The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

There are additions spanning three centuries to discover this week. 

Our record collection grew substantially this week, with the addition of two new sets. Spanning 200 years, there are over a million English directory records for you to explore. 

With brand new transcriptions. you can also discover the history of Jersey's Huguenots between the 17th and 19th centuries. We've also updated our Royal and Imperial Calendars and added two new titles to our newspaper archive.

England Directories

This new collection consists of over 10 million transcriptions and images. 

With records spanning the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, explore England's past in more detail than ever.

Jersey, Huguenot Abjurations 1685-1815

The Huguenots were a Protestant group that fled France from the 18th century to escape persecution. 

This new record set documents the lives of Huguenots that settled on the Channel Island of Jersey, between 1685 and 1815.

Britain, Royal and Imperial Calendars 1767-1973

We've also added 4,395 browse-only images to our collection of British calendars this Findmypast Friday. 

Explore this record.

These images are from intermittent years between 1844 and 1926.

New pages from Whitley to Wolverhampton

We added two new titles to our newspaper collection this week and updated a further 26.

Garstang Courier. 

With brand new pages from across England, there are so many fascinating stories to discover. Here's a full rundown of everything we've added to our archive this week. 

New titles:

• Garstang Courier, 1994, 1998  
• Horsham Advertiser, 1997-1998  

Updated titles:

• Bicester Review, 1994, 1999
• Bridlington Free Press, 1887-1889, 1990, 2000
• Buxton Advertiser, 1977, 1984, 1992
• Dewsbury Reporter, 1993, 1997
• Driffield Times, 1993, 1996
• Dunstable Gazette, 1996-1997, 2001-2002
• Hastings and St Leonards Observer, 1997
• Hemel Hempstead Gazette, 1950, 1981, 1990, 1997
• Knaresborough Post, 1997, 2000
• Lancing Herald, 1995
• Leigh Chronicle & Weekly District Advertiser, 1876, 1880, 1917
• Lincolnshire Standard and Boston Guardian, 1959, 1974
• Magnet (Leeds), 1877-1878, 1880-1882, 1885-1889, 1893
• Milton Keynes Citizen, 1990
• Newton and Earlestown Guardian, 1911-1912, 1949-1950
• Peterborough Advertiser, 1959-1962
• Rugby Advertiser, 1990, 1992, 1997, 2000
• Shields Daily Gazette, 1987, 1990
• Shoreham Herald, 1993-1996
• South Yorkshire Times & Mexborough & Swinton Times, 1955, 1962-1973
• Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette, 1987
• West Lancashire Evening Gazette, 1988, 1990
• Whitley Bay Guardian, 1993-1994

Police said Ernesto Ramon Mercado, who may have been a rideshare driver, targeted young women living in off-campus shared residences. He's linked to crimes in the Georgetown and Glover Park area, and one near the University of Maryland.

A Northern Virginia man could get up to life in prison if he’s convicted of a string of sexual assaults dating back more than a decade. Police say he targeted students at two D.C.-area universities. He was arrested due to new technology and the work of a special unit working with the U.S. Attorney and others to close sex assault cases.

Ernesto Ramon Mercado, 54, of Arlington, is charged with first- and second-degree sexual abuse in connection with a series of home invasion rapes. He’s linked to a total of six assaults between 2008 and 2012.

“These cases stem from six unsolved home invasion rapes,” Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela Smith said. “Five of these crimes occurred in the Georgetown, Glover Park area of Northwest D.C. and one near the University of Maryland in College Park.”

Investigators say Mercado targeted young women living in off-campus shared residences and struck late at night or before dawn.

“In each case, Mercado likely identified his victims through stalking and Peeping Tom activities,” said MPD detective Alexander Mac Bean.

Police say he’d pick intoxicated victims, usually as they walked home, and would wait till the victim was asleep to break in or get in through an unlocked door.

The offender came to be known as the "Georgetown cuddler," but the lead investigator in the case says that term belies the seriousness of the crimes he’s charged with and the harm the victims have suffered.

How DNA and genealogy helped police find the suspect 

Police got DNA from the scenes. While they couldn’t identify who it came from, they knew it was from the same person.

Court documents show police zeroed in on Mercado through DNA profiles submitted to a consumer genealogy service. It's an investigative tool known as genetic genealogy. Police can look up DNA profiles found at a crime scene to find people who are related to the suspect, narrowing down the pool of potential perpetrators.

It’s possible that a relative of Mercado’s was creating a family tree, and police followed the branches as the cold case heated up fast.

Police staked out Mercado's Arlington home and got a warrant for his DNA on Monday.

“We obtained that sample yesterday morning, submitted it for rapid DNA analysis — another tool that has only recently come into existence — and had a DNA match by early afternoon,” U.S. Attorney Matthew Graves said.

“The reward from a case like this is being able to tell a victim years later that we’ve identified the perpetrator that committed this crime,” Mac Bean said.

When Mercado was arrested, time was of the essence. Investigators found that he may have been a rideshare driver. They considered the possibility that he could seek more victims through that work.

Police hope that by releasing pictures of Mercado, anyone else who’s had an encounter with him will come forward.

Police believe Mercado is responsible for dozens of sexual assaults, burglaries and voyeurism cases and there may be additional victims. Anyone with potentially relevant information or who may have been the victim of a related attack is asked to contact police.

The National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) today announced the activation of its Humanitarian Emergency Response Operator (HERO) database to facilitate the business aviation industry’s mobilization in support of relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, which has caused widespread damage to communities across the Southeastern U.S.

The HERO database allows people to enter information about the availability of airplanes, personnel and other assets for relief missions. Information from the database is provided to government agencies and non-government organizations upon request. The database has previously been activated to support relief missions in the aftermath of hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters. 

“Business aircraft have long played an essential role in providing relief for people and communities in need in times of crisis,” noted Doug Carr, NBAA senior vice president, safety, security, sustainability and international operations. “They are often able to turn roadways into runways, or hillsides into heliports, in order to reach isolated locations. NBAA’s HERO database offers one-stop access to those in business aviation who want to lend a helping hand with their aircraft and other assets.”

The damage from Hurricane Helene is extensive, and the need for emergency supplies continues to grow as many communities remain without critical infrastructure, including electricity, water and cellular service.

The storm came ashore Sept. 26 in the Big Bend section of Florida near the city of Perry with 140 mile per hour winds, moving on into parts of Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

Insurers and forecasters have projected that catastrophic damage caused by Helene is somewhere between $15 billion and $100 billion. 

# # #

Founded in 1947 and based in Washington, DC, the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) is the leading organization for companies that rely on general aviation aircraft to help make their businesses more efficient, productive and successful. The association represents more than 10,000 company and professional members and provides more than 100 products and services to the business aviation community, including the NBAA Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (NBAA-BACE), the world’s largest civil aviation trade show. Learn more about NBAA at nbaa.org.

Members of the media may receive NBAA Press Releases immediately via email. To subscribe to the NBAA Press Release email list, submit the online form.

Genealogists love Soundex, a method of matching names that have similar sounds but may be spelled differently. In fact, Soundex became popular amongst genealogists almost as soon as it was invented in 1918. Soundex was patented by Robert C. Russell of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and is sometimes called the “Russell Code.” The U.S. Census Bureau immediately adopted Soundex for indexing census records. Since then, others have used the Soundex code to sort similar-sounding names for telephone books, work records, drivers' licenses, and many other purposes. I noticed that the first four characters of my driver's license number are “E235,” the Soundex code for my last name.

Genealogists use Soundex to find variant spellings of ancestors' names. Almost all modern genealogy databases have a "search by Soundex" capability. 

Soundex is a form of "phonetic encoding" or "sound-alike" codes. A Soundex code consists of one letter followed by three digits. For instance, Smith and Smythe both are coded as S530, Eastman is E235, and Williams is W452. 

If you search many records of interest to genealogists, sooner or later you will need to use Soundex codes. Why? Well, you can often find a person's entry by his or her Soundex code, even when the names have been misspelled. This becomes important when you realize that many census takers did not speak the language of the people being enumerated. In fact, in the first 150 years of U.S. census records, the majority of Americans were illiterate and did not know how to write their own last names. Spellings on census and other public records varied widely. The spelling of many family names also has changed over the years, but often the Soundex code remains the same. Soundex can be a big help in finding the same family in different databases that have different spellings. 

As good as Soundex is, it suffers from numerous shortcomings. For example, Korbin and Corbin have two different Soundex codes, even though they sound exactly alike. The same is true for Kramer/Cramer, Kreighton/Creiton, Leighton/Layton, Phifer/Pheiffer/Fifer, Coghburn/Coburn and many others. At the same time, the names "Robert" and "Rupert" are pronounced differently, yet both have the same Soundex code, R163.

Of course, such shortcomings in Soundex create problems for genealogists. Sometimes Soundex can find similar-sounding names, but often it does not. You may be searching a database that contains information about your ancestors, but you will never know that because you cannot find them, either by exact spelling or by the inexact Soundex system. Fortunately, better solutions are available. 

Soundex was "state of the art" technology in 1918, but numerous improved methods have been invented since then. Each one is more accurate than the original Soundex system. Yet none of the new and improved systems has ever achieved much popularity in the genealogy world. Admittedly, the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex System has achieved some popularity in unique sounds of surnames found in Jewish genealogy; however, it has seen little use elsewhere. For more information about the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex System, see https://www.avotaynu.com/soundex.htm

Several newer and improved methods of Soundex have been invented over the years. Steve Morse published an excellent article describing many of the newer methods in the March 2010 issue of the Association of Professional Genealogists Quarterly. However, this great explanation hasn't received much publicity. In the article, Steve provides information not only about the Russell Soundex system of 1918, but also about the following methods:

American Soundex – 1930

Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex – 1985 

Metaphone – 1990

Double Metaphone – 2000

Beider-Morse Phonetic Matching – 2008

Steve also provides examples of the strengths and shortcomings of the various methods. If you have an interest in improved Soundex methods, I suggest you read Steve Morse's article at http://stevemorse.org/phonetics/bmpm2.htm.

One newer method, called the Double Metaphone Search Algorithm, promises to perform far more accurate name matching than anything available before. Double Metaphone’s inventor is Lawrence Philips, a Software Engineer at Verity, Inc. Philips has donated the algorithm to the public domain so that it can easily be used in any application, genealogy-related or not.

Double Metaphone provides much more accurate matches to the surnames typically found in North America, including most of those that originated in various European countries. Unlike Soundex, Double Metaphone handles different pronunciations of the same letters. Typical examples would include the letters "gh" that are pronounced differently in "light" and "rough" or the letters "ch" that are pronounced differently in "children" and "orchestra." It even handles silent letters properly, such as the "k" in "knight and the letter "b" in "dumb" and "plumb."

Double Metaphone handles pronunciations of names from Italian, Spanish, and French, and from various Germanic and Slavic languages.

The Double Metaphone codes can be as short as one letter (for the name "Lee") or can extend to eight or possibly more letters. However, the code seems to be highly accurate, even when limited to four characters.

Here are examples of Double Metaphone codes for a number of surnames:

Ashcraft - code: AXKR

Ashcroft - code: AXKR

Eastman - code: ESTM

Jansen - code: JNSN

Jansson - code: JNSN

Jensen - code: JNSN

Johnson - code: JNSN

Johnsson - code: JNSN

Law - code: L

Lea - code: L

Leah - code: L

Lee - code: L

Leigh - code: L

Lew - code: L

Li - code: L

Lopes - code: LPS 

Lopez - code: LPS 

Mallory - code: MLR

Malorie - code: MLR

Malory - code: MLR

Mellar - code: MLR

Millar - code: MLR

Miller - code: MLR

Millur - code: MLR

Mueller - code: MLR

Muller - code: MLR

Williams - code: WLMS

Williamsen - code: WLMS

Williamson - code: WLMS

Here are the Double Metaphone codes for the "problem names" that I mentioned earlier as not being handled properly in Soundex:

Kramer - code: KRMR

Cramer - code: KRMR

Kreighton - code: KRTN

Creiton - code: KRTN

Creighton - code: KRTN

Leighton - code: LTN 

Layton - code: LTN

Phifer - code: FFR

Pheiffer - code: FFR 

Fifer - code: FFR

Coghburn - code: KBRN 

Coburn - code: KBRN

As you can see, Double Metaphone handles all of these properly. To be sure, this new system still isn't perfect. If you search long enough, you can find a few non-matches. For instance, my last name of Eastman produces a Double Metaphone of ESTM and yet my early ancestors often had the name spelled Easman (without the letter “t”), a Double Metaphone code of ESMN. The two names sound almost the same, but the Double Metaphone codes are different. However, the number of non-matches are far less in Double Metaphone than with Soundex.

The algorithms used in Double Metaphone are complex. Inventor Lawrence Philips assumes that a computer will always be used to create the codes. Algorithms in BASIC, C++, C#, Perl, PHP, Java, and a number of other programming languages are available if you start at http://goo.gl/IgYra. 

Here are the Metaphone Rules, explained in English:

Metaphone reduces the alphabet to 16 consonant sounds:

B X S K J T F H L M N P R 0 W Y

That isn't an O but a zero - representing the 'th' sound.

Transformations

Metaphone uses the following transformation rules: 

Doubled letters except "c" -> drop 2nd letter.

Vowels are only kept when they are the first letter.

B -> B unless at the end of a word after "m" as in "dumb"

C -> X (sh) if -cia- or -ch-

S if -ci-, -ce- or -cy-

K otherwise, including -sch-

D -> J if in -dge-, -dgy- or -dgi-

T otherwise

F -> F

G -> silent if in -gh- and not at end or before a vowel

in -gn- or -gned- (also see dge etc. above)

J if before i or e or y if not double gg

K otherwise

H -> silent if after vowel and no vowel follows

H otherwise

J -> J

K -> silent if after "c"

K otherwise

L -> L 

M -> M

N -> N

P -> F if before "h"

P otherwise

Q -> K

R -> R

S -> X (sh) if before "h" or in -sio- or -sia-

S otherwise

T -> X (sh) if -tia- or -tio-

0 (th) if before "h"

silent if in -tch-

T otherwise

V -> F

W -> silent if not followed by a vowel

W if followed by a vowel

X -> KS

Y -> silent if not followed by a vowel

Y if followed by a vowel

Z -> S 

Initial Letter Exceptions 

Initial kn-, gn- pn, ac- or wr- -> drop first letter

Initial x- -> change to "s"

Initial wh- -> change to "w"

The code is truncated at 4 characters in this example, but more could be used.

Programmers may find more information, including sample Double Metaphone programming code, at a number of web sites, including: http://aspell.sourceforge.net/metaphone/

Indeed, it appears that Double Metaphone codes are far more accurate at identifying sound-alike names that use different spelling. So why aren't we using this improved method in genealogy applications? 

My guess is that the only thing stopping us – and the programmers – is inertia: we are so used to Soundex that we don't want to change, even if a far better solution is available right now.

If all genealogy databases used Double Metaphone codes, thousands of genealogists could find ancestors already documented that have previously eluded them due to spelling and Soundex differences. I am not advocating the abandonment of Soundex. However, it should be easy with today's technology to have both Soundex and Double Metaphone codes displayed simultaneously on the screen. More choices for genealogists means more ancestors found!

Does your favorite genealogy program use Double Metaphone codes alongside Soundex codes?

The Democratic nominee for Vice President has deep roots in Nebraska and Minnesota.

Tim Walz's parents: James F. Walz and Darlene Rose Reiman

Tim Walz's wife: Gwen Whipple

Tim Walz's daughter: Hope Walz

Tim Walz's son: Gus Walz

Tim Walz's siblings Jeff Walz, Craig Walz, and Sandy Dietrich

https://www.townandcountrymag.com/society/politics/a61889099/tim-walz-family-tree-explained/

A father and his 18-year-old daughter are suing a Las Vegas fertility clinic after they say a DNA test revealed a mix-up during the in vitro fertilization process.

According to the lawsuit, the father and his wife went to a fertility clinic around 2004 to look for an egg donor after the wife learned she could not conceive. Their daughter was born in October 2006, KVVU reports.

Now around the age of 18, the woman says she used Ancestry.com to learn more about her background. Her father told her about the IVF treatment after the DNA test came back in October 2023.

The results of the test allegedly revealed that the woman’s father is not her biological father, and the egg donor chosen by the couple is not the biological mother.

The father and daughter say they learned she was born from another embryo created by the doctor for a couple whose biological father was a man in Las Vegas.

The father is now undergoing adoption proceedings to legally become his daughter’s father. Her mother died in 2022.

The lawsuit says both the father and daughter suffered extreme and severe emotional upset.

The lawsuit claims the embryo created by the father and the couple’s chosen egg donor could have been implanted in someone else; though the father never gave permission or consent for the embryo to be used by anyone else.

Genetic testing firm 23andMe Chief Executive Officer Anne Wojcicki would no longer be open to considering third-party takeover proposals for the company, a regulatory filing showed on Monday.

"It has become even clearer to me that the best path forward for the (company) is for me to take the company private," Wojcicki said.

Wojcicki had said earlier this month she would consider third-party takeover proposals while continuing to evaluate and negotiate a deal.

In July, the CEO and co-founder proposed to acquire all outstanding shares of the firm not already owned by her or her affiliates for $0.40 each.

The independent directors of the company resigned earlier this month saying they had not received a satisfactory take-private offer in the best interests of the non-affiliated shareholders.

23andMe, which provides DNA testing that helps users learn more about their ancestry, went public in 2021.

The Creole Culture Exhibit will open to the public at Lafayette City Hall on Tuesday Oct. 1, showcasing Acadiana's rich Creole heritage.

The exhibit entitled, "Creole Tapestry and Luminary Voices: A Cultural Mosaic", kicked off with an opening ceremony on Monday Sept. 30.

Curated by photographer and co-founder of Louisiana Creole Culture, Milton Arceneaux, the exhibit features black and white portraits of members of the Acadiana Creole community for their contribution to their communities. 

"Creole culture, to me, represents family—it is a family. It is a culture. I do my best to keep Creole culture alive." He added, “The way you can honor Creole culture is to spend time with the elders and learn their ways. We try to live their history and learn their culture," said Arceneaux. 

Creole culture will be fully displayed in Grand Coteau on Saturday, Oct. 5, for Creole Culture Day. Attendees will be able to connect with elders and learn about Creole customs, Creole language, and genealogy, further emphasizing the importance of preserving this cultural heritage.

The Creole Culture Exhibit will remain open at City Hall through Oct. 31.

The Northeast Louisiana Delta African American Heritage Museum held a family history weekend to help locals track their genealogy, preserve important documents and record family stories.

The event was hosted by those who worked on the documentary film “Acts of Reparation”, which follows the stories of Selina Lewis Davidson and Mackey Alston. Selina spoke about how finding her genealogy brought her closer to one of her lifelong friends.

“We were interested in the conversations that were arising around discussing reparations, and we decided to ask each other, ‘What does reparations mean to you?’ And we both answered those questions differently, but it both took us to our ancestral lands.”

Alicia Jones, who worked on the film, says knowing your ancestry can be important when it comes to building your future.

“My grandmother, her family were sharecroppers, and so I wanted to know more about that history, and just for my own child, like to be able to tell her the stories and accurately represent it for her; so even for myself, like I’ve definitely been inspired.”

Andrea Woods, a participant says that through learning about their ancestry, her family has been brought closer.

“It just gave me a little more insight on family as a whole. You know how important it is for us to remain strong, for us to remain close and together so that we could keep what they worked so hard for, which was us being strong and being pulling together as a family.”

To learn more about the “Acts of Reparation” documentary, click here. 

For more information on the Northeast Louisiana Delta African American Heritage Museum, visit their website.

Five students from Leeward Community College and UH Mānoa participated in the inaugural “Indigenous Data Hub Fellows” program, where they learned an equitable community-centered co-design practice, collaborated on place-based data visualization projects relevant to the Hawaiian community, and took advantage of the high-tech resources in the Create(x) lab housed in the Academy for Creative Media Building. The lab features immersive visualization environments such as a projection system that projects onto three walls and the floor for various augmented virtual environments.

“As a Native Hawaiian studying computer science in the data science track at UH Mānoa, this experience has allowed me to integrate the practices of my culture as kānaka ʻōiwi with the knowledge and skill set of a computer scientist, nurturing two critical parts of my identity,” said undergraduate student Shaelyn Loo. “It has been a transformative journey that has shaped my personal and professional growth in ways I never expected.”

OIKI Director Kamuela Enos said the Indigenous data hub’s goal is to provide contemporary data visualization technology to community practitioners to allow them to show the impact of their work, while training youth that live in their community the fundamentals of both ancestral and contemporary sciences.

“Our intention with this project is to equitably engage with both regional community organizations and students in pairing the ancestral sciences and technologies that have allowed our ancestors to be self-sufficient for millennia with contemporary technologies,” Enos said. “The Indigenous data hub model focuses on four key components: a named geography, the ancestral practices that still exist within that geography, the community organizations that are still holding on to these practices in that geography, and the next generation learners that live within that geography.”

Mapping, sailing, restoring

The students worked on three projects:

• Moʻolelo Mapper—An immersive visualization project intended to augment a classroom with illustrations to weave together place, story and ways to investigate lessons passed on from ancestors. This is in collaboration with Kumu UʻiKeliʻikuli from Leeward CC.
• Hoʻokele Table—An augmented visualization table intended to supplement the curriculum around designing sail plans for non-instrumental navigation. The simulation allows for students to become familiar with the natural phenomena that need to be taken into account while navigation on the open ocean. This is in collaboration with Kumu Kekai Lee from Leeward CC.
• Kipuka o Kahinahina—An augmented visualization table intended to share the story of the restoration of kālua mahi (sinkholes) in Kalaeloa. These kālua mahi were originally used for agriculture, and archaeologist and kumu hula Ulukoa Duhaylonsod along with other community volunteers are restoring this practice to propagate and preserve endangered endemic species of plants such as ʻEwa Hinahina. The table visualizes observation data from the site over time.

“Working with these talented students has been incredibly rewarding,” said Create(x) Director Kari Noe. “Learning how to equitably co-design data science tools, visualization software, and any technology with community partners and faculty is a critical skill and practice, but it is challenging. These students have a passion to learn these skills to be able to create projects that will bring a positive impact to their communities. I’m happy we are able to give them the space to.”

Students also learned skills from mentors such as Kūhaʻo Zane, Solomon Enos and Mikiʻala Lidstone who advised the fellows and taught them about Indigenous design, creative practice and community-centered design, respectively.

Along with Loo, other students who participated include Austin Cataluna (Leeward CC, engineering), HalaʻiNapulehua (Leeward CC, computer sciences), Leilehua Kila (Leeward CC, Hawaiian studies) and Kieren McKee (UH Mānoa, digital media).

The intention of the Indigenous Data Hub project is to expand its network to other locations around the state to provide access to this kind of programming to local students, starting with Leeward CC. The Indigenous Data Hub project was funded in part by the National Science Foundation EPSCoR award 2149133, the Academy for Creative Media System and Abundant Intelligences.