The following is the introduction to an announcement written by MyHeritage:

2021 was an exciting and challenging year. This year we saw private citizens jet off to space, COVID vaccines administered worldwide, major events slated for 2020 that took place a year late, and global supply chain issues that disrupted our lives. Through it all, these past two years have taught us that flexibility and resilience are key.

Here at MyHeritage, we’ve been riding the rollercoaster with you and continuing to do what we do best: innovate to improve your experience on MyHeritage for easier and more successful family history discovery.

You can read the full announcement in the MyHeritage Blog at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2022/01/2021-myheritage-year-in-review/

The following announcement was written by the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG):

FREE BCG-SPONSORED 2022 WEBINARS

Registration for the Board for Certification of Genealogists’ twelve monthly webinars in 2022 is now live at our partner website Legacy Family Tree Webinars, BCG Upcoming Webinars (https://legacy.familytreewebinars.com/?aid=2619).  Dates, topics, and speakers are shown below:

January 18, 2022 Beth A. Stahr, CG Using Historical Fiction and Social History to Support Your Narrative

The remains of a murdered California woman, found buried in a shallow grave in the Coachella Valley desert nearly 30 years ago, have finally been identified with the help of DNA evidence.

Her name was Patricia Joan Cavallaro.

On Oct. 24, 1994, scrap metal collectors near Thousand Palms, California, stumbled upon a makeshift desert grave containing a partially nude body, the Riverside County District Attorney explained. The older woman was wrapped in a white plastic sheet, and investigators estimated she’d been dead for approximately three weeks.

Her death was subsequently ruled a homicide by the Riverside County Coroner’s Office, even though her autopsy results proved inconclusive. At the time, DNA from the woman’s decomposing remains yielded no evidentiary leads as to her possible identity.

“They came out and processed the scene, and gathered whatever they could possibly get, which was really not much,” according to Ryan Bodmer, Regional Cold Case Homicide Team supervisor for the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

Details may be found at https://www.oxygen.com/crime-news/slain-california-mom-found-in-desert-in-1994-idd-by-dna.

The following announcement was written by Louis Kessler:

The following is a press release written by by the Wisconsin Historical Society:

Explore your family history and learn the basics of genealogy research with this engaging workshop hosted by the Wisconsin Historical Society. With the rise of services such as AncestryDNA and 23andMe, DNA has become one of the most popular genealogy tools, but interpreting the results is not always easy. Presenter Dana Kelly will help you navigate this data and provide information about the key aspects of using DNA results to find more about your family history.

Date: Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022, 9:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m. CDT (includes a 15 minute break between lectures and a 30 minute lunch break.) Registration deadline: 12:00pm Thursday, Feb. 24, 2022. A recording of the webinar will be available to registrants for 30 days following the event. All ticket sales are final and non-refundable.

Topics covered

• Introduction to the World of Genetic Genealogy.
• Ethnicity Estimates: Why is Mine Wrong and Does it Matter?
• Using Cousin Matching to Confirm Your Research and Find New Ancestors.
• Ethics, Privacy, and DNA.

About the presenter

Dana Kelly serves as the Executive Director of the Norwegian American Genealogical Center & Naeseth Library. She oversees the daily operation of the center and is active in outreach activities and educational programming. Dana’s passion for family history led her to a Scandinavian Studies degree from UW-Madison where she learned to speak, read and write Norwegian. She has presented and lectured to historical societies, genealogical societies, libraries and Norwegian cultural organizations throughout the Midwest and was a virtual presenter at RootsTech in 2021. Dana serves on the Board of Directors for the Dane County Area Genealogical Society and is a member of several genealogical and Norwegian cultural organizations. A Wisconsin native, she lives on a dairy farm with her husband and three children.

Know before you go

An email link to the webinar will be sent after registration closes. If you do not see the email, please check your spam or junk mail folder.

A computer with internet access is required to participate. If you do not have internet access, you may be able to call in for audio-only access.

A recording of the webinar will be available to registrants for 30 days following the event.

Buying multiple tickets? Each registrant is advised to check out individually to ensure that the webinar link will be emailed to the customer name entered at checkout.

Discounts

Discount codes must be applied during checkout. They cannot be applied after checking out.

Society members: Enter your WHS member number in the discount field at checkout.

WSGS members: Use the discount code WSGS at checkout.

NOTE: This article is not one of the usual articles in this newsletter. It doesn't discuss genealogy, history, DNA, or legal events. However, it is about a topic that I believe we all will see within the next few years.

I paid 3 personal bills this morning. I didn't use cash or any checks. Instead, I paid with EFT (Electronic Funds Transfer or e-payments). In fact, I haven't written a check in six months or more. Like many other people, I pay my bills online.

How do you pay for your online purchases?

Although most people still use cash or cash on delivery, the increasing popularity of online shopping made e-payments more acceptable.

If you’re still using cash when shopping online, it’s time to consider joining the cashless society. Here are five reasons to go cashless today:

1. It’s more convenient - you don't need to leave home to pay bills or to go shopping.
2. It makes budgeting easier - when you’re paying online, you can account for how much you’ve spent down to the last penny.
3. It limits your exposure to COVID-19 - not spending time near other people means you won't become infected by them.
4. It saves your cash for when you need it - by going cashless whenever possible, you’ll have more cash on hand when it’s necessary.
5. There’s no need to always have cash available - if all your purchases are paid online, you don’t have to withdraw so much cash all the time. With less money lying around, you’re also unlikely to misplace it.

So the next time you go shopping, go cashless! Perhaps even better, do your shopping online.

The Mississippi Department of Archives and History (MDAH) will award fellowships of up to $2,000 to support individuals hoping to locate information related to their family history using resources available at MDAH. The fellowships are a part of a year-long initiative in 2022 to expand understanding of the Great Migration and its impact on Mississippi and the nation.

“The Great Migration is the largest internal migration of people in U.S. history. Many families who left Mississippi still feel a close connection to our state. We’re glad to be able to help them come back to Mississippi and research their roots,” said MDAH director Katie Blount.

Ten research stipends of up to $2,000 will be awarded to ten researchers to travel to Jackson, MS, and conduct three consecutive days of research at MDAH.

Details may be found at: https://bit.ly/3eOyTon.

Did you inherit old postcards or letters from the family? If so, you have another source of genealogy information that perhaps you have not considered: DNA extracted from saliva used to attach stamps.

NOTE: This isn't terribly unusual. I know at least two people who frequently purchase old letters written and presumably mailed by famous historical individuals. They purchase these letters for the sole purpose of extracting DNA information from the postage stamps and from the glue on the envelopes left when the original person licked the envelope to seal it.

The Wired web site has published a new article showing how one family solved a mystery in the family tree by using DNA information from an old postcard. The family found the information when they found an old postcard sent by the ancestor when he was fighting in World War I and apparently was on postwar trips. You can find the article at: https://www.wired.com/story/dna-artifact-testing/.

Now, go to your attic and look again at old love letters and other correspondence from your ancestors. You may have the solution to family mysteries already in your possession.

The David Rumsey Map Center has published an article that will interest many genealogists:

"The map center, home to an estimated 250,000 physical maps and more than 200,000 digital maps from 1500 to the present is a cross between a library and a laboratory, replete with leatherbound atlases, spinning globes, enormous high-definition touchscreens and several virtual reality stations."

Map collector and authority David Rumsey with wallpaper made from one of his most treasured maps.

Further in the article, there is the following statement:

"Throughout the next few years, the center will continue to advance the technology it makes available to visitors, Rumsey and Mohammed said. They hope to incorporate artificial intelligence to make it possible to search for words on digitized maps regardless of their orientation or position, as well as a framework for systematically searching digital map files across platforms and databases. They're also looking to put greater emphasis on data visualization and to expand into the metaverse, which could "pull users into the map world," Rumsey said."

You can read this and a lot more in the full article at: https://bit.ly/32OTnuX.

Here is another case of a previously-unknown skeleton in the family closet. Jay M. Ritt writes about his surprise at learning about a previously well-guarded family secret at: https://forward.com/opinion/480175/my-wife-gave-me-dna-test-kit-it-revealed-family-secrets-changed-my-life/.