Mar 23
23andMe is known for its direct-to-consumer DNA test kits. Celmatix is a company that focuses on diagnosis and treatment of infertility. Together, these two companies hope to improve fertility outcomes. 23andMe points out that infertility affects a large portion of the population. It is estimated that one in eight couples in the United States...
Mar 22
For the first time, scientists in London have been granted permission to edit the genomes of human embryos for research purposes. This comes after some groups have asked for a global ban on the technique that the scientists may use. How will this affect future generations of your family? An organization in the UK called Human Fertilization and...
Mar 21
For decades the only methods to communicate were with letters or talking face-to-face. A very popular method came in the 1890s and continued into the 1900s through 1930s. It was to send unusual, funny, romantic, scenic postcards. They were inexpensive, lovely to receive and keep. This was the method young couples communicated before there was ema...
Mar 21
You probably won't have to dig too far back into your family history to discover that some of your ancestors were born outside of the United States. You might already know what countries some of them originated from. Your ancestors were immigrants. Around the year 1000, a small number of Vikings came to what would later be called The United Stat...
Mar 19
AncestorCloud is a new community and social marketplace for family discovery. This genealogy website not only connects you with professional genealogists to help with your research, but also a community of other family historians in over 52 countries who are available to lend a helping hand. Community researchers can pick up records, take local p...
Mar 18
How does your family eat dinner? Does everyone gather at the kitchen or dining room table and turn off their smartphones? Do you all grab a plate and sit in front of the TV? The way that families have eaten dinner has changed over time. NPR points out previous to the late 18th century, families did not eat dinner together. The reason has a lot t...
Mar 17
Everyone is a tad Irish on St. Patrick's Day. This long standing traditional celebration and religious event is from the Irish "Day of the Festival of Patrick." It is recognized as an official national holiday in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Canadian provinces of Newfoundland and Labrador. Many traditions go along with the celebra...
Mar 16
Your DNA can reveal a lot about yourself. Genealogists use direct-to-consumer DNA test kits to find out more about their heritage. Other types of DNA testing can tell a person whether or not he or she carries a mutated gene that increases the risk of developing a certain disease. A DNA “typo” ended up leading Sonia Vallbh to the White House....
Mar 15
From Colin Woodard in his book "American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America" he sees that America is “our continent’s famed mobility has been reinforcing, not dissolving, regional differences, as people increasingly sort themselves into like-minded communities.” Woodard breaks the nation into 11...
Mar 15
Timelines can be very useful for genealogists who want to get a “big picture” of how their genealogy research goes together. Unfortunately, unless you have a gigantic whiteboard on your wall, and time to make frequent updates to it, a timeline may be extremely difficult to put together. There are several websites that can help you to create a...
Mar 14
There are plenty of genealogy websites on the internet. But, which ones are the best? Here are a few of the best genealogy websites of 2015. Every year, Family Tree Magazine puts together an extensive list of the very best genealogy websites and blogs. They have released a list of the 100 Best Websites for Genealogy in 2015. (The 2016 list w...
Mar 13
If you have managed to get a rough idea of when you ancestors arrived in America, you just might be able to view the passenger list, handwritten by ship officials, with that ancestor listed. It can reveal some interesting information, especially the spelling of the ancestor's name. True, there can still be errors in the spelling but seeing ...
Mar 11
All the females on your family tree have a maiden name (their birth surname). For those who married and took their husband's name, it can be a challenge to learn that maiden name. Once you do know the maiden name, it becomes much easier to locate additional information on that female ancestor. So some places to assist in your quest to find...
Mar 11
If you have any type of collection of family photos, history, documents, journals, letters, vital records or written family history, you will want to see that your surviving family knows your wishes as to what happens to those items. If you have a family member who has already requested to take over those records and photos after your death...
Mar 10
March is Irish-American heritage month, which makes it a good time for genealogists to find out what they can learn about their Irish ancestors. An easy way to get started on that research is to make use of online genealogy resources that contain Irish records. MyHeritage has a blog post with tips for tracing your Irish ancestry. It is a good ...