Terms of Service Change This morning the news went out in the genealogy community that Gedmatch has changed its policy: "EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, ALL DNA KITS HAVE BEEN SET TO BE OPTED-OUT OF MATCHING BY LAW ENFORCEMENT. WITHIN THE NEXT FEW DAYS, WE WILL PROVIDE A MEANS FOR THE PERSON WHO UPLOADED A KIT TO OPT-IN… Continue reading Gedmatch, Major Change for Law Enforcement Matching
One of my favorite yearly genealogy events is the Genealogy Jamboree held in Burbank, California, near the end of May. This year is the 50th year for the conference, and the seventh year for the genetic genealogy day. Online streaming options are available for the main conference and the DNA day. The DNA day lectures,… Continue reading Genealogy Jamboree 2019, DNA Streaming
Last month Ancestry made available an update to the DNA match website. Info about that update is here: New AncestryDNA Match Page. I had a number of critiques about that update. Thankfully some of those issues have been addressed in an update this week. The overall match page is the same. The changes are on the… Continue reading Revamped AncestryDNA Match Pages
Today is DNA day, and DNA is in the news again. This article from the New York Times looks back on the year since the Golden State Killer arrest was announced. Sooner or Later Your Cousin’s DNA Is Going to Solve a Murder This article is a good overview of developments in the field. And… Continue reading NYTimes Article “Sooner or Later Your Cousin’s DNA Is Going to Solve a Murder”
The NGS annual conference gathers some of the most talented genealogy lecturers for a wonderful educational experience. As in recent years, the organizers are offering packages to stream a subset of the lectures online. The packages include, either of two sets of five lectures or a set of ten. Some people who attended the conference… Continue reading Register to LiveStream 2019 NGS Conference Lectures
Not all sources are equal. When my third grader started researching a project for school this year, she hadn't learned much at school about getting information from trusted sources, like encyclopedias. She was apt to blindly trust anything on the web. In genealogy, often first we learn to cite our sources and then we learn… Continue reading Truth and Fiction
From New York State Historic Newspapers: The NYS Historic Newspapers project provides free online access to a wide range of newspapers chosen to reflect New York's unique history. To search the entire collection, use the Search Tab. Or, click on a county to search or browse geographically. I suggest that you use the option to… Continue reading New York State Historic Newspapers
Recently the genealogical community has been upset by FamilyTreeDNA changing its terms of service, without alerting its customers, to allow law enforcement searches. The company is now encouraging transfers to its database to catch criminals. The Atlantic and other news outlets have been writing about this new strategy: A DNA Company Wants You to Help… Continue reading FamilyTreeDNA Encouraging Transfers to Catch Criminals
The Gedmatch admixture tools can seem a little mysterious. Many of the big genealogy websites like Ancestry and 23andMe have come a long way in their admixture, or ethnicity, estimates, adding more and more people to their sample populations and attempting to identify an origin in a country or even a region of a country. … Continue reading Gedmatch Admixture Tools
Genealogists should interview their relatives to learn more about the past. Terry Gross is a professional interviewer for NPR's Fresh Air. Recently she was interviewed by The New York Times. The article How to Talk to People, According to Terry Gross includes tips about interviewing and general conversation. I wish it were longer, but it is… Continue reading Insight from Interviewer Terry Gross
