Aug 1, 2025

The Guys are back after an extended health crisis.

News You Can Use and Share!

• MyHeritage added 540 million historical records in May and 1.25 billion records in June! Among these are 731 million records from French newspapers, part of a push to expand its vast collections of new records from non-English language resources.
• Vivid-Pix has partnered with the National Institute for Dementia Education (NIDE) and PocketRN, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to assist in caring for aging memory care patients and their caregivers.
• FamilySearch International and Michigan State University have announced an extensive expansion to MSU’s online collection, Enslaved, at https://enslaved.org/, and at FamilySearch.org. The new dataset uses the 1900 U.S. federal census records to document formerly enslaved individuals and their families. (Enslaved.org is worthy of your financial support.)
• FamilySearch added 30 million new records from eight (8) countries, including Italian civil registration records, Brazilian cemetery records, and records from the American Medical Association's deceased physicians (1864-1968).

Listener Email

• Joanne was thrilled with MyHeritage’s addition of 1926 Canada Census records of Manitoba, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. These included both of her parents!
• Judi shares that Essex County, New Jersey, newspapers are accessible at the Newark [NJ] Public Library, and that the Newark News can be searched online. (See https://www.npl.org/collections-services/charles-f-cummings-new-jersey-information-center/inventory-of-new-jersey-newspapers-on-microfilm/.)
• Ken has been researching Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) and local studies. He has used census records and military documents, and he warns that there are transcription errors (manual and mechanized) that researchers should be alert to these, and continue their personal research to locate and include the original documents whenever possible.
• Laura writes to share some issues she has had with Newspapers.com and the responses she received from the company. She discusses the need to be alerted by online companies of known problems on that they are working to resolve.
• Jana responded to Drew’s comments about Tennessee records, and she discusses that ‘missing’ individuals may have migrated to Georgia, Texas, Arkansas, and Missouri. Consider common migration patterns and check for records in other states.
• Paula is greatly concerned about shrinking genealogical societies. She is searching for resources and forums for discussions of strategies. George suggested contacting the National Genealogical Society for assistance.
• Mary is seeking advice on determining the parentage of an illegitimate ancestor. Drew offers advice about the use of DNA testing strategies.
• Lisa asks about the 1860 U.S. federal census agricultural census. Column 44 asks about molasses and its suggestions of values of the source: M for maple and S for sorghum. She has seen the value of ‘CC’ and wonders what that indicates. The Guys cannot find anything in any enumerator instructions, and they ask other listeners to share their knowledge and experience on this issue.

Drew provides a recap of his experiences at the South Carolina Genealogical Society’s Summer Workshop in Columbia in July.

Drew will be presenting at the International Jewish Genealogical Society Conference in Fort Wayne, Indiana, soon and shares some thoughts.

Please let us hear from you at genealogyguys@gmail.com with your questions and comments.