Genealogy Connection #086 - Jarrett Ross, the GeneaVlogger

The Guys are celebrating 20 YEARS of the podcast! News You Can Use and Share! MyHeritage is making a landmark move to Whole Genome Sequencing for its at-home DNA test. See https://blog.myheritage.com/2025/10/myheritage-upgrades-its-dna-tests-to-whole-genome-sequencing/ for more details. MyHeritage has released a major update to its Theory of Family Relativity with 103 million new theories. MyHeritage announced that the 1921 England & Wales Census is now available to search online. MyHeritage has added 95 million marriage records extracted from newspapers using advanced AI on MyHeritage. Legacy Family Tree Webinars has expanded to offer a new series of webinars in Spanish. Newspapers.com and Gannett Co., Inc., are partnering to make hundreds of newspapers available online. [Gannett Co., Inc. has just rebranded as USA Today Co.] FamilySearch added 21 million new records in October and 18 million new records in November. Listener Email Hal Barker writes to encourage people to use the Korean War Project website (https://www.koreanwar.org/) for research on military ancestors and family members involved in this conflict. Julia writes to inquire about organizing a genealogy society project about the Roe Institute. Drew recommends Trello as a preferred project management software package. WikiTree will conduct a WikiTree Challenge in which volunteers will deep-dive into George's family tree and hope to break down some walls with new information. You can watch the Kickoff Meeting at 12:00 PM (Eastern Time) at https://wikitree.zoom.us/j/83430757286, and you'll want to watch George's results Reveal on 17 December 2025 at 8:00 PM (Eastern Time) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2Ea6XxZFRY. You can see Drew's WikiTree Challenge videos at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDAtp16w5pU (starting at the 31 minute 18 second mark) and the reveal at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lmu1Lc-fVM. Registration for RootsTech 2026 is now open at https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/registration. Drew discusses his work with MyHeritage's Theory of Relativity matches. Please let us hear from you at [email protected] with your questions and comments.

The Guys are celebrating 20 YEARS of the podcast! News You Can Use and Share RootsMagic has released RootsMagic 11, with a cleaner interface, better searching, the ability to create and save AI prompts with the AI Prompt Builder, and more powerful reporting. MyHeritage added 94 million historical records in July and 135 million records in August! MyHeritage has added 11 new creative effects to its LiveMemoryTM image navigator. The Jewish Board at http://JewishBoard.org announced the launch of two free genealogy databases: National Desertion Bureau Card Catalog (1911-1935) at https://150yearsofcare.org/ndb-database/, and the United Hebrew Charities of New York Recipients & Donors (1869-1877) at https://150yearsofcare.org/uhc-recipients/. The Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center and Vivid-Pix have partnered to host an all-day conference on 3 October 2025 from 9 AM to 4 PM in the ACPL Main Library Theater. Its focus is on working with elder care organizations to enrich the lives of dementia patients and their caregivers. FamilySearch added 5 million new records from twelve (12) countries. Listener Email Laura writes to share a very successful newspaper research story. Tom writes to tell us about The Stories Behind the Stars project for which he volunteers. It documents the stories of the military personnel who served and sacrificed their lives during WWII. Christine wrote about Drew's discussion of County Laois in Ireland. The Guys discuss the use of FamilySearch's Full Text Search facility and how it can open new, previously unindexed document collections at the site. Both George and Drew share examples of great finds using the Full Text Search. Drew shares where he will be presenting in September and October of 2025. These include: A webinar for the Puget Sound Chapter of the APG on 22 September. Live at the Cleveland Public Library Genealogy Day on 4 October. Live at the Lakeland (FL) Public Library on 11 October. Check these organizations' websites for details. Please let us hear from you at [email protected] with your questions and comments.

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 [email protected] with your questions and comments.

News You Can Use and Share! MyHeritage added 235 million historical records in February and 794 million historical records in March. MyHeritage released a new DNA facility named Ancient Origins, with which you can trace your origins back 10,000 years. MyHeritage introduced Cousin Finder. MyHeritage has published United States World War II Draft Registrations, 1940-1947. FamilySearch has added free historical records from 32 countries in April. FamilySearch has introduced the new FamilySearch Catalog. American Ancestors will open its new Family Heritage Experience on 25 April 2025 at its facility in Boston, Massachusetts. Listener Email Tom discussed records obtained from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri. He addresses how to obtain copies of all pages of the personnel file. Nancy asks for suggestions for naming computer files for women's records. Michael Fagan has developed a tool to print large family tree posters. The tool is free at https://faganm.com/diagram/. Laura wrote about using French spoliation claims in learning more about her ancestors. Julie bought a used Flip-Pal scanner, but it did not come with the stitching software to reconstitute the area images. George suggested visiting https://flip-pal.com/support/. Karen has read in Drew's Organize Your Genealogy book about using Evernote software. Drew assures her that Evernote is still a valuable tool. Ashley wrote to share more about the U.S. Federal Census and the 1880 Agricultural Census Schedule for North Carolina. She suggests additional places to locate images and indices that otherwise have not been digitized and added at FamilySearch, MyHeritage, and Ancestry. Gonzolo wants information about importing an old Family Tree Maker software file (.ftw) and generating a GEDCOM file. Drew suggested using RootsMagic Essentials software to do this. Nancy writes about having located a birth record for a woman in 1909 on which the birth certificate states that it was a single birth. However, the 1910 census lists two daughters of the age to have been born in 1909. How can you reconcile this? Donna is seeking help in locating a death record for Susan Godfrey and marriage records. Drew provides a recap of his time at RootsTech. Drew will be presenting at the Ohio Genealogical Society Spring Conference in Sandusky, Ohio, from 30 April to 3 May 2025. Please let us hear from you at [email protected] with your questions and comments.

News You Can Use and Share! MyHeritage added 1.2 billion historical records in January. MyHeritage released Ethnicity Estimate v2.5, the long-awaited ethnicity model, including 79 different ethnicities Listener Email Tom asks if there are reference materials for using AI in genealogical and historical research. (Not YouTube) Pam is searching for immigration and naturalization records for a couple who arrived ca. 1893 and wants to know if other resources are available to help locate those records. George recommends the Stephen P. Morse One-Step pages at stevemorse.org for U.S. ships' passenger lists and the Library and Archives Canada website at library-archives.canada.ca/eng/ and look for the collection of Immigration Records at library-archives.canada.ca/eng/collection/research-help/genealogy-family-history/immigration/Pages/immigration.aspx. Tom is seeking ships' passenger lists for ancestors who came to the U.S. or Canada in 1879-1880. George suggests the same records he recommends to Pam above. Jean Daniel in France provides us a fascinating update on his research into his 4x grandfather, Blaise Farny. Anne wrote to follow up on research into Calvin and Rhoda Reed. She discusses Cayuga County, New York, and places that she has used for different records resources. Tom discusses his research into the USS Trigger en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Trigger_(SS-564)). He has been using AI tools, including ChatGPT (https://chatgpt.com/), Perplexity (https://www.perplexity.ai/), and Claude AI (ttps://claude.ai/). Drew will be presenting at RootsTech 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 6-8 March. Registration for RootsTech is open for on-site attendance and virtual sessions. Visit www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/ for details. Please let us hear from you at [email protected] with your questions and comments.

The Guys wish everyone a Happy New Year! George gives a shout-out to Ed Brown for his continued support for the podcast! News You Can Use and Share The Genealogy Guys issued a press release announcing the discontinuation of the Genealogy Guys Learn subscription educational website effective 1 January 2025. The Guys have partnered with Legacy Family Tree Webinars to migrate their video content to Legacy over time. MyHeritage has announced the suspension of services in Russia due to Russian regulations concerning hosting personal data on its web service. MyHeritage recapped its growth in 2024 with impressive statistics. MyHeritage announced the completion of images and indexes for 15 collections of newspaper names and stories at OldNews.com. This is an addition of 11.6 billion records. Legacy Family Tree Webinars, a subsidiary of MyHeritage, announced that registration is now open for 2025. FamilySearch added free historical record collections in December 2024 from 49 countries. FamilySearch has announced its plans for 2025. Listener Email Several people responded on the subject of genealogy-based trips to Ireland, similar to those that Irish expert Donna M. Moughty offered. We share their suggestions. Brian also responds to the question of whether there is a genealogy podcast that shares people's stories of family history research. Christina asks whether it is worthwhile to upgrade from RootsMagic 9 to RootsMagic 10, and The Guys respond. In addition to Brian, Kamai responded to a previous podcast's query about podcasts specifically related to family histories. Crista Cowan, known as The Barefoot Genealogist, has a podcast called Stories That Live in Us at https://www.cristacowan.com/stories-that-live-in-us-podcast. Kenith is searching for Calvin Reed, his wife Rhoda (?), and their daughter, Eliza Ruth Reed, Ohio. If you have information or research suggestions, please email The Guys. George is working on a family book and sought the 1880 U.S. Federal Census Agricultural Schedules for Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. It highlights the critical absence of Agricultural Schedules, Manufacturing Schedules, Mortality Schedules, some Slave Schedules (1850 and 1860), and the unique 7-page 1880 Federal Census' Defective, Delinquent, and Dependent Schedules. These documents all enhance the context of our ancestors' lives and provide insights into the communities and potentially new resource clues. The originals of many of these documents were returned to individual states, and have found their way into state archives, state libraries, county courthouses, and other places. George wants the sites like MyHeritage, Ancestry, FamilySearch, Findmypast, and others to actively renew their research to locate, digitize, and index these census documents before they are completely lost. Drew will be speaking at the Genealogical Society of Kendall County, Texas, on Saturday, 15 February 2025. See https://gskctx.org/ for details. Drew will also be presenting in person at RootsTech 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah, on 6-8 March 2025. Registration for RootsTech is open for on-site attendance and virtual sessions.Visit https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/ for details. Please let us hear from you at [email protected] with your questions and comments.

Drew's guest is Jarrett Ross, the GeneaVlogger. Jarred has been producing hundreds of YouTube videos about genealogy for the past 7 years. You'll learn how Jarred started with genealogy and video production, and a lot about the history of Sephardic Jews. You can find out more about Jarrett's videos at https://www.youtube.com/@GeneaVlogger

Drew's guest is Brian Rhineheart, owner of CivilWarRecords.com, a service that retrieves military-related records from the National Archives in Washington, DC. In this episode, Drew and Brian discuss the various types of military-related records available either online or only in physical form, and how genealogists can learn more about their ancestors' military connections prior to requesting records.  Brian also offers listeners a code ("connection") valid from the original posting date of this episode for two weeks, good for a discount on his record retrieval service. 

For all who celebrate it, the Guys wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! News You Can Use and Share! MyHeritage has introduced LiveMemoryTM, a new facility to animate entire photographs. It runs from an app on your phone and is currently free. Ancestry announces its project to index and digitize Korean War-era military records housed at NARA. Vivid-Pix announces it will expand Alzheimer's Research by donating 5% of sales through 3 December 2024. FamilySearch celebrates 130 years of family discovery! Listener Email Brian asks whether there is a genealogy podcast that shares people's stories of family history research. Julie asks if there is a user guide/book discussing how to effectively research at MyHeritage. George has contacted Daniel Horowitz at MyHeritage for information. Stay tuned! Peggy expands on requesting U.S. military records from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri, and what is available there. Anne suggests seeking information about WWII military service information in newspapers published near the basic training camps and through local libraries' scrapbooks and vertical files. With Donna Moughty retiring from leading Irish genealogy research trips, Judy asks whether other people might be conducting such trips. Kevin comments about natural disasters and how they impacted our ancestors. He cites his paternal great-grandfather who was born 3 days after the Johnstown Flood in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on 31 May 1889. Mike writes a follow-up about German immigration, discussed in Episode #429, and shares his research about his German ancestor. He also cites the sinking of the PS General Slocum on 15 June 1904 and its impact on the immigrant German community of Kleindeutchland in Manhattan, New York. Michael comments on annulments and the lack of divorce records, and about circumstances that might make such records non-existent. Book Review Drew reviews Nathan Dylan Goodwin's newest book, The Hollywood Strangler, the third installment of the Venator Series. Drew also comments on how he has just submitted his final assignment to Nathan for the pilot genealogy mystery writing online course. Please let us hear from you at [email protected] with your questions and comments.

The Guys have been on a hiatus because of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and the damage in Florida. News You Can Use and Share! David Rencher, Chief Genealogy Officer at FamilySearch, received the Italian Heraldic Genealogical Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award. MyHeritage has given its Inbox a fresh new look. MyHeritage added 56 million new records in September 2004. MyHeritage has updated its Theory of Family Relativity facility by 40%. Ancestry has launched its largest update to DNA matches. Findmypast has added large numbers of Cornwall baptisms, marriages, and burials. RootsTech 2025 registration Is now open and an early bird discount registration rate is available through 31 October 2024. Listener Email Kelly asks for suggestions to locate marriage annulment records. Kristina has located her grandfather's WWII draft registration card and wants to know how to proceed to obtain his service records. Jean shares a website, "A Guide to Interpreting Passenger List Annotations" at the JewishGen website. Drew discusses the WikiTree Symposium online on 1-3 November 2024. He will be presenting a talk about Copyright and Plagiarism. Schedule. Please let us hear from you at [email protected] with your questions and comments.