Veterans Day brings back many memories, some sad, some of family veterans, and more

Paula Stuart-Warren  Uncategorized  Leave a comment

A cousin on my maternal side asked me a question this evening based on my post on Facebook today. It prompted me to revisit what I wrote back in 2017 about a new meaning for me about Veterans Day. Of course, I honor my Dad, William E. (Bill )Stuart. I add in my father-in-law, James H. Warren, numerous uncles, cousins, a great great grandfather, and this one from that blog post in 2017. https://genealogybypaula.com/2017/11/2017-veterans-day-has-new-meaning-as-a-pow-uncle-is-returned/

Native American Heritage Month Lives On Despite . . .

Paula Stuart-Warren  Native American, Uncategorized  , ,  Leave a comment

Native News Online https://nativenewsonline.net/sovereignty/the-celebration-they-can-t-cancel-native-heritage-month-lives-on has an article about the acknowledgement of Native American Heritage Month each November.

“Each November, Native American Heritage Month is celebrated in the United States. The month provides time to celebrate and honor the histories, cultures, and contributions of American Indian and Alaska Native peoples. The origins of this national observance trace back more than a century. In 1916, New York became the first state to declare an “American Indian Day,” following years of advocacy by Red Fox James of the Blackfeet Nation, who rode horseback across the country seeking support from state governments.”

The article continues with noting some of the presidential proclamations over the years. It has much more including the current state of acknowledgement of the month. Truly worth reading and it really hit home with me because much of my research work is about Native Americans.

Another article really touched me because it references the Indian boarding schools years. The Opinion section is worth checking out.

 

 

 

 

New and more affordable imaging and recovery of old documents. Genealogy next?

Paula Stuart-Warren  Preservation  , ,  Leave a comment

The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has developed an imaging system capable of assisting the imaging of old documents, books, and artifacts that have faded or damaged words and sections. It is more affordable for many institutions around the world. The words below are from https://www.rit.edu/news/misha. I suggest reading the full article and then watching the video at the end. AMAZING to see the students involved in this project.

MyHeritage DNA Sale until Nov 9

Paula Stuart-Warren  DNA  ,  3 Comments

The early holiday sale at MyHeritage is here — and it’s a big one: the MyHeritage DNA test is now just $29 until November 9, 2025!

🧬MyHeritage DNA kit now just $29 🧬

That’s 67% off the best DNA test for exploring global origins and discovering relatives around the world. For those who are new to MyHeritage, the offer also includes a free 30-day trial of the MyHeritage Complete plan, giving access to all family tree tools and 36.7 billion historical records — plus free shipping with the trial.

 

 

My next two November 2025 genealogy presentations

Paula Stuart-Warren  Genealogy, Presentations  , ,  Leave a comment

November 13, 2025. Thursday virtual event. Texas State Genealogical Society “Society Leadership Forum.” Virtual presentations about helping our genealogical societies thrive. Full details on the website. My topic and handout cover “Bringing Genealogical Societies into the 21st Century.” It includes tips about volunteers, programs, publications, websites, and much more. Register here. AND don’t ignore the TxSGS Virtual Fall 2025 Conference taking place 7-8 November!

November 15, 2025. Luncheon presentation. Germanic Genealogy Society Annual Meeting and German Themed Luncheon. Lowell Inn, Stillwater, Minnesota. My topic and handout are on “A Bakers Dozen: Easy Ways to Begin Writing Your Family History.” I will be including some easy ideas that include stories about some German immigrants to the upper Midwest.  Register and pay here. 

MyHeritage announces Whole Genome Sequencing

Paula Stuart-Warren  DNA  , ,  Leave a comment

The world of DNA tests is rapidly advancing. Lots of news and updates in recent weeks. I need to let one of my nephews know about his updates from one company.

MyHeritage has announced “Leveraging cutting-edge sequencing technology from Ultima Genomics and processing at the Gene by Gene lab, MyHeritage is the first major consumer DNA testing company to adopt Whole Genome Sequencing at a scale of more than one million tests per year. The enriched data will empower MyHeritage to deliver more accurate ethnicity analysis and DNA matching, and unlock opportunities for future innovation in consumer genomics and genetic genealogy.” It will work with testing through MyHeritage but not with transfers from other DNA testing sites that were previously allowed. For more details:

https://blog.myheritage.com/2025/10/myheritage-upgrades-its-dna-tests-to-whole-genome-sequencing

 

 

Genealogy website hints do work. Don’t ignore them!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Ancestry.com, Genealogy, Schools  , , , , ,  2 Comments

Social media often has posts from genealogists that say “how do I turn off hints” or “why do we keep getting hints.” They are referring to emails and online hints on various genealogy websites. Me? Sometimes the hints bug me when they are off the mark. Yet, I do look at them. I wouldn’t want to miss the one that ties me to one of my missing ancestors or a distant cousin.

On Sunday, 19 October 2025, I was on Ancestry.com and checked out recent leaf hints. It’s a perfect example of something I may never have taken the time to locate.

It was a hint for my maternal Grandmother Gertrude (Cook) Hanley. She was born in 1901 here in Saint Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota. My online trees are pretty basic. The hint was to a high school yearbook. Her high school did not have yearbooks for almost 20 years AFTER she graduated, and the hint was for her high school with a bit of a twist. I checked it out and then sat and stared at the image on Ancestry for several minutes.

It noted Gertrude Cook Hanley as a ’20 graduate and she was in a photo at a mother and daughter tea celebrating the graduating class of 1949. She was standing next to her daughter, Jeanine, my beloved aunt. The both attended St. Joseph’s Academy, an all girls highs school in Saint Paul as did my Mom, Patricia (Hanley} Stuart, a 1944 graduate. The Cook family home was across the street from St. Joe’s at 358 Marshall Ave. (formerly Nelson Ave.)

 This tale will be added to my school records talk as another example of what can be found in old yearbooks. It’s not just your graduate that appears! Grandma is standing 4th from the right and Aunt Jeanie is 5th from the right.

Grandma’s hat in the photo reminds me of another photo of her from around that same time period. Now to find that in my boxes of photos that are waiting to be scanned.

 
 

Radio show tells about a book with recipes from tombstones. Must be made for genealogists!

Paula Stuart-Warren  Cemeteries, Genealogy  , , , ,  Leave a comment

I’ve seen the occasional post on Facebook showing a family recipe on someone’s tombstone. Now there’s a book with many recipes found on stones. More of these in cemeteries than I ever imagined. How did I hear about it? It was mentioned on a local radio show today by on-air personality Bradley Traynor, myTalk FM 107.1, here in Minnesota. Traynor is also interested in genealogy and every so often he mentions something that makes my ears perk up! It’s a pop culture station that I listen to when I don’t want to hear the news or politics of the day. Lot of silliness, too, but food, movies, TV shows, actors, musicians, gossip, some games, and an escape from daily chores.

Here’s a link to a long post on EATER.com about the book and lots of details from the author, Rosie Grant. https://www.eater.com/eater-at-home/916291/rosie-grant-gravestone-recipes-book

 

 

 

2025 Indigenous Peoples Day. Reasons for this recognition

Paula Stuart-Warren  Native American  , , ,  Leave a comment

Today I honor those who first resided on the land that surrounds me today. It is Indigenous Peoples Day. For about ten years I spent several weeks a year researching at the National Archives locations in Washington, DC, College Park, MD, and Kansas City, MO. The work was for some Native American tribes and I was reading file after file in records of the Office of Indian Affairs (later known as the Bureau of Indian Affairs). I learned how my fellow human beings were treated, written about, talked about, and hidden away. I saw awful correspondence about children and boarding schools. I think you get the picture.

Minnesota Public Radio has a listing of places and ceremonies to honor Native Americans today and every day.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/10/10/indigenous-peoples-day-events-happening-in-minnesota

 

My post in 2024 still strikes the same message. https://genealogybypaula.com/2024/10/bloh indigenous-peoples-day-2024-in-the-u-s-at-least-in-some-places/

 

 

Genealogy presentation immersion via Zoom. My surprising statistics.

Paula Stuart-Warren  Seminars, Webinars  , , , , , ,  Leave a comment

Didn’t realize how truly busy I have been recently. I just kept going. From the end of August through today, I have been heavily involved in preparing handouts and PowerPoint presentations for genealogy organizations all across the U.S. I appreciate the invitations to do presentations whether it’s a single webinar or a full-day seminar. Some are short notice events and others are a year away from the actual presentation date.

Whether by Zoom or in-person, one favorite part of my genealogy business is sharing knowledge, experience, tips, books, websites, and more to audiences. I have benefited from great program people, friendly audiences, and some additional information shared by audiences. Genealogy does involve a lot of sharing. Those attending kindly cooperate by laughing at points where I hope they will do so! A benefit to me is that while tailoring parts of a presentation to the area of the society that hired me, I think about some ideas for researching parts of my own family.

I love statistics. About an hour ago, I decided to check out my own in relation to ten presentations I have done since late August. One was a local area session, and I was there in person. The last nine were done via Zoom. Eight of the total ten were presented in the last ten days. Yes, eight virtual presentations within ten days. More statistics:

  • Updated and/or created 76 pages of  syllabus/handout material to accompany those presentations.
  • Updated and/or created 635 PowerPoint slides for those presentations.

A last statistic is that each of the ten was not a repeat of others in the group. Each organization requested a different topic. NO REPEATS!

Should you care about the topics, check out my Speaking calendar to see what topics and organizations hired me. https://genealogybypaula.com/speaking/speaking-calendar/

Yes, I know I need to move recent ones to the section of those already presented in 2025. First, I need to sleep and not set an alarm to wake me up on October 12th. Maybe by Monday.