The Genealogy Guys Podcast

This week's news includes: Abraham Lincoln's ancestry is questioned; Ancestry.com announces new databases, including WI Death Index (1959-1997), NC Death Certificates (1909-1975), TN Divorces (1800-1865), and U.S. Colored Troops Service Records (Civil War); The Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) celebrates its 50th anniversary; Modern Genealogy (http://www.moderngenealogy.com) announces a new database for Windows XP and Vista and invites people to assist as beta testers; Genlighten (http://www.genlighten.com) is building a network of people to look up and obtain copies of documents at a reasonable cost; FamilyRelatives.com (http://www.familyrelatives.com/) has added lots of new British Isles trade and court directories to its site; The National Archives (TNA) in the U.K. has completed renovations and has reorganized its facility to accommodate the addition of the Family Records Centre materials, and urges people to check out the changes at their site at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/; the National Library of Ireland (http://www.nli.ie) has unveiled a new exhibition about William Butler Yeats and a virtual tour can be viewed at their website; and Microsoft has anounced the closure of its Live Search Books project. Listener email this week includes: How does one become a doctor in 5 years or less?; using the My Maps feature of Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) to trace and map your ancestors' movements; Helen Parkhurst of the World Burial Index (http://www.worldburialindex.com) shares information about this subscription database for searching cemetery monumental inscriptions across England and elsewhere; a discussion of people listed multiple times on the census -- and an example with Amelia Earhart; tracing substitute soldiers and the men in whose stead they fought; the National Geographic Genographic Project; origins of unusual first names; how will same sex marriages change genealogy and software; and the delights of moving to broadband. There are a number of genealogy software packages for PDAs and SmartPhones that run the Palm or WindowsMobile operating systems. These allow you to load your genealogy data files on the devices and take it with you. George and Drew issue a challenge to software developers to provide the equivalent software apps (applications) for the Apple iPhone and for Blackberry devices. Natalie of Ogden, Utah, provided the following weblinks for all our listeners: Western States Marriage Record Index (abish.byui.edu/specialcollections/westernstates/search.cfm)Free Birth & Death Certificates for Arizona (genealogy.az.gov) Utah Digital Newspapers (www.lib.utah.edu/digital/unews/)Illinois Statewide Death Index (www.ilsos.gov/GenealogyMWeb/idphdeathsrch.html)

This week's news includes: George Washington's boyhood home is found; and new features are unveiled at MyHeritage (http://www.myheritage.com). Listener e-mail includes: a recap about Henri Guest Scott and the Scott family; Panoramio (http://www.panoramio.com) allows you to place photos on Google Earth and Google Maps; Laraine got a headstone for her great-grandfather and gained information from a cousin; Carolyn sought help with locating her great-grandmother and Drew addresses some possibilities; our friend Jeane sent was contacted about a family bible on eBay and, while she lost the bid, she made an invaluable connection with another researcher; JoAnne Rockower of Geni.com (http://www.geni.com) e-mailed about our time together in California; and The Guys received a great spreadsheet of past podcasts' links and will be evaluating them for use on the website. The Guys discuss the terrific Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree in Burbank. They begin with a fascinating interview with Karie Bible, our guide for a fascinating tour of the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. (Look for Karie at http://www.cemeterytour.com.) And listen afterwards for what Karie does every August 23rd at 12:10 PM! Wow! Jamboree included terrific presentations, meals, and enjoyable activities. George participated in the Blogger Summit with some new and old friends. Listen to more about it. Enjoy Sharyn's terrific and enjoyable song from Jamboree. Finally, The Guys discuss changing over to FIOS, and Drew reports that HP has finally sent him the memory they owed him for his replacement tablet PC.

This week's news includes: the new Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, Missouri, opened on 21 June; Footnote.com has announced a new, popular, and forthcoming database titles; Synium Software (http://www.synium.de/products/index.html) announces the new version 5.2 of its MacFamilyTree software which includes a 3-D family tree view; Geni.com (http://www.geni.com/home) announced that it has increased its GEDCOM file support to 15,000 individuals. Listener e-mail includes: a question about the availability of a consolidated list of all of The Guys' podcast links (not available); more comments and suggestions for George, who recently switched from a PC to a Mac; Drew discusses an article in the April 2008 edition of Smithsonian Magazine titled To Catch a Thief ; forensic genealogy and author Colleen Fitzpatrick; RootsTelevision.com is seeking volunteer case coordinators for its Unclaimed Persons project. The Guys discuss the situation in which the State of California's Department of Public Health' Laboratory Field Services Office issued 13 cease-and-desist letters to biotech companies in that state performing clinical DNA testing. These are NOT related to the DNA marker tests that genealogists obtain for research purposes, and none of those testing services was included in this action. The Guys announce their new Facebook site for fans of The Genealogy Guys Podcast . Drew discusses Ahnentafels, also known as the Sosa-Stradonitz System, for genealogical numbering and reporting. There will be no podcast next week as The Guys will be in Burbank, California participating at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree.

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com announces the doubling of its digitized newspaper collection; and Genealogy Online, Inc., announces that a new online edition of Everton's Genealogical Helper will debut on July 1st, with more details available at www.everton.com. This week's listener e-mail includes: congratulations and comments for George concerning his new iMac; opinions about genealogy add-ons; and a question concerning newspapers. Drew discusses his research experiences into the Unclaimed Persons project started by RootsTelevision.com. Look for Unclaimed Persons on facebook.com for information and open cases. The Guys discuss the availability of digitized newspaper resources and how to access them.

This week's news includes: Genclass.com (http://genclass.com/) partners with Familylink.com (http://www.familylink.com/) to offer two free genealogy classes at WorldVitalRecords.com (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com/); APG names Michael Melendez of Fullerton, CA, as the first recipient of the Young Professional Scholarship; Millenia Corp. announces that new Legacy Family Tree version 7.0 is now available; construction delays at the new Midwest Genealogy Center in Independence, MO, postpone preservationists' tour; Moorshead Magazines, Ltd., publishers of Family Chronicle, Internet Genealogy, and Discovering Family History, has issued a call for old military uniform photos for a tentative book to cover the U.S. Civil War through the Mexican-American War and through World War I (no WWII) - submission details are available at http://familychronicle.com/militaryphotos.htm; Stonehenge has been found to have been a burial ground from 3,000 to 2,500 B.C.; a new genealogy centre has opened in Dinfermline, Scotland; Ancestry.co.uk has released a new database of 8.9 million free settlers to Australia; and the True Lover's Knot discussed here has been published in Real Simple magazine and online here. Listener e-mail includes: an inquiry about accessing The Guys' Down Under: Florida videos at RootsTelevision.com; the different pronunciations of Beaufort in North Carolina and South Carolina; The History of Mecklenburg County, NC by J.B. Alexander, published in 1901, has been reprinted by Clearfield Company (at http://www.genealogical.com); whether to city every source you work with, and a response from Elizabeth Shown Mills' book, Evidence Explained; Ancestry.com continues its free ethnic research training webinars series; a question about searching the LDS Family History Library catalog; a question about citing websites and using the www. in the typed address; the Algonquin Area Public Library is beginning a series of training lessons about Web 2.0 at http://community.ahml.info/bakersdozen/; and Mark Tucker, author of ThinkGenealogy.com blog (http://www.thinkgenealogy.com) is seeking feedback as to whether he should evolve his site into a community site, and invites you to visit his Mission Statement proposal and make comments. George reveals that he has just purchased an iMac and refused to migrate to Vista on his PC. The Guys talk about using different computer platforms and operating systems, and George will report back on his experience in future podcasts.

The news this week includes: a new series at RootsTelevision.com titled Unclaimed Persons which the producers hope will raise awareness of the problem of unclaimed bodies and encourage viewers to help; Ancestry.com announces a series of free Ethnic Webinars, beginning June 3rd, to help you with researching your ancestry (click here to register); vandals wreak havoc and destroying monuments in a Riverview, Florida, cemetery; and MyHeritage Research (http://www.myheritage.com/research) announces the upgrade of its unique search engine. George announces conference venues at which he and/or Drew will be appearing soon: Southern California Genealogical Society's Jamboree (27-29 June - http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/2008jam-index.htm with G RootsMagic Cruise (28 September to 5 October - http://www.rootsmagiccruise.com/ with G; South Orange County California Genealogical Society (18 October - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~casoccgs/ with G); and the Florida State Genealogical Society (14-15 November - http://www.flsgs.org/ with G Voices from the Past by Adelaide Ann Proctor (1825-1864). Listener e-mail includes: a new online citation tool at Zotero.com; a discussion of the availability of Ancestry.com at Family History Centers and the Family History Library; information about the Army Heritage Education Center outside Carlisle, Pennsylvania; and a problem with duplicate individuals appearing in the personal MyAncestry family tree view. Drew talks about finding a new record type: an Alcoholic Beverage Control License.

News this week includes: FamilySearch teams with FamilyLink.com to bring online the Brenner Collection of German records (1650-1875) with more than 3.5 million names and between 900,000 and 1.5 million images; and Ancestry.com announces plans for massive additions in global content and new geographical locations, including a Chinese site with Chinese Jaipu and a Spanish-language site. George shares a special Ancestry.com web page that specifically contains the list of all the NARA microfilm collections that have been digitized and indexed. The site is at http://www.ancestry.com/search/rectype/nara.aspx and contains a search template for searching these specific databases. There is a complete list of the databases which you can access and search individually. George recommends bookmarking this site! The Guys talk about some collaborative research they helped a friend with. It concerned identifying the names of the two casualties of the explosion of the ship, Ophir, in the port of Gibraltar on 11 November 1918. In the process, an interesting story about the explosion is discovered. The Guys discuss in detail the Brave New World of Genealogical Research that has evolved in the last several years.

This week's news includes: Geni, Inc. (http://www.geni.com) announces the new functional availability for users to upload GEDCOM files; FamilyLink.com (http://www.familylink.com) announces its partnership with FamilySearch to add new functions to the Family History Library Catalog, making it searchable by Internet search engines and allowing users to annotate entries; Footnote.com (http://www.footnote.com) announces the addition of the 1860 U.S. Federal Census to its Civil War Collection; and the Social Security Administration has released its list of the most popular baby names for 2007. Listener e-mail topics include: a family listed twice on the 1880 U.S. federal census -- in two enumeration districts; observations about the embedded player at The Genealogy Guys Podcast site; Drew discusses his findings in the 1910 and 1920 censuses for a Black Seminole family in Escambia County, Florida; and George responds to an inquiry about web sites to which photos of WWII service personnel can be uploaded and accessed by family members. George cited Dead Fred (http://www.deadfred.com), Ancestors Lost and Found (http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/ancestors/), and Honoring Our Ancestors (http://www.honoringourancestors.com/library_orphan.html). George shares news about three web sites of interest to listeners: Cyndi's List has a new page of Free Stuff at http://www.cyndislist.com/freestuff.htm that includes forms, free databases, software and more.The Scottish Screen Archive at http://ssa.nls.uk is Scotland's moving images collection with more than 100 years of Scottish history and culture on film and video.The Roscommon Historical Research site at http://www.roscommonhistory.ie has a great deal of genealogical material. Also check http://www.leitrim-roscommon.com. The Guys share a poem and encourage any responses by listeners as to its origins. The Guys discuss how they have used PowerPoint to create a presentation for a memorial service. The process can be used for heritage presentations, family reunions, anniversary celebrations, and many other genealogical projects.

This week's news includes: the Vatican has issued a letter instructing all dioceses not to give any information to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, due to concerns about the Mormons' practice of posthumous rebaptism; a new Midwest Genealogy Center (see http://www.mcpl.lib.mo.us/genlh/mgc.htm) will open in Independence, Missouri, on 21 June 2008 with the largest collection of genealogical materials in the U.S.; DNA links have been found from the ancient iceman found in British Columbia in 1999 to at least 17 living people; an American couple touring in Germany visited a gasthaus in Binningen and were introduced to a relative -- a man who looked exactly like the husband. The men shared the same great-great grandfather. Listen e-mail included: loss of HeritageQuest Online in the Satellite Beach, Florida, library; a thank you for our discussions of the Mozy (http://mozy.com/) computer backup facility; Catholic parish family books (Familienbuecher) in Germany; suggestions for locating information about Black Seminole people (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Seminoles and Seminole a listener asks for help when his own DNA and that of his family members disagrees; teaching genealogy to and for kids; the occupation of vanman is defined; and the origins of the surname Turtle are discussed. [Drew referred to the book, A Dictionary of English Surnames: The Standard Guide to English Surnames by P.H. Reaney and R.M. Wilson, published by OxforndUniversity Press in 1995.] George discusses the practical use of DNA in conjunction with genealogy, archeology, and geography in the research of the Lost Colony Center for Science and Research (http://www.lost-colony.com/). The Lost Colony was the second settlement on Roanoke Island on the Outer Banks of what is now North Carolina. It began in 1587 and it was there that Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World, was born on 18 August 1587. When the relief ships finally returned from England in 1590, the settlement was deserted, and a single word -- Croaton -- was carved into a post of the fort. Croaton was the name of one of the local Indian tribes. One suggestion is that the settlers were assimilated into one or more of the three tribes. The DNA testing and analysis being done by the Lost Colony Center for Science and Research is seeking to validate or refute this hypothesis, and the project is infinitely interesting.

News this week includees: Geni.com (http://www.geni.com/) announces new features, including a family timeline, posted links, send gifts, and the family Forest; Progeny Software offers its Charting Companion software to produce great-looking charts in color and with photos -- click here for more information; and the Allen County Public Library in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, is presenting a Military Symposium 2008 on September 26 locating the physical address for a rural postal box in 1935; more about the downloadable PDF file at http://www.thegeneticgenealogist.com about what to do with the results of your genealogy test; Catholic priest's census records; findings in old address books; another look at Chicago Public Radio's March 14th podcast about the kidnapping of Bobby Dunbar; an article titled To Catch a Thief at Smithsonian.com (click here to the exact location) tells how Civil war buffs got onto the trail of stolen documents; and Drew discusses uninterruptable power supply (UPS) units.

In the News, The Guys review two new publications: Hookers, Crooks, and Kooks by Jana Sloan Broglin, and Kisses from a Distance by Raff Ellis. A baby's tombstone from 1894 is discovered on a houseboat in Charleston, SC. George responds to a request about deed platting software: DeedMapper from Direct Line Software (http://www.directlinesoftware.com) sells for $99.00, while a free online deed platting tool is available for use at http://www.genealogytools.net. Drew follows up regarding the use of a final 'e' at the end of some surnames, such as Greene. Chicago Public Radio's series, This American Life, has an interesting episode from 14 March 2008 titled The Ghost of Bobby Dunbar available as a podcast at http://thisamericanlife.org/Radio_Episode.aspx?sched=1234. It is a terrific story! Drew talks about the term countryman and its origins. He then discusses ordnance maps and their use. George suggests copying online obituaries from newspapers and from funeral homes' Web sites and from their online guest books. The Guys end the show with a discussion of church directories and church bulletins.

This week's news includes the following: Ancestry.com launches the Drouin Collection of 29 million French-Canadian names from, ultimately to include 37M names by mid-2008; Ancestry.com also launched the Former Colonial Dependencies Slave Register Collection, 1812-1834; RootsMagic has extended the early Bird Registration for this year's genealogy cruise to April 30th (see http://www.RootsMagicCruise.com); Wholly Genes has announced its genealogy cruise line-up (see http://www.WhollyGenes.com/cruise.htm); the My Genealogy toolbar is free and helpful for those researching their UK ancestors, and is at http://www.usefultoolbars.co.uk; and the National History Show will be held May 2-4, 2008, in Olympia, London, UK (see http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.co.uk for information and tickets.) The Genealogy Guys appear in their second episode of Down Under: Florida at RootsTelevision.com. Click here to see the new feature about famed Ringling Brothers circus performers, The Flying Zacchinis. You'll love it! Listeners share lots of great information, including: Catholic: Under the Hood videocast about the Sicily-Rome Cemetery, resting place of WWII soldiers; print labels for your family heritage CDs and DVDs using Light Scribe software and disks (http://www.lightscribe.com/); search the Web site for the funeral home that recently handled arrangements for an individual -- they often have more detailed obituaries than the newspapers, guest books, and even photographs; a suggested reference for understanding land records and land platting is E. Wade Hone's book, Land and Property Research in the United States (Ancestry Publishing); The Guys offer tips for breaking through brick walls; and George responds to a request about his research on his great-uncle, Brisco Washington Holder. George reviews and recommends three books: Capturing Memories: Your family Story in Photographs by Maureen A. Taylor (Ancestry Publishing: 2007) Bibliographic Checklist of African American Newspapers by Barbara K. Henritze (Genealogical Publishing Co./Clearfield Company: 1995 and Reprinted 2008) Bad Baby Names by Michael Sherrod and Mathew Raybeck. (Ancestry Publishing: 2008)

Drew addresses proving relationships using mitochondrial DNA. He then discusses two genealogical books on the subject of DNA. They are: DNA the National Genealogical Society has announced the appointment of Pamela K. Boyer, CG, CGL, its Education and Publications Director; and WorldVitalRecords.com (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com) has added 300 new databases from the Godfrey Memorial Library and will add 300 more each week this month. Listener e-mail includes discussions concerning: âThe Vision of Britainâ system holds the full text of three 19th century gazetteers at http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/index.jsp; LDS Family History Center personnel can provide expert advice to you before you reach the point of hiring a professional researcher; a listener asks for opinions about the National Genealogical Societyâs online course, âIntroduction to Genealogyâ; genealogy of U.S. presidential candidates is a topic of worldwide discussions; another recommendation is made for creating CDs/DVDs of family history information; the recessive gene responsible for red hair is declining and is expected to be obsolete by 2100; Arphax Publishing Company publishes excellent quality family maps by state and county, and can be found at http://www.arphax.com; and additional information about District of Columbia records is offered.

This weekâs news includes: NBC has purchased rights to create an American version of the popular BBC reality series, Who Do You Think You Are?; NARA recently announced the availability of nearly 9 million WWII U.S. Army enlistment records at its Web site, but be aware that there were many records that could not be scanned â and the collection is therefore incomplete; Sen. John McCainâs new book, Hard Call, indicates his descent from Scottish heroic warrior Robert the Bruce, but the claim has been termed âbaloneyâ in the British press by professional genealogists; Jacksonville Public Library in Florida has begun an âASK a Librarianâ online chat service; I.R.I,S., Inc., (at http://www.irislink.com) has two new portable scanners of note. Listener e-mail topics this week include: Genealogical Publishing Companyâs new CD by Michael Hait, titled The Family History Research Toolkit, has PDF format forms into which you can type information or use the forms for transcription purposes ($19.95 USD); a discussion of professional research services and researchers (Board for Certification of Genealogists at http://www.bcgcertification.org/ and the Association of Professional Genealogists at http://www.apgen.org/ and the International Commission for the Accreditation of Professional Genealogists at http://www.icapgen.org/) are three resources); missing census images at Ancestry.com were reported through the online Help facility and will be handled; a question about searching databases that are added to sites incrementally, and not wasting your time doing the same searches on the same data; an early pilot of the LDSâ online databases is available at http://search.labs.familysearch.org; use of Googleâs My Map feature to create maps of cemeteries and other locations in a specific area; scanning photos using Googleâs Picasa feature; Washington, DC, records storage repositories for that jurisdiction; and issues concerning placing oneâs genealogical data online.

In this weekâs news: NARA (http://www.archives.gov) posts free passenger lists online, including Russian, Italian, and German lists to east coast ports; 1871 England and Wales census images are now complete on British Origins (http://www.britishorigins.com); The Generations Network, Inc. (http://www.tgn.com), parent of Ancestry.com, RootsWeb, Genealogy.com, and other entities, announced that they will move RootsWeb onto the Ancestry.com domain, using http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com, and that there should be no changes to the online experience of users â and that RootsWeb will continue to be free; and WorldVitalRecords.com (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com) now has over 1 billion names at its site. The Guys respond to many listener e-mail topics: the correct pronunciation of Haaretz, the largest newspaper in Israel which is beginning a new start-up genealogy social network, is âHah-AH-retzâ, which is Hebrew for âThe Land.â; university databases and the possibility of accessing them remotely; missing census page images at Ancestry.com for Decatur County, Indiana; the availability of the 1846 Slaterâs Commercial Directory of Ireland at http://failteromhat.com/slater.htm. The Guys continue discussing listener e-mail about DNA and Drew continues his discussion of the topic to try to educate us all.

George delivers a lot of news this week: the New England Historic and Genealogical Society (http://www.newenglandancestors..org) has received a large gift of photographs from the family of Thaxter Spencer, including an unknown 1888 photo of Helen Keller and her teacher, Annie Sullivan; the Library of Congressâs digital preservation program has a new e-mail newsletter and you can subscribe by clicking here; NARA is soliciting comments from the public by 9 April 2008 regarding a proposal to enter into a non-exclusive agreement with The Generations Network, Inc., owners of Ancestry.com, to digitize and expand access to record holdings in NARAâs custody (see http://www.archives.gov/comment/tgn-preamble.html); Dublinâs Glasnevin Cemeteryâs registers are about to be placed on the Internet, and more information is available at http://www.cigo.ie; Genealogical Publishing Company (http://www.genealogical.com) has partnered with FamilyLink.com, Inc. (http://www.familylink.com) to make their databases available on WorldVitalRecords.com (http://www.worldvitalrecords.com); Haaretx, Inc. (http://www.haaretz.com/) announced with Famillion (http://www.famillion.com) the launch of a new genealogy and social network search engine aimed at connecting the Jewish people worldwide; MyGreatBigFamily.com (http://www.mygreatbigfamily.com) launches enhanced social networking websites for families; GenealogyBank (http://www.genealogybank.com) has added the first 20 Hispanic newspaper titles for 4 states to its online historic newspaper collection, covering the period from 1855 to 1956, and will add many more, ultimately covering the period 1808 to 1980; an ID thief is caught and imprisoned in New Zealand for fraud in the theft of thousands of dollars in student loans for deceased children whose birth certificates he had obtained. The Guys read and respond to listener e-mail on many topics: George misread the URL for the multimedia presentation software called Passage Express (which should be http://www.passageexpress.com); a listener and the Web Marketing Director of NewspaperArchive.com provided information about and a free trial of their site at http://www.newspaperarchive.com; information is shared about the HP MediaSmart Server for compact file backups and extensive hard drive installation; a free site to convert files into other formats is available at http://www.youconvertit.com); the True Loverâs Knot will be featured in the May issue of Real Simple magazine (http://www.realsimple.com); Newberry Library in Chicago is working on a project to document and then digitize all state and county boundary changes in its Atlas of Historic County Boundaries Project (AHCBP) and has 23 states available online at http://www.newberry.org/ahcbp/; a listener shared the image of an 1880 census Enumeratorâs Daily Report to Census Office form that he purchases on eBay; and one listener shared information about her ancestry and, in particular, shared her related photos that she has uploaded to the Shutterfly photograph file sharing site at http://www.shutterfly.com. The Guys continued with listener e-mail on the subject of genealogical DNA testing and will continue next week again with another descriptive discussion.

This week's news includes: condolences to the family of Chuck Knuthson, a great genealogical speaker, researcher, and former board member of FGS, GSG, and other organizations; Halvor Moorshead, head of Moorshead Magazines [Family Chronicle, History Magazine, Internet Genealogy, and the new Discovering Family History] is retiring and has sold the company to staff members Ed Zapletal and Rick Cree. Listener e-mail includes: Greek genealogical research links are available at Cyndi's List (at http://www.cyndislist.com/greece.html) and at Kimberly Powell's column at About.com (at http://genealogy.about.com/od/greece); a request for help reading an occupation on a 1920 census schedule for Flint, Michigan, draws a unanimous opinion from The Guys [Quarry]; thanks for suggestions for recording an interview with a mother who transcribed contents of a now-lost Bible; an explanation of the source for information used by a census enumerator to complete a mortality schedule in the 1880 census; and a true life story of backing up one's data. Drew describes and discusses Mark Tucker's brilliant Genealogy Research Process map and textual description at http://www.ThingGenealogy.com. It is derived from concepts of the Board for Certification of Genealogists and by Elizabeth Shown Mills, expert on the genealogical proof standard and author of Evidence Explained, the new and definitive book concerning citation of genealogical evidence. Drew discusses the use of dictionaries to locate the definitions of older, more obscure terms found in historical and genealogical documents. The example he cites is the term, Fresno, a piece of equipment once used for scraping road surfaces. The Guys discuss databases for historical newspapers and more recent (ca. 1980 to present) newspapers. The companies discussed are LexisNexis (the Nexis portion); NewsBank's America's Genealogy Bank database; and ProQuest. Newspaper databases may be available through your local public library and/or your local college or university library. Drew discovered that sometimes the newspapers available in a database inside the library are greater in number than when you access the database remotely from outside the library. This can be due to differences in licensing contracts. George encourages listeners to check out all the databases available through their libraries.

This week's news includes: Congratulations to Matt Wright who becomes editorial director at FamilyLink.com; a recap of a USA Today report of 18 February about states unsealing adoption records and opening original birth records to adoptees; passenger lists of persons leaving the U.K. for the U.S., Canada, and Australia during the 1940s are available at Ancestors Onboard at http://www.ancestorsonboard.com; the National History Show will be held on 2-4 May 2008 in the Grand Hall, Olympia, London, and tickets can be booked at http://www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.co.uk. Listener e-mail includes more kudoes for The Guys' Down Under video at RootsTelevision.com; Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps at the New York Public Library at (accessible now only at the NYPL), as well as digital maps and photographs in their digital gallery at http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/; a number of video options for creating heritage DVDs and slideshows using Apple Macintoshes and PCs have been suggested in various price ranges: PowerPoint to Slideshow: http://www.download.com/Microsoft-HTML-Slideshow-Wizard/3000-12511_4-10758686.html12 Screencasting Tools for Creating Video Tutorials (suggested by Drew) at http://mashable.com/2008/02/21/screencasting-video-tutorials/Adobe products at http://www.adobe.comApple products at http://www.apple.com The Guys spend the remainder of the show discussing the intricacies of U.S. copyright laws and fair use standards. Definitely worth a listen!

George reports on the genealogy news this week: Julia M. Case, beloved genealogist and author at RootsWeb has died; Moorshead Magazines has begun a new magazine called Discovering Family History for beginning genealogists and those who want a refresher, and a premier online issue is available for free at http://www.discoveringfamilyhistory.com; and other stories. The Guys share listener e-mail including: places for locating French records; safety of publishing family trees on the Internet; validating the contents of a lost family Bible; responses to the topic of how to avoid genealogy burnout; and they share feedback on their new Down Under: Tampa series at RootsTelevision.com.

This week's news includes: Ancestry.com has added a huge collection of African-American records with the Freedmen's Marriage Records and the Southern Claims Commission Collection at Ancestry.com; the 1911 Irish Census is beginning to be made available at http://www.census.nationalarchives.ie, and the 1862 Dublin City Street Directory is now online at http://www.libraryireland.com/Dublin-Street-Directory-1862/Home.php; and a new book by Terry Riegel titled A Primer for The Master Genealogist is now available from Wholly Genes Software at http://www.whollygenes.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY and an intriguing finding by scientist Hans Eiberg in Norway about blue-eyed persons and their common forebear 6,000 to 10,000 years ago. The Genealogy Guys make their television debut today at RootsTelevision (http://www.rootstelevision.com) in a new series, âDown Under: Florida.â The series is not unlike PBSâ âHistory Detectivesâ in that they investigate persons in the past whose cemetery markers and stories have piqued their interest. Check out the first of their new online television programs at http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1137819660/bclid240119644/bctid1409058662. The Guys describe for listener (and now viewer!) Donna in Hawaii the production process Listener e-mail includes: discussion of Horry and Marion Counties in SC; comments about the genealogical value of address books; and more. The Guys talk about climatic changes and their effects on our ancestors, including the influence on their migrations and settlements.

This weekâs news includes: the funeral for Gordon B. Hinckley, 97, in Salt Lake City on 2 Feb. Mr. Hinckley was the president of the LDS church since 1995; FamilyLin.com, Inc. (http://www.familylink.com) launches their World Collection containing more than 1.5 billion names from 35 countries; and beginning this week, George will be writing a weekly column for Eastmanâs Online Genealogy Newsletter (http://blog.eogn.com/). Drew discusses search strategies for researching common surnames, such as his own â Smith. The Guys discuss ways to avoid âGenealogy Burnout.â And finally, Drew discusses the value of his parentsâ address book in extending his research.

This weekâs news items include: James LeVoy Sorenson, renowned medical device inventor, entrepreneur, and philanthropist died on 20 January 2008 at 86 â his companies list includes the non-profit Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation which provides DNA testing; Genealogical.com has launched a new blog at http://GenealogyandFamilyHistory.com; a wiki is available for users of FamilySearch and the LDS Family History Centers, at http://www.familysearchwiki.org. The Guys respond to listener e-mail, including: genealogy software questions about DNA information and the GEDCOM 5.5 format standard; a site for sharing serialized family history information, with a sample at http://wwar1.blogspot.com; a suggestion to visit the extensive Genealogy and Family History Links Library at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~genealogylinks/; Bryan Mawerâs Sugar Refiners and Sugarbakers website at http://home.clara.net/mawer/intro.html about the sugar industry, primarily in the UK (16th-20th centuries); and a question about when shipsâ crew were included on manifests (and other forms), including information about INS requirements â at http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/maritime/great-lakes-crew-lists.html. Drew and George discuss the explosion of social networking sites for genealogists and some of the issues regarding choosing one or more to use. The list includes: Geni.com (http://www.geni.com/), Famillion (http://www.famillion.com), Ancestry.com (http://www.geni.com/), OneGreatFamily.com (http://www.onegreatfamily.com), FamilyTreeDNA.com (http://www.familytreedna.com/), MyHeritage.com (http://www.myheritage.com/), 23AndMe (https://www.23andme.com/), MyHeritage.com (http://www.myheritage.com/), ItsOurTree.com (http://www.itsourtree.com/ and available in multiple languages), Amiglia.com (http://www.amiglia.com), Kindo.com (http://kindo.com/), and TreeX.com (http://treex.com/tree/). Others include KinCafe (http://www.kincafe.com/), FamilyLink (http://www.familylink.com/ - formerly WorldVitalRecords.com), OurStory.com (http://www.ourstory.com/), WeRelate (http://www.werelate.org), and Famiva (http://www.famiva.com/). Drew has revived his personal blog with a new name, Internet domain, and a new look. The blog, called Rootsmithing, can be found at http://rootsmithing.com.

This week's news includes many announcements. Memeria (http://www.memeria.com) launches the first house-call photo-scanning service; another genealogy podcast is available -- Genealogy Gems at http://www.genealogygemspodcast.com; WorldVitalRecords.com has changed its name to FamilyLink.com (http://www.familylink.com) and has formed partnerships with other companies in recent months; RootsMagic announces its 2008 Genealogy Cruise to the Mexican Riviera on Sept. 28 to Oct. 5, and details can be found at http://www.RootsMagicCruise.com. There are also many seminars coming up this year: San Luis Obispo County Genealogical Society (Feb. 2) (http://www.kcbx.net/~slogen/); St. George family History Expo 2008 (Feb. 8-9) (http://www.myancestorsfound.com/events/upcoming.php?event_id=1); Czechoslovak Genealogical Society International Symposium (April 11-12) (http://www.cgsi.org/news.asp?intNewsID=129); North Carolina Genealogical Societyâs 3rd Annual Speakers Forum (April 11) (http://www.ncgenealogy.org); Federation of East European Family History Societies Conference (August 1-3) (http://feefhs.org/). The Guys respond to a load of listener e-mail this week! Danny, as a Mac user, canât use Clooz and so has made use of a free version of software program called Mac Journal; Drew discussed software options for Scottâs family which just celebrated its 101st consecutive family reunion; Michael loves U.S. Federal Agricultural Census records, but hates the microfilm â and he and George urge Ancestry.com and HeritageQuest to bite the bullet and digitize these and the remaining U.S. census records; several users commented on the need for the GEDCOM facility to be updated to also include graphics, while The Guys agree that software packages and online sites should be able to synchronize the data between both!

Welcome to The Genealogy GuysTM Podcast for 2008! George begins the 2008 news with a press release from Wholly Genes, Inc., of Columbia, MD, about the new Version 7.0 of The Master Genealogist (TMG) genealogy database software; George will be appearing at the all-day Mississippi Genealogical Society Confernece in Pearl. MS, just outside Jackson, on Saturday, 19 January â more information is available at (601) 924-9346; the Whitier Area Genealogical Society will feature expert genealogist, writer, and librarian Lloyd DeWitt Bockstuck at its 25th Annual Genealogical Conference on 23 February 2008 â Contact Miriam Benell at dandmbenell@earthlink.net for more information; the Southern California Genealogical Society has announced its conference details at jamboree@scgsgenealogy.com, and both Drew and George will be there this year! The Guys discuss some user e-mail as always, and then focus on what is happening and coming for genealogy in 2008.

George begins with two pieces of news: he will be appearing at the Mississippi Genealogical Society's Conference on January 19th. For more information, call 601.924.9346. He also announced that he is discontinuing his long-running Along Those Lines ... column, which began on AOL, then appeared for years at Ancestry.com, and has been a blog for the past two years. The blog at http://ahaseminars.livejournal.com/ will remain online through April 2008. Listener e-mail provided some great information this week: Jerry highly recommends the Fujitsu Scansnap S510 scanner for its lightening speed, accuracy, and automatic feed. (Click here for a link to the Fujitsu product information.); The Guys do accept friend links at LibraryThing, and George has just been designated a LibraryThing Author; Megan tells about her research into an heirloom True Lover's Knot ; Rollin asks about how to record a confusing death date, and shares information about a free Windows screen capture program he likes -- FastStone Capture 5.9 at http://www.faststone.org; Find-a-Grave's Rich Hrazanek reports that there are now over 20 million interments recorded at the site; and Patty asks about the indexing by Ancestry.com of the Drouin Collection and George refers her to Suzanne Adams at Ancestry for a status. George discusses the progress of Web-based resources over the last 15 years, including databases, blogs, wikis, podcasts, and video. He especially likes RootsTelevision at http://www.rootstelevision.com which features lectures, conferences, different ethnic research resources, military research hints, DNA research discussions, genealogy for kids, reunions, and much more. The Guys will have more to say about RootsTelevision in 2008! The Guys spent the last segment of the show recapping genealogical news, additions, developments, people losses, conferences and cruises, books, and more in 2007. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

George begins with the genealogical news: â FamilySearch and The Generations Network, Inc., parent company of Ancestry.com, today announced an agreement that provides free access of Ancestry.com to patrons of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and the 13 largest regional family history centers effective today. â Ancestry.com added 340.2M new names last week, including digitized and indexed newspapers from 10 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces, more than 4,5 new BMD records, and updated the British Telcom U.K. telephone directories with more than 71M new names. â Ancestry.com also unveiled its new Learning Center at its U.S. Web site this week. It is now a multimedia experience with video tutorials and multiple new sub-screens with well-organized content. â The California Genealogical Society and Library celebrates 110 years with an all-day seminar by nationally-recognized âPhoto Detectiveâ Maureen A. Taylor. Ms. Taylorâs lectures will focus on identifying and dating old photographs, preserving family photos, and identifying immigrant clues in photos. More information is available at http://www.calgensoc.org. â The Denver Public Library has just received an IMLS grant of $778K to digitize historical materials in its collection relating to Denver and its historical neighborhoods, and will partner with other regional libraries. Read all about this project at http://www.thecherrycreeknews.com/content/view/2148/2/. The Guys share listener e-mail and commentary about: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps; professional looking âhomemadeâ tombstones using pure White Portland Cement and metal molds â and an example of the result can be accessed here; a suggestion to look further into the new Ancestry.com U.S. Passport Applications database for more than just the front/back of the application â often lots more information and photographs are included; filing systems are discussed; and a listener in Germany listens while driving the autobahn! Drew discusses Macintosh operating systems and browsers, and then recaps new Macworld (http://www.macworld.com/) reviews of four genealogy programs: Reunion 9.04 from Leister Productions (http://www.leisterpro.com); MacFamilyTree 4.4 from Only Mac Software (http://www.onlymac.de) ; Heredis 10.2 from DSD Concept (http://www.myheredis.fr); and iFamily for Tiger 2.2 by KS Wilson The Guys wish everyone a very Happy Holiday Season!

George begins with the genealogical news: â FamilySearch and The Generations Network, Inc., parent company of Ancestry.com, today announced an agreement that provides free access of Ancestry.com to patrons of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City and the 13 largest regional family history centers effective today. â Ancestry.com added 340.2M new names last week, including digitized and indexed newspapers from 10 U.S. states and 2 Canadian provinces, more than 4,5 new BMD records, and updated the British Telcom U.K. telephone directories with more than 71M new names. â Ancestry.com also unveiled its new Learning Center at its U.S. Web site this week. It is now a multimedia experience with video tutorials and multiple new sub-screens with well-organized content. â The California Genealogical Society and Library celebrates 110 years with an all-day seminar by nationally-recognized âPhoto Detectiveâ Maureen A. Taylor. Ms. Taylorâs lectures will focus on identifying and dating old photographs, preserving family photos, and identifying immigrant clues in photos. More information is available at http://www.calgensoc.org. â The Denver Public Library has just received an IMLS grant of $778K to digitize historical materials in its collection relating to Denver and its historical neighborhoods, and will partner with other regional libraries. Read all about this project at http://www.thecherrycreeknews.com/content/view/2148/2/. The Guys share listener e-mail and commentary about: Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps; professional looking âhomemadeâ tombstones using pure White Portland Cement and metal molds â and an example of the result can be accessed here; a suggestion to look further into the new Ancestry.com U.S. Passport Applications database for more than just the front/back of the application â often lots more information and photographs are included; filing systems are discussed; and a listener in Germany listens while driving the autobahn! Drew discusses Macintosh operating systems and browsers, and then recaps new Macworld (http://www.macworld.com/) reviews of four genealogy programs: Reunion 9.04 from Leister Productions (http://www.leisterpro.com); MacFamilyTree 4.4 from Only Mac Software (http://www.onlymac.de) ; Heredis 10.2 from DSD Concept (http://www.myheredis.fr); and iFamily for Tiger 2.2 by KS Wilson The Guys wish everyone a very Happy Holiday Season!

The Guys go straight to listener e-mail this week: the value of contacting genealogical societies for obit Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps that have been made available at state sites, such as Florida (http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/?c=sanborn), Georgia (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/sanborn), and South Carolina (http://www.sc.edu/library/digital/collections/sanborn.html) and digital cameras used by The Guys: Pentax A20 Option Megapixel camera (see review at http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082103pentaxa20.asp). Drew recaps the instructions for accessing older podcasts. He also shares his Genealogy Society Tip of the Week about expending a little extra money for name/quality speakers for your society to attract visitors and new members. George recaps the importance of making contact with and/or joining genealogical societies where your ancestors lived. They can also provide obituary and funeral notice lookups and copies from their local card or online computerized index files. The Guys discuss the negative side of sharing information about living family members, especially when one becomes a debtor who becomes the subject of debt collectors. Some debtors are now accessing genealogical database as vehicles to persecute and ride relatives of a debtor, and that is illegal Listener Nancy details the underhanded tactics of collectors who began contacting siblings, children, aunts, uncles, and grandparents of the debtor to harass and dun then for their relative's debt. George discovered that every state in then Union has laws governing collection agencies. Most, if not all, cannot by law contact anyone other than the debtor and his/her spouse directly. Contact with your state Attorney General's office to determine what YOUR rights are and what a collection agency can and cannot do. You will often find that the collection agent/agency is exceeding his or her authority. George discusses his Pentax Option A20 (10 megapixel) digital camera, its features, and how he uses the Text setting and other features in his genealogical research. Drew talks about Chris Dunham's The Genealogy site at http://www.genealogue.com and the Genealogue Challenge. George reminds listeners that The Genealogy Blog Finder is also one of the features of this great site. George reviews William Dollarhide's new two-volume book set titled Census Substitutes http://www.familyrootspublishing.com.

The Guys go straight to listener e-mail this week: the value of contacting genealogical societies for obit Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps that have been made available at state sites, such as Florida (http://www.uflib.ufl.edu/UFDC/?c=sanborn), Georgia (http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/sanborn), and South Carolina (http://www.sc.edu/library/digital/collections/sanborn.html) and digital cameras used by The Guys: Pentax A20 Option Megapixel camera (see review at http://www.dpreview.com/news/0608/06082103pentaxa20.asp). Drew recaps the instructions for accessing older podcasts. He also shares his Genealogy Society Tip of the Week about expending a little extra money for name/quality speakers for your society to attract visitors and new members. George recaps the importance of making contact with and/or joining genealogical societies where your ancestors lived. They can also provide obituary and funeral notice lookups and copies from their local card or online computerized index files. The Guys discuss the negative side of sharing information about living family members, especially when one becomes a debtor who becomes the subject of debt collectors. Some debtors are now accessing genealogical database as vehicles to persecute and ride relatives of a debtor, and that is illegal Listener Nancy details the underhanded tactics of collectors who began contacting siblings, children, aunts, uncles, and grandparents of the debtor to harass and dun then for their relative's debt. George discovered that every state in then Union has laws governing collection agencies. Most, if not all, cannot by law contact anyone other than the debtor and his/her spouse directly. Contact with your state Attorney General's office to determine what YOUR rights are and what a collection agency can and cannot do. You will often find that the collection agent/agency is exceeding his or her authority. George discusses his Pentax Option A20 (10 megapixel) digital camera, its features, and how he uses the Text setting and other features in his genealogical research. Drew talks about Chris Dunham's The Genealogy site at http://www.genealogue.com and the Genealogue Challenge. George reminds listeners that The Genealogy Blog Finder is also one of the features of this great site. George reviews William Dollarhide's new two-volume book set titled Census Substitutes http://www.familyrootspublishing.com.

The week's news includes: NARA partners with TOPICS Entertainment to produce two filmed histories on DVD - WWII: A Filmed History and Aviation A Filmed History from the National Archives, both 24-CD sets; Ancestry.com has completed digitizing and indexing the British Telephone Books, 1880-1984, the full collection of the British Telcom Archives collection; the Florida State Genealogical Society awards it's prestigious Award for Outstanding Achievement in Florida Genealogy to Hal J. Becker; readers of Oklahoma Living magazine have voted to award the Muskogee Public Library the best library in the state; Wholly Genes, Inc., announces its 2008 genealogy cruise with details at http://www.WhollyGenes.com/cruise.htm. The Guys share reader e-mail about: inexpensive headstone options, including requesting markers from the Department of Veterans Affairs at http://www.va.gov/; more about DNA testing; binder organization and filing techniques; methods of locating military service numbers include: - Check county clerks' offices and post offices for registered DD-214s - Check funeral home records - Contact the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis - Contact the Department of Veterans Affairs - Some states have veterans databases online, such as Utah, Florida, and Missouri Michigan's genealogical library facilities are touted at the Library of Michigan and the Archives of Michigan, as well as the Detroit Public Library's Burton Historical Collection. George's Web Site of the Week is Expert Links: English Family History and Genealogy, a massive collection of wonderful Web links at http://www.pricegen.com/english_genealogy.html?cpn=wvrnewsletter. Drew's Society Tip of the Week addresses membership directories, benefits, issues, and publishing options.