All Day Virtual Seminar - Discovering New Paths with Thomas MacEntee

 

Explore innovative and practical tools to enhance your family history research. Whether you're just starting your journey or have years of experience, these dynamic sessions will inspire you. 

Join us from the comfort of your home, or if you already have plans for August 16, the sessions will be recorded and available for you to watch later. You won't want to miss this opportunity. 

When: August 16, 2025 - Zoom room opens at 8:30 am, and the first session starts at 9 am CT

Register: On or before August 2, 2025 -  Members $40 Non-Members $60

                Beginning August 3, 2025 - Members $55 and Non-Members $65

We have a membership special - $45 for a membership that covers through September 30, 2026. With this, you can save $20 on this seminar and next year's seminar, in addition to getting access to handouts and recordings of our Saturday Monthly Seminars. 

Sessions:

Creating An Ancestor Sketch - Face it: most genealogists never get around to publishing that family history book based on their genealogy research. How about a different approach: producing short 3-5 page "sketches" about an ancestor? You'll learn how to include a cover, photos, facts, family stories, source citations and more! And guess what, once you get a few of these ancestor sketches done, you can compile them together for one big book!

Translating, Transcribing and Summarizing Documents With AI - Learn how to harness the power of artificial intelligence to assist in translating, transcribing, and summarizing a variety of genealogical records. A handwritten baptismal record from the 1800s? No problem. A faded newspaper obituary? No problem. We'll cover the AI platforms as well as how to craft a solid prompt to get you the results you need. 

Internet Archive: A Gold Mine for Genealogists - The Internet Archive (www.archive.org) is a free, on-line repository rich with genealogy source documents including census images and e-books. 

Managing the Genealogy Data Monster - It is so easy to let large amounts of data involved with genealogy overwhelm you - to the point that family history research is no longer fun! Learn how to tackle the three main problem areas of genealogy data: research data, project data and file data so you can put the fun back in your research!

Speaker: Thomas MacEntee is a Baby Boomer guy with a love of punk rock music but also art history who somehow "fell" into the technology industry almost 40 years ago, and then left a lucrative IT career to pursue his love of family history and genealogy. Technology and historical research are opposites, but "tech people" like Thomas are needed to guide today's genealogists through the maze of options so they can deploy the best apps and devices to break down research brick walls. Thomas MacEntee: author, educator, advocate, entrepreneur, and that "genealogy guy" who helps you accomplish your family history goals. 

 

June Genealogy News

Chronicling America

 The Library of Congress is upgrading its search engine and interface for Chronicling America. The official change is scheduled for August 4, 2025.

Old Maps of Ireland

The first detailed land survey on a national scale was in Ireland in the mid-17th Century. Here is a link to a blog article from IrelandXO about maps. 

Reddit

Reddit is a kind of message board. Messages are posted in interest-based forums called subreddits. The genealogy subreddits are:

r/Genealogy

r/AncestryDNA

r/AskHistorians

r/Translator

Here is a link to an article about using Reddit. 

New York Genealogical and Biographical Society - Report on Tracing Immigrants to New York City

NYG&B has published a report of sources available to research immigrants to New York City held in their collection and at the New York Public Library. We might not be able to visit to take advantage of these items but could possibly find them in a library nearby. Here is a link to the report. 

Lunch at Chocolate Angel - June 17, 2025

 

Join Genealogy Friends Members and Enthusiasts for Lunch!

When: June 17, 2025 at 11:30 am ct

Where: Chocolate Angel in High Street Antique Mall, 800 Central Expressway, Plano, TX

Cost: $20 - Pick from a limited menu. Drinks & dessert are not included. 

RSVP to dining@genealogyfriends.org

DNA Day Specials

DNA Day was Friday, April 25. Many DNA related companies are offering specials on their products, here are a few:

Your DNA Guide - Offers expire on April 30th

YourDNAGuide Book and Workbook have been updated to include information about Ancestry ProTools Shared Matches on sale 20% off.

Genealogy Solves It! Use coupon code GSIDNA to take 20% off on-demand forensic investigative genetic genealogy experience.  

Here is a link to their blog post with more information. 

Ancestry DNA Ask Me Anything with Crista Cowan - here is the link to the replay. 

FamilyTreeDNA Test Kits Sale - Offer expires April 30th. Here is a link.

Legacy Family Tree Webinars 50% Off - Offer expires April 30th. New members only $25 for annual membership use code Spring25 at checkout. Link to website. 

Membership Special

Our normal individual membership year from October 1st through September 30th is $30. If you join or renew after April 1st, we have a special deal available—$45 for membership from April 1 to September 30, 2026. 

Members can access handouts and recordings for the Saturday Seminars and attend our August All-Day Seminar at a discounted rate. 

More information is available on the Membership Page on our website. 

Volunteer Opportunities - We Need Your Help!

Genealogy Friends is an all-volunteer organization that depends on our members' help to keep the society running. We need to fill these positions:

Treasurer: Accounts for income and expenses for the society using Quicken, PayPal, and the bank website. Procedures are documented. You will be trained on the procedures and technology. If you can reconcile your checking account, you can do this. Duties can be done monthly and take about 30-45 minutes. More work will require extra time in Sept/Oct for Membership Renewals and August for the All-Day Seminar. 

Blog - Posting on the Genealogy Friends News on Blogger, including the calendar, summary of Roundtable and DNA Group meeting content, current events in Genealogy, and other items of interest. Training material and help with content are available. Tim required 1-2 hours per week. 

Photographer - Take pictures at in-person Gen Friends events and upload them to Google Drive to be posted on the website. 

Fold3 War of 1812 Pension File Update

 Fold3 Content Update:

In the past three months over 3,000 War of 1812 Pension files have been digitized. Most of the surnames begin with S and T. Link to their Blog Post.

Genealogy News

Enjoy FREE ACCESS to 96 million+ Civil War records through April 14, 2025, at Fold3. To see a full list of the records in the featured collections, please click here.

The 6th Annual 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon is April 3-4, 2025. This FREE event is hosted by Legacy Family Trees and My Heritage. Click here to explore the full schedule and register for free.

Tales & Trails, the 2025 NGS Family History Conference, is being held May 23-26, 2025, in Louisville, KY. Visit the National Genealogical Society website for registration and event information.

Registration is still open for most of the virtual (June 22-27) and in-person (July 13-18) courses being offered during the GRIP Genealogy Institute. Check the webpage for more details. 

6th Annual 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon!

The 6th Annual 24-Hour Genealogy Webinar Marathon, hosted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars and MyHeritage, is coming to a screen near you on April 3–4, 2025! The marathon kicks off on Thursday, April 3 at 4 P.M. Central (U.S.) and runs straight through to Friday, April 4 at 4 P.M. Central — that's 24 hours of nonstop learning, inspiration, and discovery.

This is a fantastic opportunity to learn from a powerhouse lineup of genealogy experts and educators from around the globe. Whether you're looking to dive deeper into DNA, break through brick walls, use AI for research, or explore your family's origins, there's something here for every genealogist — from beginner to pro.

Every session is completely free to attend live, but spots are limited per session, so be sure to register early to save your seat! Explore the full schedule and register now at: https://familytreewebinars.com/24-marathon/.

Texas Czech Genealogical Society Event

Texas Czech Genealogical Society (TCGS) will have a speaker event April 12, 2025.

 CZECH FAMILY ORIGINS

103 Hwy. Texas 21 W. Caldwell, TX 77836

Speakers: T.J. Slansky - "Researching the Opava and Brno Archives in the Czech Republic"
Tomas Pansky - "Czech Republic "Unplugged"
Clint Williams - "Discovering Your Czech Roots Through Oral Histories"

8:00 AM - Registration & Morning Refreshments 

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM - Speakers, Catered Lunch, Czech Gift Shop, Silent Auction

PLEASE REGISTER IN ADVANCE: 

Postmarked on/before 04/01/25 TCGS Members-$40; Non-Members-$45

Postmarked After 04/01/25 TCGS Members-$45; Non-Members-$50; At the door (All) - $60

Registration fee INCLUDES catered lunch; kolaches, coffee & orange juice 

Detailed information and registration forms are on the TCGS website at https://www.txczgs.org under “Events” https://txczgs.org/eventListings.php?nm=38.

TCGS is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization.

Websites to Explore

Connecticut State Library - New Haven County Court Records

https://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/archives/uncoveringnewhaven/main

This website offers information and links to websites, books, digitized records, etc., for diverse subjects including New Haven, Black and Indigenous History, Women's History, Colonial and National History, and Connecticut Courts. Be sure to check out their Blog, which is currently highlighting cases involving women in honor of Women's History Month.

Kilbourn Public Library - Wisconsin Dells/Lake Delton

https://kilbournpublic.advantage-preservation.com/

Part of the Community History Archive, this free searchable website provides links to digitized copies of newspapers local to the Wisconsin Dells area of Wisconsin. I found detailed obituaries including immigration information for siblings and cousins of some of my direct line ancestors living in other parts of Wisconsin, new information providing clues for additional research. Lots of community news, too.

Cousin Finder - No DNA Needed

Cousin Finder is a useful new genealogy feature unique to MyHeritage that uses the power of family tree matches to find members of MyHeritage who are your blood relatives — cousins — with whom you share common ancestors. Cousin Finder™ then lets you easily get in touch with them so you can collaborate and gain new insights about your shared ancestors and family history.

Think of Cousin Finder™ as a new way to find DNA Matches, but without a DNA test. The MyHeritage members that Cousin Finder™ reveals may be relatives you already knew about, but you didn’t know they use MyHeritage, and in many cases, they might be new relatives you’ve never heard of before. Unlike DNA Matches, Cousin Finder™ shows precisely how you are related to each relative. With Cousin Finder™, growing multiple branches of your family tree further has never been easier. Read more about Cousin Finder in the blog post.

Genealogy News

♦  Now through March 24th, Ancestry is offering 6 month memberships for 1/2 off! Take advantage of their Spring Sale here.

♦  Irish roots? MyHeritage is offering free access to their Irish record collection through March 18th. Details at the MyHeritage blog.

♦  St Patrick's sale on Irish books at Genalogical.com. Save 20% now through March 20th. Details here.

♦  Free webinar - Germany's Shifting Map: What It Means For Your Research - presented by Katherine Schober of Germanology Unlocked. Three dates to choose from: March 18th, 19th, or 20th. Register for free now.

♦  Check out Fishwrap, the official blog of Newpapers.com, for information about the 2.5 million pages of Irish newspapers recently added to their archive. 

♦  A new genealogical resource book titled San Agustín de Laredo Baptisms, 1823-1845, Laredo, Texas is now available on Amazon. It picks up where Gloria Villa Cadena & Angel Sepulveda Brown’s book, Annotated Baptisms 1789 to 1823 of San Agustin de Laredo (present day Laredo, Texas), published in 2008 by Los Bexareños Genealogical Society, left off. The baptisms, translated from Spanish to English, are the focus; however, Grace Scruggs Rolph also shares her mother’s family story, reveals answers to long buried secrets, and why it is so important to use traditional research methods in conjunction with DNA analysis.

♦  MyHeritage has released their new DNA ethnicity model: Ethnicity Estimate v2.5. This MyHeritage Blog article provides much information about this exciting new ethnicity model including these highlights: 

• Identifies 24 percentage-based European ethnicities.

• Quite a few of the new percentage-based ethnicities, such as Armenian, are unique to MyHeritage and not identified by other tests.

• Distinguishes between 15 different Jewish ethnicities, more than most other DNA tests on the market.

♦  American Ancestors will host an online seminar April 2-30, Revolutionary War Research: Tracing Patriot and Loyalist Ancestors. This five week course will delve into the many primary and published records that can help document your Patriot or Loyalist ancestors. Learn more.

Specials During Roots Tech

There are lots of sales that go on during RootsTech (March 6-8). I'll keep updating this as I find more sales, check back often.

The RootsTech Expo Hall is open and is full of deals. 

Ancestry - 50% off membership March 6-8

Legacy Family Tree Webinars - 50% off annual membership

GenealogyBank - 60% of annual membership offer ends March 10, 2025

Family Tree DNA - Here is a link to discount codes to use when you check out. 

MyHeritage - Upload your dna results and unlock advanced DNA features for free, forever until March 9, 2025. Link

RootsMagic  - Save 50% on software - RootsMagic 10, Personal Historian, and Family Atlas. 

Genealogy TV - https://genealogytv.org/about-the-genealogy-tv-academy/ Promo Code GTVA25% Sale Ends March 9, 2025

Germanology Unlocked - New Course - Discounts on The Complete Guide to German Genealogy class,  Reading Old German Handwriting class, German for Genealogists class, and books.  

FamilyTree - 25% off orders at store.familytreemagazine.com Use Code FTM-25 at checkout. 

Related Faces - 20% off your first subscription. Offer expires 4/30/2025. relatedfaces.com

BanyanDNA - Stop by booth for a 20% discount. 

YourDNAGuide - Special prices for those who can't attend RootsTech in person

The Photo Detective - Book bundles - print and ebook  ends March 9, 2025

Shared cM Project With Editable Boxes

Shared cM Project with Editable Boxes

The Shared cM Project was built with data from known relationships. The chart provides estimates on how much DNA should be shared for different relationships. 

There is an editable version available. Enter the amount of shared cM between the tester and the match. The possible relationships will be highlighted. Click in the relationship box and enter the names of the tester or ancestral couple. Name the chart and download an image of it to keep as you research. 

https://dnapainter.com/tools/sharedcmv2

Free Access to Marriage Records on MyHeritage for Valentines Day

 MyHeritage is offering free access to all 279 marriage record collections - over 881 million historical records through February 16, 2025. 

Search Marriage Records Now

Marriage records offer incredible insights, revealing details like names, birthplaces, residences, and even parents' names. This limited-time offer lets you dive into these records for free - no subscription required. 

RootsTech - March 6-8, 2025

 

RootsTech, the largest genealogy conference, takes place March 6-8, and it is free to attend online. There are over 150 online sessions. If you haven't registered yet, use this link Register Here. Sessions are available after the conference ends in case you can't watch all the sessions you want to in one weekend. 

Roundtable Recap - Census Records

The February 6^th Roundtable topic of census records was a nice refresher as most of us have used census records often in our research. The question of where to find census records elicited the common responses of Family Search, Ancestry, My Heritage, the National Archives (NARA), and a couple of suggestions for international census records – Find My Past and the Danish Archives.

The Family Search Wiki is an outstanding source for census information. A quick search there on the general term ‘census’ brought up pages of hits for both the United States and international records and information. Census records can also be searched at the Wiki by choosing a specific location first then picking Census from the Record Types list.

Did you know there was a federal census taken in 1885? This census was not mandatory, and the states of Florida, Nebraska, Colorado and the Dakota and New Mexico territories were the only participants. More information about this census can be found at The National Archives. The 1885 census included four schedules: population, agriculture, manufactures, and mortality.

Other general notes from the Roundtable:

If the census copy located at one site is poor, be sure to check other sites. The scan quality can vary between websites. Likewise, if your ancestor isn’t found in the index at one provider, check with another as their name might be mistranscribed at one site and not the other.

Do not make relationship assumptions, even for the censuses that include relationship to head of household. The adult male and female may or may not be the parents of all or even some of the listed children. Early deaths often led to additional marriages and blended households. The children could be a mix of full, half, or step siblings, cousins or other relatives, or even neighbor children taken in after an unfortunate event.

The 1880 census for St. Louis, Missouri, was enumerated twice, once in June and then again in November. City officials of that time were unsatisfied with the June enumeration believing the population numbers were too low and demanded it be redone. Researchers will find inconsistencies between the two enumerations.

Mortality schedules were taken along with population schedules during the 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1885 censuses. People who had died June 1^st through May 31^st prior to the census year were included. Deaths were not always reported in the past, so the mortality schedules are helpful to researchers. If you are fortunate to have had an ancestor listed on a mortality schedule, you will find a wealth of information similar to what is found on current death certificates.

Some websites are more comprehensive than others. A good one to check out is One Step Webpages by Steve Morse.

A helpful tool mentioned during the Roundtable and listed on the handout is the Narrowing Birth Dates Calendar offered for free at Genohistory.

Always review the phrasing of questions asked for each census. They vary by census and make a difference in how to interpret and record the information found. The questions may be found at various websites. The handout provided for this Roundtable also includes these questions and much more information as well as links to helpful websites.

A key thing to remember is that census records provide clues for further research but should not be accepted as actual facts without further documentation.

The February Roundtable – Census Records video is now available, along with the detailed handout provided by our President, Barbara Coakley. Members of Genealogy Friends should check their email for the link. If you are not currently a member and are interested in joining, please see the Genealogy Friends website.  

Relatives at RootsTech?

Are you participating in RootsTech this year, either in person or virtually? If so, you might enjoy this blog post by Roberta Estes - Relatives at RootsTech Reveals Cousins and Provides DNA Candidates. She shares how to find out if any of your relatives have also registered for RootsTech. There are several ways to sort through your list of participating relatives such as location, by ancestor, and family line. Roberta mentions to check back often because more people will be registering. The final day Relatives at RootsTech will be available is April 12th. 

I found out that Roberta and I are 10th cousins. These connections do need to be verified. For example, I have documented 6-7 generations back on that line but need to confirm beyond that. It's interesting to see the connections that pop up to other attendees, but it's even more exciting to be given a list of clues to follow that will hopefully lead to more confirmed ancestors.

RootsMagic Genealogy Database Software

What is the best genealogy program to use? The one that you are comfortable using. I switched to RootsMagic a few years ago after trying out a few other programs. RootsMagic runs on window or mac and they have a free version that can be downloaded to try out the software.

RootsMagic communicates with both FamilySearch and Ancestry. 

Resources

Help File - There is an extensive help file that walks through all the functions in the software. 

Community - A place to ask questions.

Genealogy Forum of Oregon Roots Magic Special Interest Group - meets on the 1st Monday of each month at noon central time. The moderator has created a document to supplement the RootsMagic help file. He is very knowledgeable and you don't have to be a society member to attend the meetings. 

YouTube Channel - Lots of videos to help with using the software. 

  

Websites to Explore

New Finding Aid - St. Clair County Heritage Compendium: The Public Domain Books Finding Aid (PDBFA)

https://stclair-ilgs.org/biographies-histories/heritage-pdbfa/

The PDBFA provides an alphabetical index for people, businesses, and events mentioned in 81 historical books centered around St. Clair County, IL. I found mention of family members living in other IL locations and also in other states.

Germanology Unlocked Blog

https://germanologyunlocked.com/blog/

Have German ancestors? This blog has helpful articles on research tips, German language, handwriting, church records, German names, and many more interesting topics.

Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)

https://dp.la/guides/the-family-research-guide-to-dpla

This user friendly website provides links to all sorts of information, records, photos, and ephemera to add context to the lives of our ancestors. 

Genealogy News

⬥ For those conducting New York City research, 1949 death certificates have been transferred to the New York City Municipal Archives. They are currently being processed, so stay tuned for an availability update. And more than 40,000 marriage licenses (1914–1924) for the Bronx are digitized and now online at Historical Vital Records site. However, that site does not name index the licenses. Use the NYC Marriage Index site or Ancestry index to obtain license numbers.  

⬥  MyHeritage has just launched a major and groundbreaking new DNA product: Ancient Origins, a feature that complements their DNA ethnicity reports and traces your origins up to 10,000 years into the past. Ancient Origins allows MyHeritage DNA customers to discover the ancient populations they descend from, such as Imperial Romans, Norse Vikings, Phoenicians, and Ancient Egyptians. Read more about Ancient Origins on the MyHeritage blog.

⬥  The National Genealogical Society (NGS) is now shipping orders of its groundbreaking textbook, Forensic Genealogy: Theory & Practice. With 575 pages, it is the first comprehensive primer for professional genealogists who are interested in exploring the specialty areas and skills required to build a career in this emerging field. Meet the authors and purchase Forensic Genealogy: Theory & Practice at the NGS booth at RootsTech in Salt Lake City 6-8 March 2025. Or order your copy through the NGS Store.

⬥  Celebrate Black History Month with some free webinars from Legacy Family Tree. They are offering these 5 webinars for free during the month of February 2025.

⬥  The topic of the next Mondays with Myrt will be AI and photo analysis. Mark Thompson, from the Family History AI Show podcast, will be the special guest. Join this free LIVE streaming virtual meeting where attendees may participate in the LIVE chat on February 3^rd starting at 11am at YouTube.

⬥  Registration will open February 4^th for the GRIP Genealogy Institute. Nine virtual courses will be offered from 22-27 June 2025, and eight in-person courses offered from 13-18 July 2025. More information here.

⬥  Fold3 announces a new collection of Virginia military records. The Virginia Department of Military Affairs Records Collection contains information on Virginia military personnel who served between 1876 and 1947, including veterans from the Spanish-American War, WWI, and WWII. Learn more in this recent Fold3 blogpost or go straight to the collection Search. Reminder that Fold3 is available through many libraries. Also Fold3 related – Genealogy Friends of Plano Libraries will present Using Fold3 to Your Advantage, featuring Craig R. Scott, at the next Saturday Seminar, February 15, 2025.

⬥  Genealogy Bank recently added new content from 169 titles including 134 newspapers added for the first time. View the newspaper title, location, and date range in this list to see if the newly added content is relevant to your research.

⬥  Storied has acquired the AI company “Memory Lane,” which will leverage AI to “make building family trees more easily, storytelling more seamless, and help you to make new discoveries.” Their new pricing structure, with plans as low as $20 per year, provides access to over 1 billion historical records in addition to platforms for building a family tree and creating Storied Books.

DNA Interest Group

 The Genealogy Friends DNA Interest Group meets via Zoom and in person at W.O. Haggard Library on the second Tuesday of each month from 7-8:30 pm central time. Links that are discussed at the meetings are added to the website. 

At the January meeting, we discussed 23andMe. In the fall of 2023, they had a data breach caused by users who used the same passwords on 23andMe that they used on other websites. Features were disabled and not all of them have returned. In September 2024 the independent directors all resigned. They did not agree with the direction of the company. Their stock has fallen dramatically.

This is a good reminder that we should download our test result data and periodically download matches, messages, etc. from all testing company websites. 

There are links on the website with instructions to download data from 23andMe and Ancestry. 

Hope to see you at an upcoming meeting. 

Websites to Explore

Time Map

https://www.oldmapsonline.org/en/history/regions#position=3/33.1/-96.88&year=1862

Use the slider to journey through time, from 4000 BC to today. See something fascinating? Click on it, and a side panel opens with the relevant Wikipedia article for instant research.

Steve Little’s AI Genealogy Do-Over 

https://aigenealogyinsights.com/2025/01/01/the-2025-ai-genealogy-do-over/

AI Genealogy Do-Over with a kicker of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks.

The Snapshot Interviews 

The Snapshot Interviews are a series of free, engaging, 30-minute conversations with leading voices in genealogy. With a strong focus on audience participation, each session incorporates questions submitted by attendees, making every interview interactive and uniquely tailored. Whether you’re a seasoned genealogist or just starting your journey, these interviews provide fresh ideas, practical tips, and inspiration—all in just half an hour!

The debut of The Snapshot Interviews features two well-known names in forensic genealogy, Catherine Becker Wiest Desmarais and Michael S. Ramage. Together, they bring unparalleled expertise to the field and are the co-authors of the highly anticipated book, Forensic Genealogy: Theory & Practice. The first interview, with Catherine and Michael, launches on February 12th at 6:30 PM Central US. 

Join the conversation and sign up today to be part of The Snapshot Interviews. Explore the rest of the 2025 schedule and register now.

Roundtable Recap – Untangling the Lives of Individuals Who Share the Same Name

January 2, 2025

The topic for the January Roundtable was how to determine which individual is your ancestor when multiple people with the same name are found. The main take away from information shared by GenFriends members who have experience with this dilemma is to DOCUMENT EVERYTHING. Some people prefer a word document, but most like the greater versatility that a spreadsheet has to offer. The key is to use what works best for you to organize the found information in such a way that it can be sorted and analyzed.

A basic format for such a table could include a top row with each person’s name followed by a second row with column labels repeated under each person in row 1. The columns would include things like event, place, age, and comments. Additional columns such as street address, occupation, or religion can be added if research indicates they would be useful. It is helpful to include one column to the far left of everything that is labeled Year. A simple example, based on the multiple Thomas Bartons in my lineage, is shown below.

	Thomas Barton				Thomas Barton
Year	Event	Place	Age	Comments	Event	Place	Age	Comments

You can see how easy it would be to add an additional Thomas Barton. Inserting other labeled columns would also be fairly simple. It’s advisable to keep the years in chronological order to more easily track relocation to another area and to help assess which records might be missing. Additional year rows could easily be inserted. Using a fill color helps to quickly distinguish between different individuals. It’s okay to not have all the information to complete a row. For example, a headstone would provide a birth year but not the birth place. The headstone information should still be recorded, but further research would be needed to support the birth year and provide a location. The headstone would also need to provide additional information, such as the unique wife’s name, to know which individual it should be applied to. If a record cannot be conclusively assigned to a specific individual, it should be saved, but not entered on the spreadsheet, until more information is found.

The information added to the spreadsheet should be from actual documents, headstones, etc. Things like old family stories, unsourced data in someone else’s tree, and biographical sketches can provide leads to actual records, but they are not themselves concrete documentation.

Several GenFriends members recommend maintaining and adding to your same-name spreadsheet even after determining which individual is your ancestor. The spreadsheet data can help when assessing newly found records. There is also the possibility that you will discover in the future that the non-ancestor is part of a different branch of your tree, and it will be nice to have their data already sorted out.

Some other tips from GenFriends members:

Do not assume that the same-name Sr. and Jr. that you find are father and son. They could be uncle and nephew, cousins, or there might not be any biological link between them. It was fairly common when there were two men with the same name living in the same community for the older man to be called Sr. and the younger man referred to as Jr.

When looking at BLM records, always check records before and after those of your person. People often travelled in pairs or groups and their records would have been recorded at the same time. There might be a relative or a member of your ancestor’s FAN club in the records before and after his, and this could be useful in evaluating exactly who the BLM record belongs to.

Share your findings to help other researchers maintain accuracy. GenFriends members report they have notified managers and/or added text to Find a Grave memorials. They have also added Alert Notes to individuals on trees at Family Search. In Ancestry, GenFriends members have sent messages to other users providing the correct documentation, and they have also made sure their own tree is accurate and provides good sources. It can be helpful to save a note in a text file on your computer. That way it can be copied and shared as needed without having to retype everything. There was also a reminder to share your findings directly with other family members who are researching the tree.

References:

“Untangling the Lives of Individuals Who Share the Same Name” by Hannah Kubacak, STIRPES, June 2023, pages 38-42

“The Family Tree Problem Solver” by Marsha Hoffman Rising

 Genealogy News

Celebrate 18 years of Fold3 with a 40% discount! Buy now. Offer ends 27 January 2025.

The Names & Stories project at MyHeritage has been completed, adding 11.6 billion new records! These records were extracted from historical newspapers spanning all 50 U.S. states, as well as Canada, Australia, and the U.K. Read more about this historic achievement at the MyHeritage Blog.

The Genealogy Do-Over Workbook, by Thomas MacEntee, is available for free with Kindle Unlimited. Amazon link here.

Registration for Applied Genealogy Institute's Spring 2025 Session will open from January 15th - January 22nd, 2025! There will be five exciting classes held this session. You can review the dates, cost, and class outlines on the website: https://appliedgen.institute/spring-2025-classes/

American Ancestors is hosting a Virtual Open House Webinar on Wednesday, January 29th, from 3:00-4:00pm. During the open house you will learn how the databases, genealogists, and millions of unique collections at American Ancestors can help! This discussion will highlight the many benefits and services available to members. This will be a great way to find out if American Ancestors would be useful to your research. Learn More and Register.

Registration is open for the Mastering Genealogical Proof Study Group with Cyndi Ingle. Saturdays, 4pm, Feb 15-March 29, 2025. $95. These Zoom sessions will be a beginner/low-intermediate level class to study the book “Mastering Genealogical Proof” by Thomas W. Jones. Click here for more information.

The Roundtable Recap - Land Records blog post in November shares information and links we discussed during the November Roundtable meeting. If you are interested in an additional live presentation concerning land records, The Mesquite Historical and Genealogical Society is hosting a seminar on the subject January 9, 2025. Genealogist Sara Cochran will be speaking about the value of State and Federal land records and the many ways they can be helpful in research. Click here to register for this Zoom meeting.

Find the Generation of Connection with Your Mystery DNA Matches is a free webinar being presented by YourDNAGuide on January 16, 2025. Register here to learn these helpful steps.

The National Genealogical Society is offering its Foundations in Family History course. Details can be found here. Also, if you purchase a new NGS gift membership through January 31, 2025, you will be entered into a drawing to win one of five valuable prizes to be given away on February 3, 2025. More information is available in the Upfront with NGS blog.

Registration is now open for more than 170 upcoming live webinars in 2025 at Legacy Family Tree Webinars. Many of these are free to view live and for the following 7 days.

FamilySearch celebrated its 130^th anniversary as an organization in 2024 along with the 25^th anniversary of their popular website, FamilySearch.org. Highlights of their year can be found in the FamilySearch Year in Review 2024 blog post.

MyHeritage celebrated their 20^th anniversary in 2024. The blog post, Wrapping Up 2024: MyHeritage Year in Review, has a month by month recap of their year and also includes interesting statistics such as 13 billion historical records added.

RootsTech will be held March 6^th – 8^th. Information about speakers, registration, in-person and online classes, and more can be found here.

Just in case you missed the holiday sale at Ancestry, they are currently offering 50% off 6-month memberships. The sales ends January 16^th.