DNA testing has transformed the options available to people with unknown parentage or other unknown ancestor mysteries. This presentation will explain how to use DNA results from MyHeritage to help with solving these previously unsolvable enigmas. Michelle will guide you through how to use the tools and features provided by MyHeritage specifically for unknown parentage situations from investigating MyHeritage matches, utilising the detailed shared match lists on offer, building master research trees for your projects, using the 30 helpful color-coding labels to cluster and organise mystery matches right through to identifying links and obtaining solutions. She will provide practical demonstrations of the core techniques you should employ and genuine case studies and success stories will be included to show how DNA results from MyHeritage can be used in tandem with traditional research to solve mysteries and gain answers.

Researching Hispanic and/or Latino ancestors? Daniel Horowitz will introduce you to the wealth of historical collections from Spain and Latin America on offer at MyHeritage and give you important pointers for searching and analyzing them.

Regular sailing schedules between Liverpool and North America began in 1818, and during the 19th century Liverpool became the primary port for emigrants from the British Isles, northern Europe and Russia to North America, Australia, and the rest of the British Empire. Learn how and why this came about, understand what the experience was like going to, in, and leaving from Liverpool. Learn how to identify, access, and use the records of the port and shipping that are available.

When it comes time to write the stories of your ancestors’ lives, whether you want to write a blog post or a book, you are going to want more than names, places and dates. These lists of facts make for boring reading. This lecture will reveal Janice’s secret method to uncovering hidden episodes of our ancestors’ lives that bring their stories to life.

Utilizing the FAN Club method, DNA, and enslaved ancestral research, Collier finally found major clues to help solve a longtime mystery – who was the previous enslaver of his great-great grandmother, Polly Partee of Panola County, Mississippi, and where did she come from? Her last enslaver was Squire Boone Partee of Panola County, and Polly had been the head cook on his plantation during and after slavery, according to oral history. According to the censuses, she was born somewhere in North Carolina and sold to Squire by 1852, but her origins had been largely unknown. Collier will present a plethora of DNA evidence, in conjunction with genealogy research and the FAN Club methodology, to uncover Polly’s North Carolina origins. Collier will also argue how a court-investigated lunatic, Alfred Alston of Fayette County, Tennessee, was most likely her previous enslaver.

Trivia contests seem to be all the rage now. But if you were ever a fan of the television show Jeopardy or the game Trivial Pursuit, here’s a way to test your genealogy knowledge. With genealogy expert Thomas MacEntee as presenter, you can participate in a fun, fast paced, and educational genealogy trivia game. Every participant will receive a handout at the END of the adventure complete with genealogy trivia questions and answers!

Oscar Philibert’s World War II draft card included a surprise, the description of a tattoo. That knowledge posed a challenge. What could Gena learn about this tattoo that would enhance his life story? This case study includes genealogical and social history resources that provide ideas for how genealogists can incorporate social history into the facts they find on a genealogically relevant record.

Researching, remembering and commemorating those in our families who served. Michelle will explore ways family historians can research, remember and commemorate those in our families who served. The presentation will include tips about where to find service records and the gems of information that can be found within. Lest We Forget.

It’s so exciting! You’ve just received a new certificate and have new family names. There’s so much new research to do and before you know it it’s 2am and somehow you missed dinner. Finding new family can be exciting, but sometimes it pays to slow down and plan your research.

The presentation will cover Polish cemetery online databases – portals and websites that include information about burials from all over Poland. Kinga will show you how to use these and explain what is the most common information that you may find there.

When visiting MyHeritage users often focus on growing their family tree or experimenting in the photos section. There are lots more features available to use at MyHeritage. This talk will be a speedy trip around the Home, Discoveries, DNA, and Research Sections of the MyHeritage website. Find out the benefits of looking beyond your own family tree and the photos section. This talk is most useful for new visitors to MyHeritage and those wanting to make better use of their membership.

The first colony to introduce divorce was South Australia in 1858 to the last New South Wales in 1873. The requirements differed by colony. Each colony handled its own divorces until the Federal Matrimonial Causes Act 1959 provided 14 grounds for the grant of divorce, including adultery, desertion, cruelty, habitual drunkenness, imprisonment and insanity. To succeed on one of these grounds, a spouse had to prove marital fault. There was only one no-fault ground: separation for more than five years. It was not until the Family Law Act 1975 was passed by the Federal Parliament that a “no fault divorce” existed in Australia: imprisonment and insanity. To succeed on one of these grounds, a spouse had to prove marital fault. There was only one no-fault ground: separation for more than five years.

This class examines online indexes that are not available through the big subscription sites. Family history societies and volunteer groups have created unique resources only available through their websites. Often free to use or more details are included in a society membership.

Only since 1893, there is one time zone in Germany! However, in the sources relevant for genealogy there are also dates referring to the Julian and Gregorian calendars, as well as the French revolutionary calendar and the church calendar. Here the differences and conversion to today’s dates are explained.

This lecture will describe the ways to use various resources available through MyHeritage to find information about ancestors originating in Poland and to find relatives that still may live there. Zbigniew will focus on a unique resource: family trees uploaded by individual users from Poland. In most cases, they started a few years ago at the beginning of a big wave of popularity of family history research. The concern about privacy was not that strong yet so thousands of people uploaded their information and made it available through MyHeritage making it a unique source that is not available anywhere else. Learn the strategies for using this kind of information, its advantages, and possible traps.

The Registry of Deeds based in Dublin has been in existence since 1704 and manages the legal registration of property. Less well known is that it is also a repository for genealogical treasures such as wills, property leases and marriage agreements. People named in these records include the principal parties and also wider family members and witnesses. It is also possible to find records by location. These records are available as microfilms on the Family Search website although they are not indexed there. This webinar will cover different methods of searching within and accessing these valuable records.

When weaving DNA and paper trail evidence together, how do we know when enough is enough? There’s often a thin line between a convincing case and one that falls just short of meeting genealogical standards. When we look at specific cases, what guides us in determining when we have enough DNA or enough documentary evidence or enough of both-and when more will be needed to meet the Genealogical Proof Standard?

Organized in August 1862, the First Kansas Colored Infantry was the first Black unit recruited in the North, the first to see and die in battle in the Civil War. Made up of both free and enslaved men, including those from the Five Tribes, its exploits were legendary. Yet, the lives of its rank and file outside of their service were prolific and unsung.

Often the hardest part of writing an ancestor’s story is getting started. Learn how to use MyHeritage tools and features to outline, write and share family stories with ease.

Our ancestors had to deal with time–time of day, day of the month, the year and how they recorded each. As countries changed from the Julian to the Gregorian calendars, countries implemented those changes differently. Dates were different and the identification of the date of the recorded Moveable Feast Days makes for challenges for the family historian. Multiple methods for determining the date when it is entered as a feast day will be illustrated.

Investigative, or Forensic, Genetic Genealogy (I/FGG) is the relatively recent application of traditional genetic genealogy skills, tools, and resources with the objective to assist Law Enforcement agencies in identifying unidentified human remains or suspects of violent crimes, among other cases. With this introduction, we will learn how I/FGG started, how it works, how is it different from traditional Forensic DNA Typing, and other traditional genealogical and genetic investigations used in criminal justice, and what changes are in place to ensure that I/FGG can be done safely, ethically, legally, and without compromising the privacy and integrity of the genetic genealogical community.

It is estimated that over 400,000 Swiss immigrants have come to North America since its settlement. With over 80% of them being German speaking, they often get lumped into “Germans to America,” but the records found in Switzerland can be vastly different, and the Swiss that came to our shores can have very different backgrounds.

Often finding the original record based on a reference or an index will require a concentrated effort and logical thinking skills to find that record. Come along as we review several important records and how we find them using a step-by-step.

There is a treasure trove of untapped research sources online: the electronic book or ebook. Repositories are digitizing publications and putting them online for us to use without having to leave the comfort of our homes. We will explore all the options that are out there to move your research forward.

Everyone has ancestors who seem to mysteriously appear and then dissolve into the ether, existing nowhere except a family story, a census, or a Bible entry. When deeds, wills, and other standard records fail to yield more information, “too poor to trace!” is a common conclusion—but a wrong one. Many neglected sources include propertyless men, women, and children. This class explores those sources and defines strategies we can use to develop clues, even from records that do not specifically name our ancestors.