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On this day in 1931, author Toni Morrison was born. Known for her rich story telling of the Black experience in America, Morrison was the first African American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Image: Toni Morrison / Library of Congress Morrison was born Chloe Ardelia Wofford on February 18, 1931 in Lorain, Ohio. She was the second of four children born to George Wofford and Ella Ramah Willis. At the age… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Toni Morrison first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1781, French physician René Laennec, inventor of the stethoscope, was born in Quimper, France. Image: René Laennec / Wikimedia Commons Considered one of the greatest physicians in history, Laennec made many significant contributions to the world of medicine. In 1816, he invented the stethoscope and pioneered its use in diagnosing various chest conditions. The inspiration for the groundbreaking device came from Laennec’s observation of school children who played with long hallow sticks to amplify… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: René Laennec first appeared on About Geni.

For most of my 82 years, I believed I understood exactly who I was. I am exuberant, sociable, a little bohemian — unmistakably “Latin.” My father’s family is rooted in Marseille and Provence, and my dark hair and Mediterranean features seem to confirm that heritage without question. And yet, alongside that warmth, there has always The post From Provence to the Rhine: MyHeritage Helped Me Discover the Two Sides of Myself appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

On this day in 1923, pilot Chuck Yeager was born. Yeager is remembered for being the first pilot to travel faster than the speed of sound in 1947. Image: Chuck Yeager / U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Yeager was born Charles Elwood Yeager on February 13, 1923 in Myra, West Virginia to farming parents Albert Hall Yeager and Susie Mae Sizemore. After graduating high school, just a few months before the U.S. entered World… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Chuck Yeager first appeared on About Geni.

Every family tree holds a few surprises, but some stories are so unexpected that they feel stranger than fiction. From long-lost relatives to unbelievable twists uncovered through research, family history has a way of revealing the extraordinary hidden within the ordinary. We asked the Geni community to share their wildest and most surprising family stories, and the responses reminded us why genealogy is never just about names and dates. It’s about moments, mysteries, and discoveries… Read the full story The post Your Wildest Family Stories first appeared on About Geni.

Today marks the 217th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Celebrated as Darwin Day throughout the world, the day commemorates Darwin’s enormous contribution to science. Image: Charles Darwin / Library of Congress Charles Robert Darwin was born on February 12, 1809 at his family’s home in Shrewsbury, England. His family was wealthy and well known in English society. His paternal grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was an abolitionist and a key thinker of the Enlightenment movement. While… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Charles Darwin first appeared on About Geni.

The decision to start a family is the ultimate expression of love between a couple. In honor of Valentine’s Day, our Research team set out to explore the timing of this phenomenon: are there certain times of year when more families begin? Do holidays, climate, or social norms influence when couples conceive? To explore this, The post When Love Blossoms: The Most Popular Months for Starting a Family Worldwide appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

Today we remember inventor Thomas Edison, who was born on this day in 1847. Image: Thomas Edison / Library of Congress Edison was born on February 11, 1847 in Milan, Ohio and was the youngest of seven children born to Samuel Ogden Edison, Jr. and Nancy Matthews Elliot. His father was an exiled political activist from Canada who had participated in the Mackenzie Rebellion of 1837. Edison received little formal education growing up, but spent… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Thomas Edison first appeared on About Geni.

Marriage records document the moments when families came together. They mark new beginnings, connect generations, and often provide key details that help place people correctly in a family tree. From February 12–16, 2026, MyHeritage is offering free access to all marriage and divorce records, allowing anyone to explore these important records at no cost. MyHeritage The post Discover the Love Stories in Your Family This Valentine’s Day appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

Do you love watching old Shirley Temple movies? Today we remember the beloved child actor, who passed away on this day in 2014 at the age of 85. Image: Shirley Temple / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, CC0 Temple was born on April 23, 1928 in Santa Monica, California. She was first discovered in a dancing class at the age of 3 and was cast in Baby Burlesks, a series of short films that satirized recent film… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Shirley Temple first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1773, William Henry Harrison, the 9th President of the United States, was born at Berkeley plantation in Virginia. Image: William Henry Harrison / New York Public Library Born on February 9, 1773, Harrison was the last U.S. president to be born as a British subject before American Independence. He was the youngest son of Benjamin Harrison V and Elizabeth Bassett and his family were prominent political figures. His father was a… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: President William Henry Harrison first appeared on About Geni.

I grew up with a quiet, persistent sense of emptiness. Even as a child, I felt as though something essential was missing, though I didn’t yet have the words for it. My father carried a silence that filled our home, and I absorbed it without ever fully understanding its source. He never told me anything The post I Thought Dad’s Entire Family Died in the Holocaust. A MyHeritage DNA Test Proved Otherwise appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

On this day in 1911, Ronald Reagan, the 40th President of the United States, was born. Image: Ronald Reagan / U.S. National Archives and Records Administration Reagan was raised in a small town in Illinois. His father nicknamed him “Dutch” as a small boy because he thought his son resembled a “fat little Dutchman.” Before entering politics, Reagan was a successful actor. He began his entertainment career in radio before transitioning to film. During World War II, Regan served in… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Ronald Reagan first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1810, Norwegian violinist Ole Bull was born. Known as one of Norway’s most notable and gifted violinists, Bull is also remembered for his efforts to start a new Norwegian colony he called New Norway in Pennsylvania. Image: Ole Bull / Bergen Public Library Norway, Flickr Bull was born on February 5, 1810 in Bergen, Norway to Johan Storm Bull and Anna Dorotea Borse Geelmuyden. The eldest of ten children, Bull’s father… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Ole Bull first appeared on About Geni.

Pamela’s journey to uncover her biological family’s history began several years ago during the COVID-19 pandemic. As an adoptee, she had always been curious about her origins, but it wasn’t until she found herself with more time during the pandemic that she decided to dig deeper into her roots. Her search, which started with MyHeritage.com, The post The Man Who Whipped Hitler: A MyHeritage User’s Surprising Discovery About Her Ancestor appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

On this day in 1913, civil rights icon Rosa Parks was born. Image: Rosa Parks / Library of Congress Parks was born Rosa Louise McCauley on February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama to James McCauley, a carpenter, and Leona Edwards, a teacher. In 1932, she married Raymond Parks, a barber and active member of the NAACP. Parks would join the Montgomery chapter of the NAACP in 1943 and serve as the chapter secretary. On December… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Rosa Parks first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1821, Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in the United States, was born in Bristol, England. Image: Elizabeth Blackwell / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution CC0 Blackwell was raised in a liberal household with a strong emphasis on education. In 1832, her father, Samuel Blackwell, moved the family to United States. When he died in 1838, he left the family in great debt. To help make ends meet, Blackwell, her older sisters, and her… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Elizabeth Blackwell first appeared on About Geni.

Since its launch in early 2025, MyStories has helped many people turn their memories into beautiful printed books. MyStories makes it easy for anyone to write their life story, chapter by chapter. Users receive weekly prompts via email and can answer them however they choose. MyStories compiles these answers and any photos they’d like into The post Users Are Loving MyStories: A Powerful Way to Share and Preserve Life Stories appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

Remember watching Charlie’s Angels? On this day in 1947, star Farrah Fawcett was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. Image: Farrah Fawcett / Wikimedia Commons Ferrah Leni Fawcett was the youngest of two daughters born to Pauline Alice Evans, a homemaker, and James William Fawcett, an oil field contractor. After generating interest from various agencies, Fawcett dropped out of the University of Texas to try her luck in Hollywood. Fawcett quickly booked several commercials and television guest spots. Her big… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Farrah Fawcett first appeared on About Geni.

In January 2026, MyHeritage published 210 million historical records across 13 new and updated collections. The collections come from the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Ireland, Sweden, and Brazil. The collections include extracted newspaper records, newspaper pages, birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records, voter lists, and church records. Many of these collections feature The post MyHeritage Adds 210 Million Historical Records in January 2026 appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

Rare Greek surnames offer fascinating insights into the country’s linguistic diversity, regional history, and social evolution. While some family names, such as Papadopoulos, Georgiou, or Nikolaou are common across Greece and the diaspora, others are limited to specific localities or found within just a handful of families. Key takeaways on rare Greek surnames Rare surnames The post Rare Greek Surnames and What They Reveal About Greek History appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

Image: Franklin D. Roosevelt / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution CC0 Today we remember Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, who was born on this day in 1882. Regarded as one of the greatest U.S. presidents in history, Roosevelt successfully led the country through the Great Depression and World War II until his death in 1945. Roosevelt was a member of the prominent Roosevelt family, one of the oldest and wealthiest families in… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Franklin D. Roosevelt first appeared on About Geni.

We’re pleased to announce the release of a new historical record collection on MyHeritage: Spain, Names & Stories in Newspapers. This collection includes 285 million structured records extracted from Spanish newspapers. The records were created using advanced AI technology developed in-house by MyHeritage. This marks our first Names & Stories collection in Spanish, bringing the The post Discover Stories of Your Spanish Ancestors: Names and Stories from Newspapers on OldNews.com appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

Happy birthday to Oprah Winfrey! Today media icon turns 72. After facing considerable hardship growing up, Winfrey has become one of the most successful and influential entrepreneur’s in the world. Image: Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson / Wikimedia Commons Although Winfrey was named “Orpah” on her birth certificate, people mispronounced it as “Oprah” so often that the name stuck. Born into poverty in rural Mississippi, she got her start working in radio and by the age… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Oprah Winfrey first appeared on About Geni.

Happy birthday to Alan Alda! Today the star turns 90. Image: Alan Alda / Library of Congress He was born Alphonso Joseph D’Abruzzo on January 28, 1936 in New York City, New York to Robert Alda and Joan Browne. The son of an actor, it was only a matter of time before Alda decided to pursue a career in show business. In 1972, he took on his most memorable role as Hawkeye Pierce on the… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Alan Alda first appeared on About Geni.

A few weeks ago on The Morning Show in Canada, viewers witnessed a remarkable family discovery unfold in real time. Our VP of Marketing, Aaron Godfrey, joined host Carolyn MacKenzie to demonstrate how MyHeritage makes it easy to uncover your family history. But the segment quickly became personal: Carolyn had taken a MyHeritage DNA test, The post A Family Discovery Unfolded on Canadian TV appeared first on MyHeritage Blog.

Today we celebrate the birthday of legendary composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Image: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart / Wikimedia Commons Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria Pertl. A child prodigy, Mozart began composing music and performing before royalty at the age of 5. During his childhood, his father took Mozart and his sister, Maria Anna, on a grand European tour to perform at the courts of Munich,… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first appeared on About Geni.

Today we celebrate what would have been legendary actor Paul Newman’s 101st birthday. Image: Paul Newman / Library of Congress Born on January 26, 1925, Newman was the second son of Theresa Fetzko and Aurthur Sigmund Newman. His mother was born in Hummenne in what is today Slovakia and his father was the son of Jewish immigrants from Hungary and Poland. As a child, Newman showed an early interest in theater and participated in school plays…. Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Paul Newman first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1813, Norwegian writer Camilla Collett was born in Kristiansand, Norway. Often referred to as the first Norwegian feminist writer, Collett was a passionate advocate of women’s rights and an influential figure in Norwegian literature. Image: Camilla Collett / National Library of Norway, Flickr Collett was the daughter of Alette Thaulow and Nicolai Wergeland, a priest and politician. Her father was a member of the Norwegian Constituent Assembly at Eidsvoll, which wrote the Constitution of Norway… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Camilla Collett first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1901, Queen Victoria died at the age of 81. At the time of her death, the Queen had reigned for 63 years, 7 months and 2 days, making her the longest reigning British monarch. It wasn’t until 2015 that her second great granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, surpassed her record as the longest reigning monarch in British history. Image: Queen Victoria / Wikimedia Commons At the time of her birth on May 24, 1819,… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Queen Victoria first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1793, Louis XVI was executed for treason by guillotine. Image: Louis XVI / New York Public Library Louis XVI was born on August 23, 1754 in the Palace of Versailles. He was the second son of Louis, the Dauphin of France, and thus the grandson of Louis XV. When his brother died at the age of nine, followed by the death of his father in 1765, a young Louis became the next… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Louis XVI of France first appeared on About Geni.

Happy 96th birthday to Buzz Aldrin! Image: Buzz Aldrin / NASA On January 20, 1930, Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Jr. was born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey to Edwin Eugene Aldrin, Sr. and Marion Gaddys. His nickname “Buzz” originated in his childhood; his younger sister mispronounced the word “brother” as “buzzer” and the name stuck. The family later shortened it to Buzz. As the Lunar Module Pilot on Apollo 11, Aldrin made the first manned lunar landing… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Buzz Aldrin first appeared on About Geni.

Today country music superstar Dolly Parton celebrates her 80th birthday! Parton went from very humble beginnings to become one of the most successful artists in history. Not only has she made her mark in music and film, but she even has her own theme park called Dollywood. Image: Dolly Parton / Wikimedia Commons Parton was born on January 19, 1946 in Locust Ridge, Tennessee and was the fourth of twelve children born to Robert Lee Parton… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Dolly Parton first appeared on About Geni.

Today we remember trailblazing Mexican film actress Katy Jurado, who was born on this day in 1924. Considered one of the leading actresses during the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, Jurado was one of the first Mexican actresses to successfully crossover to Hollywood. Image: Katy Jurado / Wikimedia Commons She was born María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico to a wealthy family. Despite the disapproval of her family, Jurado decided to pursue… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Katy Jurado first appeared on About Geni.

Today we remember iconic civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, who was born on this day in 1929. Image: Martin Luther King, Jr. / Library of Congress King was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia to Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams. An inspiring leader, King helped make significant advancements in civil rights through non-violent protest. In 1955, King led the Montgomery bus boycott after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Martin Luther King, Jr. first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1957, actor Humphrey Bogart died at the age of 57. Image: Humphrey Bogart / Wikimedia Commons Bogart was born on December 25, 1899 in New York City, New York to Belmont DeForest Bogart, a doctor, and Maud Humphrey, an illustrator and suffragist. Through his father’s branch, Bogart can trace his ancestry to the early Dutch settlers of New Amsterdam. He is a direct descendant of Sarah Rapelje, who is said to… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Humphrey Bogart first appeared on About Geni.

Do you have Dutch ancestry? On this day in 1596, Dutch artist Jan van Goyen was born. A prolific artist, van Goyen (sometimes spelled Goijen) produced about 1,200 paintings and over 1,000 drawings during his lifetime. Image: Jan van Goyen / Wikimedia Commons He was born Jan Josephszoon van Goyen in Leiden, Netherlands. Van Goyen began an apprenticeship at the age of ten and studied painting under the tutelage of several masters. Although he made… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Jan van Goyen first appeared on About Geni.

On January 12, 1876, American journalist and author Jack London was born in San Francisco, California. Image: Jack London / Library of Congress The author is best remembered for his novels, Call of the Wild and White Fang, which are both set in Alaska and the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. He was one of the first fiction writers to gain worldwide celebrity and fortune from his works of fiction alone. London died on… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Jack London first appeared on About Geni.

Happy birthday to Catherine, Princess of Wales! Today she turns 44. Image: Catherine, Princess of Wales / Photo by Ian Jones, Wikimedia Commons (OGL v1.0) Born on January 9, 1982 in Reading, Berkshire, England, Catherine Elizabeth Middleton is the eldest child of Michael Middleton and Carole Goldsmith. She first met Prince William while they were students at the University of St Andrews, where she earned a degree in art history. They were married in 2011… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Catherine, Princess of Wales first appeared on About Geni.

Happy birthday, Elvis! 91 years ago today, Elvis Presley was born. Known as the King of Rock and Roll, Presley is remembered as one of the most successful and iconic musicians in history. Image: Elvis Presley / Wikimedia Commons Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in Tupelo, Mississippi in a two-room shotgun house built by his father, Vernon Presley. Sadly, Presley’s identical twin brother was delivered stillborn 35 minutes before his birth. Presley grew up as… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Elvis Presley first appeared on About Geni.

American author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston was born on January 7, 1891. A central figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Hurston wrote four novels and more than 50 short stories, plays, and essays on the African-American experience. Image: Zora Neale Hurston / Library of Congress Hurston was the fifth of eight children born to John Hurston, a Baptist preacher and carpenter, and Lucy Ann Potts, a school teacher. She was born in Notasulga, Alabama and moved… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Zora Neale Hurston first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1852, Louis Braille died at the age of 43. Braille developed a system of reading and writing for the blind and visually impaired. Known simply as braille, the system continues to be used worldwide today. Image: Braille alphabet / Library of Congress Braille was born on January 4, 1809 in Coupvray, a small town near Paris, France. He was blinded at the age of 3 after an accident in his father’s… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Louis Braille first appeared on About Geni.

Today we remember actress Diane Keaton on what would have been her 80th birthday. Image: Diane Keaton / Firooz Zahedi, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0) Keaton was born Diane Hall on January 5, 1946 in Los Angeles, California. She was the eldest of four children born to Dorothy Deanne Keaton and John Newton Ignatius “Jack” Hall. Her mother was a homemaker and an amateur photographer and her father was a real estate broker. With an… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Diane Keaton first appeared on About Geni.

Today we remember science fiction author Isaac Asimov on what would have been his 105th birthday! Image: Isaac Asimov / Wikimedia Commons Although the exact date of his birth is unknown, Asimov celebrated it on January 2. He was born in Petrovichi, Russia and came to the United States with his family at the age of 3. By the age of 5, he had taught himself how to read and at 19, he sold his first story to a science… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Isaac Asimov first appeared on About Geni.

As the year comes to a close, we’re taking a moment to reflect on what made 2025 such a memorable year for Geni. From new features to a major milestone for the World Family Tree, this year was filled with discoveries, collaboration, and connections that brought family history to life. Join us as we revisit some of the highlights that made 2025 a year to remember on Geni. New Features and a Major Milestone We… Read the full story The post A Look Back at 2025 on Geni first appeared on About Geni.

It’s New Year’s Eve! It wouldn’t be a New Year’s celebration without hearing the holiday’s signature song, “Auld Lang Syne.” Did you know Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote “Auld Lang Syne” in 1788? Image: Robert Burns / Library of Congress The song was set to the tune of an old Scottish folk song and was never intended to be a holiday song. Nevertheless, the song gained enormous popularity and it became tradition to sing the song to… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Robert Burns first appeared on About Geni.

Do you remember reading The Jungle Book? On this day in 1865, author Rudyard Kipling was born. Image: Rudyard Kipling / Library of Congress He was born on December 30, 1865 in Bombay, in Bombay Presidency of British India to John Lockwood Kipling and Alice MacDonald. Kipling’s experiences in India, as both a young child and years later as a young adult, highly influenced much of his writings. Considered a major innovator in the art… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Rudyard Kipling first appeared on About Geni.

Happy birthday to Ted Danson! Today the popular star turns 78. Image: Ted Danson / Dominique Redfearn, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0) He was born Edward Bridge Danson III on December 29, 1947 in San Diego, California. His father, Edward “Ned” Bridge Danson, Jr., was an archaeologist and a director of the Museum of Northern Arizona. Raised in Flagstaff, Arizona, Danson attended Stanford University where he became interested in drama. He later transferred to Carnegie… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Ted Danson first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1803, Estonian writer Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald was born. A pivotal figure of Estonian literature, Kreutzwald is often considered to be the father of the national literature. He was the author of the national epic Kalevipoeg. Image: Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald / Wikimedia Commons Kreutzwald was born on December 26, 1803 in Kadrina, Virumaa, Estonia, then a part of the Russian Empire. From humble beginnings, Kreutzwald managed to receive a good education and… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1823, the popular holiday poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” was first published in the Troy New York Sentinel. Today the poem is more commonly known as “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” Although initially published anonymously, Clement Clarke Moore would later claim authorship of the poem. However, in recent years, some have claimed that the poem’s true author may actually be Henry Livingston, Jr. Image: New York Public Library Since its publication, the poem has become… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Clement Clarke Moore first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1858, Italian composer Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca, Italy. Image: Giacomo Puccini / Library of Congress He was born Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini to Michele Puccine and Albina Magi. One of nine children, Puccini had come from a long line of musicians. His second great grandfather, also named Giacomo Puccini, was the first of five generations of composers in the family. Remembered as one of the greatest… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Giacomo Puccini first appeared on About Geni.

Today we remember French singer and actress Édith Piaf, who was born on December 19, 1915 in Paris, France. Image: Édith Piaf / Nationaal Archief, CC0 She was born Édith Giovanna Gassion to Annetta Giovanna Maillard, a cafe singer, and Louis Alphonse Gassion, a street acrobat. Piaf was named after the World War I British nurse Edith Cavell, who was executed for helping soldiers escape from German captivity in Belgium. Piaf first rose to fame after she… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Édith Piaf first appeared on About Geni.

Happy birthday to Steven Spielberg! Today the legendary director turns 79. Image: Steven Spielberg / Gage Skidmore, Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0) Spielberg was born on December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio to Leah Posner, a concert pianist and restauranteur, and Arnold Spielberg, an electrical engineer. He developed an interest in filmmaking as a child after earning his Boy Scout photography merit badge with a nine-minute 8mm film entitled The Last Gunfight. In the late 1960s, Spielberg began… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Steven Spielberg first appeared on About Geni.

On this day in 1706, French mathematician Émilie du Châtelet was born. Image: Émilie du Châtelet / Wikimedia Commons Du Châtelet was born Garbielle Émilie le Tonnelier de Breteuil on December 17, 1706 in Paris, France. Her father, Louis Nicolas le Tonnelier de Breteuil, was a member of the lesser nobility. He held a weekly salon, to which well-respected writers and scientists were often invited. An intelligent child, du Châtelet’s father brought in tutors to… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Émilie du Châtelet first appeared on About Geni.

German composer Ludwig van Beethoven was born 255 years ago. Image: Ludwig van Beethoven / Library of Congress Beethoven was born in Bonn in the Electorate of Cologne, which was then a part of the Holy Roman Empire. Although there is no known record of the exact date of his birth, it is known that his baptism took place on December 17, 1770. Since baptisms typically took place a day after birth during this time,… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Ludwig van Beethoven first appeared on About Geni.

On this day 1832, French architect and engineer Gustave Eiffel was born in Dijon, France. He is perhaps best remembered for his work to build the Eiffel Tower, which bears his name. Originally constructed for the 1889 Universal Exposition, today the tower has become one of the most recognizable structures in the world and an iconic symbol of France. Image: Gustave Eiffel / Rijksmuseum, Wikimedia Commons Eiffel was born Alexandre-Gustave Bönickhausen on December 15, 1832 to Catherine-Mélanie Moneuse and… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Gustave Eiffel first appeared on About Geni.

Have you seen the painting The Scream? Today we remember Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, who was born on this day in 1863. Image: Edvard Munch / National Library of Norway Munch was born in a farmhouse in Løten, Norway on December 12, 1863. After his mother died in 1868, Edvard and his siblings were raised by his father, who often entertained the children with vivid ghost-stories and tales of Edgar Allan Poe. These stories and the loss of… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Edvard Munch first appeared on About Geni.

Pioneering astronomer Annie Jump Cannon was born on December 11, 1863 in Dover, Delaware. Nicknamed the “Census Taker of the Sky,” Cannon was instrumental in the development of the current system of stellar classification. Image: Annie Jump Cannon / Library of Congress Cannon was the eldest of three daughters born to Wilson Lee Cannon, a ship builder and Delaware state senator, and his second wife, Mary Elizabeth Jump. From a young age, Cannon had a… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Annie Jump Cannon first appeared on About Geni.

“That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet.” – Emily Dickinson On this day in 1830, poet Emily Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Image: Emily Dickinson / Wikimedia Commons With deep ancestral roots in New England, Dickinson lived much of her life in her family’s homestead in Amherst. She was born to a prominent family with strong ties to the community. Her paternal grandfather, Samuel Dickinson, was one of the… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Emily Dickinson first appeared on About Geni.

Today we remember legendary actor Kirk Douglas, who was born on this day in 1916. Image: Kirk Douglas / Wikimedia Commons Douglas was born Issur Danielovitch on December 9, 1916 in Amsterdam, New York. His parents were Russian-Jewish immigrants and the family adopted the surname Demsky in the United States. Growing up, Douglas went by the name Izzy Demsky until he legally changed it to Kirk Douglas shortly before entering the Navy during World War II. After… Read the full story The post Profile of the Day: Kirk Douglas first appeared on About Geni.

Dear friends, I’m afraid the time has come for the Ancestry Insider to say goodbye. Over ten years ago I put virtual pen to virtual paper. Now it is time to put it down. I wonder if a couple of times a year you might still see something from me, but this may be it. This newsletter has brought me lots of enjoyment. I’ve enjoyed trying to bring you news you didn’t get anywhere else. I’ve enjoyed teaching how to better utilize Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org. Through my reports about national conferences, I’ve enjoyed promoting education. Through my series on serendipity, I’ve enjoyed sharing my belief about the miraculous nature of life and family history. Through my Monday mailbox series, I’ve enjoyed answering your questions. Through my series, “Records Say the Darnedest Things,” I’ve enjoyed teaching about records and methodology. I have enjoyed the opportunities to acknowledge FamilySearch’s sponsor—and my current employer—The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This newsletter began at a time when Ancestry’s communication policy was to say nothing. FamilySearch didn’t do much better when I started reporting on the rollout of New FamilySearch. Today, both organizations have healthy, vibrant communication programs. This newsletter has also consumed about six hours of my personal life each week and I think it is time for a change. But I put down this pen with a great measure of sadness. This newsletter has given me the opportunity to rub shoulders with many wonderful people. Thank you. For that I am most grateful. Of myself, I am pretty insignificant and I am forever humbled that you would consider this newsletter worth a little of your time. Before I say goodbye, I’d like to personally thank each and every single one of you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you… Wow! This is going to take some time… Please feel free to go about your lives while I finish up. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …;  (inside joke), …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, …, … Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Julie Granka, of AncestryDNA, spoke about “Understanding the Science Behind Your DNA Results” at the 2017 National Genealogical Society Conference last week. I’m hardly qualified to report about this session, but I’ll give it a try. Julie started by defining several terms, utilizing lots of diagrams. I was hoping to link to some pages on Ancestry.com that contain explanations as clear and simple as Julie’s. No luck. If I am going to provide links to basic information about DNA and genealogy, I will have to send you to someplace other than Ancestry. That is too bad. They should publish Julie’s presentation on their website. Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, has provided a nice list of links to introductory information. See “DNA Basics for a Sound Foundation.” Suffice it to say, there are basic building blocks of DNA that are represented by the letters A, C, G, and T. Our chromosomes are composed of long strings of these—3 billion, in fact. Almost all the letters are the same in every single person on the planet. Julie said that only about 10 million are different among different individuals and populations. A DNA test looks at about 700,000 of them. A location in the string of letters where the letters differ between individuals is called a SNP (pronounced “snip”). A group of inherited letters is called a haplotype. Julie studies SNPs and haplotypes in the context of human populations. “Patterns of SNPs and haplotypes among human populations are driven by history,” she said. “As humans migrate, they bring their DNA with them.” She explained the founder effect: Not everyone in a population has the same SNPs and haplotypes. If a small number of people migrate somewhere, their most common SNPs and haplotypes are likely to be different than the parent population. They have founded a population with a different profile than the parent population. A related phenomena is isolation. If I understand correctly, newborns in an isolated population are statistically more likely to have the most common SNPs and haplotypes of their population. These effects make different populations look different genetically. AncestryDNA uses the SNPs and haplotypes to determine three things.  Tiny amounts of the haplotypes and SNPs associated with a population from the distant past (hundreds of thousands of years) survive in our DNA. AncestryDNA uses this information to provide your ethnicity estimates. To determine what SNPs and haplotypes are associated with distant populations, AncestryDNA uses reference panels. These are individuals whose haplotypes and SNPs are thought to be representative of the distant populations. AncestryDNA has 26 reference panels. Founder effect and isolation make ethnicity estimates easy. Migration makes ethnicity estimates difficult. Large amounts of shared haplotypes between two persons indicate recent common ancestors. The more closely related, the more DNA is shared. AncestryDNA uses this information to provide your DNA matches. There are several challenges in determining DNA matches. Just sharing DNA doesn’t mean you are closely related. DNA you share for other reasons is called identical by state (IBS). DNA shared because of recent common ancestry is called identical by descent (IBD). AncestryDNA has to determine the difference. Another challenge arises from the way DNA is processed in the laboratory. For any given SNP, the data coming from the lab does not differentiate between the value contributed by your father and the value coming from your mother. AncestryDNA uses tools to estimate which came from which. She didn’t say this, but I would guess that if they ever get it wrong, you could be shown relatives who aren’t really your relatives. In between the two extremes, AncestryDNA searches for groups of people who share large numbers of matches to others within a group. They use this information to provide your Genetic Communities. It is possible to share no DNA at all with cousins. The closer the cousin, the higher the probability of shared DNA. Julie showed these numbers: Cousin Probability of shared DNA 1st 100 2nd 100 3rd 98 4th 71 5th 32 6th 11 7th 3.2 She showed a chart that looked like the one below. I think it indicated the average amount of shared DNA between two close relatives. It went by so fast, I am not certain. However, Blaine T. Bettinger provides similar data, which I’ve charted below. Source: Blaine T. Bettinger, “The Shared CM Project – Version 2.0 (June 25, 2016),” The Genetic Genealogist (http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com : updated 31 July 2016). AncestryDNA uses these numbers to estimate your relationship to your DNA matches. She covered more, but that’s about all I have time and space for here. I’m sorry that I’m not as clear as she was, but hopefully you learned something.     Chromosome inheritance diagram credit: Catherine A. Ball, et. al., “DNA Circles White Paper,” Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com/cs/dna-help/circles/whitepaper : updated 18 November 2014), figure 2.1. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

The 2017 National Genealogical Society conference wrapped up last Saturday, and after a couple of articles, so will I. Diane Loosely of FamilySearch spoke at the FamilySearch luncheon. Her title was “FamilySearch: A Global Experience.” She described three definitions of global for which FamilySearch is global. One definitions of global refers to world-wide global reach. Diane showed us a FamilySearch booklet, My Family: Stories that Bring Us Together. It is available in 66 languages. FamilySearch has 5,000 family history centers located in 33 countries. They offer support to patrons in 13 languages. FamilySearch operates cameras in countries across the globe. They have 5.6 billion names published online from many countries. They publish an additional 2 million names a day. Diane showed a video, “Preserving and Accessing the Records of the World,” documenting record destruction in the Philippines resulting from super-Typhoon Yolanda. One town’s records, indeed all the town offices, were completely destroyed. All that was left was the cement floor of the building. Because FamilySearch had photographed their records, FamilySearch was able to restore all the records to them. Diane said that FamilySearch is gathering the genealogies of villages in Africa that, today, are preserved only by “Rememberers.” Aging village elders have memorized the genealogies of the village. Many are old and their knowledge is perishing with them. In the case of 95-year old Opanin Kwame Nketia, FamilySearch interviewed him and documented 12 generations and 1,000 people. A couple of days later when they returned to thank him, they discovered he had passed way. Diane said that 50 years ago FamilySearch canvassed Mexico, filming their records. It is thought that today 15 to 20% of those records have perished. Another sense of the word global is the idea of operating on a whole set of things. To find and search all of FamilySearch’s records, you have to know a few ways of accessing the records. Diane showed a Kentucky probate collection containing 12,000 names and nearly a million images. Obviously, FamilySearch had not completely indexed the collection. To access all the records, you have to be prepared to browse through the images like you would microfilm. She also pointed out that some records are accessed only through the catalog. Another sense of the word global is embracing the whole of something. “We feel a responsibility to help everyone discover their family history,” she said. She shared the quote from the Emory university study stating that the more children know about their family’s history, the stronger their sense of control over their lives and the higher their self-esteem. FamilySearch recently remodeled the first floor of the Salt Lake Family History Library to appeal to a younger generation. Diane shared the well-known quote of Alex Haley: In all of us there is a hunger, marrow-deep, to know our heritage—to know who we are and where we have come from. Without this enriching knowledge, there is a hollow yearning. No matter what our attainments in life, there is still a vacuum, an emptiness, and the most disquieting loneliness. She then challenged us to choose a person we would like to introduce to family history. Prepare beforehand. Then go and give them a meaningful experience with family history.     Note: I was interested in where one might find Alex Haley’s original quote, as very few people cite the source. Barbara Renick in her book Genealogy 101: How to Trace Your Family’s History and Heritage (Thomas Nelson Inc., 2003) is the only source I could find who cited a source: “What Roots Means to Me,” Reader’s Digest (May 1977), 73-74. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Tracy Reinhart is a long-time researcher who remembers way back when accessing the census meant scrolling through microfilm. Long ago she discovered her Braford ancestors’ family in Cannon, Kent, Michigan was one of those split across pages in a census. Online publishers like Ancestry and FamilySearch have to identify these split families and join them back together. That’s a fairly straightforward process unless you run into the situation Tracy ran into recently. “Part of the 1870 census for Cannon, Kent Co. Mich.  was not filmed in page order,” she told me.  “As a result,  when a family list carries over from one page to the next,  you will find wrong family associations.” She found that for Cannon, Kent, Michigan: Image 28 on Ancestry.com is page 28 and ends with the Henry Wolaver family. Image 29 on Ancestry.com is page 30. Notice page 29 was skipped. It starts with Emma Braford. Since Emma has no family or dwelling numbers, we know that she belongs to the family on the previous page. Because the pages were filmed in the wrong order, Ancestry erroneously places her in the Henry Wolaver family. This page ends with the Harry (or Harvy) Haines family. Image 30 on Ancestry.com is page 31, which correctly continues with Mary Haines. Image 31 on Ancestry.com is page 29, the skipped page. It ends with the A. B. Brayford family. I was interested to see how FamilySearch handled this situation. Researchers with access to both Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org universally advise using Ancestry.com for census research and the 1870 census on FamilySearch.org is a good illustration of why. If you search for Cannon, Kent, Michigan, you get everyone living in the entire state of Michigan! If you don’t know where your person lived, but you somehow find them, FamilySearch doesn’t indicate where the person was! The only advantage I see for searching FamilySearch’s 1870 census is that in a search you can specify another family member (in the “Other Person” field). That’s not possible on Ancestry. But I digress… As I compared FamilySearch.org with Ancestry.com, I noticed several interesting things. The image order on FamilySearch.org matches Ancestry.com. FamilySearch didn’t erroneously combine the Wolaver and Braford families. But they also didn’t correctly join the the two parts of the Brayford/Braford family. While Ancestry has 31 images for Cannon, Kent, Michigan, FamilySearch has 32. Ancestry has left out one of the pages from the microfilm! I’ve seen FamilySearch do the same thing. Neither company discloses the censure. The companies deem the image to have no genealogical value so they delete it. This is a very bad practice! There is no guarantee the decision maker understands advanced methodologies that may require a knowledge of the existence of that page, its contents, or the lack thereof. (A little looking showed this particular page is facing page 31 on folio 139. It has no names on it.) The digital folder number (004271429) and image number (00268) for Emma Bradford on FamilySearch.org match the image URL on Ancestry.com: https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/7163/4271429_00268. That’s kind of techie, but the takeaway is that Ancestry seems to be using FamilySearch images. FamilySearch misindexed the name Braford on page 30 as Bradford. Ancestry did not. Ancestry doesn’t seem to be using FamilySearch’s index. I see several lessons we should draw from this: If you don’t find your ancestor on one website, check others. Search several images forward and backward from your ancestor. Your ancestor’s name can be spelled differently by the same person in the same record. Look at and try to understand all the information on a page. When the day comes that we no longer have access to microfilm, there will be errors that we can no longer detect or overcome. Everybody makes mistakes. Ancestry. FamilySearch. Microfilm. Everybody. ”Just a heads up for something that I never expected to find on Ancestry,” Tracy said. “Grrrrrrr” Thank you, Tracy. Image credit: Ancestry.com. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Today marks the opening of the 2017 National Genealogical Society Conference. At the conference NGS is announcing Mastering Genealogical Documentation by Thomas W. Jones. Tom is considered one of the top educators in the genealogical community. He is a PhD, Certified Genealogist, Certified Genealogical Lecturer, Fellow of the American Society of Genealogists, Fellow of the National Genealogical Society, and Fellow of the Utah Genealogical Association. He is the author of Mastering Genealogical Proof, another in the NGS Special Topics Series. According to NGS, “Mastering Genealogical Documentation teaches genealogists how to describe and cite their sources—including sources for which no model citation exists. … In this new step-by-step guidebook, Dr. Thomas W. Jones provides a foundation in the principles, logic, and decisions that underpin genealogical documentation. Exercises are provided at the end of each chapter (with answers at the back of the book) to reinforce concepts and provide opportunities for practice.” You can order the book in the store on the NGS website. It’s true that I’m prejudiced (I volunteer for the NGS), but I’m genuinely excited to get this book. I’ve attended Tom’s lectures on documentation at national institutes and they have been most helpful. Speaking of the NGS Conference, it’s not too late to attend. You can register onsite. For more information, visit the National Genealogical Society Conference website. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

The 2017 National Genealogical Society conference started today (10 May 2017) in Raleigh, North Carolina. The exhibit hall is free, so even if you don’t register for classes, come see mini-classes, product demos, product announcements, sell prices, and give-away prizes. If you are in the area, you should come down and check it out at the Raleigh Convention Center. The exhibit hall opens at 9:00am each morning with the exception of 9:30 on Wednesday. It closes at 5:30pm each day, with the exception of 3:00pm Saturday.The Ancestry booth presentation schedule for Wednesday, 10 May is: Ancestry, Thursday, 11 May: Ancestry, Friday, 12 May: Ancestry, Saturday, 13 May: Other vendors do product demos, either on a schedule or by request. Lisa Louise Cooke included the Genealogy Gems schedule in the conference bag: Stop by the National Genealogical Society’s booth to enter daily drawings, buy their latest books, and get books signed by the authors. Judging from the advertising inserts in the conference bag, I imagine at the MyHeritage booth they would give you a coupon code for 30% off MyHeritage subscriptions. Likewise for a 15% coupon code from jigsaw genealogy. Genealogical Studies might give you a promo code for a free course and let you enter a drawing for additional free courses. Excelsior College has a drawing for an AncestryDNA kit. It’s not too late to register for one or more days of the conference. Come on down and check it out. Oh, and FamilySearch is offering free accounts in their booth. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Somehow I missed the release of the Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com by Nancy Hendrickson. When I reviewed Unofficial Guide to FamilySearch.org, I became a big fan of Family Tree Book’s unofficial series, so I was very happy when I received a review copy of the new Ancestry book, Unofficial Ancestry.com Workbook: A How-to Manual for Tracing Your Family Tree on the #1 Genealogy Website. Chapters are organized around record types. The chapters of the book are: Search and the Card Catalog Census Records Birth, Marriage, and Death Records Military Records Immigration Records Historical Maps, Images, Newspapers, and Publications Social History [directories, tax records, land records, histories, etc.] AncestryDNA Each chapter contains overviews of the databases of the chapter’s record type and helpful instructions on using that type. For example, from the vital records chapter: Death records can open up new lines of research, primarily because they can contain the name of the person’s parents (including the mother’s maiden name) as well as where the parents and the decedent were born. Each chapter has a number of exercises. Don’t think workbook quizzes; think step-by-step walkthroughs.  Each chapter also contains some helpful “search strategies” for the chapter’s record type. Here is an example search strategy from the census chapter: Don’t assume your ancestor was skipped during an enumeration. Look for alternate surname spellings, first name shown as initials, or location in a neighboring county. Each chapter contains workbook forms and worksheets for things like searching the census and abstracting birth records. Appendices have additional checklists, worksheets, and census abstract forms. While a book obviously isn’t going to contain enough copies of each form or worksheet, additional copies can be downloaded from the Family Tree Magazine website.   Unofficial Ancestry.com Workbook: A How-to Manual for Tracing Your Family Tree on the #1 Genealogy WebsiteNancy Hendrickson8.2 x 0.6 x 10.9 inches, 192 pp., paperback. 2017.ISBN 1440349061Family Tree Books1-855-278-0408, shopfamilytree.com$10.99 Kindle$13.19 Google eBook$14.57 Amazon$21.99 Paperback/eBook list price, plus shipping. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

We depend upon records to reveal the “truth” about the past. Yet sometimes records have anomalies. Some are amusing or humorous. Some are interesting or weird. Some are peculiar or suspicious. Some are infuriating, or downright laughable. Records say the darnedest things! Reader Steve Squier shared this: Hello, I thought you might like to use the attached image for one of your “Records Say the Darnedest Things” posts. The first entry in this register of births is for an unnamed daughter of a Miss Knox, of whose father the clerk wrote: “hain’t got none just growed.” Source: Taylor County, Iowa, Register of Births, vol. 1 (1880–1897): 160, entry no. 110 for [unnamed female]; County Courthouse, Bedford; digital images, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org/search/catalog/679412 : accessed 16 April 2017); imaged from FHL film no. 1,035,143, item no. 1. Unfortunately, I can’t show you the image. To see it, visit your local family history center and click here: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DYWS-4V5. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

For those headed off to the 2017 National Genealogical Society Conference, in Raleigh, North Carolina, from 10‒13 May 2017, I have two items: syllabus and conference app. I attended a genealogy conference recently and heard that some attendees—first time conference attendees—were confused when presenters kept referring to handouts and syllabi. They were surprised that other attendees seemed to have copies of these handouts when they, themselves did not. Don’t be caught in the same situation at NGS. If you paid for a printed syllabus or syllabus on a flash drive, then you will receive said syllabus when you check-in at the conference. If not (or even if you did), you should download the syllabus PDF file beforehand and print any pages that you wish to hold in your physical paws during the conference. All conference attendees should have received by now an email with instructions on how to download the syllabus. (I received my email on Friday, 28 April 2017.) The file is 70 megabytes, so it will take forever to download if you wait and try to do it using the conference center wi-fi. Wi-fi connections at conference centers are seldom robust. I also wanted to point out that the conference app is available now for download. To download it, visit http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/mobile-app. The app offers another way to access class syllabi. To access the syllabus through the app requires a password. You received that password in the same email that gave instructions on downloading the PDF. Reading the syllabus on a phone is difficult, but it isn’t bad on a tablet. If you have attended an NGS conference before and never deleted the conference app, then when you install this time, there is an additional step you must take to see this year’s conference. The new conference app uses a blue color scheme (below, left). If you see the green color scheme from last year (below, right), you need to tap the icon on the bottom row that is titled “Exit to Conference List.” Then select the 2017 conference. The third of the two things I wanted to mention was the class schedule. Look through it beforehand to decide which classes you wish to attend, and which classes to attend if your first choices are full. If you are inclined to purchase recordings of some sessions, consider attending other sessions at corresponding times. Sessions marked “(R)” will be audio recorded and those marked “(LS)” will be lived streamed and video recorded. Hope to see you next week, at the 2017 National Genealogical Society Family History Conference! Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

If you can’t make it to the 2017 National Genealogical Society Conference, all is not lost. NGS is offering select sessions via live streaming or for three-month’s later viewing. You can purchase five sessions for Thursday, 11 May 2017 and five sessions for Friday, 12 May 2017. Thursday: Viewers will be able to stream five lectures on DNA from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. These lectures will demonstrate how DNA has revolutionized genealogy problem solving, clarified contradictions in records, and found female ancestors without a known maiden name. They will also offer advice on the best practices for analyzing autosomal DNA. $95 member, $115 non-member.      Friday: View five “BCG Skillbuilding” lectures by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG) from 8:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. This set of lectures will teach how to probe documents beyond the obvious, find rich evidence in deeds, use an ancestors’ neighbors, prepare a Genealogical Proof Summary, and build a solid conclusion from disparate evidence. $95 member, $115 non-member. x     All ten sessions can be purchased for $150 member, $185 non-member, if purchased before midnight, 10 May 2017. After 14 May 2017, the price jumps to $175 member, $215 non-member. Sessions can be viewed for three months following the conference. All packages include a full, electronic conference syllabus. For more information, or to purchase sessions, visit http://www.playbackngs.com/7770. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Four million. It’s staggering, really. AncestryDNA has exceeded four million samples in its DNA database! It took AncestryDNA three years to get the first million samples. (See “AncestryDNA Exceeds Million Mark” on my blog on 22 July 2015.) It took them 11 months to reach two million. (See “AncestryDNA Database Reaches Two Million” on 28 June 2016.) It took just seven months to get to the three million mark. (See “AncestryDNA Zips Past 3 Million Samples” on 19 January 2017.) Less than 4 months later, AncestryDNA has reached four million persons in the DNA database. (See “AncestryDNA Reaches 4 Million Customers in DNA Database” on the Ancestry blog, 27 April 2017.) AncestryDNA must be selling over 8,000 kits a day to grow that fast. Ancestry says as many people took their DNA test during that period as got married in the United States. They said “that’s about as fast as babies are born in the United States.” That’s astonishing. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Dear Ancestry Insider, Hello, I enjoy reading your emails, and wonder if I missed something important, such as:         Did Familysearch.org change how personal family trees are managed?    Last week I looked up my Wilmot tree there, and found someone had changed a last name of an ancestor to Wilmont, when the father and grandson were right there as Wilmot. Duh??? A friend said the family trees are now wide open and anyone can add or change information.         Normally, all information is good, but in this case I am dealing with an idiot.   Then someone else gave my Hessian ancestor, John Stegman, a wife who was his mother-in-law, Does this mean that my tree can be changed by anyone going online to FamilySearch.org? If that is the case, I will not use the program anymore.  It would be a waste of time – I am not a church member – have served/helped many years in a local Family History library.Too many people are well meaning but uneducated on proof of sources.     Ellen Thorne Morris, Monmouth Co., New Jersey Dear Ellen, May Day! May Day! (Yes, today is the first of May. But I digress…) There has been no change. FamilySearch has Genealogies (personal trees) and it has Family Tree (a shared tree). What you are using is Family Tree, and yes, anyone can change anything. FamilySearch’s Genealogies feature is a GEDCOM preservation service. It is not an online tree management program like Family Tree or Ancestry Member Trees. It is merely a repository to preserve and share your life’s work. Export a GEDCOM file from your genealogy program. Go to FamilySearch.org. Select Free Account in the upper-right corner and create an account. Or if you already have an account, sign in. Select Search > Genealogies. Scroll to the bottom. Underneath “Contribute Your Research to the FamilySearch Community,” select Submit Tree. Follow the instructions to add your tree. You will be given the opportunity to synch your tree with Family Tree. That step is unnecessary, especially since it sounds like you already have. I don’t know how long it takes to appear, but when others go to Search > Genealogies and search for a person, they will see results from your tree along with the other contributed GEDCOMs. Ellen, let me close with a heartfelt thank you for your service in a family history center. Several times last month I had patrons express frustration at the limited hours of their local center. It is only through volunteers like yourself that FamilySearch family history centers are open at all. Thank you, thank you! Signed,—The Ancestry Insider Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

We depend upon records to reveal the “truth” about the past. Yet sometimes records have anomalies. Some are amusing or humorous. Some are interesting or weird. Some are peculiar or suspicious. Some are infuriating, or downright laughable. Records say the darnedest things! What parent names their child after some kind of cancer?! Brain Cancer Lung Cancer Prostate Cancer Skin Cancer Cancer de la Laringe (larynx) Cancer de la Matriz (uterus) Cancer Primitivo del Higado (Primitive Cancer of the Liver) Cancer del Riñon (kidney) Yes, records say the darnedest things! Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Still need convincing? Pre-registration for the 2017 National Genealogical Society Conference ends today (27 April 2017), so you need to get on the stick. NGS has put together a heck of a program. NGS has loosely organized sessions into 10 tracks each day: Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday BCG Skillbuilding BCG Skillbuilding BCG Skillbuilding BCG Skillbuilding DNA DNA DNA DNA Research Planning Solving Problems Records & Repositories Research in the States North Carolina Historical Context Methodology North Carolina Historical Context Religion Military Records & Repositories Working with Records North Carolina African American Family Stories Tips & Techniques Records & Repositories Historical Context Methodology Military Technology Technology Records & Repositories Records & Repositories Organizing Research Native American Religion Methodology Beyond the Borders Methodology Solving Problems Pretty much every speaker is a nationally known expert or an expert in subjects in and around North Carolina. You may know these names (in no particular order): D. Joshua Taylor Thomas W. Jones Elizabeth Shown Mills J. Mark Lowe Judy G. Russell Mary M. Tedesco John Philip Colletta From Ancestry: Anne Gillespie Mitchell Anna Swayne Peter Drinkwater (Find A Grave, Newspapers.com) Juliana Szucs From FamilySearch: James Ison Diane C. Loosle David E. Rencher David S. Ouimette Robert Raymond To see the program online, go to http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org/program. To see the PDF registration brochure, click here. The National Genealogical Society 2017 Family History Conference is being held 10-13 May 2017 at the Raleigh, North Carolina convention center. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Pre-registration for the 2017 National Genealogical Society Conference ends tomorrow, 27 April 2017. The conference will be held in Raleigh, North Carolina, 10-13 May 2017 at the Raleigh Convention Center. While you can register onsite starting noon on 9 May 2017, you must register by tomorrow for meals, events, and workshops. As I write this, some luncheon choices and workshops are already sold out. According to NGS, The conference program, Family History Lives Here, features more than 175 lectures from basic to advanced genealogical research, including eighteen presentations on DNA science and methodology. Finding records and effectively using them is the focus of fifty-seven lectures. Among the types of records discussed are a wide range of religious records, military and associated records, North Carolina and regional U.S. records, and African American and Native American records. Organizations sponsor luncheons during the conference and provide entertaining speakers ($32). The North Carolina Genealogical Society is hosting an evening event, “Pig Pickin” ($45). Pig Pickin’ features North Carolina BBQ, a five-member blue grass band, and local artisans. NGS is hosting its annual banquet with speaker Stuart Watson, an award-winning investigative reporter ($45).  The conference costs $240 for society members and $275 for non-members. One day registrations are available for $110 (member) and $120 (non-member). For more information or to register for the conference, visit http://conference.ngsgenealogy.org. I’m happy to serve again this year as an official social media reporter for the conference. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Happy DNA Day! Today (25 April) is the anniversary of the publication of articles theorizing the helical structure of DNA. Ancestry is celebrating with a 20% sale on its DNA kit. (Thomas MacEntee has put together a list.) Normally priced $99, Ancestry is offering the kit for $79 (plus taxes and shipping) through 26 April 2017 at 11:59pm Eastern Time. While I sometimes see a $89 sale price, I don’t recall seeing the $79 price since DNA Day last year. After Thanksgiving the past couple years they have offered the kit for $69. It seems likely they will do the same this year. At RootsTech this year they were trying to overshadow the announcement of kits from other vendors by selling AncestryDNA for $49 (with no shipping since you purchased in-person). I don’t know that you will ever see that happen again. Bottom line, if you aren’t willing to wait until after Thanksgiving, today’s the day to order AncestryDNA for $79. To see what scientists, teachers, and students are doing to commemorate DNA Day, visit the National Genome Research Institute website. Click here to order AncestryDNA for $79. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Over 40 years ago Glen and Joyce Alt lived in Platteville, Wisconsin where they became friends with Glenda Clyde and her husband. After several years, the two couples moved their separate ways, the Alts to Massachusetts, the Clydes to Washington state, and the couples had no further contact. Years passed by. One day Glen’s parents were participating in a household auction in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. When they bought a box of stuff for a few dollars, the auctioneer threw in another for free. The Alts found the second box contained a bunch of old photographs and a piece of paper with names, dates, and places. For some reason, Glen’s mother threw them into a drawer instead of throwing them away. Eventually, she passed them on to Glen. Glen felt there must be someone out there who would place great value on the photographs, so he began investing great efforts in finding them. He had a clue. The paper identified the family as the Urens of Blanchardville, Wisconsin. Glen started looking, but without success. When he went to Wisconsin on vacation three years later, he availed himself of the opportunity to ask around. He asked some old friends in Platteville if they knew any Urens. One remembered that they had a mutual friend whose maiden name was U’Ren: Glenda Clyde. Twenty-eight years after they had last communicated, Glen found Glenda on social media. She thought the photographs and information might be of her family, so Glen sent the photographs and the paper to her. Glenda discovered that the pictures and paper were of her great-grandfather’s brother’s family. The information gave her seven new families and 31 new names. “These precious pictures/paper were bought in the Midwest, given to Glen on the East Coast and then sent to me, a family member, on the West Coast,” Glenda wrote. “Considering the incredible preservation and journey of this valuable information, to us, it truly is a miracle.”   Retold with the permission of Glenda Clyde. You can also read her story in R. Scott Lloyd, “Family History Moments: Package Deal,” Deseret News (http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865675767/Package-deal.html : 16 March 2017). Photograph contributed by Glenda Clyde. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Ancestry ProGenealogists, in conjunction with Go Ahead Tours, is offering an 11 day tour to the Emerald Isle. “Discover the country’s highlights and enduring heritage with special insight from the expert AncestryProGenealogists team.” This guided tour visits Dublin, County Cork, County Kerry , Galway, and back to Dublin. For an extra cost, “continue your experience by adding an ancestral home visit to the places where your family members once lived, worked, worshipped, and went to school.” The tour runs 22 October through 1 November 2017. For more information, visit https://ancestry.grouptoursite.com/. Photograph by Gary Deane, used under license. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Reader Clytee Gold wrote me about an apparently erroneous AncestryDNA Genetic Community assignment. One of her two communities is “Mormon Pioneers in the West.” (First, I am jealous that she has two community assignments.) She is rather positive that none of her ancestors were ever Mormons. She has done extensive research and has never found any connection to the Church. As there are still pockets of prejudice against members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this assignment could be highly offensive to some people. Coincidentally—or not—it is not offensive to Clytee. Forty years ago she joined the Church and moved to Utah. She is, literally, the “Mormon Pioneer in the West” of her family. I’m not qualified to explain how this misassignment occurred, but fools rush in where angels fear to tread. Perhaps experts among my readers can correct me. Clytee gave one possible explanation: The only thing I can figure out is that is based on OTHERS testing (guess that makes a community – who else took the test to compare to), and that somewhere, 5-6 generations back a sibling of a great-great something of mine joined the church in Denmark in the late 1800’s and came to Utah as a “Mormon Pioneer in the west” and populated the west and there are lots of descendants who took the DNA test. Ancestry has explained that they use an algorithm called community detection to detect groups of individuals with a large number of interconnections. I think of it like large DNA Circles that don’t require common ancestors. The Mormon Pioneers community contains 89,000 testers. Just like a DNA Circle, Ancestry states a confidence level for your membership in the genetic community. My connection to the Mormon Pioneers community is “Very Likely.” Ancestry says they then examine the Ancestry Member Trees of the genetic community “to learn about the historical forces that may have brought their ancestors together.” Of course, some testers don’t have trees, some don’t include all their ancestors, some have ancestors without complete location information, and some have complete garbage in their trees. I assume Ancestry looks for common locations in 25-year increments. If they find a large number of ancestors who lived in the same place at the same time, they look into the history of that time period and why there was a large number of individuals there. Then they give that community a name. For example, the sweet spot for one genetic community is centered on Massachusetts in 1725-1750 (shown on the map, below left). Ancestry chose to name that community, “Settlers of Colonial New England.” Another centered on Utah at a much later time period, 1875-1900 (below, right). Ancestry called this one “Mormon Pioneers in the Mountain West.”   I assume Ancestry can follow the group forward and backward in time, up and down the member trees. This provides additional touchpoints to compare against historical sources and decide if they have correctly identified and named the genetic communities. Moving forward in time gives an interesting view on migration that may not be available from other demographic sources. This may truly be groundbreaking demographic tools. For example, look at the 1900-1925 map (below) of the descendants of early residents of Chihuahua and Durango. If I am interpreting the map right, by that time they were as likely to be living in El Paso as Chihuahua. (The large circle over central Texas represents ancestors whose member trees didn’t specify where in Texas they lived.) Moving backwards in time gives an interesting view on where the Mormons who settled in Utah came from. In the period 1825-1850, most were living in England, with a fair number in Denmark. (See map, below.) The surnames associated with the Mormon pioneer genetic community further point to Denmark: Jensen, Christensen, Larsen, Hansen, Allred, Nielsen, Olsen, Sorensen, Nielson, Rasmussen, Christiansen, Madsen, Peterson, Anderson, Barney, Leavitt, Child, Andersen, Petersen, and Jorgensen Once they are sure they have identified the genetic community, Ancestry can take information from history books about that group and display it next to the migration map. However, the information may not apply to your ancestors who didn’t participate in the chain migration. That is how Clytee may have been put in a migratory group that her ancestors didn’t participate in. She told me her ancestry: My father was half Swiss (4 generations from the immigrant to Missouri) and half German (5 generations from the immigrant to Missouri).  Mother half Norwegian (2nd generation from the immigrant to Iowa) and half Danish (2nd generation from the immigrant to Iowa). I think the conjunction on Denmark is more than coincidence. Clytee’s Danish ancestors didn’t have to join the Mormon church for her ancestors to share DNA with those that did. I don’t think it had to have been a sibling in genealogic-time, either. I think Ancestry is looking at shared DNA in a closed community with hundreds of years of intermarriages. There is a possibility that the genetic community Ancestry has identified is actually more specific than “all Mormon pioneers.” Ancestry may have identified DNA of Mormon pioneers of Danish origin. Look back at the dominant surnames for this genetic community. Does it look more English or Danish? There are other possibilities. Remember the mention of confidence level? Clytee may not belong to the genetic community at all. Her DNA may just be a statistical anomaly. Remember the mention of garbage trees? Ancestry may be running calculations overwhelmed by erroneous information. GIGO. Garbage in—garbage out. Thank you, Clytee, for your message. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Dear Ancestry Insider, The database “Pennsylvania Wills and Probate Records 1683-1993,” offers the subscriber a “Browse this collection” window which works perfectly for all Pennsylvania counties except for Philadelphia County. The list of available images for Philadelphia County never shows up anymore—it did when the database was first launched. Perhaps because it is such a huge amount of data, it cannot load properly. Because the list of digitized probate files for Philadelphia County can only be accessed by clicking on a link from this “Browse” function (administrations, etc), it is now not possible to access those files since there is no dropdown menu. If you know someone at Ancestry who could correct this, I know many researchers would be grateful. With thanks, Sandi Hewlett Dear Sandi, I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, there is a workaround. There are two ways to access the browse capability of an Ancestry collection. One is the browse you have identified on the collection page. The other is accessed via the breadcrumb path at the top of the page, underneath the title when viewing an image. If you can find a way to see any image, then you can browse to any other image. You can get to an image via browsing one of the other counties that works, or by searching for a common name. Or do this: 1. Start at https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/8802/005871739_00002. 2. Underneath the collection title at the top of the page, click on “Administration Files, 1764.” 3. Select from the available options. Signed, —The Ancestry Insider Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

We depend upon records to reveal the “truth” about the past. Yet sometimes records have anomalies. Some are amusing or humorous. Some are interesting or weird. Some are peculiar or suspicious. Some are infuriating, or downright laughable. Records say the darnedest things! Kenneth H. Rich was the undertaker. He was also the decedent. Weird. After 30 years as an undertaker, Kenneth retired just 7 weeks before his doctor started treating him for interstitial nephritis. Less than 6 weeks later, Kenneth was gone. His son, Robert, took over the family business. Six years after his father’s passing, Robert had his first born son. He named him Kenneth. Reader Naomi Martineau shared this record with me. Thanks, Naomi! Image credit: Ancestry.com. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

A coworker alerted me to this video from the CBC show, This Hour Has 22 Minutes. It is titled, “”Have you ever questioned your family’s ancestry?” Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Dear Ancestry Insider, I was playing with this new feature but I did not see the list of Associated Last Names. Would you tell me where to find it please? It is fun to play with but I don’t see that it gave me any new information; anything that I have not already researched. Signed,Colleen G. Brown Pasquale Dear Colleen, Do you see on the third line down in the screen shot, below, where it says “STORY | CONNECTION”? Click on CONNECTION. Scroll to the bottom of the page; it’s on the right hand side. Signed,—tai Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Ancestry launched Genetic Communities last week. “Think of the AncestryDNA ethnicity estimates on steroids, and you’ll have a sense of what this is,” Tim Sullivan told RootsTech attendees last February. While ethnicity estimates show your genetic origins from hundreds to thousands of years ago, the Genetic Communities feature shows groups of people you are related to in the last few hundred years. Ancestry defines a Genetic Community as “a group of people who are connected to each other through DNA, most likely because they share a common history or lived in the same places.” Kendall Hulet said, “Applying rigorous statistics and scientific development, we’ve created a unique experience that can connect you through your DNA to places your ancestors called home and the migration paths they followed to get there.” This doesn’t necessarily pin your particular ancestors to a particular place, since your ancestor may have been an outlier. Chances are good, however, that Ancestry will nail part of your ancestry to a particular region and timeframe. AncestryDNA has identified over 300 communities with plans to release more in the future. Brad Argent of AncestryUK says that most people are members of at least one Genetic Community, some people are members of two, and, rarely, some are members of three. In my case, I am a member of one. My ethnicity map now shows my ethnicity estimates on a dark azure map. (Can I just say, I don’t like this new color scheme?) Notice that Ancestry has narrowed (not!) my Native American ancestry to the entire Western hemisphere. Not very helpful in determining my tribal origin (Massachuset). But notice the small Orange spot on Utah? That’s my genetic community, “Mormon Pioneers in the Mountain West.” While my genetic community is of no surprise to me (I’m 5th generation Mormon on every single line—my ancestors all being good genealogists—I was born into a completely full, 7-generation pedigree), a Genetic Community could be very interesting to someone vaguely aware of—say—Germanic roots. Your Genetic Communities are listed beneath your ethnicity pie chart on the left side of the page. The way statistics work, AncestryDNA can’t say with 100% confidence that you are a member of a community. When you click on your community, you are given an overview of the community. Scrolling past the overview reveals migration time periods with commentary. Selecting a time period shows a migration map, different for each time period. Orange dots show birthplaces from community members’ Ancestry Trees during that time period. Pins show birthplaces from your own tree. Animated lines show the direction of migration. Did you notice, I’m aboot one-fourth Canadian, eh? Beneath the community name, two buttons select between the default Story view, which I’ve shown above, and Connection view. Connection view states that they are 95% confident that I am a member of the Mormon Pioneers Genetic Community, and that it has 89,000 members. Connection view provides a link to see all 737 of the ones that I am related to. It also lists common surnames in the community: Hmmm. Anything jump out at you? To see Genetic Communities, you don’t need to have a tree or a paid Ancestry subscription. It is available for free to everyone who has had an AncestryDNA test. Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.

Dear Readers, Many of you had strong feelings about Ancestry’s new design of Find A Grave. You can see it at www.gravestage.com. Here are some representative samples: This new format sucks!!! … So disappointed! … I absolutely HATE IT. … Another website ruined by people who don’t use it. … Do.. Not.. Like.. It … New and improved??? It’s absolutely horrible, isn’t it??? … From Irene Sheridan: The new site would not take my email and password. Is it a separate registration to try the test site? I don’t want to mess with my “real” login info. 🙂 Dear Irene, If I understand correctly, the account systems are currently separate. Your email address and real password won’t work on the staging site and vice versa. You have to register again to try some of the functionality of the staging site. Angela and others found that the information is messed up: I just looked at my great grandfather’s memorial on the new site. It doesn’t have his wife, children and parents attached to him like it does on the old site. It says there are no family members currently associated with this memorial. So that is not right and did not flow over to the new site like it should have. I also now manage his memorial as the lady who originally made his memorial transferred him over to me. It does not list me as being the person managing his memorial. The new site also says that there is no bio information on him but I added his obituary to the old site so it is not on the new site. I also left a flower on his memorial for the old site but he does not have any flowers on the new site. I don’t like the new site at all. I forgot to warn you that the data isn’t always real. Don’t worry about that. It is just test data. A corollary is that any changes you make on this staging site is thrown away! Don’t do any real work on it. Diane Gould Hall commented that the layout is a step backward: Everything should still be nicely located on one page, as it is now. Now made so you have to click, click, click to find things. The photos are put into that little box, just like on the new and horrible Ancestry site. I understand updating code. I don’t understand a complete new format that makes this beloved website more difficult to navigate and ugly to look at. Toot echoed that theme: Just from what I see here, the grey with white text is difficult to read, hard on the eyes. The pleasant colors on the “old” site with black text was very easy on the eyes, and pleasant to look at (why the ugly colors of death needed?). Understand the need for new code, but don’t understand the need to change to ugly colors, hard to read text, and reformat of the page. Hopefully, the attached spouse, children, Bio, etc., will flow over in the “new.” And hopefully, the name and date will continue to be on the photo’s contributed, as well as Flowers contributed. Photo size needs to be large enough to see the text on the Headstones (as it is now,) not some little Thumbnail you can barely see. Name of person (with link) who manages the Memorial is important, unless FaG is going to “manage” all Memorials, which I don’t forsee. The current page format is easy to use, easy on the eyes, and does NOT need to be changed. As someone else stated in their comment, it is obvious that the persons coding, and changing the platform/format, are NOT users of FaG! As did Anna: The new site is not a pleasant one to use, at least in this beta version. Too much wasted space, too much scrolling, the photos look funny, and too much clicking around to see what used to be one tidy page with everything instantly visible. It has caused me great wonder that design experts mess up websites when they get involved. Designers think that poorly utilizing screen space and decreasing contract is somehow a good thing. (Do a Google search for [graphic design white space] and [design “never use black”] . After the designers have been paid and move on, websites FamilySearch.org and Ancestry.com relent to user demand and switch back to black text on white. Unfortunately, they never seem to fix the “whitespace is good” problem that results in so many extra clicks scrolling or switching tabs. Michael Dorsey Iams stole my thunder and preached my usual sermon: I work in the software industry although not for any of the genealogy companies. I thought it would be useful to talk about how users can most effectively provide actionable feedback to software developers. First of all, I applaud the Find A Grave team for publishing a public beta site. Developers are reluctant to show work they know is not complete, but it is in everyone’s best interest to get direct user feedback early and often during the development process. Second, we all need to acknowledge that user interfaces need to change over time although the benefits of those changes are not often immediately apparent. And finally, recognize their job is to make money. On a free site, that means they need to increase traffic. Concepts such as internationalization and mobile support are significant to them. 1) Generally, don’t focus on colors and fonts. Everyone has difficulty accepting the unfamiliar, and everyone adjusts with time. Although Google is an extreme example (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/05/why-google-engineers-designers), major companies employ experts and detailed processes for deciding these things. 2) One exception to this I believe is handicapped people. Although there are tools and guidelines for accessibility, real-world feedback is still encouraged in this area. 3) Mobile support is about providing a good user experience a variety of resolutions. Try this experiment. Pick up a corner of your browser displaying the Gravestage site. Adjust it bigger and smaller. The elements change to accommodate. A good design finds ways to continue to show the most important information as the screen size drops. This is called responsive design and it takes a lot of effort to do it well. Pick a resolution that matches your mobile screen resolution and provide feedback in this context. 4) Developers aren’t genealogists so it is all too easy for them to make false assumptions. Help them understand with specific, actionable insights into what you want to accomplish and how you go about it. If there are enough people like you, they will surely try to accommodate. 5) It is generally accepted that reducing number of clicks is important, and I think this is a very fair criticism. 6) Provide your feedback with context describing what type of user you are and how you use the site. Even a specialized site such as Find A Grave has dozens of different types of users that use the site in different ways. They need to be able to all these constituencies. 7) It is safe to assume they are familiar with similar sites in the industry, but the internet is a very big place and I find it helpful when someone says “I like to do X with the site, and I find that Y site does this particular function very well”. As they finish the site, they will fix all the bugs like photo cropping and stuff. But, they need help with understanding the many diverse use cases that ultimately affect the broad structure and design of the site. Mander asked: Is there a link we can use to send our feedback and suggestions to Find a Grave? Lisa replied: Yes, when you are on the page, there is a feedback link in the bottom right corner of the page. So, good readers, go use it! Notice: The opinions expressed herein are those of the Ancestry Insider, not necessarily those of Ancestry.com or FamilySearch. All content is copyrighted by the Ancestry Insider unless designated otherwise. See http://ancestryinsider.org for other important legal notices.