A New Ancestry Autosomal Tool Being Added as I Type

While working on my AncestryDNA just seconds ago something new popped on my screen -- the long anticipated surname search feature. Normally when these sort of features are added, Ancestry will disable the function until it is added. In this case they didn't. I can't tell you anything about it right now as nothing seems to be working yet so stay tuned and I will post more when I see it.

Below is a screen capture of what I saw

"Hey Ancestry, if it isn't broken there is nothing to fix!"

What did I told you guys in my last class that it would happen. That we would barely get out of class and Ancestry would start making major changes to their website.

Sure enough the people at Ancestry are tinkering with the main search engine again. When I logged in this afternoon they wanted me to take a survey about their new search engine results with various screen grabs.

Hell, give me a chance to give you my thoughts on the junk that the Ancestry programmers think up and I will take it every time. Here is my reply:

"I am a long time subscriber to your service (since Dec 2000) and I have taught hundreds of genealogy students how to use your website. I probably know more about what has been here every the years than most anyone else you have on this site today. As long as you do not do away with the old search engine, I don't mind the second screen grab above. The rest aren't worth your or my time. I have said this on many occasions to you folks and my students, if it isn't broke don't try and fix it. Why doesn't your IT staff spend more time giving us useful and easy tools to aid us in better understanding our AncestryDNA results instead of this constant tinkering with the search engine. How about surname search engines for DNA results and other things than this constant changes to the main search engines. Enough is enough. No more changes to the main search engine until we get a DNA Chromosome Browser."

Heck, don't take my word for it, login and see the junk they are peddling this time.

"Hey Ancestry, if it isn't broken there is nothing to fix!"

I Have My Family Tree Back to Adam and Eve

I wish I had a nickel for every time I have heard this one - "I Have My Family Tree Back to Adam and Eve"  In January on the FamilySearch Blog with have this from Nathan W. Murphy:

"Warning. Contains spoilers. Have you ever heard these words uttered “I Have My Family Tree Back to Adam and Eve”? When asked if it is possible for living people to extend ancestral lines back to Adam and Eve, Robert C. Gunderson, Senior Royalty Research Specialist, of the Church Genealogical Department, stated:

“The simplest answer is No. Let me explain. In thirty-five years of genealogical research, I have yet to see a pedigree back to Adam that can be documented. By assignment, I have reviewed hundreds of pedigrees over the years. I have not found one where each connection on the pedigree can be justified by evidence from contemporary documents. In my opinion it is not even possible to verify historically a connected European pedigree earlier than the time of the Merovingian Kings (c. a.d. 450–a.d. 752).
“Every pedigree I have seen which attempts to bridge the gap between that time and the biblical pedigree appears to be based on questionable tradition, or at worst, plain fabrication. Generally these pedigrees offer no evidence as to the origin of the information, or they cite a vague source.”

And then there is this from Nathan in Part Deux:

"Several readers posted questions after my initial post “I Have My Family Tree Back to Adam and Eve” in which Robert C. Gunderson, Senior Royalty Research Specialist, writing in 1984, had stated that it is not possible for someone alive today to document a pedigree back to Adam and Eve. Readers asked (1) has additional research conducted since 1984 improved the situation, and (2) isn’t it possible for European royalty to trace their lineage back to Biblical genealogies? François Weil provides authoritative answers to these questions in his new book Family Trees: A History of Genealogy in America (2013) published by Harvard University Press. Weil, Chancellor of the Universities of Paris, states:

Genealogy was originally the prerogative of kings and princes. The oldest surviving royal genealogies in Europe go back to the sixth century A.D. for Gothic sovereigns, to the seventh century for their Irish, Lombardic, Visigothic, and Frankish counterparts, and to the eighth and ninth centuries for Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian kings. (pp. 10-11)

Thus Weil and Gunderson agree – European royal pedigrees cannot be verified before the 500s A.D.
If family tree databases, such as FamilySearch FamilyTree suggest otherwise, I would encourage you to correct the information and ask contributors for their sources.

To learn more, read: Family Trees: A History of Genealogy in America. By François Weil. Published by Harvard University Press, Online bookstore; 2013. ISBN 9780674045835. 320 pp. Indexes. Hardcover. $27.95 • £20.95 • €25.20."

I think it is time to put this myth to bed. I totally agree with Nathan after my 35 + years of genealogy research that no one and I mean no one has a verifiable tree back to Adam and Eve!

Online US County Boundary Changes

For those of you who just completed my Internet and Genealogy class, I have an update for your notes.

Knowing US county boundaries on various dates in our ancestors timeline is extremely important. No sense in looking in a particular county for a genealogy record if that county had not been established yet.

So what is a genealogist suppose to do? A free website the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries on the Newberry.org website is the online answer.

The Atlas of Historical County Boundaries is meant to be a resource for people seeking records of past events, and people trying to analyze, interpret and display county-based historical data like returns of elections and censuses, and for people working on state and local history projects. The special interests of those potential users range from history to demography, economics, genealogy, geography, law, and politics. While many of these goals can be achieved using the Atlas' Interactive Maps, the downloadable data can be used with various GIS (Geographic Information Systems) programs to create specialized projects.

A project of the William M. Scholl Center for American History and Culture at The Newberry Library in Chicago, the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries is a powerful historical research and reference tool in electronic form. The Atlas presents in maps and text complete data about the creation and all subsequent changes (dated to the day) in the size, shape, and location of every county in the fifty United States and the District of Columbia. It also includes non-county areas, unsuccessful authorizations for new counties, changes in county names and organization, and the temporary attachments of non-county areas and unorganized counties to fully functioning counties. The principal sources for these data are the most authoritative available: the session laws of the colonies, territories, and states that created and changed the counties.

What makes this Atlas stand out?

Over a dozen features distinguish the volumes and files of this atlas from other compilations.

1. All boundary changes in states and counties-unrivaled historical and geographic coverage.
2. Non-county areas-never before compiled or mapped.
3. Attachments to operational counties (non-county areas and unorganized counties)-never before compiled or mapped.
4. Separate map or polygon for every different county configuration-clarity and ease of use.
5. Based on original research in primary sources-unlike most reference works.
6. Primary sources cited for every change-unmatched documentation.
7. Information organized by both date and county-unmatched flexibility.
8. Locator maps for all county maps-show each county's location within its state.
9. Area (sq. mi.) for each county configuration-available nowhere else.
10. Polygons available in two formats: shapefiles and KMZ-broad applicability.
11. Interactive map has many options for background-unmatched convenience.
12. Supplementary bibliography, chronologies, and commentary-unusually complete and thorough data presentation.
13. Short and Long metadata documents for each state dataset-convenience and completeness.

You can view this wondeful resource at http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/

AncestryDNA-FTDNA Raw Results Import

I just talked this morning to a representative of FTDNA regarding when they will start accepting AncestryDNA raw test results for import into their Family Finder platform. According to that source it now looks like the end of next week  (6-10 May) at the earliest before they will make this service available to those of us who tested at Ancestry. Also my source could not confirm the price for the import, but felt that they would be charging the same price for the service as they do for 23andMe autosomal test imports.

You can get more information on all the various autosomal DNA tests on the ISOGG website by clicking on this link.

We have raw results from Ancestry - now what?

There has been a lot of chatter around the web and on the social media, including this blog, regarding the release of the raw data from Ancestry for our autosomal DNA (aka the AncestryDNA test). Some of it has not been very flattering regarding the "possible" comments supposedly made by some Ancestry officials at RootsTech 2013 conference.

Roberta on the DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy blog had a take that she posted that on first blush had me madder than a hornet. I was especially not happy with one of the comments that has been attributed to Kenny Freestone, the Ancestry product development manager, and I quote, "that their primary focus is to keep things simple for the newer users." This was in regards to providing some advanced tools to aid those of us who tested using their AncestryDNA test to further refine the DNA matches we have received via their testing system.

In chasing this story down, I actually found someone who was present at the event where Mr. Freestone supposedly made the infamous comment mentioned above. Honestly, after reviewing the record, I think Roberta may have jumper the gun just a bit. I can find no evidence from anyone who attended those get togethers that he actually made that comment.

CeCe Moore at the "Your Genetic Genealogist" blog has an extensive post on all this at
http://www.yourgeneticgenealogist.com/2013/03/ancestrydna-raw-data-and-rootstech.html.

So for now I will put this chromosome browser issue and Mr. Freestone to rest. But let it be known by all that I will be keeping at least one eye on you Mr. Freestone. I just don't trust everything coming out of your shop. I have had issues in the past with some of the supposedly great ideas you and your software engineers have generated in the past. I have been an Ancestry paying customer since December 2000 and I honestly just don't trust your software programming staff to do the smart thing all the time (aka your old search vs new search templates/results, etc).

I won't rehash everything that CeCe covered in her post here on this blog. So if you want to get the whole story I encourage you to click on the link above and read all of her post. I think you will find it very interesting. Below I will cover some of the more interesting things she mentioned that have immediate impact on those of us who have spent our cash with Ancestry taking their autosomal DNA test.

CeCe mentioned that she had sent her raw DNA file to several 3rd party providers and received the following comments:

* "After working with it a bit, John Olson announced on the site that he expects that Gedmatch will be accepting AncestryDNA uploads in about two weeks."

You can view John's GEDmatch website at http://gedmatch.com/.

* "David Pike told me that he has updated his tools to work with the AncestryDNA files."

David Pike's DNA Comparison Utilities can be viewed at http://www.math.mun.ca/~dapike/FF23utils/
* "Leon Kull has reportedly updated his HIR search site to work with them as well."

Leon Kull's website is located at http://hiropractic.snpology.com/22/

* "Dr. Ann Turner has created an Excel macro to convert the AncestryDNA files to 23andMe format."

I'm still searching for this tool so if anyone knows where this Excel is at, please email me.

CeCe further wrote on her blog:

"At the "Ask the Expert" Genetic Genealogy panel that I moderated at RootsTech on Saturday:
* "Bennett Greenspan told the audience that Family Tree DNA will be accepting AncestryDNA transfers into Family Finder starting on May 1st. "

* "Dr. Catherine Ball confirmed that the raw data file is not phased and that they are delivering it as they receive it from the chip manufacturer Illumina. She also confirmed what Dr. Ann Turner had already discovered - the data labeled as "Chromosome 25" is from the PAR region. Further, the "Chromosome 23" label refers to the X chromosome data and "Chromosome 24" refers to the Y chromosome."

Additional notes from CeCe:
* "Unlike Family Tree DNA, AncestryDNA is not removing any SNPs from the data - medically relevant or not. "

* "The overlap between AncestryDNA's raw data file and 23andMe's should be around 690,000 SNPs due to the fact that they are both using the same Illumina OmniExpress Plus base chip. The ~10,000 SNP difference can be accounted for due to a different set of poorly preforming probes and test SNPs. Family Tree DNA's should have a similar overlap for the same reasons."

* "There is no mitochondrial DNA included in the raw data file because it is not included on the Illumina chip that they are using. (23andMe adds the mtDNA SNPs)."

CeCe did hear from Ancestry that a search function is in the works but no firm date of availability has been announced. This search function will allow us to filter our list of matches by surname, location and username.

Ancestry is also working an improving the genetic ethnic feature. CeCe mentioned that "a number of AncestryDNA personnel acknowledged to me over the weekend that certain "ethnicities" (i.e. - Scandinavian) are overestimated for many customers. However, they also emphasized that much of the perceived problem with their admixture analysis stems from the question of "where and when". What they mean by this is that it is very difficult (and sometimes impossible) to pinpoint where specific DNA signatures were at an exact time in history."

CeCe also mentioned, "The good news is that AncestryDNA customers don't have to wait for this update to gain more insight into their ancestral origins. Now that AncestryDNA has made the raw data available, customers will be able to upload their raw data file to the various third party sites to try out the admixture calculators and/or send it to Dr. McDonald for his very highly regarded analysis."

I hope to have more details on all of this in the very near future on this blog so please stay tuned.

--Larry aka The Chief

Ancestry to Spend A Bunch of Bucks in the Next Half Decade

During Tim Sullivan's (Ancestry CEO) RootsTech presentation yesterday, he announced that over the next five years Ancestry is committing to spending $100 million to digitizing and index records. They are partnering with FamilySearch to make available over 140 million will and probate record images and their related indexes

For those of you who hve never taken one of my classes, that is one of the most important class of genealogy records that we have for putting families together, especially when you get into "Dark Territory." Now that is the best news I have heard so far from RootsTech 2013. Way to go Ancestry/FamilySearch. When will us FamilySearch indexers have a chance to get started? I can't wait.

New Pricing for AncestryDNA Test Announced/FTDNA 12 Y-DNA On Sale

 

 

Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan announced this morning during the RootsTech 2013 Friday keynote address in Salt Lake that the new fixed price for their AncestryDNA autosomal test will now be $99 for both subscribers an non-subscribers alike. If you have not taken the plunge yet, now money will not be an excuse. This is the best price around for a 700,000 plus SNP autosomal DNA test.

 

In a related story FTDNA has a sale on for their 12 marker Y-DNA test, currently set at $39. IMHO don't waste the funds gents. A 12 marker testvwill not advance anything in your genealogy research other than give you an indication of your haplogroup (ethnic ancestry on your surname line only).

 

What they need to do is drop the rpice of their Family Finder DNA tet to match Ancestry. Now that would be something I would jump on.

 

Update: AncestryDNA Raw Data Download Procedures

Since I had to teach a genealogy class last night, I really didn't a chance to detail the download procedures for getting your autosomal DNA raw data from the Ancestry website (assuming you have taken the test of course). So what follows is the steps you need to follow to get your raw autosomal DNA data. Note: click on any graphic below to get a closer look.

First log in to your Ancestry account, select the DNA tab at the top of the page and go to your DNA Home Page.

On the page above click on the Manage Test Settings link next to the orange view results button.

On the Manage Test Settings page on the left hand side of that page you will see a large gray box.

 

In the box above you will see the Download your raw DNA data section. You need to click on the Get Started button

At this point you will see a box like the one below asking you to input your Ancestry password. Do that.

 

 

After you enter your password you will receive the following box from Ancestry.

 

 



You will then open up the email software you use and go to the email account you have registered at Ancestry and you will get a message with the following graphic embedded in it.

 

 

Once you receive the message above in your email hit the orange Confirm Data Download button.  This will open a new window in your browser that will display the screen below.

 

 

At this point you will hit the green Download DNA Raw Data button and it will initiate the download of your raw data file to your computer. Be sure to tell your computer were on your computer you want to place this file.

 

This file will come to you zipped. Zip is a file format used for data compression and archiving. A zip file contains one or more files that have been compressed, to reduce file size, or stored as is. The format was originally created in 1989 by Phil Katz, and was first implemented in PKWARE's PKZIP utility, as a replacement for the previous ARC compression format by Thom Henderson. The zip format is now supported by many software utilities other than PKZIP. Microsoft has included built-in zip support (under the name "compressed folders") in versions of Microsoft Windows since 1998. Apple has included built-in zip support in Mac OS X 10.3 (via BOM Archive Helper, now Archive Utility) and later. Most free operating systems have built in support for zip in similar manners to Windows and Mac OS X, while also supporting several other formats in a similar manner.

 

Once you have unzipped your results, you can then view your results. Since this ASCII text file is very large I use a free program EditPadLite to view the file. Your results will look like below in that program.

 

 

As I mentioned in my previous post right now there won't be much you can do with your raw data until third party software providers and other DNA companies jump on the band wagon an incorporate this raw data format into their systems. I have taken my data and stored it in a safe place (aka one of my thumb drives where my genealogy data and pictures are stored) until I can export my 700,000 plus SNPs into other areas for further study.

 

Ancestry has updated their information on this and they now have a file on downloading your raw data at this link: http://ancestry.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5557/kw/dna%20raw

 

There is also another page in the Ancestry Knowledge base with information on the raw data at this link http://ancestry.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/5556/kw/dna%20raw/related/1

 

If you have any questions, email at the address in the masthead and I will do my best to give you a hand.

 

AncestryDNA Autosomal Raw Results Now Available

Those of you in my class Tuesday night heard me say that I suspected some major changs were on the way in the short term for those of us who had taken Ancestry's autosomal DNA test. Yesterday afternoon I had it confirmed by a friend that today Ancestry would finally allow us to download our raw DNA test data from the website. And, in fact, minutes ago I did download Gayle and mine's results, all 700,000 plus SNPs.

So what does that mean in the short term? Not much until the software people get on board and make available interfaces and common areas were we can compare our results with our DNA cousin matches. Now that the rest of the world can see the SNPs we had tested at Ancestry, I don't feel it will be long before we all are talking about RS position numbers, chromosome #s and allele 1/2 results among friends and relatives.

Now a little background as a reminder about this DNA test. AncestryDNA’s test is an autosomal DNA test. That’s the kind of test that works across genders and helps you find cousins with whom you can exchange genealogical information to try to identify common ancestors and fill in gaps in your family tree.

Unlike YDNA, you don’t have to locate sons of sons of sons to test and only get results in the male line, and unlike mitochondrial DNA, you don’t have to locate daughters of daughters of daughters and only get results in the female line. With autosomal DNA, you can test the son of a daughter of a son against the daughter of a son of a daughter and get good results.

But unlike either of those tests — where you can get matches with people who descend from common ancestors many many generations ago — autosomal DNA pretty much punks out about 250 years in the past. While it’s possible to find matches to eighth or ninth cousins, you can only expect to find matches reliably back to the fourth or fifth cousin level.

I will have more about this tonight at the beginning of class and if you are a Tuesday night person, you are welcome to sit in the first part of the class for this how to do all this.

If you can't wait for tonight you can get the gory details on downloading your raw data at http://dna-explained.com/2013/03/21/downloading-ancestrys-autosomal-dna-raw-data-file/

CU All Soon

 

 

RootsTech to Stream Popular Lectures on Net

I mentioned in genealogy class last night that RootsTech conference will be held next week in Salt Lake City. Most of us do not get to attend this magnificent event, but you can attend some of the more popular lectures via the Internet.

RootsTech 2013 announced yesterday which of its conference sessions would be streamed online for free. The conference will broadcast 13 of its 250+ classes live at RootsTech.org, including the daily keynote speakers. The family history conference is the largest of its kind in the U.S.

"Not everyone can attend RootsTech in person," said Dan Martinez, RootsTech conference manager. "So we give them a chance to virtually attend a free sampling of some of our most popular sessions live online." Martinez added that the live webcasts in 2012 had 50,000 views during the show.

Following are the RootsTech 2013 Streaming Sessions and when and where to find them. Note that the times below are in MST. For EDT time add 3 hours.
Following are the RootsTech 2013 Streaming Sessions and when and where to find them:

Mountain Standard Time  "Best of RootsTech" Live Stream on RootsTech.org

Thursday, March 21

8:30 a.m   Keynote speakers: Dennis Brimhall, President and CEO, FamilySearch International, Syd Lieberman, Nationally Acclaimed Storyteller, Author, and Teacher, and Josh Taylor, Lead Genealogist at findmypast.com and President, Federation of Genealogical Societies

11:00 a.m. The Future of Genealogy-Thomas MacEntee and panel

1:45 p.m.   Tell It Again (Story@Home)-Kim Weitkamp

3:00 p.m.   The Genealogists Gadget Bag-Jill Ball and panel

4:15 p.m.    Finding the Obscure and Elusive: Geographic Information on the Web-James Tanner

Friday, March 22

8:30 a.m.    Keynote speakers: Jyl Pattee, Founder, Mom It Forward Media, and Tim Sullivan, President and CEO, Ancestry.com

9:45 a.m.    Researching Ancestors Online-Laura Prescott

11:00 a.m.  FamilySearch Family Tree-Ron Tanner

1:45 p.m.    Google Search... and Beyond-Dave Barney

3:00 p.m.    From Paper Piles to Digital Files-Valerie Elkins

Saturday, March 23

8:30 a.m.    Keynote speakers: David Pogue, Personal Technology Columnist, The New York Times, and Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO, MyHeritage

9:45 a.m.    Using Technology to Solve Research Problems-Karen Clifford

11:00 a.m.  Digital Storytelling: More Than Bullet Points-Denise Olson

FamilySearch Adds 18 New Collections Including Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and the United States

Included in this week's records update are 18 new collections; seven from Napoli, Italy, seven from the United States, four from Germany, and one from Netherlands. Among these collections are the United States Draper Manuscript Collection from 1740-1960 (more information can be found here), the Germany, Brandenburg, Bernau bei Berlin Jewish Records from 1688-1872, and the United States Revolutionary War Rolls from 1775-1783. See the table below for the full list of updates. Search these diverse collections and more than 3.5 billion other records for free at FamilySearch.org.
Searchable historic records are made available on FamilySearch.org through the help of thousands of volunteers from around the world. These volunteers transcribe (index) information from digital copies of handwritten records to make them easily searchable online. More volunteers are needed (particularly those who can read foreign languages) to keep pace with the large number of digital images being published online at FamilySearch.org. Learn more about volunteering to help provide free access to the world's historic genealogical records online at FamilySearch.org.

FamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources for free at FamilySearch.org or through more than 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Collection        Indexed Records  Digital Images
Germany, Brandenburg, Bernau bei Berlin, Jewish Records, 1688-1872 0 2,058
Germany, Prussia, Saxony, Various Protestant Church Records, 1594-1936 0 4,056
Germany, Westfalen, Minden, Index to Funeral Sermons, 1580-1740  0 33,073
Germany, Württemberg, Schwäbisch Hall, Probate Records, 1803-1925 0 36,814
Hungary, Civil Registration, 1895-1980     0  1,811
Italy, Napoli, Fontana, Parocchia di Santa Maria della Mercede - La Sacra, Catholic Church Records, 1641-1929         0  2,660
Italy, Napoli, Grumo Nevano, Civil Registration (Comune), 1809-1929 0  18,810
Italy, Napoli, Lacco Ameno, Parrocchia di SS. Annunziata in Santa Maria delle Grazie, Catholic Church Records, 1630-1929   0  3,193
Italy, Napoli, Marano di Napoli, Civil Registration (Comune), 1839-1929 0  18,199
Italy, Napoli, Sant'Angelo, Parocchia di San Michele Arcangelo, Catholic Church Records, 1905-1929   0  77
Italy, Napoli, Sant'Antimo, Civil Registration (Comune), 1809-1929 0  24,177
Italy, Napoli, Serrara, Parocchia di Santa Maria del Carmine, Catholic Church Records, 1659-1929
         0  2,714
Netherlands, Noord-Holland Province, Church Records, 1553-1909  0  672,330
Spain, Cádiz, Civil Registration Records, 1870-1960   0  37,980
Spain, Province of Sevilla, Municipal Records, 1903-1918  0  159,510
Ukraine, Kyiv Orthodox Consistory Church Book Duplicates, 1840-1845 520,550  146,178
U.S., California, Cemetery Transcriptions    0  17,138
U.S., Georgia, Elbert County Records, 1790-2002    0  63,290
U.S., Mississippi, Confederate Records, 1889-1942   0  2,740
U.S., Ohio, Cleveland Cemetery Interment Records, 1824-2001  346,248  10,585
U.S., Ohio, County Records, 1841-2003     0  92
U.S., Vermont, Orange County, Bradford District Estate Files, 1780-1915 0  75,694
United States, Draper Manuscript Collection, 1740-1960   0  84,177
United States, Registers of Enlistments in the U.S. Army, 1798-1914  0  41,172
United States, Remarried Widows Index to Pension Applications, 1887-1942 52,939  0
United States, Revolutionary War Pension Payment Ledgers, 1818-1872  0  8,955
United States, Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783    0  93,048
United States, Veterans Administration Pension Payment Cards, 1907-1933 852,027  0

Comparing Admixture Test Results Across Companies (otherwise known as "ethnic" breakdowns): FTDNA, AncestryDNA, 23andMe and Geno 2.0 - A Review

Ethnic ancestry results has been an ongoing discussion I've been having with some of my students since my DNA workshop I conducted late last year. I have mentioned several times in our discussions that none of the biogeographical ancestry (BGA) results from any of the major DNA testing companies are entirely accurate.

For the first time the BGA results from several major DNA testing companies are now available for one person CeCe Moore. She has posted up an interesting review of her various ethnic ancestry reports on the Your Genetic Genealogist blog.

CeCe Moore shares her ethnic ancestry reports from Family Finder, 23andMe, AncestryDNA, and Geno 2.0. If you haven't used any of these tools, this is a good way to see what the reports look like and how they might differ. Your results, of course, would be unique to you. You can see CeCe's results by clicking here.

OCLC and FamilySearch partnership will combine resources for richer genealogy research experience

DUBLIN, Ohio—OCLC and FamilySearch International, the largest genealogy organization in the world, have signed an agreement that will enrich WorldCat and FamilySearch services with data from both organizations to provide users with more resources for improved genealogy research.

Under this new partnership, OCLC will incorporate data from FamilySearch’s catalog of genealogical materials into WorldCat, and FamilySearch will use OCLC cataloging services to continue to catalog its collections in WorldCat. FamilySearch will also use the WorldCat Search API to incorporate WorldCat results into search results returned by FamilySearch genealogy services.

"We're excited to see information about FamilySearch holdings more broadly circulated, and to inform our own patrons about genealogical holdings available outside our network," said Jake Gehring, FamilySearch’s Director of Data Operations.

"This combination of genealogical and bibliographic resources will be of enormous benefit to librarians and library users as well as genealogists," said Jay Jordan, OCLC President and CEO. "OCLC and FamilySearch are organizations with similar goals—to connect people to knowledge and information through cooperation. We look forward to working with FamilySearch."

FamilySearch, historically known as the Genealogical Society of Utah, is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the discovery and preservation of family histories and stories, introducing individuals to their ancestors through the widespread access to records, and collaborating with others who share this vision.

The collections of FamilySearch include historic documents of genealogical value such as civil registration records; church records; and probate, census, land, tax and military records. The collection also contains compiled sources such as family histories, clan and lineage genealogies, oral pedigrees and local histories. FamilySearch has also been a pioneer in the use of technology and processes for image capture, digital conversion, preservation, online indexing and online access. FamilySearch has operated on OCLC’s OLIB library management system since 1996 to manage the vast metadata in its catalog.

FamilySearch offers a unique service to users around the world through its network of more than 4,600 family history centers. In each center, trained FamilySearch volunteers provide individualized help for family history patrons seeking access to records and the information they contain.
WorldCat is the world’s most comprehensive database of library materials. Updated at a rate of nearly one new record every second, WorldCat is a cooperatively-created catalog of items held in thousands of libraries worldwide, including public, academic, state and national libraries; archives; and historical societies. These libraries have cataloged their regular collections as well as many special collections—including digitized materials—devoted to local history. This makes WorldCat an indispensible tool for genealogy research.

Find more about FamilySearch or search its resources online at FamilySearch.org. More about WorldCat is on the OCLC website. Search WorldCat.org on the Web at www.worldcat.org.

About FamilySearchFamilySearch is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer-driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources for free at FamilySearch.org or through more than 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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The Family History Writing Challenge - 28 Days of Motivation, Education and Tools

"I am calling on all my fellow genealogist, family historians, beginners and advanced alike, to pledge to begin to write your family history during the month of February. Welcome to The Family History Writing Challenge," writes Lynn Palermo.

Because you have a passion to turn those dry documents into exciting stories about your ancestors. You've procrastinated too long and it's time to take up the challenge. Stop procrastinating; finally commit pen to paper or fingers to keyboard. Assemble those family facts into a format someone will want to read.

Have you been writing sporadically never finishing a story?
Have you procrastinated writing your stories for too long?
Do you need that nudge to finish your stories and finally publish?

The challenge will help you create some good consistent writing habits with support from industry professionals. Stop starting and stalling, stop procrastinating, make 2013 the year you meet head on your family history writing goals.

You will find more details on the challenge at
http://familyhistorywritingchallenge.blogspot.ca/p/challenge.html#!/p/challenge.html

I just wrote a piece on my Smith ancestral line on my family blog at
http://larry-family-history.blogspot.com/2013/01/one-of-my-smith-brick-walls-has-tumbled.html

In fact, I have written several pieces on various families on my blog. These pieces aren't Pulitzer prize winners, but heck I'm sure my family doesn't mind. They are fun to compile, a chance to show off the research I've done and write up/share some history on the lives of my ancestors. I do like the blog vehicle to present family history. If you haven't tried it, I say go for it and let me know your blog address so I can post it here on this blog.

Spring TCCC Genealogy Classes

I just talked to the college a bit ago. Looks like we have a sell out for both nights at TCCC for our Spring classes. We will be meeting in the Enloe Building Room 111 (computer lab) on both nights. I look forward to seeing you all in class this next week.

Larry

Spring Genealogy Classes at Tri County Community College

As of this morning we have one seat left in our Tuesday night class and 5 seats left on our Thursday night class for the Spring semester at Tri County Community College in Peachtree, NC.

Once these are filled, that will be it and no other class on another night will be offered. Both classes are our Genealogy and Internet class which goes into using the Internet in researching your family history. If you are interested and have not signed up yet, you can contact Lisa Long at TCCC at 837-6810 and she will help you sign up.

CU all next week when classes start.