Day 1 of RootsTech 2020. Here is my take on Wednesday's happenings from the viewpoint of someone who is #NotAtRootsTech
Wednesday's Live Streams
Making a Masterpiece: How to Capture the Best Family Portraits--Jens Nielsen gave us a bit of background on the camera and photography and also had a very moving story about his Mother an why a photograph is so important to him and should be to us. He says, "Genealogy without photography is like movies without sound." David Ward talked more about the type of light and how it affects the outcome of our photographs. Drake Buseth talked about portraits--the photographing of people and how to add gestures to bring life to the photograph. I know nothing about photography but they made it very interesting for me.
What’s New at Ancestry—Crista Cowan
This was mostly a review of what Ancestry has added over this last year. The amazing thing is that they have added 1.8 Billion Records that's the most records ever added in a year. This includes updates in indexing to FindAGrave, U.S. School Yearbooks, and Newspapers.com Obituary index as well as records relating to the persecution of Jews. You can find these Jewish records here along with many others. A good majority of the records including the new Jewish resource previously mentioned do not require a subscription.
Also featured were updates by Ancestry which were brought about by user suggestions. Among those were updated profile page, improved member searches, and a new message center. Most US members should already have the new messaging center with a few exceptions. (As of today I'm one of those exceptions)
Improvements were also made to the Family Tree portion of Ancestry including a new Hint management system which rechecks or refreshes the hints you receive. Using DNA filters in tandem is now an option and you may search for your matches many different ways. Filters are also available in the Thrulines portion of your account if you have DNA tested and have a linked tree.
There is also a new map enhancement for the Ancestry App. There are More announcements coming from Ancestry Thursday which Crista hinted at but could not talk about. I'm really looking forward to hearing about those.
The Story of You on FamilySearch
A review of some updated features on the FamilySearch site including fan chart views. Also the importance of recording our memories was stressed as well as what is happening with us today. One day we will be the ancestors. FamilySearch also has a mapping feature that you can use to map your ancestors lives.
Adding Branches to Your Family Tree Using DNA—Angie Bush
Angie Bush discussed the tools available at AncestryDNA, MyHeritage and 23&me that you can use to combine your DNA results and your family tree research. 23&me's tool is Your Family Tree(currently still in beta) and is based solely on DNA. MyHeritage has Theory of Family Relativity™ and AncestryDNA's tool is ThruLines™ both of these require that you have a tree attached to your DNA test I would love to be able to reject Theories or Thrulines that are incorrect but you cannot do this at either site yet as was pointed out. You still need to evaluate the suggestions made by any of these tools.
Finding Your Elusive Female Ancestors—Julie Stoddard
Key Points: Timelines are critical for researching female ancestors. Search specific records. Studying her family associates and neighbors with whom she interacted. Find your female ancestor on every census record taken during the time she was living. DNA evidence can be very helpful in researching an elusive female ancestor. Obituaries can also be very helpful in determining the ancestor's maiden name. Indexes are great but can cause a loss of context.Always look at original records.
Wednesday's Hottest News
For me today's hottest news has been the DNA Painter's New Feature. Jonny Perl announced that DNA Painter now allows you to overlay a selection of traits onto your chromosome map.
Making a Masterpiece: How to Capture the Best Family Portraits--Jens Nielsen gave us a bit of background on the camera and photography and also had a very moving story about his Mother an why a photograph is so important to him and should be to us. He says, "Genealogy without photography is like movies without sound." David Ward talked more about the type of light and how it affects the outcome of our photographs. Drake Buseth talked about portraits--the photographing of people and how to add gestures to bring life to the photograph. I know nothing about photography but they made it very interesting for me.
What’s New at Ancestry—Crista Cowan
This was mostly a review of what Ancestry has added over this last year. The amazing thing is that they have added 1.8 Billion Records that's the most records ever added in a year. This includes updates in indexing to FindAGrave, U.S. School Yearbooks, and Newspapers.com Obituary index as well as records relating to the persecution of Jews. You can find these Jewish records here along with many others. A good majority of the records including the new Jewish resource previously mentioned do not require a subscription.
Also featured were updates by Ancestry which were brought about by user suggestions. Among those were updated profile page, improved member searches, and a new message center. Most US members should already have the new messaging center with a few exceptions. (As of today I'm one of those exceptions)
Improvements were also made to the Family Tree portion of Ancestry including a new Hint management system which rechecks or refreshes the hints you receive. Using DNA filters in tandem is now an option and you may search for your matches many different ways. Filters are also available in the Thrulines portion of your account if you have DNA tested and have a linked tree.
There is also a new map enhancement for the Ancestry App. There are More announcements coming from Ancestry Thursday which Crista hinted at but could not talk about. I'm really looking forward to hearing about those.
The Story of You on FamilySearch
A review of some updated features on the FamilySearch site including fan chart views. Also the importance of recording our memories was stressed as well as what is happening with us today. One day we will be the ancestors. FamilySearch also has a mapping feature that you can use to map your ancestors lives.
Adding Branches to Your Family Tree Using DNA—Angie Bush
Angie Bush discussed the tools available at AncestryDNA, MyHeritage and 23&me that you can use to combine your DNA results and your family tree research. 23&me's tool is Your Family Tree(currently still in beta) and is based solely on DNA. MyHeritage has Theory of Family Relativity™ and AncestryDNA's tool is ThruLines™ both of these require that you have a tree attached to your DNA test I would love to be able to reject Theories or Thrulines that are incorrect but you cannot do this at either site yet as was pointed out. You still need to evaluate the suggestions made by any of these tools.
Finding Your Elusive Female Ancestors—Julie Stoddard
Key Points: Timelines are critical for researching female ancestors. Search specific records. Studying her family associates and neighbors with whom she interacted. Find your female ancestor on every census record taken during the time she was living. DNA evidence can be very helpful in researching an elusive female ancestor. Obituaries can also be very helpful in determining the ancestor's maiden name. Indexes are great but can cause a loss of context.Always look at original records.
Wednesday's Hottest News
For me today's hottest news has been the DNA Painter's New Feature. Jonny Perl announced that DNA Painter now allows you to overlay a selection of traits onto your chromosome map.
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