RootsTech!

  • The lovely people at RootsTech have made a some of their sessions live for people to stream online, for FREE – seriously, you can’t beat that people! Keep in mind that the sessions times are in MST! Click here for the streaming video and here for the schedule. Enjoy 🙂
  • Family History Discover Center was announced at RootsTech (I am very sad I can’t be there!). This looks like an incredibly neat place to bring your whole family, including young ones, to learn about your family history. It looks like a lot of fun and it seems very interactive! Check out more information here or read about one blogger’s tour through the center here.

Resources

  • The Daughters of the American Revolution made an amazing announcement! Previously with DAR, you could purchase record copies from someone’s application, which states what records someone used for their application. BUT, you couldn’t see the actual documents. Until now! Now, you can get the record copies AND the supporting documents for only $30!  This is wonderful news! I used it already and got to see copies of pages from a family Bible that I’m not sure still exists. Wonderful!
  • NGS’s UpFront with NGS posted some new (to me anyway) websites that are FREE! Check out the list here.
  • Check out the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services History and Genealogy webinars page for their schedule through May. It goes over the program and lets people know how to find and receive records of their immigrant ancestors and more!
  • DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy – this is one of my favorite DNA blogs and recently she posted about Autosomal DNA tests and their pros and cons.  She covers the biggest companies (23andMe, Ancestry, and FamilyTreeDNA) and goes over each. If you’re thinking of getting this test done, this is a good read!
  • The Society of Genealogists (in Britain) announced that a bill has passed that will bring down the price on vital records for England and Wales. You can read more about that here.
  • FindMyPast.com has announced a couple of things this past week. They have partnered with FamilyTreeDNA and will be offering DNA testing services to FindMyPast members. They have also partnered with the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society.
  • Interested in Irish genealogy? Donna Moughty, a professional genealogist who specializes in Irish genealogy, is setting up a research trip to Dublin this October and possibly to Belfast as well. Go here for more information!

Interesting Stories

  • This is quite an amazing story of a woman who discovered her grandfather was a Nazi – and a rather well known one at that. She wrote a book about it and NPR shared her story here.
  • This story has been floating around quite a bit, but do you have a plan for your online accounts after you die? Facebook now has an option for you or you could always leave something in your will.
  • Going along that same idea, what do you do with all of your genealogy work after you die? Especially if no one in the family wants it? Dick Eastman wrote an article about where to donate records so they are available to everyone.
  • With it being Black History Month, there are a number of stories coming up on African American ancestry, including stories on passing. This article discusses how one woman, Anita Florence Hemmings, passed as white while in Vassar college in the late 1890’s.