Jan 23, 2024

News You Can Use and Share!

• Don’t miss the opportunity to win a free MyHeritage DNA Kit. Listen to the MyHeritage ad later in this episode for details on submitting your entry to our raffle.
• MyHeritage recapped their activities in 2023:
  • 4M DNA kits in their database
  • 9M faces tagged with Photo Tagger
  • 700M historical records added in 366 new collections
  • 320M new Family Tree profiles added
  • 4M MyHeritage and Reimagine mobile app downloaded
  • 19M new Theories of Family Relativity™
  • New AI tools added: PhotoDater™, AI Record Finder™, and AI Biographer™
  • 3M photo dates estimated with PhotoDater
  • 26M photos uploaded
  • 2,112 webinars on Legacy Family Tree Webinars
  • 605 articles added to the MyHeritage Wiki
• George recaps MyHeritage’s Historical Record Collections added in December 2023.
• Drew recaps FamilySearch’s 2023 highlights.
• FamilySearch announced the historic release of the 1931 Census of Canada.
• Drew shares what to expect from FamilySearch in 2024.

DNA Segment

Our popular DNA Segment returns with expert Diahan Southard and Drew Smith in conversation about 23andMe.

Listener Email

• Mike writes about genealogy podcasts and the lack of references made to the newspaper research site, Old Fulton New York Postcards website at https://www.fultonhistory.com/ for a collection of New York newspapers and postcard images, and Advantage Archives at https://www.advantagearchives.com/.
• Sheila writes concerning how to get a “long photo” (30” long x 6” high) scanned and then how to locate software to tag each person’s face with their name. The Guys suggest obtaining advice from archivists at university archives and special collections, and state/provincial/national archives, to find out who offer large scanning jobs services.
• Julie writes to discuss her and her daughter’s interesting DNA matches (and non-matches) with another individual on different websites.
• Dennis’s 40 years of collecting data in Germany and Ireland was entered into Family Tree Maker and uploaded to Ancestry. The data seems to have disappeared and he asks for suggestions. He also seeks suggestions about how he and his sisters can/should format the family history they are planning to compile.
• Laurie writes to ask about the possibility of a researcher being able to bulk-download data from databases such as Ancestry for a specific county.
• Diana writes to advise us that there is a law in New York state requiring that each county have a county historian to help preserve and promote the history of that county. They can guide you to resources and other organizations. There is a website at https://www.aphnys.gov where you can identify and contact these people.
• Judy asks for advice and recommendations about sorting potential ancestors who share the same name in a specific area at the same time.
• Tom has inherited family photos, slides, and negatives from his mother. He is seeking information about scanners to effectively digitize these things. George suggests the Kodak Slide N Scan with a 5” color LCD screen which scans to an SD or SDHS card.

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