This lecture will discuss how to get started in African American research. The objective of this presentation will be to research African Americans before the Civil War – either as an enslaved or free person. It will introduce Antebellum Era records such as: newspapers, slave schedules, church records, tax records, free people of color registers, plantation records, and probate records. It will also cover methodology for enslaved research.

As genealogists we seek information about our ancestors from as far back in time as possible. That being said, not all researchers may be familiar with the term, but some of the most important records we find were created during the time of the Little Ice Age.

Looking for your ancestors Down Under? Aussie genealogist Shauna Hicks will show you how to use MyHeritage to access a vast array of resources and make new discoveries about your ancestors from Australia.

Legalese. Boilerplate. Obsolete laws. Ancestral idiosyncrasies. The documents our ancestors created are full of such traps. This session uses two typical documents from different regions to illustrate, line by line, how to sort chaff from wheat, interpret deceptive language, and develop clues.

Gedcom files are the universal standard for transferring genealogy information from one program format to another. In this TechZone video learn how to create and export a gedcom file from an online tree and then import that file into a desktop genealogy program. Next we’ll export from a desktop program and import into a different online tree.

It’s not over ’til the fat lady sings? Nope. It’s not over until you find where the big girl was buried. This presentation offers examples of records that can lead genealogists to an ancestor’s elusive final resting place.

Family tradition holds that John H. Hickey of Rockton, Winnebago County, Illinois, disappeared. This case study proves John “disappeared” and establishes the missing man’s fate. A patchwork of records allowed a glimpse into the life of a person thought dead.

You loved her last webinar on this topic and requested six more! In this webinar, Janice will introduce you to her next favourite online sources for Ontario family history.

This presentation discusses the turbulent history of the former German states of East Prussia and West Prussia, now part of Poland and Russia, and introduces resources for genealogical research in the region. The evolution of German culture in these two neighboring Prussian states was surprisingly divergent. Insight into the social and political history of these states is essential for successful research in the area.

A lot has changed at 23andMe in the past few months, and we’ll review the differences and their new normal. Their best feature, the genetic tree, provides valuable family associations along with hints, as does their ethnicity segment painting. We’ll learn how to use and optimize both. My Heritage provides many helpful features and tools for genetic genealogists, including ethnicity, Genetic Groups, easy triangulation, segment information, smart matching, location and surname info, along with AutoClusters which clusters your matches into groups. They offer many filters to assist with viewing matches in multiple ways. Their leading edge tool, Theories of Family Relativity, combines DNA matches, trees and records information to create theories about your common ancestors. Next, there’s an overview of third party resources, DNAPainter, GEDmatch, Genetic Affairs, WikiTree, and FamilySearch – when and how you want to utilize each one. We close with how to create your own recipe for success. I share my own tools and methodologies.

FamilyTreeDNA, the first genetic genealogy testing vendor, beginning in 2000, is also the only vendor that provides Y-DNA (paternal/surname line for males,) mitochondrial DNA (direct maternal line for everyone), autosomal and X-DNA testing and matching. Additionally, they provide ethnicity testing and segment chromosome painting, ethnicity match comparison, a chromosome browser, group projects, time trees, advanced matching across product lines, matches map, family side matching, a match matrix of matches you select, and limited triangulation. We will discuss the added tool of X matching, which is includes with autosomal and has a unique inheritance path, creating additional hints as to common ancestors. We discuss why you want to create a genetic pedigree chart, what you will learn, and how to find information for lines that you can’t test either Y-DNA or mitochondrial DNA for directly. Group projects can be and are extremely helpful. FamilyTreeDNA’s flagship Big Y-700 is the only test of its kind in the industry, provides many tools and integrates with the free Discover tool to provide unique information about your ancestor’s paternal lineages – both individually and through group projects. Lineages can often be defined quite granularly, with branches every few generations. Discover also provides both ancient connections via archaeology digs and notable connections documented through other testers. The Million Mito Project is rewriting the maternal tree of humankind and will have its own MitoDiscover soon.

In the first part of Tests, Vendors, Tools and You, we will discuss how and where to start your genealogy and DNA testing. Every testing vendor has different tools to help genealogists. We will learn how to best utilize the resources of each vendor. First, we’ll start out by discussing goals, along with an overview and best features of the four major vendors; 23andMe, Ancestry, FamilyTreeDNA and MyHeritage. We will also touch on five third party tools that will be more fully explored in the third session of this series. I’ll introduce the four types of DNA for genetic genealogy, when to use each, and a tried and true methodology to create a genetic pedigree chart. We cover the basics of ethnicity, triangulation, why you’ll want to use a chromosome browser to prove ancestors, and chromosome painting. Ancestry offers a wide variety of genetic genealogy features and tools, and we’ll discuss how to get the most out of your DNA test at Ancestry, including ethnicity, Communities, SideView, matching, shared and parental matches, common ancestors and their flagship tool, ThruLines.