known for her expertise on the world’s biggest family history websites (she’s the author of Genealogy Giants: Comparing the 4 Major Websites); writing personal and family histories (she also wrote Story of My Life: A Workbook for Preserving Your Legacy); and sharing her favorite reads for the Genealogy Gems Book Club.

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!

9 Unique Family Trees That Will Take Your Breath Away

by Lisa Cooke | Nov 4, 2017 | 01 What's New, Inspiration, Trees

These unique family tree designs–some hundreds of years old–are creative and artistically stunning. Some are about actual families, and others re-create the family tree of an entire culture or empire. Which ones inspire you?

These 9 Unique Family Tree Designs Will Take Your Breath Away

I found these gorgeous and unique family tree designs online. Some of them are hundreds of years old; others are much younger. Some are brightly-colored; others are not. Whether murals, wood-carvings, engravings, or drawings, they are all absolutely stunning. Though I may not paint my living room ceiling with images of all my ancestors, they certainly inspire me.

1. A Russian Royal Pedigree Mural

This show-stopping “Genealogic tree of Russian sovereigns” ceiling mural appears in the front vestibule of Moscow’s State Historical Museum. The Museum itself is home to over four million artifacts, but I could probably spend all day just staring at this one.

Creative Commons Photo: Wikipedia / Shakko. Click to view full information.

2. A “Crooked” Family Tree

The image below comes from the collection of the Wellcome Library, “one of the world’s leading libraries on medical history and the human condition.” It’s an engraving with no known date or artist attached to it. Although it appears to be a caricature drawing of a family tree, the item description disagrees: “A type of family tree with the parents occupying the centre space surrounded by their progeny with each of the figures appearing to be suffering from some kind of deformity.”

Creative Commons Image: Wikimedia, click to view. Credit: Wellcome Library, London, wellcomeimages.org. Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

3. A Carved Beauty in a Remote Palace

This is carved family tree of Edward Woynillowicz, found at the Sawiczy palace in the Minsk region of the Russian empire. Edward was the leader of the Minsk agricultural society and a humanitarian leader during World War I. The carving appears to be dated 1905. It’s sure beautiful!

Wikimedia Commons image; click to view. This work is in the public domain in the U.S.

4. “Uncle Sam’s Family Tree”

In 1900, John F. Waite published this drawing of “Uncle Sam’s Family Tree,” along with a folksy description of the history of the United States (or the growth of this “tree”). He cleverly portrays the “grafting” in of various branches or states of the country as they were acquired by conquest or purchase. Here’s the article, and following, a close-up of the tree itself:

5. A Drawing with Great Genealogical Value

This “Family tree of the Weigert Family – showing the birth, etc. of Paul Ehrlich and of his cousin Carl Weigert” is another Wellcome Library image. It’s not just a fancy drawing. Look closely at the detail image shown here, and you’ll see that genealogical information is actually written onto the tree.

Creative Commons Image: Wikipedia. Wellcome Library, London. wellcomeimages.org. Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0. Click to view.

6. The Family Tree of Noah

This 1749 engraving of the “Genealogical tree of Noah after the Biblical flood” was created by J. Hinton for the Universal Magazine:

Creative Commons Image: Wikipedia / http://www.peopleofar.com/category/literature/page/2/. This work is in the public domain. Click to view.

7. A Princess and her Pedigree

This portrait of Empress Elisabeth Petrovna (1709-1762) with her family tree provides an at-a-glance family history for this Russian royal. It also dates from the mid-1700s.

Creative Commons Image: Wikipedia. Click to view. This work is in the public domain.

8. Magnificent Mayolica Mural

This unique family tree design is artfully executed in colorful Mayolica tiles. It’s titled “Arbol geneologico del comienzo del mestizaje” (Genealogical tree of the beginning of the mestizo), by Gorky Gonzales Quiñones (Museum of Artes Populares, Mexico City, Mexico).

By AlejandroLinaresGarcia (Own work) GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0], via Wikimedia Commons. Click to view.

9. A Tombstone Tree

This is a headstone in the burial ground of the Abbey of Dulce Cor in southwest Scotland, better known as “Sweetheart Abbey.” Carved in stone is the Jardine Family Tree. According to a note on the image file, “This is quite substantial; the family tree continues on the other side of the stone.” This creative approach to sharing your family tree isn’t cheap. Genealogy Gems Contributing Editor Sunny Morton shared with me a recent article in Ohio Genealogy News that priced “tombstone tree” carvings at $10,000 or more. But this is certainly a lasting monument. (Just make sure your tree is right before you invest in a project such as this one.)

Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. Wikipedia Image: click to view.

More Unique Family Tree Designs on Pinterest

One of my Pinterest boards offers even more unique family tree designs and other heritage decor for your own halls, walls, and display areas. Click here to take a look at my How to Display Your Family Tree board–then follow me on Pinterest to keep track of the genealogy eye-candy I share there!

About the Author

Lisa Louise Cooke is the Producer and Host of the Genealogy Gems Podcast, an online genealogy audio show and app. She is the author of the books The Genealogist’s Google Toolbox, Mobile Genealogy, How to Find Your Family History in Newspapers, and the Google Earth for Genealogy video series, an international keynote speaker, and producer of the Family Tree Magazine Podcast.

Analyze Your Family Tree for Free with This Easy Tool

by Lisa Cooke | Jun 21, 2017 | 01 What's New, Family Reunions, Health History, MyHeritage

There’s an easy, free way to analyze your family tree for patterns! Discover your ancestors’ average life expectancy, most common first names, how long they stayed married, and more. Share the results at your next family reunion, or use them to understand your family health history just a little bit better. Here’s how.

Whether you’re a paying subscriber to MyHeritage or are signed up as a free user, you have access to a little-known but fascinating tool on the site: Family Statistics.

You’ll find this tool under the Home tab:

Use this tool to explore various statistics and patterns in your family history, and to spot the “record-holders” on your tree. You don’t have to enter any information. Just click the topic on the left that you want to view (overview, places, ages, births, marriages, children, divorce). Easy-to-read infographics and summary charts will appear:

The Family Statistics tool will tell you:

the most common places of birth, death, and residence
most common surnames and male/female first names
average life expectancy for men and women
longest-lived and shortest-lived ancestors
oldest/youngest living relatives on tree
most common birth month, and how many people were born in each month
number of marriages, and the longest and shortest marriages
age at first marriage and who was the youngest/oldest when they married
the biggest age differences in a couple
total number of divorces, as well as the average age (and oldest/youngest) age at divorce, and the longest marriage ending in divorce
average number of children per family and people with the most children
the youngest/oldest age when having a child
the average and biggest/smallest age difference between oldest and youngest children

You can run these statistics for all your trees together or individually. Here are some of the different ways to use the data:

For your research: Watch for possible errors or omissions on your family tree. Do you really have a relative who lived to be 112 years old, or did someone neglect to enter a death date?

For fun: Watch for interesting things to share in a trivia game or quiz at your next family reunion. You might even consider creating a “Hall of Fame” for that great-grandfather who lived to be 103, or that great-aunt who had 14 children. (Remember, don’t embarrass anyone by sharing sensitive or confidential information about living relatives or the recently-deceased.)

For understanding: Do certain patterns tend to run in your family, such as having children at a younger or older age?

For family health history: Longevity–age at death–is a measure in Family Statistics that relates to your family health history. You can’t look at cause of death with this tool, but click here to read about a clever way to look at causes of death in your family.

MyHeritage is known for the technology tools on its site, such as its new Collection Catalog, the Discoveries pages, its DNA matching (click here to upload your raw data for FREE!), automatic record matching in unindexed content such as books, and automatic name translation in the search function.

Get up to speed on what MyHeritage has to offer in our totally-affordable MyHeritage Quick Guide, newly updated for 2017! Also check out our brand new quick guide, Genealogy Giants: Comparing the 4 Major Websites Quick Guide, which compares MyHeritage to what you’ll find on Ancestry, FamilySearch and Findmypast. Each has fantastic features you’ll want to know about!

RootsMagic, FTM and the Holy Grail of Family History Software

by | Feb 20, 2016 | 01 What's New, Ancestry, Findmypast, MyHeritage, RootsMagic, Trees

Are we getting closer to the “holy grail” of family history software: one that will sync with all the major genealogy websites?

Ancestry.com’s unpopular announcement that it would be retiring its Family Tree Maker software was followed by a loud “never mind!” Software MacKiev has acquired Family Tree Maker software for both Mac and Windows and will continue the software’s production. According to Ancestry.com, “This new agreement means you will receive software updates and new versions from Software MacKiev, and have the ability to purchase new versions of Family Tree Maker from Software MacKiev as they are released.“

More interesting to me is the news that RootsMagic software and Ancestry.com will be connected by the end of 2016. According to a RootsMagic press release, this means RootsMagic users will “be able to display Ancestry hints, search for Ancestry records, and share data between [their] RootsMagic file and [their] Ancestry tree, all from within RootsMagic itself.” (This will be an optional function that can be enabled or disabled at will.)

Dedicated Family Tree Maker users may be relieved that their software will continue to be supported. But as someone who regularly works with different genealogy websites, I continue to prefer RootsMagic. RootsMagic 7 is already known as the software “easiest to sync with FamilySearch.” For some time, it’s been culling web hints from MyHeritage.com and it will soon start integrating hints from FindMyPast. RootsMagic even backs up directly to Dropbox and Google Drive, which is also handy for those who want to share their tree files with others.

Is RootsMagic becoming that “holy grail” of family tree softwares: the one that will sync with every major genealogy website platform? So far it’s just FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com with current or planned syncing. But I find it so encouraging to see hinting/record searching partnerships with MyHeritage.com and FindMyPast.com, too. Of course I wonder whether tree-syncing will follow. I hope so, even though the complications of syncing (and sharing records!) across competing brands and platforms must be enormous. Of course, MyHeritage already has its own family tree software: in fact, they just released a new version, Family Tree Builder 8. FindMyPast does not have their own option (but their tree system itself is still evolving–it’s not even publicly searchable yet).

RootsMagic is a sponsor of my free Genealogy Gems podcast, but that’s not why I’m talking about it so glowingly (and I don’t receive a commission on sales of RootsMagic). I use RootsMagic family history software because it continues to stay at the forefront of providing cutting-edge features, and RootsMagic provides quality service and free tutorials. Click here to read more about why I recommend RootsMagic. Research it for yourself, and try the free version, RootsMagic Essentials (you can always upgrade later). It’s not yet the Holy Grail for family history software that syncs to every site, but it seems closer than any other option out there.

More Gems on Family History Software Options

Family History Software for Mac

What I Do With My Family Tree

How and Why to Backup Your Ancestry Tree (My Most Popular Blog Post EVER)

DNA Circles – Here’s when they DON’T mean connections on AncestryDNA

by Lisa Cooke | Dec 26, 2015 | 01 What's New, Ancestry, DNA, Trees

DNA Circles at AncestryDNA can get problematic when participants’ trees are unverified. This is why.

Adding people to a family tree without verifying the connection is a fairly common genealogical practice. This happens a lot when people “graft” information from another online tree.

In addition to the problems this can create in your tree, it can create problems when you start looking at genetic connections. We have received a few inquiries about this topic here at Genealogy Gems, and I chatted with a fellow genealogist about this at a recent conference.

The practice of copying online trees factors most heavily in the DNA Circles and New Ancestor Discoveries (NAD) at AncestryDNA. You will remember from our previous conversations that these tools are like parties that your DNA has secured your tickets to attend. Each of these parties is “hosted” by one of your ancestors, in the case of the DNA circle, and a presumed ancestor, in the case of a NAD. Sometimes we catch ourselves declaring that our membership in the DNA circle “proves” our connection to the party host.

But we must be careful. Because it does not.

“Proves” is too strong of a word. All your membership in the DNA circle can really tell you is that you have a genetic connection to those marked with the orange line. Those with the grey connecting lines have a DNA connection to some of the circle members, but not to you. Placing the name of an ancestor on the cover of this gathering does not guarantee that the named person is your common ancestor. It is just a suggestion; a hint.

Think about this for just a second. Let’s say that Joan does a bit of research and decides that her immigrant ancestor’s father is Marcus Reese, born in 1823 in Wales. She adds this to her pedigree chart. She sees on a census record that he had four children, one of whom shared the name of her ancestor, William, and adds those to her chart as well.

Months later, Charlotte is researching her Mary Reese and sees Mary listed on Joan’s pedigree chart as the child of Marcus. She knows Mary’s father was born in Wales and adds Marcus to her pedigree chart telling herself that she will go back later and double check. And so on.

After a while, we have 7 people all connected back through Marcus and his four children, and they all independently decided to get their DNA tested through Ancestry.com.

Ancestry sees their shared DNA and that they have all listed Marcus Reese as their common ancestor. So they create a DNA circle for the seven of them, with Marcus Reese at the head.

Ancestry did not look at the number of cited sources or the myriad of other genealogical possibilities about how these seven individuals could all be related to each other. It saw a genetic connection and a genealogical hypothesis, and it presented them to you in the form of a DNA circle.

The genetic evidence supports a single common ancestor for these 7 people, but it certainly does not have to be Marcus Reese. You can become more certain as you gather the traditional genealogical evidence that you would in any other case. As your documentation mounts, so will your confidence, with the DNA acting like an invitation to keep searching for further evidence of your connection.

If you enjoyed this post, you’ll love my series of DNA for genealogy quick guides. Each laminated guide–with quick, clear text that helps you act on what you learn–is targeted to a specific DNA topic, from “Getting Started” to the three types of DNA tests you can take to understanding your results with testing companies AncestryDNA, FamilyTreeDNA and 23andMe. Why not grab the “super bundle” of all 10 guides? You can also shop for them individually here.