Category: Discovery

Anything new that I find interesting

Michigan Resource: Digital Newspapers

On 5 January 2015

More and more records are becoming digitized, which is a fabulous thing! I love being able to look for items while in my warm and cozy home instead of driving a few hours in this cold snowy weather. Keeping in mind that the majority of my record hunting does involve driving a few hours away or sending letters out, I love when I find resources that allow me to research from home.

Newspapers are a big part of my genealogy work as I get a lot of family information from obituaries and I find it very important to know what was happening in the area my ancestors lived while they were living there. So the Michigan Digital Newspaper Portal is a very exciting resource! It comes from my Alma Mater, Central Michigan University, so I’m also a bit proud 🙂

Not every newspaper database here is free (nor are all counties/cities represented) but the list will tell you if it’s a free site or a pay site. The pay sites can vary from newspaperarchive.com to genealogybank.com to sites that can only be viewed with a library card for that library.

Either way, this is a great resource to look into. For me, if I find I am looking for papers that can be found here all linked to one place (like genealogybank.com) then I consider getting a subscription to the website. So this is good to see if another subscription would be worth it or not.

Also, if you’re interested, Indiana has their own digital site for Indiana newspapers. Again, not every county/city is represented but it’s a great resource to keep for later as it’ll continue being added to – and these are free!

Tuesday’s Tip: 5-Minute Finds

By NikiMarie

On 4 November 2014

In Discovery

Some of you may already know about the 5-Minute Find Series on Ancestry’s YouTube channel, but I just found out about it this past week.

One of the genealogy groups I belong to hosts a different class about once a month on a topic of the participants choosing (which is decided in advance of course). This past one was 5 minute finds and I was surprised at how much information you can get in just five minutes!

The 5-Minute Finds Series is hosted by Ancestry so it does have to do with Ancestry’s records. Most people have access to these records through either their own subscription or through their library but I realize it’s not everyone’s go-to source. I use Ancestry quite often so I found this series to be useful. Some items I had already figured out through classes, forums, blogs, doing it myself, etc. but I do believe there is probably something for everyone in this series!

You can check it out here to see the list of 5-Minute Find videos.

Happy Tuesday everyone! 🙂

NGS Conference Days 1-2

By Nichelle Barra

On 8 May 2014

In Discovery, Personal, Research

Oh my goodness! I am absolutely LOVING this conference. But, I am EXHAUSTED. My brain is fried by 3pm it seems and there is still a speaker to go by that point!

One thing that I have really enjoyed is getting to know all the other genealogists that I can. It’s been great that when someone asks me how I got into genealogy and I start with “well it all started in a cemetery…” that there are no strange looks, just enthusiastic nods. It’s lovely! I get asked that question a lot actually because I’ve been told I’m one of the youngest people here and that question normally follows. To be honest, I’ve loved family history for longer than the cemetery story, that was just when I started researching, 10 years ago (so early 20’s). Funny, when I ask the same question to them, I am told that they started in their early 20’s too so it shouldn’t be surprising to see someone in their early 30’s at the conference 🙂

There are several ways to go about the sessions at the conference. You can just pick and choose classes you want or you can follow a track. Since I plan on getting certified through the BCG, I am following the BCG track. This has led me to some amazing speakers! I got to hear Tom Jones yesterday and Elizabeth Shown Mills today. I’ve heard Elizabeth Shown Mills jokingly (with admiration) referred to as Queen Elizabeth as 1) she has a great sense of style and 2) she is like royalty among genealogists. She is an amazing speaker by the way and I thoroughly enjoyed her session.

I have learned A LOT during this conference already and I can’t wait to go home and try out some new ways to look at my documents to get through brick walls. I hope to be able to do some great new things with my records that I’ll be able to talk about on here and maybe even write my own article (which makes me very nervous to think about, but I do want to do that one day) and write my own lecture! The BCG track also held a great seminar today about the certification process. I feel much better about going through the process after going to that session. I’m not “on the clock” yet but I hope to be by next year. That’ll probably happen after I take the Pro Gen class.

One thing I wish I had done before I came was make business cards! I read about making sure you have these in the conference material before I came but thought I would be fine. I was wrong. Today I went to the first-timer’s breakfast where the point was to network and ask questions. I got several cards today and had to write my information down. Not the best idea so I will be sure to have cards the next time I come.

Some goodies from the conference!

Any plans for any of you to attend an NGS conference or have you in the past?

Ancestry DNA: Genetic ethnicity

By Nichelle Barra

On 18 October 2013

In Discovery

I know genetic testing has been around for a bit now. It was a bit expensive to have either the mitochondrial test done or the Y-chromosome test, so I had been waiting. Then, Ancestry.com emailed me about their new genetic test that was still in beta. It was offered at a discount but it wasn’t just that part that sold me, it was what the dna test does.

This test tells you where you are from. Now, of course this can be a bit sketchy at times. Because your DNA given to you by your parents is random, you could have more DNA from one area than another (this is why siblings look different). And of course, migration happens. So what Ancestry does is compare your DNA to natives of an area, whose families have been there for say 4-5 generations back (which is really as far back as this test goes for your own results). That’s the simplistic answer and more of the science can be found here.

I was immediately excited and bought the package. Once it came, I had to spit into a tube (I did this when I woke up and before drinking any water – per instructions), then sent it back and anxiously awaited my results. Would I have Native American DNA that I think every American wonders if they have? Would there be Russian DNA from my grandfather’s side? Would I be mostly German as my history of my family seems to say? Would there be a surprise in the works?

I waited for what seemed like forever, but was about 9 weeks. I got the email that my results were ready and excitedly clicked to see my results!

Here is what they were:

… that was it? I don’t quite know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this. Where was the German? The Russian? The reason why my grandfather and his siblings are a bit darker than me? And no Native American?

Well, after the let down, I realized that this could just show the migration patterns. Maybe they migrated from southern Europe to Germany and then Russia – that makes sense. The 11% uncertain had me think that maybe there was still some change of the other places I had assumed would be there.

Now, because this was a beta, and because they needed lots of samples to compare, I knew that my results would change. Eventually. Yesterday, nearly a year (maybe 2) later, I got the email that it was updated.

Was it ever!

Now THIS was more of what I was expecting! It is quite a bit more detailed as well. This explains my sister’s slightly exotic look, and my grandpa and his siblings more swarthy complexions. Overall, I’m thrilled with the new results! And I love that Ireland has it’s own percentage as well. That makes me quite happy 🙂

I still plan on doing the other two DNA tests as well but even more so now that I’ve seen what it can show. I have always loved DNA (for a brief time it was even my undergrad study). I still find this incredibly fascinating and I love how genealogy allows me to have my science love along with my history love. Best of both worlds!