The Genealogy Guys Podcast

While George relaxes on a cruise ship off the Pacific coast of Mexico (ok, so he's doing some genealogy lecturing on the RootsMagic 2008 cruise), Drew handles the entire podcast himself (not even assisted by the cats). News items include the Louisiana Death Records Index for 1911-1956, a new partnering between 23andMe and Ancestry.com, GenealogyFreelancers.com (a new reverse auction company), the beta launch of Footnote's Footnote Pages service, the efforts by Google to digitize newspaper archives, the appointment of former eBay executive Eric Shoup as Ancestry.com's new Vice President of Product, the acquisition of Kindo by MyHeritage, the launch of Louis Kessler's new genealogy software review site GenSoftReviews, a site for those interested in access to Pennsylvania records (PaHR-Access), and Matt Combs' new Surname Suggestion List software. Additional listener e-mail asks about the proper etiquette for following up possible DNA surname project matches, how to get episodes of the Genealogy Guys Podcast onto a Zune mp3 player, why episodes of the Genealogy Guys Podcast have changed genres from Speech to Podcast , feedback on the pronunciation of Scituate in Massachusetts, a query about genealogy software that would work with both a Windows system and an iPhone, a question about genealogy software designed to work with the new familysearch.org family trees, how a subscriber to Ancestry.ca got a database access problem resolved quickly, and some feedback about the new music used during the Genealogy Guys Podcast. Finally, Drew shares his interview with Ann Mitchell, Ancestry.com's expert on the new search facility, recorded at the recent Federation of Genealogical Societies' conference in Philly.

This week's news includes: The Association of Professional Genealogists (APG) recognized genealogists with achievement awards at the FGS Conference in Philadelphia; FGS also recognized two outstanding awards at the same conference; The Genealogy Seminar at the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, IN, is holding Military Symposium 2008 on 26 and 27 September, with speaker Marie Varrelman Melchiori, CG, CL, from NARA; the PublicProfiler site (http://www.publicprofiler.org/worldnames/Main.aspx) allows you to enter a surname and view a map showing the distribution across the world and statistics. Reader email this week includes: Loretta asks a question about the meaning of a tattoo; Sherry asks about locating older birth records in Texas and Indian Territory; Barb relates a story of how being in a particular place and time can inextricably alter your family history; and Barbara asks questions about Ancestry.com's World Archive Project. (Listen to the interview with The Generations Network's CEO, Tim Sullivan, in episode 150.) Drew interviews J. Mark Lowe, CG, at the FGS Conference. Mark is a candidate for president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS). The Guys discuss the success of their local society's recent gala 50th anniversary banquet and annual Fall Seminar with Paula Stuart-Warren, CG.

CELEBRATING OUR 150TH EPISODE! The Guys are celebrating the 150th episode of the podcast which began on 4 September 2005. Thank you for listening and sharing with all of us! This week's news includes: The Generations Network, Inc., announced that Ancestry.com has launched the World Archives Project, a global public indexing initiative to give everyone the opportunity to help preserve historical records at http://www.ancestry.com/worldarchivesproject/; Geni.com (http://www.geni.com) announced that the firm has exceeded 1 million unique visitors to the site; the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), working through the General Services Administration (GSA), has announced plans to lease a new facility in St. Louis, Missouri, to house the Military Personnel records Center, with occupancy scheduled for March 2010; Ancestry.co.uk (http://www.ancestry.co.uk/) has been chosen to host the most comprehensive historical collection of London records -- 77 million names -- covering 500 years (ca. 1500-2006) online, beginning in early 2009. The Pew Internet http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk Listener email this week includes: Randy bought a Sansa Fuse MP3 player to listen to the podcast; Amelia shared a podcast from BBC4 in England, at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/tracingyourroots.shtml; Barb shared another reason for the changing of names -- scandal (see http://www.rood.net/Gen1-2.pdf); Kay shares information about testing for Indian ancestry, and a genetic testing company called DNAPrint Genomics, Inc. (http://www.ancestrybydna.com); Sharon discovered a wonderful genealogist through a mailing list who shared huge amounts of genealogical data with her; and Barb discusses a possible paternity event in her husband's family. George reviews an excellent new book by Kevan M. Hansen, the new second edition of Map Guide to German Parish Records: Grandduchy of Baden, published by Family Roots Publishing Company.

A correction to last week's story about the death of a Confederate widow can be found in last week's show notes. The news this week includes: an update about the collapsed project to digitise the UK's GRO's Birth, Marriage, and Death records from 1837 forward; the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) will be moving its office to a new home in central Belfast; the National Archives of Australia in Canberra plans to make almost all 7 million immigration records available online in the next several years (click here to learn more); and a new genealogy social network site, Genetree, is up and running at http://www.genetree.com. This week's rich collection of listener email includes: Sharon's use of Bloglines.com to catch all of here URLs for her day's work; Valerie wrote to say she is 24 and a listener to the podcast (another young listener!); Laraine wrote to discuss her confusing marriage and birth situations for her Putnam family; Tom asked for opinions about when to prune the family tree; Betty asks about the benefits of subscribing to Genealogy.com, and The Guys ask for feedback from listeners; the Grand Traverse Genealogy Society has published a CD of cemeteries in its area at http://grandtraverseregion.com/gtags/cem_rural_flier.htm; The Guys' latest episode of Down Under: Florida is The Miltons, and George's case study titled The Milton Family Tragedy has just been published in Family Chronicle Magazine; Michael shares information about his ancestor, John K. Zacherle, a TV horror show TV host from New York who was a candidate in the 1960 presidential election (listen to an MP3 of his campaign ad at http://www.zacherle.com/President.mp3); Gus reports that his niece, Alyssa Skalski, is possibly the youngest listener to this podcast at age 14; Rich asks about the inability to upload PDF files to the Ancestry.com famiy tree; Ben Sayer provides a terrific primer at his blof site (http://MacGenealogist.com) about secrets to digitally restoring family photos and uses one of Drew's treasured family photos as an example (He uses iPhoto for Mac but there are certainly other excellent PC and Mac programs, but Ben provides an excellent overview.); Maureen discusses George's article for Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter titled The Legacy of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic ; Roger (Marathon Man) discusses multimedia file usage in Family Tree Maker; and Sean shares an intensive blog article he wrote titled 10 Essential Steps to Protecting Your Family History Data . Drew discusses the genealogical stories about Today Show hosts Meredith Vieira, Matt Lauer, and Al Roker with expert genealogist Maureen Taylor. Don't miss joining us for our 150th Episode!

This week's news includes: Alberta Martin, 93, the last widow of a Civil War veteran, died Monday, 18 August 2008, in a nursing home in Enterprise, Alabama; Footnote.com (http://www.footnote.com) has announced membership price increases effective 1 September 2008 ($11.95 per month or $69.95 annual membership); American scientists have studied 32 people who lived through the 1918 influenza pandemic and have found that antibodies in their blood still protect them against the virus; and The Genealogy Gems Podcast, hosted by Lisa Louise Cooke, celebrated its 50th episode with an interview with NPR Radio's Prairie Home Companion actor Tim Russell, and featured comments from other podcast hosts, including The Guys. This week's listener email includes: the distinction between the words immigration and emigration ; Patti opines about a family case in which mt-DNA testing might be used to refute the family myth that a female ancestor had Indian blood (and high cheekbones); more favorable comments about The Guys' newest episode of Down Under: Florida at RootsTelevision.com -- The Miltons ; the oldest family tree dates back 3,000 years in the Lichtenstein Cave near Dorste, Lower Saxony, Germany, and Y-DNA samples taken from some of the 20 skeletons there have produced a match with 2 local villagers; Rich shares an interesting way of digitizing your photos in an article by David Pogue from the New York Times (click here to access the article); Kay asks George about his Cleveland (Bradley County) Tennessee connections; in the UK, a government-sponsored contracted project with German company Siemans to scan all of the birth, marriage, and death records in the GRO has collapsed less than half way through; Sharon asks for suggestions on how to better organize and focus her research; Gus asks for suggestions for finding his grandfather's burial location in or near Virginia, Minnesota; and Jason believes that, at age 26, he may be our youngest listener, and he is interested in career opportunities in Genealogy. Drew discusses his research into an Italian immigrant and his family members, and spelling variations that he uncovered.

This episode is dedicated to our dear friend, Tom Ryder, who passed away today in Port Charlotte, Florida. This week's news includes: Ancestry.com extends its global reach to China with an exclusive partnership with the Shanghai Library - the new site is http://www.jiapu.cn; and Ancestry has also added extensive new content, including Bremen, Germany, ships and sailors databases (in German). A new episode of Down Under: Florida has been released at RootsTelevision.com, starring The Guys. Click here to go directly to the episode about The Miltons. Note: The Genealogy Guys Podcast's fans at Facebook.com got an email as soon as the new episode was released! Listener email this week included: Roger (Marathon Man) shared information about school censuses and cited a database of these from Kent County, Michigan, at http://data.wmgs.org/SchoolCensus/ with samples to view; Confederate service records are available and accessible at Footnote.com (various states are still being added); Kay shared another family story about a son who acidently shot his father; a listener asked about how to locate Web pages that have disappeared, and The Guys provided some methods, including the use of the Wayback Machine (http://www.archive.org/), a part of the fascinating Internet Archive; Richard shares a response from the Millennium Corporation about available genealogy software it produces for mobile devices; the USCIS has established a new genealogy program for obtaining immigration and naturalization records, rather than requesting them through the Freedom of Information Office - click here to go to the USCIS site; Connor has compiled an index to newspaper records and asks advice for how to disseminate the information; Laraine writes about her experiences visiting her old hometown of Marietta, Ohio, and the importance of citing sources; the Fulton County Genealogical Society has a new home for its genealogy collection in the Evergreen Community Library in Metamora, Ohio. In last week's episode, George reviewed a new book by Timothy N. Pinnick, Finding and Using African American Newspapers. Unfortunately, he included an incorrect URL for Tim Pinnick's website. It should have been http://www.blackcoalminerheritage.net. It's been corrected in last week's show notes, but please visit his site for details about the great little book. Drew discusses his new volunteer assignment as editor of the Federation of Genealogical Societies' Delegate Digest, an monthly email newsletter sent to the delegates of FGS member societies. This is a great benefit to having your society be a member of FGS. Drew also discusses CAPTCHAs (corrected spelling), the images containing letters and numbers that we all type in at Web sites to provide security from hackers. People are now working with OCR'd books to interpret problem characters and making the indexes correct.

This week's news includes: archaeologists are actively working to locate the identities of everyone interred at Fairview Cemetery, an African American cemetery in Staunton, Virginia; DNA Heritage (http://www.dnaheritage.com/) has succeeded in overcoming a patent claim in the U.K. that will allow them to continue providing genetic genealogy testing; Tribal Junction (http://www.tribaljunction.com/) has announced a new social networking and genealogy connections site; Synium Software (http://www.synium.de), makers of MacFamilyTree software, has announced the release of MobileFamilyTree, an app for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch products -- the app is $4.99 at the Apple iTunes store (http://www.itunes.com); Leister Productions (http://www.leisterpro.com/), makers of Reunion genealogy software, has announced that it is working on a version of Reunion for the iPhone and iPod Touch and, when ready, will offer it as an app in the iTunes store; Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/) and the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov) have been collaborating with a project called The Commons at http://www.flickr.com/commons/ where people can view photos, comment on them, and tag them. The Commons provides access to the LOC collection and more are being added, making this a premier destination on the web. Digital Genealogist, a terrific online e-zine, is published 6 times a year and delivered to your e-mailbox in PDF format. Both of The Guys write articles for DG and are joined by some of the greatest, most technology knowledgeable people in the genealogy community. Learn more at http://www.digitalgenealogist.com/. Our listener email this week includes: Tim Skinner, whose e-mail we read on episode #143 (7/7) concerning using Google Maps to trace ancestors' movements, wrote again to ask us to share the Web address (http://www.familytreeassistant.com) for his software, Map My Ancestors; Judy wrote to ask about the wisdom of adding digitized photos to Family Tree Maker and other programs; Michelle asked if NARA had information about substitute soldiers for both the Union and Confederate armies; Tim wrote about he availability of genealogy-specific back-up sites; Bill also wrote to tell us that FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org) has published Ohio Death Records (1905-1953) in their Record Search Pilot; Patti reports that she has been working on the Home Study Course offered by the National Genealogical Society and that, as a result of refocusing on her source citations, she has made a huge breakthrough AND has been doing the Genealogy Happy Dance; and Sharon is a new fan and asked for The Guys' recommendations for the best genealogy database software program. Joel Weintraub, an association of Steve Morse and the One Step Website, wrote to describe another technique for digitizing microfilm. View the article at Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter of 19 February and please read the comments, especially those of Joel's. George reviewed a great new book by Timothy N. Pinnick, Finding and Using African American Newspapers. George has been aggressively promoting the addition of African American newspapers and publications to libraries' and archives' collections. The John F. Germany Public Library has been trying to obtain copies of African American newspapers on microfilm and microfilm from the University of Florida's libraries in Gainesville, and has met with resistance and refusal for several years. I and other people believe that the hoarding of such materials and refusing to allow for replication (at the JFG's offered expense) is an unconscionable act that prevents the open access of information to the originating community. Tim Pinnick's book is an excellent reference for every genealogical library collection and for every African-ancestored individual who seeks to learn more about his or her ancestors' records as included in newspapers. More information and an extract of the book are available at Tim Pinnick's website at http://www.blackcoalminerheritage.com and atGregath Publishing Company at http://www.gregathcompany.com/. Congratulations, Tim, on a very fine addition to our reference resources! The Guys talked about three conferences at which you can meet one or both of them. The Federation of Genealogical Societies Conference will take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 3-6 September 2008. Online registrations end on 22 August 2008 but registrations will continue on-site at the conference. Look at http://www.fgsconference.org/rebate/ to learn about society discounts when multiple members of your society attend!The Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) will celebrate its 50th Anniversary with a full-day Fall Seminar with the fabulous Paula Stuart-Warren giving four excellent lectures. Paula is a master genealogical researcher, author, and speaker. She also will provide the dinner speech at the Gala 50th Anniversary Banquet the night before. (Seating is limited.) For more information, please visit the FGS Tampa website at http://fgstampa.org. The Florida State Genealogical Society will hold its annual conference on 14 and 15 November at the Sheraton - Orlando North in Maitland, Florida. The featured speaker is Jana Sloan Broglin, vice president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies, author, and nationally-recognized genealogical expert and speaker. Ms. Broglin will be joined by The Guys and 5 other great speakers for a wonderful two-day genealogical conference. For more information, please visit http://www.flsgs.org/. Stay tuned for The Guys' 150th episode in just a few weeks. We have some surprises for that episode!

This week's news includes: FamilySearch and Ancestry.com team up to publish new images and enhanced indexes to the U.S. federal censuses; Ancestry.com announces a number of new databases and upgraded collections; GeneTree (http://www.genetree.com) adds a Y-chromosome testing option to its site; Geni.com (http://www.geni.com) announces the addition of a new and private video-sharing option for families at its site; and Modern Genealogy president, Jeromy L. Walsh, thanks The Guys for announcing their forthcoming beta test of their new genealogy database software, and he restated the company's commitment to having users involved in developing and testing their program. Listener email this week includes: an inquiry concerning the availability of genealogy software for the Blackberry; a reminder of how to access, play, and download our previous podcasts (using the POD icon to the left of each episode's title); several emails from listeners telling George about the availability of Ohio Death Certificates (1908-1953) at the FamilySearch Labs site (http://search.labs.familysearch.org/); a discussion of a genealogy filing system by source; using an iPod shuffle (~ $40) vs. a more expensive player when mowing the lawn and listening to the podcast; and a discussion of why some stores with photocopy facilities will not copy (or allow copying) of photographs. George announces that the third episode of RootsTelevision.com's series, Down Under: Florida with The Genealogy Guys will be debuting in mid-August. In tandem with its premiere, George has written a case study, The Milton Family Tragedy, for Family Chronicle Magazine. The issue containing this article will appear on newsstands at about the same time in August. The story describes the behind-the-scenes research involved in filming the story, and it includes a couple of additional surprises. George discusses the Asus Eee PC, a small PC loaded with Windows XP, that is lightweight, fully functional, and has Wi-Fi. You can take this little gem with you almost everywhere with your entire genealogy database and all the multimedia resources. The price makes this little PC a very attractive item. Visit AsusTEK at http://usa.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=24 asus eee to locate the best place and lowest price to purchase. Drew recommends that subscribers to genealogy mailing lists be sure to use a plain text setting in their e-mail software in order to prevent strange characters appearing in their messages. He also describes his experiences in using microform equipment that scans an image for use in e-mailing or saving to a USB flash drive (instead of printing the image). Drew discusses a book he is reading: Brittania's Children: Emigration from England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales Since 1600, by Eric Richards.

This week's news includes: Abraham Lincoln's ancestry is questioned; Ancestry.com announces new databases, including WI Death Index (1959-1997), NC Death Certificates (1909-1975), TN Divorces (1800-1865), and U.S. Colored Troops Service Records (Civil War); The Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) celebrates its 50th anniversary; Modern Genealogy (http://www.moderngenealogy.com) announces a new database for Windows XP and Vista and invites people to assist as beta testers; Genlighten (http://www.genlighten.com) is building a network of people to look up and obtain copies of documents at a reasonable cost; FamilyRelatives.com (http://www.familyrelatives.com/) has added lots of new British Isles trade and court directories to its site; The National Archives (TNA) in the U.K. has completed renovations and has reorganized its facility to accommodate the addition of the Family Records Centre materials, and urges people to check out the changes at their site at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/; the National Library of Ireland (http://www.nli.ie) has unveiled a new exhibition about William Butler Yeats and a virtual tour can be viewed at their website; and Microsoft has anounced the closure of its Live Search Books project. Listener email this week includes: How does one become a doctor in 5 years or less?; using the My Maps feature of Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) to trace and map your ancestors' movements; Helen Parkhurst of the World Burial Index (http://www.worldburialindex.com) shares information about this subscription database for searching cemetery monumental inscriptions across England and elsewhere; a discussion of people listed multiple times on the census -- and an example with Amelia Earhart; tracing substitute soldiers and the men in whose stead they fought; the National Geographic Genographic Project; origins of unusual first names; how will same sex marriages change genealogy and software; and the delights of moving to broadband. There are a number of genealogy software packages for PDAs and SmartPhones that run the Palm or WindowsMobile operating systems. These allow you to load your genealogy data files on the devices and take it with you. George and Drew issue a challenge to software developers to provide the equivalent software apps (applications) for the Apple iPhone and for Blackberry devices. Natalie of Ogden, Utah, provided the following weblinks for all our listeners: Western States Marriage Record Index (abish.byui.edu/specialcollections/westernstates/search.cfm)Free Birth & Death Certificates for Arizona (genealogy.az.gov) Utah Digital Newspapers (www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/)Illinois Statewide Death Index (www.ilsos.gov/GenealogyMWeb/idphdeathsrch.html)

This week's news includes: George Washington's boyhood home is found; and new features are unveiled at MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com). Listener e-mail includes: a recap about Henri Guest Scott and the Scott family; Panoramio (http://www.panoramio.com) allows you to place photos on Google Earth and Google Maps; Laraine got a headstone for her great-grandfather and gained information from a cousin; Carolyn sought help with locating her great-grandmother and Drew addresses some possibilities; our friend Jeane sent was contacted about a family bible on eBay and, while she lost the bid, she made an invaluable connection with another researcher; JoAnne Rockower of Geni.com (http://www.geni.com) e-mailed about our time together in California; and The Guys received a great spreadsheet of past podcasts' links and will be evaluating them for use on the website. The Guys discuss the terrific Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree in Burbank. They begin with a fascinating interview with Karie Bible, our guide for a fascinating tour of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. (Look for Karie at http://www.cemeterytour.com.) And listen afterwards for what Karie does every August 23rd at 12:10 PM! Wow! Jamboree included terrific presentations, meals, and enjoyable activities. George participated in the Blogger Summit with some new and old friends. Listen to more about it. Enjoy Sharyn's terrific and enjoyable song from Jamboree. Finally, The Guys discuss changing over to FIOS, and Drew reports that HP has finally sent him the memory they owed him for his replacement tablet PC.

This week's news includes: the new Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri, opened on 21 June; Footnote.com has announced a new, popular, and forthcoming database titles; Synium Software (http://www.synium.de/products/index.html) announces the new version 5.2 of its MacFamilyTree software which includes a 3-D family tree view; Geni.com (http://www.geni.com/home) announced that it has increased its GEDCOM file support to 15,000 individuals. Listener e-mail includes: a question about the availability of a consolidated list of all of The Guys' podcast links (not available); more comments and suggestions for George, who recently switched from a PC to a Mac; Drew discusses an article in the April 2008 edition of Smithsonian Magazine titled To Catch a Thief ; forensic genealogy and author Colleen Fitzpatrick; RootsTelevision.com is seeking volunteer case coordinators for its Unclaimed Persons project. The Guys discuss the situation in which the State of California's Department of Public Health' Laboratory Field Services Office issued 13 cease-and-desist letters to biotech companies in that state performing clinical DNA testing. These are NOT related to the DNA marker tests that genealogists obtain for research purposes, and none of those testing services was included in this action. The Guys announce their new Facebook site for fans of The Genealogy Guys Podcast . Drew discusses Ahnentafels, also known as the Sosa-Stradonitz System, for genealogical numbering and reporting. There will be no podcast next week as The Guys will be in Burbank, California participating at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree.

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com announces the doubling of its digitized newspaper collection; and Genealogy Online, Inc., announces that a new online edition of Everton's Genealogical Helper will debut on July 1st, with more details available at www.everton.com. This week's listener e-mail includes: congratulations and comments for George concerning his new iMac; opinions about genealogy add-ons; and a question concerning newspapers. Drew discusses his research experiences into the Unclaimed Persons project started by RootsTelevision.com. Look for Unclaimed Persons on facebook.com for information and open cases. The Guys discuss the availability of digitized newspaper resources and how to access them.

This week's news includes: Genclass.com (http://genclass.com/) partners with Familylink.com (http://www.familylink.com/) to offer two free genealogy classes at WorldVitalRecords.com (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/); APG names Michael Melendez of Fullerton, CA, as the first recipient of the Young Professional Scholarship; Millenia Corp. announces that new Legacy Family Tree version 7.0 is now available; construction delays at the new Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, MO, postpone preservationists' tour; Moorshead Magazines, Ltd., publishers of Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, and Discovering Family History, has issued a call for old military uniform photos for a tentative book to cover the U.S. Civil War through the Mexican-American War and through World War I (no WWII) - submission details are available at http://familychronicle.com/militaryphotos.htm; Stonehenge has been found to have been a burial ground from 3,000 to 2,500 B.C.; a new genealogy centre has opened in Dinfermline, Scotland; Ancestry.co.uk has released a new database of 8.9 million free settlers to Australia; and the True Lover's Knot discussed here has been published in Real Simple magazine and online here. Listener e-mail includes: an inquiry about accessing The Guys' Down Under: Florida videos at RootsTelevision.com; the different pronunciations of Beaufort in North Carolina and South Carolina; The History of Mecklenburg County, NC by J.B. Alexander, published in 1901, has been reprinted by Clearfield Company (at http://www.genealogical.com); whether to city every source you work with, and a response from Elizabeth Shown Mills' book, Evidence Explained; Ancestry.com continues its free ethnic research training webinars series; a question about searching the LDS Family History Library catalog; a question about citing websites and using the www. in the typed address; the Algonquin Area Public Library is beginning a series of training lessons about Web 2.0 at http://community.ahml.info/bakersdozen/; and Mark Tucker, author of ThinkGenealogy.com blog (http://www.thinkgenealogy.com) is seeking feedback as to whether he should evolve his site into a community site, and invites you to visit his Mission Statement proposal and make comments. George reveals that he has just purchased an iMac and refused to migrate to Vista on his PC. The Guys talk about using different computer platforms and operating systems, and George will report back on his experience in future podcasts.

The news this week includes: a new series at RootsTelevision.com titled Unclaimed Persons which the producers hope will raise awareness of the problem of unclaimed bodies and encourage viewers to help; Ancestry.com announces a series of free Ethnic Webinars, beginning June 3rd, to help you with researching your ancestry (click here to register); vandals wreak havoc and destroying monuments in a Riverview, Florida, cemetery; and MyHeritage Research (http://www.myheritage.com/research) announces the upgrade of its unique search engine. George announces conference venues at which he and/or Drew will be appearing soon: Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree (27-29 June - http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/2008jam-index.htm with G RootsMagic Cruise (28 September to 5 October - http://www.rootsmagiccruise.com/ with G; South Orange County California Genealogical Society (18 October - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~casoccgs/ with G); and the Florida State Genealogical Society (14-15 November - http://www.flsgs.org/ with G Voices from the Past by Adelaide Ann Proctor (1825-1864). Listener e-mail includes: a new online citation tool at Zotero.com; a discussion of the availability of Ancestry.com at Family History Centers and the Family History Library; information about the Army Heritage Education Center outside Carlisle, Pennsylvania; and a problem with duplicate individuals appearing in the personal MyAncestry family tree view. Drew talks about finding a new record type: an Alcoholic Beverage Control License.

News this week includes: FamilySearch teams with FamilyLink.com to bring online the Brenner Collection of German records (1650-1875) with more than 3.5 million names and between 900,000 and 1.5 million images; and Ancestry.com announces plans for massive additions in global content and new geographical locations, including a Chinese site with Chinese Jaipu and a Spanish-language site. George shares a special Ancestry.com web page that specifically contains the list of all the NARA microfilm collections that have been digitized and indexed. The site is at http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/nara.aspx and contains a search template for searching these specific databases. There is a complete list of the databases which you can access and search individually. George recommends bookmarking this site! The Guys talk about some collaborative research they helped a friend with. It concerned identifying the names of the two casualties of the explosion of the ship, Ophir, in the port of Gibraltar on 11 November 1918. In the process, an interesting story about the explosion is discovered. The Guys discuss in detail the Brave New World of Genealogical Research that has evolved in the last several years.

This week's news includes: Geni, Inc. (http://www.geni.com) announces the new functional availability for users to upload GEDCOM files; FamilyLink.com (http://www.familylink.com) announces its partnership with FamilySearch to add new functions to the Family History Library Catalog, making it searchable by Internet search engines and allowing users to annotate entries; Footnote.com (http://www.footnote.com) announces the addition of the 1860 U.S. Federal Census to its Civil War Collection; and the Social Security Administration has released its list of the most popular baby names for 2007. Listener e-mail topics include: a family listed twice on the 1880 U.S. federal census -- in two enumeration districts; observations about the embedded player at The Genealogy Guys Podcast site; Drew discusses his findings in the 1910 and 1920 censuses for a Black Seminole family in Escambia County, Florida; and George responds to an inquiry about web sites to which photos of WWII service personnel can be uploaded and accessed by family members. George cited Dead Fred (http://www.deadfred.com), Ancestors Lost and Found (http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/ancestors/), and Honoring Our Ancestors (http://www.honoringourancestors.com/library_orphan.html). George shares news about three web sites of interest to listeners: Cyndi's List has a new page of Free Stuff at http://www.cyndislist.com/freestuff.htm that includes forms, free databases, software and more.The Scottish Screen Archive at http://ssa.nls.uk is Scotland's moving images collection with more than 100 years of Scottish history and culture on film and video.The Roscommon Historical Research site at http://www.roscommonhistory.ie has a great deal of genealogical material. Also check http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com. The Guys share a poem and encourage any responses by listeners as to its origins. The Guys discuss how they have used PowerPoint to create a presentation for a memorial service. The process can be used for heritage presentations, family reunions, anniversary celebrations, and many other genealogical projects.

This week's news includes: the Vatican has issued a letter instructing all dioceses not to give any information to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, due to concerns about the Mormons' practice of posthumous rebaptism; a new Midwest Genealogy Center (see http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/genlh/mgc.htm) will open in Independence, Missouri, on 21 June 2008 with the largest collection of genealogical materials in the U.S.; DNA links have been found from the ancient iceman found in British Columbia in 1999 to at least 17 living people; an American couple touring in Germany visited a gasthaus in Binningen and were introduced to a relative -- a man who looked exactly like the husband. The men shared the same great-great grandfather. Listen e-mail included: loss of HeritageQuest Online in the Satellite Beach, Florida, library; a thank you for our discussions of the Mozy (http://mozy.com/) computer backup facility; Catholic parish family books (Familienbuecher) in Germany; suggestions for locating information about Black Seminole people (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Seminoles and Seminole a listener asks for help when his own DNA and that of his family members disagrees; teaching genealogy to and for kids; the occupation of vanman is defined; and the origins of the surname Turtle are discussed. [Drew referred to the book, A Dictionary of English Surnames: The Standard Guide to English Surnames by P.H. Reaney and R.M. Wilson, published by OxforndUniversity Press in 1995.] George discusses the practical use of DNA in conjunction with genealogy, archeology, and geography in the research of the Lost Colony Center for Science and Research (http://www.lost-colony.com/). The Lost Colony was the second settlement on Roanoke Island on the Outer Banks of what is now North Carolina. It began in 1587 and it was there that Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World, was born on 18 August 1587. When the relief ships finally returned from England in 1590, the settlement was deserted, and a single word -- Croaton -- was carved into a post of the fort. Croaton was the name of one of the local Indian tribes. One suggestion is that the settlers were assimilated into one or more of the three tribes. The DNA testing and analysis being done by the Lost Colony Center for Science and Research is seeking to validate or refute this hypothesis, and the project is infinitely interesting.

News this week includees: Geni.com (http://www.geni.com/) announces new features, including a family timeline, posted links, send gifts, and the family Forest; Progeny Software offers its Charting Companion software to produce great-looking charts in color and with photos -- click here for more information; and the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, is presenting a Military Symposium 2008 on September 26 locating the physical address for a rural postal box in 1935; more about the downloadable PDF file at http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com about what to do with the results of your genealogy test; Catholic priest's census records; findings in old address books; another look at Chicago Public Radio's March 14th podcast about the kidnapping of Bobby Dunbar; an article titled To Catch a Thief at Smithsonian.com (click here to the exact location) tells how Civil war buffs got onto the trail of stolen documents; and Drew discusses uninterruptable power supply (UPS) units.

In the News, The Guys review two new publications: Hookers, Crooks, and Kooks by Jana Sloan Broglin, and Kisses from a Distance by Raff Ellis. A baby's tombstone from 1894 is discovered on a houseboat in Charleston, SC. George responds to a request about deed platting software: DeedMapper from Direct Line Software (http://www.directlinesoftware.com) sells for $99.00, while a free online deed platting tool is available for use at http://www.genealogytools.net. Drew follows up regarding the use of a final 'e' at the end of some surnames, such as Greene. Chicago Public Radio's series, This American Life, has an interesting episode from 14 March 2008 titled The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar available as a podcast at http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1234. It is a terrific story! Drew talks about the term countryman and its origins. He then discusses ordnance maps and their use. George suggests copying online obituaries from newspapers and from funeral homes' Web sites and from their online guest books. The Guys end the show with a discussion of church directories and church bulletins.

This week's news includes the following: Ancestry.com launches the Drouin Collection of 29 million French-Canadian names from, ultimately to include 37M names by mid-2008; Ancestry.com also launched the Former Colonial Dependencies Slave Register Collection, 1812-1834; RootsMagic has extended the early Bird Registration for this year's genealogy cruise to April 30th (see http://www.RootsMagicCruise.com); Wholly Genes has announced its genealogy cruise line-up (see http://www.WhollyGenes.com/cruise.htm); the My Genealogy toolbar is free and helpful for those researching their UK ancestors, and is at http://www.usefultoolbars.co.uk; and the National History Show will be held May 2-4, 2008, in Olympia, London, UK (see http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.co.uk for information and tickets.) The Genealogy Guys appear in their second episode of Down Under: Florida at RootsTelevision.com. Click here to see the new feature about famed Ringling Brothers circus performers, The Flying Zacchinis. You'll love it! Listeners share lots of great information, including: Catholic: Under the Hood videocast about the Sicily-Rome Cemetery, resting place of WWII soldiers; print labels for your family heritage CDs and DVDs using Light Scribe software and disks (http://www.lightscribe.com/); search the Web site for the funeral home that recently handled arrangements for an individual -- they often have more detailed obituaries than the newspapers, guest books, and even photographs; a suggested reference for understanding land records and land platting is E. Wade Hone's book, Land and Property Research in the United States (Ancestry Publishing); The Guys offer tips for breaking through brick walls; and George responds to a request about his research on his great-uncle, Brisco Washington Holder. George reviews and recommends three books: Capturing Memories: Your family Story in Photographs by Maureen A. Taylor (Ancestry Publishing: 2007) Bibliographic Checklist of African American Newspapers by Barbara K. Henritze (Genealogical Publishing Co./Clearfield Company: 1995 and Reprinted 2008) Bad Baby Names by Michael Sherrod and Mathew Raybeck. (Ancestry Publishing: 2008)

Drew addresses proving relationships using mitochondrial DNA. He then discusses two genealogical books on the subject of DNA. They are: DNA the National Genealogical Society has announced the appointment of Pamela K. Boyer, CG, CGL, its Education and Publications Director; and WorldVitalRecords.com (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com) has added 300 new databases from the Godfrey Memorial Library and will add 300 more each week this month. Listener e-mail includes discussions concerning: âThe Vision of Britainâ system holds the full text of three 19th century gazetteers at http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/index.jsp; LDS Family History Center personnel can provide expert advice to you before you reach the point of hiring a professional researcher; a listener asks for opinions about the National Genealogical Societyâs online course, âIntroduction to Genealogyâ; genealogy of U.S. presidential candidates is a topic of worldwide discussions; another recommendation is made for creating CDs/DVDs of family history information; the recessive gene responsible for red hair is declining and is expected to be obsolete by 2100; Arphax Publishing Company publishes excellent quality family maps by state and county, and can be found at http://www.arphax.com; and additional information about District of Columbia records is offered.

This weekâs news includes: NBC has purchased rights to create an American version of the popular BBC reality series, Who Do You Think You Are?; NARA recently announced the availability of nearly 9 million WWII U.S. Army enlistment records at its Web site, but be aware that there were many records that could not be scanned â and the collection is therefore incomplete; Sen. John McCainâs new book, Hard Call, indicates his descent from Scottish heroic warrior Robert the Bruce, but the claim has been termed âbaloneyâ in the British press by professional genealogists; Jacksonville Public Library in Florida has begun an âASK a Librarianâ online chat service; I.R.I,S., Inc., (at http://www.irislink.com) has two new portable scanners of note. Listener e-mail topics this week include: Genealogical Publishing Companyâs new CD by Michael Hait, titled The Family History Research Toolkit, has PDF format forms into which you can type information or use the forms for transcription purposes ($19.95 USD); a discussion of professional research services and researchers (Board for Certification of Genealogists at http://www.bcgcertification.org/ and the Association of Professional Genealogists at http://www.apgen.org/ and the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists at http://www.icapgen.org/) are three resources); missing census images at Ancestry.com were reported through the online Help facility and will be handled; a question about searching databases that are added to sites incrementally, and not wasting your time doing the same searches on the same data; an early pilot of the LDSâ online databases is available at http://search.labs.familysearch.org; use of Googleâs My Map feature to create maps of cemeteries and other locations in a specific area; scanning photos using Googleâs Picasa feature; Washington, DC, records storage repositories for that jurisdiction; and issues concerning placing oneâs genealogical data online.

In this weekâs news: NARA (http://www.archives.gov) posts free passenger lists online, including Russian, Italian, and German lists to east coast ports; 1871 England and Wales census images are now complete on British Origins (http://www.britishorigins.com); The Generations Network, Inc. (http://www.tgn.com), parent of Ancestry.com, RootsWeb, Genealogy.com, and other entities, announced that they will move RootsWeb onto the Ancestry.com domain, using http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com, and that there should be no changes to the online experience of users â and that RootsWeb will continue to be free; and WorldVitalRecords.com (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com) now has over 1 billion names at its site. The Guys respond to many listener e-mail topics: the correct pronunciation of Haaretz, the largest newspaper in Israel which is beginning a new start-up genealogy social network, is âHah-AH-retzâ, which is Hebrew for âThe Land.â; university databases and the possibility of accessing them remotely; missing census page images at Ancestry.com for Decatur County, Indiana; the availability of the 1846 Slaterâs Commercial Directory of Ireland at http://failteromhat.com/slater.htm. The Guys continue discussing listener e-mail about DNA and Drew continues his discussion of the topic to try to educate us all.

George delivers a lot of news this week: the New England Historic and Genealogical Society (http://www.newenglandancestors..org) has received a large gift of photographs from the family of Thaxter Spencer, including an unknown 1888 photo of Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan; the Library of Congressâs digital preservation program has a new e-mail newsletter and you can subscribe by clicking here; NARA is soliciting comments from the public by 9 April 2008 regarding a proposal to enter into a non-exclusive agreement with The Generations Network, Inc., owners of Ancestry.com, to digitize and expand access to record holdings in NARAâs custody (see http://www.archives.gov/comment/tgn-preamble.html); Dublinâs Glasnevin Cemeteryâs registers are about to be placed on the Internet, and more information is available at http://www.cigo.ie; Genealogical Publishing Company (http://www.genealogical.com) has partnered with FamilyLink.com, Inc. (http://www.familylink.com) to make their databases available on WorldVitalRecords.com (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com); Haaretx, Inc. (http://www.haaretz.com/) announced with Famillion (http://www.famillion.com) the launch of a new genealogy and social network search engine aimed at connecting the Jewish people worldwide; MyGreatBigFamily.com (http://www.mygreatbigfamily.com) launches enhanced social networking websites for families; GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com) has added the first 20 Hispanic newspaper titles for 4 states to its online historic newspaper collection, covering the period from 1855 to 1956, and will add many more, ultimately covering the period 1808 to 1980; an ID thief is caught and imprisoned in New Zealand for fraud in the theft of thousands of dollars in student loans for deceased children whose birth certificates he had obtained. The Guys read and respond to listener e-mail on many topics: George misread the URL for the multimedia presentation software called Passage Express (which should be http://www.passageexpress.com); a listener and the Web Marketing Director of NewspaperArchive.com provided information about and a free trial of their site at http://www.newspaperarchive.com; information is shared about the HP MediaSmart Server for compact file backups and extensive hard drive installation; a free site to convert files into other formats is available at http://www.youconvertit.com); the True Loverâs Knot will be featured in the May issue of Real Simple magazine (http://www.realsimple.com); Newberry Library in Chicago is working on a project to document and then digitize all state and county boundary changes in its Atlas of Historic County Boundaries Project (AHCBP) and has 23 states available online at http://www.newberry.org/ahcbp/; a listener shared the image of an 1880 census Enumeratorâs Daily Report to Census Office form that he purchases on eBay; and one listener shared information about her ancestry and, in particular, shared her related photos that she has uploaded to the Shutterfly photograph file sharing site at http://www.shutterfly.com. The Guys continued with listener e-mail on the subject of genealogical DNA testing and will continue next week again with another descriptive discussion.

This week's news includes: condolences to the family of Chuck Knuthson, a great genealogical speaker, researcher, and former board member of FGS, GSG, and other organizations; Halvor Moorshead, head of Moorshead Magazines [Family Chronicle, History Magazine, Internet Genealogy, and the new Discovering Family History] is retiring and has sold the company to staff members Ed Zapletal and Rick Cree. Listener e-mail includes: Greek genealogical research links are available at Cyndi's List (at http://www.cyndislist.com/greece.html) and at Kimberly Powell's column at About.com (at http://genealogy.about.com/od/greece); a request for help reading an occupation on a 1920 census schedule for Flint, Michigan, draws a unanimous opinion from The Guys [Quarry]; thanks for suggestions for recording an interview with a mother who transcribed contents of a now-lost Bible; an explanation of the source for information used by a census enumerator to complete a mortality schedule in the 1880 census; and a true life story of backing up one's data. Drew describes and discusses Mark Tucker's brilliant Genealogy Research Process map and textual description at http://www.ThinkGenealogy.com. It is derived from concepts of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and by Elizabeth Shown Mills, expert on the genealogical proof standard and author of Evidence Explained, the new and definitive book concerning citation of genealogical evidence. Drew discusses the use of dictionaries to locate the definitions of older, more obscure terms found in historical and genealogical documents. The example he cites is the term, Fresno, a piece of equipment once used for scraping road surfaces. The Guys discuss databases for historical newspapers and more recent (ca. 1980 to present) newspapers. The companies discussed are LexisNexis (the Nexis portion); NewsBank's America's Genealogy Bank database; and ProQuest. Newspaper databases may be available through your local public library and/or your local college or university library. Drew discovered that sometimes the newspapers available in a database inside the library are greater in number than when you access the database remotely from outside the library. This can be due to differences in licensing contracts. George encourages listeners to check out all the databases available through their libraries.

This week's news includes: Congratulations to Matt Wright who becomes editorial director at FamilyLink.com; a recap of a USA Today report of 18 February about states unsealing adoption records and opening original birth records to adoptees; passenger lists of persons leaving the U.K. for the U.S., Canada, and Australia during the 1940s are available at Ancestors Onboard at http://www.ancestorsonboard.com; the National History Show will be held on 2-4 May 2008 in the Grand Hall, Olympia, London, and tickets can be booked at http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.co.uk. Listener e-mail includes more kudoes for The Guys' Down Under video at RootsTelevision.com; Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps at the New York Public Library at (accessible now only at the NYPL), as well as digital maps and photographs in their digital gallery at http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/; a number of video options for creating heritage DVDs and slideshows using Apple Macintoshes and PCs have been suggested in various price ranges: PowerPoint to Slideshow: http://www.download.com/Microsoft-HTML-Slideshow-Wizard/3000-12511_4-10758686.html12 Screencasting Tools for Creating Video Tutorials (suggested by Drew) at http://mashable.com/2008/02/21/screencasting-video-tutorials/Adobe products at http://www.adobe.comApple products at http://www.apple.com The Guys spend the remainder of the show discussing the intricacies of U.S. copyright laws and fair use standards. Definitely worth a listen!

George reports on the genealogy news this week: Julia M. Case, beloved genealogist and author at RootsWeb has died; Moorshead Magazines has begun a new magazine called Discovering Family History for beginning genealogists and those who want a refresher, and a premier online issue is available for free at http://www.discoveringfamilyhistory.com; and other stories. The Guys share listener e-mail including: places for locating French records; safety of publishing family trees on the Internet; validating the contents of a lost family Bible; responses to the topic of how to avoid genealogy burnout; and they share feedback on their new Down Under: Tampa series at RootsTelevision.com.

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com has added a huge collection of African-American records with the Freedmen's Marriage Records and the Southern Claims Commission Collection at Ancestry.com; the 1911 Irish Census is beginning to be made available at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie, and the 1862 Dublin City Street Directory is now online at http://www.libraryireland.com/Dublin-Street-Directory-1862/Home.php; and a new book by Terry Reigel titled A Primer for The Master Genealogist is now available from Wholly Genes Software. The Guys discuss news about DNA, including: One Embryo from Three Parents in a case where mitochondrial disease has been corrected with a third personâs mitochondrial DNA; and an intriguing finding by scientist Hans Eiberg in Norway about blue-eyed persons and their common forebear 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Genealogy Guys make their television debut today at Roots Television in a new series, Down Under: Florida. The series is not unlike PBSâ History Detectives in that they investigate persons in the past whose cemetery markers and stories have piqued their interest. Check out the first of their new online television programs. The Guys describe for listener (and now viewer!) Donna in Hawaii the production process. Listener e-mail includes: discussion of Horry and Marion Counties in SC; comments about the genealogical value of address books; and more. The Guys talk about climatic changes and their effects on our ancestors, including the influence on their migrations and settlements.

This weekâs news includes: the funeral for Gordon B. Hinckley, 97, in Salt Lake City on 2 Feb. Mr. Hinckley was the president of the LDS church since 1995; FamilyLin.com, Inc. (http://www.familylink.com) launches their World Collection containing more than 1.5 billion names from 35 countries; and beginning this week, George will be writing a weekly column for Eastmanâs Online Genealogy Newsletter (http://blog.eogn.com/). Drew discusses search strategies for researching common surnames, such as his own â Smith. The Guys discuss ways to avoid âGenealogy Burnout.â And finally, Drew discusses the value of his parentsâ address book in extending his research.

This weekâs news items include: James LeVoy Sorenson, renowned medical device inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist died on 20 January 2008 at 86 â his companies list includes the non-profit Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation which provides DNA testing; Genealogical.com has launched a new blog at http://GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com; a wiki is available for users of FamilySearch and the LDS Family History Centers, at http://www.familysearchwiki.org. The Guys respond to listener e-mail, including: genealogy software questions about DNA information and the GEDCOM 5.5 format standard; a site for sharing serialized family history information, with a sample at http://wwar1.blogspot.com; a suggestion to visit the extensive Genealogy and Family History Links Library at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~genealogylinks/; Bryan Mawerâs Sugar Refiners and Sugarbakers website at http://home.clara.net/mawer/intro.html about the sugar industry, primarily in the UK (16th-20th centuries); and a question about when shipsâ crew were included on manifests (and other forms), including information about INS requirements â at http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/maritime/great-lakes-crew-lists.html. Drew and George discuss the explosion of social networking sites for genealogists and some of the issues regarding choosing one or more to use. The list includes: Geni.com (http://www.geni.com/), Famillion (http://www.famillion.com), Ancestry.com (http://www.geni.com/), OneGreatFamily.com (http://www.onegreatfamily.com), FamilyTreeDNA.com (http://www.familytreedna.com/), MyHeritage.com (http://www.myheritage.com/), 23AndMe (https://www.23andme.com/), MyHeritage.com (http://www.myheritage.com/), ItsOurTree.com (http://www.itsourtree.com/ and available in multiple languages), Amiglia.com (http://www.amiglia.com), Kindo.com (http://kindo.com/), and TreeX.com (http://treex.com/tree/). Others include KinCafe (http://www.kincafe.com/), FamilyLink (http://www.familylink.com/ - formerly WorldVitalRecords.com), OurStory.com (http://www.ourstory.com/), WeRelate (http://www.werelate.org), and Famiva (http://www.famiva.com/). Drew has revived his personal blog with a new name, Internet domain, and a new look. The blog, called Rootsmithing, can be found at http://rootsmithing.com.