Database of Irish-American emigrant letters launched

Paula Stuart-Warren  Ireland, Uncategorized  ,  Leave a comment

Great news this week! The University of Galway has debuted a database of letters and other material that covers roughly the late 1600s to the mid 20th century. It includes material sent from North America back to Ireland.

“The archive includes approximately 7,000 letters, running to more than 150,000 documents, along with other important historical papers. It was collected over five decades of research by Kerby A. Miller, Emeritus Professor of History at University of Missouri and Honorary Professor of History at University of Galway, who donated the material to the University of Galway Library. “

Read about the collection: https://www.universityofgalway.ie/about-us/news-and-events/news-archive/2024/march/university-of-galway-launches-imirce-database-of-irish-american-emigrant-letters.html# This also includes how to help expand the collection if you have letters or memoirs to contribute.

Searches: https://imirce.universityofgalway.ie/p/ms?pageTitle=Home+-+University+of+Galway+Digital+Collections



More free online Minneapolis and Hennepin County city directories

Paula Stuart-Warren  City directories, Minnesota, Uncategorized  , ,  Leave a comment

From the Hennepin County Library Special Collections newsletter:

hennepin county library special collectionsMarch/April 2024Check out what’s new and noteworthy this spring in Special Collections.New in the Digital Collectionscity directories
More Hennepin County City DirectoriesThe online city directory collection is growing! Last month we added three more years of Minneapolis directories, which now cover nearly 100 years (1859-1955). We also added Lake Minnetonka (1941-1977) and Morningside (1962-1966). More directories will be digitized later this year from additional suburbs including Richfield, Golden Valley, Brooklyn Park and more.Search and browse the online directories

Recaps of RootsTech 2024: MyHeritage

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences, Uncategorized  ,  2 Comments

Even when I am not in attendance at a big conference, institute, or seminar, I do appreciate receiving a press release from various societies and companies that had big announcements, discoveries, or other news from the event. I don’t always have time to get the news out to my readers, but I do try. The points below are from MyHeritage and their Keynote address at RootsTech.

  • 20 billion records — we recently reached the significant milestone of 20 billion historical records available on MyHeritage!
  • All-new profile pages with hints — a major enhancement to the profile pages on MyHeritage including the ability to see and add new details from matches in the context of the page. Read more here.
  • OldNews.com — a whole new website for exploring historical newspapers from all over the world. Read more here.
  • Coming soon: AI photo scanner on the MyHeritage mobile app — the smart scanner previously available only on the Reimagine app will be added to the MyHeritage mobile app very soon.
  • Coming soon: share your DNA results with an expert — the ability to share your DNA results securely with a DNA expert to help you with your results will soon be added.
  • Coming soon: Ethnicity Estimates 2.0 — a major upgrade to our ethnicity estimate model will be released in the summer of 2024

March 10: “By the way, the special promotion we had going for DNA data uploads — offering free access to Ethnicity Estimates and advanced DNA tools to anyone who uploads a new DNA data file to MyHeritage — has been extended until March 10.”

Be sure to sign up to receive electronic newsletters or blog announcements from the various genealogy companies and societies. It’s a great way to keep up and not miss special sales or news. https://blog.myheritage.com/2024/03/rootstech-2024-recap/


RootsMagic 50% off until midnight MST March 4

Paula Stuart-Warren  Conferences, Uncategorized  ,  Leave a comment

Oops, I am behind on RootsTech special offers and presentations. I blame it on spending time with family and then extended time on the FamilySearch experimental labs searching deeds and wills.

If you have been thinking about using RootsMagic as your own genealogy family tree program, you can purchase it for 50% off the usual price. This offer is also for those who didn’t attend RootsTech in person.

Bruce Buzbee and the team at RootsMagic said “Those who can’t attend RootsTech this year can get the same conference special online by visiting www.NotAtRootsTech.com. Hurry, this offer is only available through Monday, March 4, at 11:59 pm MST.”

RootsMagic Offer: www.NotAtRootsTech.com

FamilySearch Labs: https://www.familysearch.org/en/labs/

RootsTech: https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/
Check under the RootsTech Event tab for the Expo Hall and offers by many vendors and then check Class Schedule for recorded presentations you can view from home.

Cyndi’s List: 28 Years Strong for Genealogy and History

Paula Stuart-Warren  Cyndi's List, Uncategorized    Leave a comment

Cyndi Ingle should be very proud of herself! Her Cyndi’s List is celebrating its 28th Anniversary today. 28 years of finding links, updating links, and providing us with those links to keep up on things genealogical and historical. Cyndi does this and keeps her site free. She loves us paying attention to the links on the right side of her site. We can submit new links and she appreciates it when we send link updates.

From a Facebook post today: “Still your online starting point for online research. Thank you for using Cyndi’s List and sharing it with your friends. The site is due for a long-needed update, so please consider a birthday donation to support the site. I appreciate all of you who have supported Cyndi’s List all these years. Thank you!! https://cyndislist.com/donate/”

New to Cyndi’s List? Start by browsing the categories: https://cyndislist.com/categories/. I advocate browsing the categories so that you get a feel for how she categories various things we need in our research.


FamilySearch Labs: AI enabled searching for all names in deeds and wills

Paula Stuart-Warren  FamilySearch, Uncategorized  , ,  2 Comments

A few hours late today resulted in some new deeds and ancestral names in deeds of other people. All the names are rarely indexed until now. Searching by name and place in digitized records was easy peasy. Thank you, FamilySearch! I have used this excellent, but not perfect, advancement a few times now and I can describe it in one word. WOW. Fantastic news from RootsTech today.

FamilySearch Labs are basically experimental/beta products that are more than previews, but yet not ready for FamilySearch to say “all finished, all good!” I was amazed at the excellent accuracy in the reading of the documents. Sure some issues arose, but comparatively few. I recognized the county name on some records, but some took a quick look to be sure what the heck the records clerk wrote back in the 19th century. I saw the county name of Winona in Minnesota constantly the victim of poor handwriting in the docs. The “Expand your search with Full Text” part of the Labs does not include deeds or wills that FamilySearch has not had previous access to. Doggone it. I need a few more counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin, plus more years in the ones that are available. My blame is on the record holders, not FamilySearch.

Try it out https://www.familysearch.org/labs/. If you are on social media, you likely saw many posts about this new tool today.

Read more about this really neat advancement courtesy of Artificial Intelligence and I am sure, many hours of behind the scenes work by FamilySearch personnel. The Labs have some additional sections but I have not yet previewed them .https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/familysearch-labs


p.s. My colleague Kimberly Powell has already written tips for using the full-text search: https://learngenealogy.com/familysearch-experimental-full-text-search/


New DNA Uploads to MyHeritage for free including access to advanced DNA features

Paula Stuart-Warren  DNA  , ,  Leave a comment

An early RootsTech news release is below. I will try to keep readers updated on a variety of the news that I receive over the next several days. RootsTech, a large genealogy event, is taking place February 29-March 2 in Salt Lake City. If you aren’t traveling there, you can view many of the presentations and other features online for free. https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/

Now on to the MyHeritage news from today. “For each NEW DNA file uploaded this week (i.e. one that hasn’t been uploaded to MyHeritage in the past), the uploader will receive free access to all advanced DNA features, saving them the usual $29 unlock fee per file. This rare offer is valid for the next few days only, until March 4, 2024 at 11:59 p.m.” 

“There are many great reasons to upload DNA data to MyHeritage. You’ll get new DNA matches from all over the world, ethnicity reports covering 2,114 geographic regions, and access to the most comprehensive set of tools for analyzing your relationships to your DNA matches. MyHeritage is the only DNA company that has committed never to sell or license users’ data to third parties, and we provide full privacy controls so only you can see your data.” Read more at https://blog.myheritage.com/2024/02/this-week-only-upload-your-dna-data-and-get-free-access-to-all-dna-features/



Fold3.com adds U.S. records about Black and Indigenous Soldiers in the American Revolution

Paula Stuart-Warren  Military, Uncategorized  , , ,  Leave a comment

A Fold3 press release covers the addtion of some records of Black and Indigenous Soldiers in the American Revolution, 1775-1783.

It states that types of records in the collection may include:
  • Muster rolls
  • Pay vouchers
  • Enlistment records

“Records in this collection are unique and the available information will vary by record. The following information may be available:”

  • Name
  • Birth date and place
  • Date and place of enlistment
  • Unit, regiment, and rank
  • Names of other unit members
  • Occupation
  • History of enslavement
  • Military history
  • Physical description

Read more details https://www.fold3.com/publication/1431/us-black-and-indigenous-soldiers-in-the-american-revolution-1775-1783/description


The beginnings of MyHeritage in a short documentary

Paula Stuart-Warren  MyHeritage    Leave a comment

From a Daniel Horowitz press release:

“We recently celebrated 20 years since MyHeritage’s founding! In honor of the occasion, I’m delighted to share with you an amazing documentary produced by our team that tells the story of MyHeritage: from Gilad’s passion for family history at a young age, to an international company with millions of users! It’s a story of daring, perseverance, a strong sense of mission and purpose, and a liberal dose of chutzpah, and I couldn’t be more proud to have been a part of it all.”

The documentary is divided into 6 parts, each around 5–10 minutes long. I have already watched part of it and it is interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWXZLL180z8&list=PLZt_Mk4_rOvOnzTrsrY70-XbRxmjSlPjd

10 Million Names Family History Project of enslaved people and descendants from Africa

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  , , ,  Leave a comment

FamilySearch International and American Ancestors are collaborating on a project, 10 Million Names. The project seeks to recover the names and restore information to families of an estimated 10 million men, women, and children of African descent who were enslaved in pre- and post-colonial America, including what would become the United States.

10 Million Names was launched by American Ancestors on August 2, 2023 and the project will result in a free, searchable database of information about enslaved ancestors that extends over centuries during the Transatlantic Slave Trade period—from the 1500s and 1800s.

Read the full press release with more details https://www.familysearch.org/en/newsroom/familysearch-collaborating-with-american-ancestors-on-10-million-names-project