New website for Cyndi's List

Cyndi Ingle Howells has been providing great genealogy resources on Cyndi's List site for some 15 years. Now, she's launched a new website with many improvements.

Here's some of the press release:

Cyndi's List is proud to announce a newly upgraded web site. With improved navigation, a custom database, and a custom administrative interface, the upgrade means that everything will be quicker and easier for both visitors and for the site's owner and administrator, Cyndi Ingle Howells. The upgrade has been done by fusionSpan of Maryland. Their staff worked closely with Cyndi to make improvements and to implement new technology and new ideas designed specifically for Cyndi’s List and for the genealogical community.

Part of the upgrade - 20% - was made possible by donations from generous users of the site. Donors have been listed on the web site.

What's new:

• The front page of the Cyndi's List site has a rolling genealogy news feed and a link to The Cyndi’s List Daily, a daily dose of family history news as tagged in Twitter and Facebook. Start each day with the front page of Cyndi's List and read the current genealogy news stories.
• The links are now contained within a database and pages will be dynamically loaded on each visit.
• The custom database and administration interface means that maintaining the link list will be much easier for Cyndi, which ultimately benefits the user with faster and more frequent updates.
• The new interface means that the backlog of uncategorized links can be processed much faster. The goal is to get the entire backlog done by the end of this year.
• New links will be reviewed, approved, and categorized within 24-72 hours after submission by visitors.
• Updates made to Cyndi's List will be immediately available to the public.
• Previous to the upgrade, the "What's New" page and mailing list post contained only new links submitted by visitors. The new "What's New" page and e-mail will contain those, as well as links added to the site during the day by Cyndi, *and* existing links that have been updated throughout the site (new addresses, updated descriptions, etc.).
• Across the site links have been labeled with graphics as "new" or "updated" when appropriate. With the upgrade these will now be text-based notations (easily spotted in green), which means that you can search on a page for "new" or "updated" with the Edit>Find function in your web browser.
• Now sub-categories within a category heading each have their own page. And each page displays 20 links, with pagination in place to go to the next page and so on. This means there will be a lot less scrolling through long pages as in the past. Shorter pages mean faster load time in the browser as well.
• Intuitive navigation at the top of the category makes it easy to find your way to previous category headings.
• The number of links within each category/sub-category is displayed at the top right on each page.
• Each of the U.S. counties (more than 3,100) now has a designated page of its own.
• URLs (addresses) for the pages have changed so bookmarks, favorites, and links to Cyndi's List will need to be updated.
• Opportunities to shop, support, or donate are highlighted on each page.

What's the same:

• The category and sub-category names are all the same.
• Related Categories are highlighted at the top right on each category.
• The layout and format of the links are the same.
• The policies, procedures, and disclaimers for maintaining the link list are the same.
• The Cyndi's List Mailing List will still distribute a daily What's New e-mail and a daily Link Activity e-mail. However, the What’s New e-mail will contain information about all new and updated links.
• You can still follow Cyndi's List on Facebook and Twitter.
• The purpose and intent of Cyndi's List is to be a free jumping-off point for your daily genealogical research.
• Cyndi’s List remains free for everyone to use just as it has for the past 15 years.
• This is still just a one-woman show!

About CyndisList.com

CyndisList.com is the world's largest one-woman family history resource, with more than 300,000 categorized links for genealogical research. For more than 15 years Cyndi's List has helped hundreds of thousands of people with their online journey to trace their family history. The site averages 275,000 unique visitors and 5,000,000 page hits every month. Cyndi's List has won numerous awards and consistently remains one of the top genealogical portals for beginners, intermediate, and veteran researchers.

Cyndi has long been on Tracing the Tribe's "go-to" list. The upgrade will make it much easier and more relevant for both researchers and suppliers of relevant information.

Poland: MyHeritage acquisition of Bliscy.pl will help researchers

Readers searching their Polish ancestry should be delighted by the latest MyHeritage.com acquisition of Bliscy.pl from Wirtualna Polska S.A., strengthening its leadership in the family history market and expanding its international community of users.

The most popular family network on the web, MyHeritage now offers 18 million family trees, 56 million registered users and 760 million profiles in a private and secure online environment. The move added more than 500,000 Bliscy.pl users to the global MyHeritage.com family network, which now has a Polish user base of more than 2.6 million users.

Translation: Finding relatives in Poland is now easier than ever!

Tools and technologies for managing family connections online with MyHeritage.com include the free software Family Tree Builder (available also in Polish); Smart Matching™ technology to discover matches between family trees across different languages, pronunciations and spellings; and advanced facial recognition technology for automatic tagging of family photos.

The acquisition was announced this morning on TechCrunch, and here is the MyHeritage Blog post. Here's some of the official press release:

“Having established ourselves as the leading international destination for families to connect to their past and to one another – acquiring Bliscy.pl is a natural step that enriches our global family network" said Gilad Japhet, founder and CEO of MyHeritage.com. "Our service and flagship Smart Matching™ technology enjoy a network effect, providing more value as more people use them. For this reason, this acquisition delivers great value both to the Bliscy.pl users and to the users of MyHeritage.com. Our international network of users consists of millions of families with roots in Poland, who will now find it even easier to connect to long-lost relatives and discover more about their unique family histories”.

MyHeritage.com holds a formidable international registered member base of more than 56 million and offers its services in 36 languages. As a market of increasing strategic and economic importance, the acquisition reaffirms the company’s foothold in Central Europe.  As Europe’s sixth largest economy, Poland is an economic power house within Central Europe, possessing more than 40% of 500 of the region’s largest companies measured by turnover. Since the end of the communist era in 1989, Poland has demonstrated significant development potential – with a high-income economy and ranking amongst the highest GDP growth rates in the EU.

Following massive migration, the number of ethnic Poles living abroad is estimated to be some 20 million, with the largest concentrations of 10 million and 1.6 million living in the USA and Germany respectively, countries where MyHeritage.com enjoys a mass-market following. 

The acquisition of Bliscy.pl marks the third major acquisition by MyHeritage.com within the last 18 months, following the acquisition of European family network OSN GmbH and its network of 10 market-leading family sites including verwandt.de, moikrewni.pl and verwant.nl, and Dutch Family Network ZOOOF. By merging the family networks into one international platform, MyHeritage.com is building a worldwide Family Graph that has grown to more than 18 million family trees and 760 million profiles.

According to Wirtualna Polska director of business development Anna Kesicka:

“The sale of Bliscy.pl is a continuation of our strategy to focus on expanding content, a key company goal for 2011. We place high value on cooperating with companies who are an ideal fit from a strategic business perspective. As the world’s largest family network, MyHeritage.com fits the bill, providing Bliscy.pl users with vast international platform for exploring family connections and a feature rich site to help users keep in touch with their family in Poland and around the globe.”

Definitely a big plus for researchers of Polish ancestry

LOC: New preservation blog launched

The Library of Congress digital preservation program is now part of the blogosphere, according to an LOC announcement today.

Part of the potential audience for the new blog are genealogists and family history researchers:

"The audience for us to interact with is potentially vast, as we are very interested in personal digital archiving: helping individuals and families preserve their digital photographs and other digital files that document their lives."

The new blog - The Signal - authored by digital initiatives manager Bill LeFurgy, who writes in the initial post that the official program name is the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program, or NDIIPP (say N-DIP).

In 2000, Congress directed the LOC to undertake a national digital preservation program to address the large-scale challenge of digital preservation. Huge amounts of digital content were being created with no print equal, and that some content was needed to create records of the times we live in.

However, the amount of information was larger than what could made accessible. Because so much data could be lost, Congress created NDIIPP to lessen that risk.

Over the last 10 years we have built a national network of collaborative partnerships to help preserve important digital content, build new tools and develop best practices. The partnerships span different communities, including universities, federal and state government agencies and the commercial creative content industry.  This is a new approach. Libraries, archives and other memory institutions traditionally have worked separately to acquire and manage their collections. But digital is different—it calls for a new kind of capacity that is difficult for a single institution to build on its own. The only practicable way forward is collaboration: in building technical infrastructure, in sharing knowledge, in developing best practices and in assigning roles and responsibilities for stewarding digital collections.

Concerning preservation, he writes that technology is the easy part of digital preservation programs, but that social is the harder part. He talks about collaboration and the Internet, and mentions the LOC website digitalpreservation.gov which provides a rich collection of information and resources.

They have spoken to experts, list tools and services and shared global information. Future plans include looking at the spectrum of data, from large scientific databases to modest personal digital collections of documents. Interviews are planned with people from many fields.

Check out the new blog and provide feedback.

Ask an Archivist Day, June 9

Ever heard of Ask Archivists Day? On June 9, readers around the world can ask questions of worldwide archivists via Twitter.

Readers will need a Twitter account to participate, and then remember #AskArchivists, the hashtag for the event. Already have a Twitter account? Then follow @AskArchivists.

Click here for the list of participating archives in North America (some 36 and growing). This list - at the AskArchivists Blog - also offers all the Twitter addresses for those archives.

Here's how it will work: Tweet a question, including the #AskArchivists hashtag, on June 9. Point your question to any archivist participating or to one archive (by including their Twitter address, such as the US National Archives @USNatArchives. Follow @AskArchivists and look for the answer.

Read more about the event at the AskArchivists Blog (link above). [Note: Be aware that there is another Archivists blog (International Institute on Archives) mostly in French, with some posts in English.]

What questions do you want to ask?

MyHeritage.com: New FTB 5.1 version available

MyHeritage.com has just released its new Family Tree Builder 5.1 version and is also offering a limited-time 25% discount on all subscriptions.

If you've ever considered a subscription, this sounds like a good time to sign up.

Millions of people around the world are using the free Family Tree Builder to construct their family trees. According to the site, more than 21 million people have downloaded FTB, which runs in 36 languages.

Readers who have tried an older version some time ago, or have never used it, or even if they are using another software product, may wish to try the new 5.1 version. Import a GEDCOM  and other genealogy files from whatever program you are currently using and see how the new version works.

Readers who are using older versions (3.0, 4.0, 5.0) may download the new 5.1 version, and install it on top of the existing version. The update will not affect existing data, and is safe and recommended.

Download the new version for free.

Although a Mac version is not yet available, it is planned.

According to MyHeritage.com:
MyHeritage also writes that the summer special of 25% will be available only for the next few days:

Tracing the Tribe particularly likes the idea that it can now import various genealogy files, in addition to GEDCOMs.

When my old PC was smashed in moving, my hard drive files were put onto an external drive, but the programs themselves were lost. This upgrade to 5.1 has meant that all my old Family Tree Maker files - and others - could be searched for and incorporated. Tracing the Tribe likes improvements that save time and hassle.

Another reason to use more than one software program, and to keep one online in a safe and secure environment, is simply to be proactive.  We never know when we may experience serious computer problems or when a natural disaster may impact access to years of research.

Tracing the Tribe always recommends that - in addition to a software program housed on a personal computer - the information also be online in a secure and private environment, keeping it safe. At MyHeritage.com, your entire family tree can be housed on a family site as completely private as you wish, or as public as desired. Your private data will be protected, safe and accessible, no matter what happens to your personal computer at home.

The Boy Scout motto - "be prepared" - should also be the mantra of all genealogists and family history researchers.

For the next few days only, enjoy a massive 25% discount on all our subscriptions!

With a Premium subscription, you'll get:

• All Premium features of Family Tree Builder 5.1 (current and future). These include Smart Research results, Smart Match merging, all-in-one charts and interactive maps.
• Up to 2500 names and 500MB of storage for photos and documents in your family site.
• Enhanced Smart Matches.
• Priority support.

Our PremiumPlus subscription offers all the benefits of Premium listed above, plus unlimited family tree size and unlimited storage capacity for photos and documents in your family site.

What's new in version 5.1

Version 5.1 adds a technology licensed from Wholly Genes , Inc. that makes it possible for Family Tree Builder to directly import existing family tree files from other genealogy programs you may have used before, such as Family Tree Maker (FTM, FTW, FTMB), Personal Ancestral File (PAF), Legacy (FDB), The Master Genealogist (TMG) and Family Tree Legends (FTL). Good old GEDCOM files are supported and can be imported too.

If you've used any of those other programs in the past, you can now download Family Tree Builder 5.1, import your family tree and photo data easily and move up to one of the best programs available today, and build a tree of unlimited size on your computer, for free. After installing Family Tree Builder 5.1, import your existing genealogy files using "Import GEDCOM or genealogy file" in the File menu. You can browse and upload a specific family tree file, or choose to scan your computer for all genealogy files, and then select any file to import it.

The new version also incorporates many bug fixes so it is a recommended update for all users.

Family Tree Builder 5.1 includes all new features introduced in version 5.0, that you may not be enjoying yet: enhanced, better-looking family tree charts, built-in poster printing for charts, family tree consistency checker, to-do lists, better privacy controls, easy restoration of family trees from your family site, search and replace function for the entire family tree, and many other improvements and fixes. All those new features are described in detail and with screenshots, on our blog.

NY Times: Thomas MacEntee, Geneabloggers mentioned

Read an interesting story on family history resources online in the New York Times.

"Finding Family History Online," by Mickey Meece, can be read here.

The article included Ancestry, WikiTree, FamilyLink, Footnote, Tpestry, Facebook, Twitter and other sites.

Unusually, for a story dedicated to family history social networking, it did not mention MyHeritage.com.

Geneabloggers' own Thomas MacEntee was quoted:

Thomas MacEntee, a genealogy educator, writer and speaker, said the explosion of interest in genealogy was because of “an alignment of technology planets.” First came software, then the Internet and now social networks, he said.

“In the genealogy world, we have always been a social group,” said Mr. MacEntee, founder of GeneaBloggers.com, a community resource hub. “In a way, social media is a natural progression.”

...“This is a great time to be in genealogy,” said Mr. MacEntee, who became interested in the field after watching the 1977 television miniseries “Roots.”

Way to go, Thomas!

Webinar: 'Backing Up Your Data," March 23

Sorry for the late notice, but the indomitable Thomas MacEntee will present a free webinar for Legacy Family Tree on Wednesday, March 23, at 2pm ET (-5 GMT).

Have you ever experienced a data loss when it comes to your genealogy research? Not yet?

If not, have you prepared for what might happen if your hard drive fails? What if your laptop is lost or stolen?

Learn the basics of backing up all genealogy data including identifying data, common backup methods and how to use free online programs to help make sure data will always be available!

Participants will learn various methods for backing up genealogy data including many free online programs such as DropBox, Google Docs, Picasa and more.

Join webinar host Geoff Rasmussen of Legacy Family Tree and Google for Genealogists' presenter Thomas MacEntee for this 90-minute session.

Click here to register for tomorrow's webinar.

Florida: Photo Genealogist 'Sherlock Cohn' to speak March 9

Ava Cohn - AKA Sherlock Cohen - Photo Genealogist - will speak at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County on Wednesday, March 9.

The meeting begins at 12.30pm at the South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road, Delray Beach, Florida. The main program follows a brick wall session and brief business meeting. The Poland/Belarus SIG will meet from 11.30am-1215pm. Admission: JGSPBCI members, free; others, $5.

"Clued-In: Case Studies" is the name of the program, which will detail the mysteries of heirloom photos unlocked by Cohn, who brings a lifelong fascination with heirloom photographs and a multidisciplinary background to photo dating and interpretation.

Cohn holds a Theatre Arts BA (Brandeis University), and has done coursework in decorative arts, art history and costume history at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. A former marketing executive, she has been studying her family history as a hobby for more than three decades, and full time since 2005.

For directions and more information, click the JGSPBC website.

As Sherlock Cohn, the Jewish genealogy sleuth, she will demonstrate how and why it is important to mine the clues our ancestors left in their photos. Whether families came from Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Galicia, Romania, Germany or other parts of Eastern Europe or the world, whether they were Ashkenazic or Sephardic, they left very personal records of their lives in the photographs and portraits for which they sat. Analyzing Jewish family photographs presents unique challenges unlike those of any other ethnic groups.

“Sherlock” will show how accurate photo dating, photo identification, knowledge of fashion and artifact history, and matching of vital records can illuminate relatives’ lives, and help solve some of the vexing family genealogy mysteries.

Cohn has made it her mission to help as many Jewish genealogists as possible to recover the personal information that their ancestors knew when they had their portraits originally taken and as such, specializes in the period of most Jewish photographs, 1880-1960.

Przemysl: Blog, new forum

Even if you can't pronounce it, Przemysl researchers have set up a forum to compare notes and supplement resources found on JewishGen, JRI-Poland and Gesher Galicia.

Find the blog here and the forum here and see the list of topics being discussed.

The blog's title is "The Jewish Przemysl Blog - Sons and daughters of Jewish Przemysl, researching and remembering 700 years of Jewish life in our town."

The grassroots effort wil enable researchers to access context and history, while sharing information and collaboration among those with shared roots.

Participants will be able to compare notes, research and family stories. The blog is written by David Semme.

According to a report, some 55 people are aready registered for the forum, which is providing lively discussions, research breakthroughts and more.

Organizers are asking members to make suggestions as to improving he forum structure and functionality.

Go to the blog above and the forum link, click on the registration link.

Check out the new forum if your ancestors came from the town or environs.

SCGS: Free webinars, register now!

The Southern California Genealogical Society has announced the Jamboree Extension Series - a new program which will provide family history and genealogy educational webinars for globally-based genealogists.

Tracing the Tribe was happy to see that our good friend Thomas MacEntee will kick off the series on March 5, after I've returned from London!

Each session can support 1,000 attendees. The series is offered as a service to the genealogical community as part of the group's mission "to foster interest in family history and genealogy, preserve genealogical materials, and provide instruction in accepted and effective research techniques."

The original webcasts will be available to all genealogists at no charge, with archived webinars only available to SCGS members, who may view them about three days following the live session. SCGS memberships may be purchased online. Click the SCGS website for more information.

Webinars are scheduled on the first Saturday and third Wednesday of each month. Saturday sessions will be held at 10am Pacific/1pm Eastern; Wednesday sessions, 6pm Pacific/9pm Eastern.

Here are the first few sessions. See the complete webinar schedule and check for updates as new topics are added.

Saturday, March 5 - Thomas MacEntee:
Social Networking - New Horizons for Genealogists

Did you know that the over-55 crowd is the fastest growing group of Facebook users? Did you know that Twitter is not the domain of the much younger "texting" crowd but is used by an older more savvy group of people? Did you ever wonder how and if these programs, along with others such as blogs and wikis, can be used to help genealogists? Wonder no more as we explore what makes up the oft-mystifying term "social networking" and how each program is currently being used by genealogists and family historians of all ages.

Six more are scheduled from April through August, including George P Morgan (Tell Me About When You Were a Child), Lisa Louise Cooke (Getting the Scoop on Your Ancestors From Old Newspapers), Janet Hovorka (Getting Your Notes and Sources Right in Your Genealogy Software), and another four interesting topics.

The Southern California Genealogical Society's creative members are always doing something interesting, and their annual Jamboree is a don't-miss event (this year, June 10-12). Tracing the Tribe is delighted to be speaking there again this year.

Do let your friends, family and genealogy societies around the world know about the SCGS's webinar series.

London: Arrived!

This morning's London arrival provided a demonstration in the goodness of perfect strangers.

Readers know that two weeks ago Tracing the Tribe was at RootsTech. I generally keep my small roll-on stocked with essentials (camera battery and cellphone chargers, computer bag, vitamins, etc.). Everything usually works very well, except .....

Arrived at the Albuquerque airport Sunday morning, noticed my cellphone battery was low, opened the bag for the charger, and found one. However, it was the charger for my old Israeli cellphone and had likely been lurking in the case since our November move. My second thought was perhaps the correct charger was in the checked bag,

Just in case, I called my husband to see if it was somewhere in the house. He checked all the usual places it might have been used. Wasn't in the kitchen or the office. That gave me some hope for the checked suitcase, until he said, "Here it is, in the living room!"

A reasonably smooth flight from Houston landed at 6.50am - an ungodly hour. Note to travellers flying into Heathrow for the first time: Be prepared to walk MILES - this airport gets bigger every year - to get to border control and baggage claim. Electric carts never looked so good. Got through the formalities and found the car service driver, Raj.

I mentioned to him that I needed a charger. Mind you, this is at 7.30am. He found a neighborhood market that sells such things on the way into town, saying it would be much less expensive than in Kensington High Street near my hotel. He took the phone in and came back with the charger at a cost of only a few pounds. He also obtained a sim card and topped it without my having to even get out of the car. What a great guy!

Kept trying to imagine a New York City taxi or car service driver providing the same level of customer care. That image escaped me.

Later in the day, I ventured out on the high street, looking for a pay-as-you-go phone to use this week and when I return in May for the Society of Genealogists' Centenary Conference. I also checked the charger price in a shop near the hotel and it was much more expensive than at the little neighborhood store..

Found a nearby branch of one of the major UK mobile phone companies and found another great guy - Kupresh - who explained all the possible options, made some excellent practical suggestions, programmed the phone, made sure everything was working perfectly and, in general, went far out of his way with kindness and good humor to help this very jet lagged traveler. My little bag also contained a broadband USB to avoid a very expensive hotel connection.

Moral of this story: Before each trip, carefully check your roll-on for the correct chargers, cables, connectors and plugs. Today it was simple to make things right; it might have been much more expensive and/or difficult to do the same in another location.

I'm connected to the world tonight via phone and internet, thanks to two very helpful people who went far beyond the call of duty. By the way, both men knew about the "Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE" event this week.

A very good start to my London visit.

Tomorrow - in some spare time - I'll be visiting several Persian markets in the area to bring back some ingredients rare in New Mexico. Tracing the Tribe's readers familiar with Los Angeles' Westwood area with its numerous Persian shops would feel right at home on Kensington High Street with its restaurants, supermarkets and bakeries.

RootsTech: Day 2

RootsTech' day two - Friday - was perhaps even busier than opening day.

One innovation at this event was the Microsoft Playground, a large space filled with billiards and ping pong tables, Wii screens and aso offering back massages. It was very popular!

My DNA presentation - It's In Our Genes: Revealing History via Technology ( A DNA Project Case Study - was delivered to a nearly full large room. One geneablogger - Joan Miller of LuxeGen - was tweeting my talk. It is always a great pleasure to talk about our IberianAshkenaz DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA.com and explain the history behind it and how it can be used as a model for others to set up their own DNA projects. People who attended it were meeting me the rest of the day and commenting how much they enjoyed it.

Many conference attendees who are regulars at other annual events commented on the absence of FamilyTreeDNA.com at RootsTech, and wondered why they hadn't attended.

I also participated in a blogging panel, moderated by our own Thomas MacEntee, along with  A.C. Ivory (one of our youngest geneabloggers at only 23 years of age), Lisa Alzo and Pat Richley AKA Dear Myrtle. There was much discussion and many comments by the panel with questions by attendees and the hour flew by before we knew it.

Sessions at RootsTech are only 60 minutes (45 minutes presentation followed by 15 minutes of Q&A), and that time really goes fast!

Some of today's presentations included several by Steve Morse as well as:

• "Playground Rules for the Genealogy Internet Collaborative Space," with Janet Hovorka
• "Powerpoint 2010 for Presenters" (several labs), with Barbara Renick and Gena Philibert Ortega
• "Digital Images for Genealogists and Technologists," with Geoff Rasmussen
• "Names in Stone: Unique Approach to Cemetery Research," with DAvid Day and Bruce Cheney
• "Enhanced Smart Matches and Social Networking Technologies Applied to Facilitate Collaboration between Familes and Researchers," with Daniel Horowitz
• "Use Your Android Phone for Genealogy and Family History," with David Lifferth
• "Security and Disaster Recovery," with Kaeb J. Albee
• "Finding Your Family's Stories Online," with Tami Glatz
• "Genealogy Blogs: Impact and Influence in the Genealogy Commmunity," with Thomas MacEntee
• "Collaborating with Genealogists to Redesign a Digital Library," with Kathleen Murray
• "Easy Digital Newsletters," with Dear Myrtle
• "Google News and Timeline," with Dan Lynch

That's only a few of today's nearly 50 sessions.

This evening, many of us went to the Family History Library for a late night schedule, including the newest Who Do You Think You Are? segment, with Tim McGraw. 

Tracing the Tribe is not really into country music, so I'm the first to admit I barely recognized his name and didn't know much about him. I was rather impressed in that he came across as a really nice guy who was interested in his connections.

Of course, the show makes it seem so simple. Each time, one of the researchers told Tim, "I have this document for you," the audience of genealogists laughed. We all knew the number of hours it took to be able to say that one short sentence!

One researcher had connected him back eight generations, his ancestors were mentioned in George Washington's journal - GW was then only 16 and on a surveying team in the Shenandoah Valley where he met Tim's Hite family.

Although some geneabloggers have reported that Tim seemed disinterested or disengaged, our group didn't feel that way. Indeed, we felt that Tim came across as a modest person who felt very connected to his ancestors and their place in history.

We were a tired bunch when we got back to our hotel!

The general comments among attendees and geneabloggers were that we were all looking forward to RootsTech 2012, which is set for February 2-4. You might want to mark it on your calendar now!

RootsTech: Day 1

Tracing the Tribe was so busy yesterday that we couldn't manage to post this information!

The day started very early for the geneabloggers with a 7am breakfast hosted by FamilySearch.org.

After a demo on FamilySearch, the group received a first-look at the exhibitor floor.

The media hub has been active all day, with bloggers working from the stations, and interviews being conducted in glass-walled booths.

The demo hub has events scheduled all day and Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage.com announced the company's IPhone mobile app.

Tracing the Tribe sat next to One-Step guru Steve Morse during the opening keynote address by HP president Shane Robison.

Some of today's 51 sessions:

• "Interactive Genealogists," with Lisa Alzo
• "The 50 Most Popular Genealogy Web Sites (Really!)," with Kory Meyerink.
• Virtual Family RReunions: Using Online Tools to Find More Cousins Than You Know What to Do With," "with Crista Cowan.
• "Will Your Work Survive the Digital Age?" with Janet Hovorka
• "Exploring Cemetery Solutions," with Gordon Clarke (a panel discussion)
• "Software Forecast: What Geneaogists Need for the Future," with D. Josh Taylor
• "Toy Story: Electronic Tools for Genealogists," with Sandra Crowey
• "Tweet Your Ancestors: Social Media for Genealogists," with Patricia Van Skaik
• "Cool Tools to Enhance Your Online Research," with Tami Glatz
• "Social Networking for Genealogists," with Drew Smith
• "Digitally Preserving Your Family Heritage," with Barry Ewell.
• "Self-Pubishing for Genealogists and Genealogical Societies," with Thomas MacEntee
• "How Should We Handle Sources?" with Rick Laxman (an open discussion among genealogists, bloggers, vendors and website providers)

Tonight - Thursday - we are attending a special Night at the Planetarium exclusively for conference-goers. The program includes a casual dinner, star shows, 3D IMAX movies and interactive exhibits, with prizes to be awarded all evening.

It has been a busy, if tiring, very full day!

RootsTech: Blogger events on Tuesday

Today, Tracing the Tribe noted Dick Eastman, Dear Myrt, Thomas MacEntee, Drew Smith, Lisa Cooke, Renee Zamora and many more of our intrepid group.

At 3pm, the geneabloggers met across from the Library to board a bus to the huge FamilySearch microfilm distribution center here (exterior view below). [Credit: Property of Intellectual Reserve.]

Have you ever used microfilms at the FHL or your local Family History Center? Ever wondered how they got there? Geneabloggers were given a rare look into the system that processes and sends out those films after orders are received from family history centers.

The computerized system tells a crane to pick films in tubs from shelves (below left). An operator pulls the correct film from the tub via a bar code scanner, checks it against the order, and then places it in a box for shipment.

The Distribution and Print Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - its formal name - covers 1,097,419 square feet, about 19 football fields.

Some facts:

• There are more than 4,600 family history centers in 126 countries
• 725,000 microfilms (copies, not originals) are stored in the center, which can hold some 900,000 films.
• The Center processes some 255,000 microfilms annually.
• The average microfilm is 100 feet long
• If every film processed in a year were to be unwound and placed end-to-end, it would cover 4,800 miles.

Following the tour - with main tour guides David Rencher and Paul Nauta - we were taken to a five-star dinner at The Roof at the top of the century-old Joseph Smith Memorial Building, which used to be the Hotel Utah. Lovingly restored and very elegant, the facility is something to see.

If you are visiting SLC, do visit The Roof. The view from the building is wonderful, particularly at sunset!

Tomorrow morning a specia breakfast presentation begins at 7am for media and bloggers. Stay tuned for more as RootsTech opens. Expected attendance is some 2,700 individuals - quite impressive for a first edition of a new annual conference.

RootsTech: Some sessions to be online for free

As Tracing the Tribe gets ready for our trip to the new RootsTech conference in Salt Lake City, we learned that six popular sessions will be broadcast live and free on the Internet.

Global viewers can see them at RootsTech.org.

More than 2,000 attendees have registered for the new family history and technology conference which runs February 10-12.

Tracing the Tribe arrives Monday and hopes to get some research time in at the Family History Library, take an FHL tour on Tuesday, and that evening attend Daniel Horowitz's talk for the Utah Jewish Genealogical Society on researching Israel genealogical resources.

Special events for media/bloggers include a Wednesday trip to the FamilySearch microfilming facility, a dinner, a special breakfast program on Thursday and other events.

In addition to assisting Daniel Horowitz at the MyHeritage.com display, my own conference sessions include participation on the Thursday bloggers' panel - moderated by our good friend Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers.com - and on genetic genealogy (with a Jewish twist) on Friday.

The six sessions to be broadcast include some keynote speakers and a sampling of programs (times are MST - Mountain Time):
Thursday, February 10

· 8:30-9am, A World of Information, Shane Robison, chief technology officer, Hewlett Packard

· 9-9:30am, Turning Roots, Branches, Trees into Nodes, Links, Graphs, Jay L. Verkler, chief executive officer, FamilySearch International

· 3-4pm, Digitally Preserving Your Family Heritage, Barry Ewell, founder of MyGenShare.com

Friday, February 11

· 8:30-9:30am, The Changing Face of Genealogy, by Curt Witcher, manager of the Historical Genealogy Department, Allen County Public Library

· 9:45-10:45am., Cloud Computing: What is it and how it has been used to create the next familysearch.org, by Brian Pugh, senior engineer, FamilySearch International

Saturday, February 12

· 8:30-9:30am Personal Archiving and Primary Documents, Brewster Kahle, founder of the Internet Archives

· 1:45-2:45pm, Virtual Presentations Round Table and Collaborative Panel Discussion, Thomas MacEntee, professional genealogist and technology specialist

· 3-4pm, The Power of PDF: Tools for Every Genealogist , D. Josh Taylor, Director of Education and Programs at New England Historical Genealogical Society.

Broadcasting some sessions is an excellent idea, and it is fitting that this new genealogy and technology conference should make this possible.

Tracing the Tribe wishes more gen conferences would do the same, to give more people a "taste" of what they would be experiencing if they had personally attended.

Ohio: Learn about Family Tree Maker, February 6

Cleveland-area residents will learn about Family Tree Maker software at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland, on Sunday, February 6.

"Family Tree Maker - What it can and can't do for you" begins at 1.30pm, at the Park Synagogue East, 27500 Shaker Boulevard, Pepper Pike, Ohio.

Speaker John Stoika of the Cuyahoga Valley Genealogical Society is also the past president and member of the Computer Assisted Genealogy Group (CAGG)

For more information on this program and the March 28 program for beginners, click the JGS of Cleveland website.

Florida: Palm Beach JGS celebrates 20th anniversary

February will be a busy month for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County (Florida).

FamilyTreeDNA's CEO Bennett Greenspan will speak at the Sunday, February 9 membership meeting, and the JGSPBC will hold its 20th anniversary luncheon from 11.30am-3pm on Sunday, February 27, at the Renaissance Boca Raton Hotel (members, $30; others, $35).

Founding pioneer in DNA genetic genealogy, Greenspan will present "Beyond the Y-Chromosome: Tracing Your Genealogy with the Other DNA," at the membership meeting.(Fee: members, free; others, $5.)

An entrepreneur and life-long genealogy enthusiast, since elementary school, Greenspan has turned his hobby into a full-time vocation. A native Nebraskan with a BA from the University of Texas, he spent years investigating his maternal grandfather's family, which led to the 2000 founding of FamilyTreeDNA and its association with Arizona Research Labs, led by Dr.Michael Hammer, a world authority on Y-DNA genetics.

With more than 320,673 records (as of January 24, 2011), Family Tree DNA, has the largest database of its kind in the world. It is important for Jewish researchers, as it also includes the largest Jewish DNA database available for matches.

FTDNA is the largest non-medical DNA testing company in the world. It includes other cooperative ventures such as the National Geographic Society’s Genographic Project and AfricanDNA.com, and is now involved in DNATraits.com, a new medical genetic testing company.

Prior to the main event, the Ukraine SIG will meet from 11:30 am-12:15 pm. Genealogy mentors will be available after the main program. From 12.30-12.55pm, a Brick Wall session will take place; attendees are invited to submit questions in advance.

Mark your calendar: A beginners' workshop - with Phyllis Kramer - will be held Wednesday, March 9, from 9.30-11.30am, at the South County Civic Center. Registration ($15) is limited to 25 attendees; make reservations in advance.

For luncheon registration and more information on meetings and workshops, visit the JGSPBC website.

MyHeritage: SmartMatching upgrade

MyHeritage.com today announced an upgrade to its Smart Matching technology, providing family history researchers with new collaborative tools to find new relatives.

One of the important messages in the press release is that the company reinforces the concept that family trees on MyHeritage.com are safe and secure, as mutually confirmed Smart Matches will hyperlink trees - but not merge them. A tree creator (the owner) maintains complete control of his or her tree. Additionally, tree creators may always export or delete that tree. These features are not found elsewhere.

Readers who have not yet tried MyHeritage.com's Family Tree Builder software or set up an online family site may find these features a strong incentive to do so and enjoy the upgrade.

Here's the press release:

London, England & Tel Aviv, Israel – January 24, 2011 - MyHeritage.com, the most popular family network on the web, today released a major update of its flagship Smart Matching™ technology. A suite of new collaboration features significantly enhances one of the most advanced systems for automatic people discovery in the family history market, evolving Smart Matching™ into a community platform.


Smart Matching™ is a unique technology that matches between the people in a user’s family tree and more than 680 million people in 17 million other family trees on MyHeritage.com. The matching technology is sophisticated and bridges across differences in spelling, phonetics and relationships that may exist between the trees. The technology, available for free, has helped hundreds of thousands of people discover ancestors and locate long-lost relatives, reuniting families whose ties have been broken by time and fate. Several dozen of these success stories are described in interviews on the MyHeritage Blog.


The latest improvements include a complete overhaul of the presentation of Smart Matches™, and a range of new premium features for organizing and reviewing matches more efficiently.


The new Consensus Page, one of the first of its kind available to family historians, aggregates data from all Smart Matches™, presenting the big picture for each person. The Consensus lets users skip numerous one-on-one comparisons with individual family trees, and helps them fill in missing information about relatives more quickly and with more confidence. It conveniently displays a summary of the different names, birth and death dates and places, marriage info, etc., for any particular relative, indicating the number of times each piece of information has been used in other family trees. Users can then copy the most commonly used data as they see fit directly into their own family tree, complete with photos of their choice, and can also add a source citation on the copied data linking back to the original family tree.


The enhanced Smart Matching™ allows users to confirm or reject any match, and the platform distinguishes between matches that were confirmed or rejected by each respective tree owner. Users also have the ability to start discussions about matches, encouraging dialogue between researchers and family members about discoveries and the exchange of noteworthy information on mutual relatives.


“Tracing back the family history as far as possible into the past, and finding new living relatives in the present, are key drivers of the rising trend in online family history that we are witnessing”, said Gilad Japhet, Founder and CEO of MyHeritage.com.

“Our Smart Matching™ technology is instrumental in achieving these goals, by harnessing the vast collective knowledge of the 54 million registered users on MyHeritage.com. Successfully matching between family trees requires cutting-edge technology and a huge family tree data set, and MyHeritage.com has established itself as a world leader in both these areas. We’re committed to creating an environment that nurtures genealogy as a community experience – to be enjoyed and shared by the whole family. The new update adds a layer of collaboration and transforms our powerful technology into a community platform.”


Smart Matching™ works in real time as users enter new information into their trees, as well as offline for deeper and more accurate comparisons. Users are notified by email of new discoveries made by the system. They are then presented with a list of suggested Smart Matches™ for common relatives between two or more family trees – complete with matching criteria and quality scores. Matches can be viewed by individual or by matching tree. The site’s huge global reach and support of 36 languages helps users find and reunite with family members around the world more effectively. Mutually confirmed Smart Matches™ cause family trees to be hyperlinked, not merged, so that tree owners retain complete control of their tree and can always export or delete it – important qualities not available in other family history platforms.


In order to get Smart Matches™ for free, go to MyHeritage.com and start a new family tree, or import an existing tree by uploading a GEDCOM file.

Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage.com will also be speaking about the new features at upcoming conferences and local speaking dates.

Michigan: Genealogy software comparisons, February 6

Comparisons of popular genealogy software programs will be discussed at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Michigan on Sunday, February 6.

The meeting begins at 11am, at the Holocaust Memorial Center, 28123 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills. Admission: JGSMI members, free; others, $5.

IT specialist Steve Klein's presentation will be targeted to non-technical users, focusing on the most popular genealogy programs for Windows, Macintosh and the web. Each product will have a brief introduction, overview of key features, and comparison of relative strengths and weaknesses.

His interest in genealogy was sparked last year when a cousin invited him and several other family members to the MyHeritage.com website to build the family tree of their maternal grandparents. Over the year they've added ancestors, siblings, descendants and spouses, and now have 216 people listed.

Klein was a computer hobbyist in his teenage years, and parlayed his knowledge into a 25- year IT career, as a help desk support specialist, educational IT specialist, network engineer and as an IT manager. He's interrupted his professional career to pursue a BSIT degree at Lawrence Tech, and expects to graduate this summer.

Attendees are invited to submit questions in writing in advance, by February 1.

For more information about the JGSMi or directions, click here.

DNA: Revealing more Jewish roots

It's always reassuring to read that major Jewish publications are carrying stories on what Tracing the Tribe and many others already know. A case in point is the new Forward story on how DNA tests are revealing hidden Jewish roots.

The story by Elie Dolgin - "Newer DNA Tests Uncover Hidden Jewish Bloodlines" - discusses both 23andMe and FamilyTreeDNA.

It covers University of Chicago genetics doctoral student Joseph Pickrell's DNA odyssey along which revealed similar results to an Ashkenazi Jew, New York attorney Dan Vorhaus. Pickrell was raised Catholic but his results led him to ask his mother about the results.

She did some sleuthing among other relatives, revealing that:

"her father’s father — Pickrell’s maternal great-grandfather — had been raised Jewish in Poland before moving to the United States, where he married a Catholic woman and left his Jewish upbringing behind.

“It’s amusing that using genetics, I could wrestle this out of the bushes,” Pickrell said.

The story also mentioned FamilyTreeDNA.com's tests to uncover Jewish origins. Many Hispanic Americans descended from Jews forced to convert or hide their religion more than 500 years ago in Iberia. 

The story does explain 23andMe's test and why it produces those results.

A molecular anthropologist in Estonia, Richard Villems, is quoted as cautioning against jumping to conclusions based solely on DNA unless there is corroborating evidence, like Pickrell's ancestor.

Another section goes further, answering in part the question about what happens once a person discovers such a link.

Pickrell said he has no plans to start going to synagogue. And since “genes do not define the Jews,” according to Edward Reichman, an Orthodox rabbi and physician at Yeshiva University in New York, the Jewish community at large probably won’t embrace him, either. But according to Bennett Greenspan, president and CEO of Family Tree DNA, many people who learn of Semitic ancestry through DNA often end up converting to Judaism.


Elliot Dorff, a conservative rabbi and ethicist at American Jewish University in Los Angeles, welcomes these conversions. “We would really want to encourage such people to rediscover their Jewish roots,” he said. Although people who find Jewish origins through DNA are not strictly Jewish, halachically speaking, Dorff noted that many people in this situation already feel a deep-seated connection to the religion.

The comments, as always on this type of article, are always interesting and cover the spectrum of belief. One, by "Jack," reads:

Bennett Greenspan regularly presents the services of Family Tree DNA at Crypto-Jewish studies symposia. Also in attendance at these events are Hispanic Americans interested in the potential Jewish ancestry of their families. It would not be an overstatement that a Levantine genetic signal only confirms the Jewish background that many of the test subjects either already suspected or were convinced of. The DNA test is merely a confirmation, not a revelation, afterwards conversion to Judaism is a small step.

Read the complete story and all the comments at the link above.

Tracing the Tribe always recommends that those with known or suspected Jewish roots test with FamilyTreeDNA because it has the largest DNA database, which also includes the largest Jewish DNA database. Nearly all Jewish genealogists test with the company because of the large number of samples, which increases the probability of genetic matches.

There's a related 2010 Forward story covers how Rabbis and Halacha Grapple With Advances in DNA Technology:

Advances in genetic analysis and its medical applications are bringing unprecedented, if uneven, change to the world of Jewish law. Most often, the matter of genetics is considered in the context of issues on either end of life’s spectrum: those that relate to fertility and to the identification of post-mortem human remains.

“DNA analysis is gradually meandering its way through the halachic literature,” said Dr. Edward Reichman, an Orthodox rabbi and associate professor of emergency medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he is also an associate professor of bioethics and education.

“Science has opened up a huge area of research and treatment in the area of the genetic code that just didn’t exist 25 years ago. All of those developments have required authorities in Jewish law to consider what effect it has on their approach,” said Rabbi Avram Reisner, spiritual leader of Baltimore’s Congregation Chevrei Tzedek and a bioethicist who sits on the Conservative movement’s Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.

Read that complete story at the story link above.