The Genealogy Guys Podcast & Genealogy Connection

CELEBRATING OUR 150TH EPISODE! The Guys are celebrating the 150th episode of the podcast which began on 4 September 2005. Thank you for listening and sharing with all of us! This week's news includes: The Generations Network, Inc., announced that Ancestry.com has launched the World Archives Project, "a global public indexing initiative to give everyone the opportunity to help preserve historical r...

A correction to last week's story about the death of a Confederate widow can be found in last week's show notes. The news this week includes: an update about the collapsed project to digitise the UK's GRO's Birth, Marriage, and Death records from 1837 forward; the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) will be moving its office to a new home in central Belfast; the National Archives of A...

This week's news includes: Alberta Martin [Oops, correction, this should have been Maudie Hopkins], 93, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died Monday, 18 August 2008, in a nursing home in Enterprise, Alabama; Footnote.com ( http://www.footnote.com ) has announced membership price increases effective 1 September 2008 ($11.95 per month or $69.95 annual membership); American scientists have stud...

This episode is dedicated to our dear friend, Tom Ryder, who passed away today in Port Charlotte, Florida. This week's news includes: Ancestry.com extends its global reach to China with an exclusive partnership with the Shanghai Library - the new site is http://www.jiapu.cn ; and Ancestry has also added extensive new content, including Bremen, Germany, ships and sailors databases (in German). A ne...

This week's news includes: archaeologists are actively working to locate the identities of everyone interred at Fairview Cemetery, an African American cemetery in Staunton, Virginia; DNA Heritage ( http://www.dnaheritage.com/ ) has succeeded in overcoming a patent claim in the U.K. that will allow them to continue providing genetic genealogy testing; Tribal Junction ( http://www.tribaljunction.com...

This week's news includes: FamilySearch and Ancestry.com team up to publish new images and enhanced indexes to the U.S. federal censuses; Ancestry.com announces a number of new databases and upgraded collections; GeneTree ( http://www.genetree.com ) adds a Y-chromosome testing option to its site; Geni.com ( http://www.geni.com ) announces the addition of a new and private video-sharing option for...

This week's news includes: Abraham Lincoln's ancestry is questioned; Ancestry.com announces new databases, including WI Death Index (1959-1997), NC Death Certificates (1909-1975), TN Divorces (1800-1865), and U.S. Colored Troops Service Records (Civil War); The Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) celebrates its 50th anniversary; Modern Genealogy ( http://www.moderngenealogy.com ) announces a new...

This week's news includes: George Washington's boyhood home is found; and new features are unveiled at MyHeritage ( http://www.myheritage.com ). Listener e-mail includes: a recap about Henri Guest Scott and the Scott family; Panoramio ( http://www.panoramio.com ) allows you to place photos on Google Earth and Google Maps; Laraine got a headstone for her great-grandfather and gained information fro...

This week's news includes: the new Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri, opened on 21 June; Footnote.com has announced a new, popular, and forthcoming database titles; Synium Software ( http://www.synium.de/products/index.html ) announces the new version 5.2 of its MacFamilyTree software which includes a 3-D family tree view; Geni.com ( http://www.geni.com/home ) announced that it ha...

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com announces the doubling of its digitized newspaper collection; and Genealogy Online, Inc., announces that a new online edition of Everton's Genealogical Helper will debut on July 1st, with more details available at  www.everton.com . This week's listener e-mail includes: congratulations and comments for George concerning his new iMac; opinions about genealogy...

This week's news includes: Genclass.com ( http://genclass.com/ ) partners with Familylink.com ( http://www.familylink.com/ ) to offer two free genealogy classes at WorldVitalRecords.com ( http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/ ); APG names Michael Melendez of Fullerton, CA, as the first recipient of the Young Professional Scholarship; Millenia Corp. announces that new Legacy Family Tree version 7.0 is...

The news this week includes: a new series at RootsTelevision.com titled Unclaimed Persons which the producers hope will raise awareness of the problem of unclaimed bodies and encourage viewers to help; Ancestry.com announces a series of free Ethnic Webinars, beginning June 3rd, to help you with researching your ancestry (click here to register); vandals wreak havoc and destroying monuments in a Ri...

News this week includes: FamilySearch teams with FamilyLink.com to bring online  the Brenner Collection of German records (1650-1875) with more than 3.5 million names and between 900,000 and 1.5 million images; and Ancestry.com announces plans for massive additions in global content and new geographical locations, including a Chinese site with Chinese Jaipu and a Spanish-language site. George shar...

This week's news includes: Geni, Inc. ( geni.com ) announces the new functional availability for users to upload GEDCOM files; FamilyLink.com ( familylink.com ) announces its partnership with FamilySearch to add new functions to the Family History Library Catalog, making it searchable by Internet search engines and allowing users to annotate entries; Footnote.com ( footnote.com ) announces the add...

This week's news includes: the Vatican has issued a letter instructing all dioceses not to give any information to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, due to concerns about the Mormons' practice of posthumous rebaptism; a new Midwest Genealogy Center (see http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/genlh/mgc.htm ) will open in Independence, Missouri, on 21 June 2008 with the largest collection of genea...

News this week includees: Geni.com ( http://www.geni.com/ ) announces new features, including a family timeline, posted links, send gifts, and the family Forest; Progeny Software offers its Charting Companion software to produce great-looking charts in color and with photos -- click here for more information; and the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, is presenting a Military Sympo...

In the News, The Guys review two new publications: Hookers, Crooks, and Kooks by Jana Sloan Broglin, and Kisses from a Distance by Raff Ellis. A baby's tombstone from 1894 is discovered on a houseboat in Charleston, SC. George responds to a request about deed platting software: DeedMapper from Direct Line Software ( http://www.directlinesoftware.com ) sells for $99.00, while a free online deed pla...

This week's news includes the following: Ancestry.com launches the Drouin Collection of 29 million French-Canadian names from, ultimately to include 37M names by mid-2008; Ancestry.com also launched the Former Colonial Dependencies Slave Register Collection, 1812-1834; RootsMagic has extended the early Bird Registration for this year's genealogy cruise to April 30th (see http://www. RootsMagicCrui...

Drew addresses proving relationships using mitochondrial DNA. He then discusses two genealogical books on the subject of DNA. They are: DNA & Genealogy by Colleen Fitzpatrick and Andrew Yeiser (published in 2005 by Rice Book Press) and Family History in the Genes by Chris Pomery (published in 2007 by The National Archives in Kew , Richmond , Surrey ). Both are available through Amazon.com . This w...

This week's news includes: NBC has purchased rights to create an American version of the popular BBC reality series, Who Do You Think You Are? ; NARA recently announced the availability of nearly 9 million WWII U.S. Army enlistment records at its Web site, but be aware that there were many records that could not be scanned – and the collection is therefore incomplete; Sen. John McCain's new book,...

In this week's news: NARA ( http://www.archives.gov ) posts free passenger lists online, including Russian, Italian, and German lists to east coast ports; 1871 England and Wales census images are now complete on British Origins ( http://www.britishorigins.com ); The Generations Network, Inc. ( http://www.tgn.com ), parent of Ancestry.com, RootsWeb, Genealogy.com, and other entities, announced that...

George delivers a lot of news this week: the New England Historic and Genealogical Society ( http://www.newenglandancestors..org ) has received a large gift of photographs from the family of Thaxter Spencer, including an unknown 1888 photo of Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan; the Library of Congress's digital preservation program has a new e-mail newsletter and you can subscribe by cli...

This week's news includes: condolences to the family of Chuck Knuthson, a great genealogical speaker, researcher, and former board member of FGS, GSG, and other organizations; Halvor Moorshead, head of Moorshead Magazines [ Family Chronicle, History Magazine, Internet Genealogy, and the new Discovering Family History ] is retiring and has sold the company to staff members Ed Zapletal and Rick Cree...

This week's news includes: Congratulations to Matt Wright who becomes editorial director at FamilyLink.com; a recap of a USA Today report of 18 February about states unsealing adoption records and opening original birth records to adoptees; passenger lists of persons leaving the U.K. for the U.S., Canada, and Australia during the 1940s are available at Ancestors Onboard at http://www.ancestorsonbo...

George reports on the genealogy news this week: Julia M. Case, beloved genealogist and author at RootsWeb has died; Moorshead Magazines has begun a new magazine called Discovering Family History for beginning genealogists and those who want a refresher, and a premier online issue is available for free at http://www.discoveringfamilyhistory.com ; and other stories. The Guys share listener e-mail in...