Blog Content
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World War One in the News
Dec 21
Yes, it was in all the newspapers of the time – The Great War, the war to end all wars. Now through the Library of Congress, they have coverage from newspapers from the beginning to well past the post-war efforts. It begins with June 29, 1914, with articles focusing on the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and continues into th...
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MyHeritage Changed its Data Upload Policy
Dec 20
MyHeritage announced that it has changed its DNA upload policy. As of December 16, 2018, MyHeritage users can upload their raw DNA data from other testing services for free and still receive all DNA Matches for free. Unlocking extra features for uploaded DNA data will cost an extra fee. MyHeritage points out that uploading your DNA from a diffe...
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The Third Eye Kiss
Dec 19
You have all had that experience, a nice kiss on your forehead by a family member, either as a greeting, act of kindness or goodbye. But did you know about its history? It is referred to as 'the third eye kiss' placed just above a person's eyebrows in the center of the forehead. It can be much more intimate because you are reaching out to the very...
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Colonial Christmas Customs
Dec 18
How far back does your family tree go? It is possible that you may have identified ancestors who lived in the thirteen colonies. The way your ancestors celebrated Christmas is likely different than how your family celebrates it today. In eighteenth century colonial Virginia, people celebrated Christmas by going to church. Later, they had a grea...
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Finding a Female Ancestor’s Maiden Name
Dec 17
Not an easy task sometimes … locating a female's maiden name. It can be hard enough when a female was solely referred to by her husband's name (Mrs. Harry E. Wilson) – not given name even provided. So to assist in the search for a maiden name (her birth surname), here are a few suggestions: Check her death certificate, her husband's d...
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Scandalized Dances of the 1910s
Dec 15
One thinks the dances of the 1990s to the present have been a bit outrageous but there was a time in the early 1910s when a whole series of dances spread across the nation. Some considered more scandalous than the dancing of the Roaring Twenties. In the 1910s, a long-forgotten dance craze known as 'animal dances' were very popular. These dances em...
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Lost of Christmas Letters
Dec 13
With the various social media available (email, Facebook, etc), the long-time tradition of writing and sending Holiday letters telling of the family events for the last year will soon be just a memory and ancient history to others. For future family historians, they will not have for traditional annual letters which could fill in missing informati...
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Genealogy Data Helps Researchers Track Rare Disease
Dec 13
A Canadian team of researchers used genealogical data from Quebec to retrace the history of a rare recessive disease using a computational approach for inferring rare allele transmission history. The disease is called chronic atrial and intestinal dysrhythmia (CAID). It was traced back to Quebec founder families. The researchers were from McGill...
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Family History Vignettes
Dec 11
A 'vignette' is a short story, description, account, or episode. It is generally between 800 and 1,000 words in length. The word 'vignette' comes from the French word “vigne”, which means “little vine”. In a vignette, one would express a certain moment, mood, aspect, setting, character, or object. Most of all, it should be short, but descri...
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MyHeritage Introduces the Family Discovery Kit
Dec 11
MyHeritage has introduced the MyHeritage Family Discovery Kit. It is brought to MyHeritage in partnership with Project Life by Becky Higgins. Use the MyHeritage Family Discovery Kit to capture your family's unique story. The MyHeritage Family Discovery Kit involves more than DNA. It is aimed at family historians who want to record their family'...
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One Photo Story
Dec 9
Be ready for the Christmas season with relatives by locating one or two special vintage photos of a family member who would be present with the rest of the family during the holiday. It might be your Mom, a great uncle, a cousin, or an older brother. Find a special older photo of that person, more of a casual and candid shot, doing anything. In fa...
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Facial Recognition of Civil War Military
Dec 7
You might have a photo of an ancestor who served during the American Civil War taken years after they served in the 1860s. Wouldn't it be great to locate a photo of that ancestor in his uniform? It does cross-referencing to serve up a slate of possible matches and names. You need to try 'Civil War Photo Sleuth' whose purpose is to rediscover the l...
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ClinGen Receives Recognition from FDA
Dec 7
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has formerly recognized the ClinGen database that contains information about genes, genetic variants, and their relationship to disease. This is the first time the FDA has done so. This FDA recognition will facilitate genetic test developers. The FDA's purpose is to drive the efficient development of novel ...
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Swastika in Your Family History?
Dec 5
You would never want to find your ancestor was a supporter of Nazi Party and their symbol of the swastika. The world knows the terror of the 1930s-1940s of the German Nazi Party and the fear of seeing a swastika brought. Even today, that swastika still represents those supporting the values of the Nazi Party. In 1925, Adolf Hitler in his writings o...
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23andMe Works Toward Improving Diversity in Genetic Research
Dec 5
23andMe has put in effort toward improving diversity in its genetic research. This includes their Global Genetics Project and their Populations Collaborations Program. The goal is not only to help diversify 23andMe's research database, but also to drive inclusion of understudied populations. 23andMe points out that currently, more than 90 percen...
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The study of birth, marriage and death records to discover family relatives. more »
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