This is a Plus Edition article written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. 

Caution: this article contains personal opinions.

I often hear people moaning and groaning about the quality of genealogy information to be found online. Some claim that much of the online genealogy data is worthless. These comments seem to insinuate that people shouldn't place information online until they have verified it. I have heard a few exclaim, “We have got to stop those people!”

That is a lofty goal, although unattainable. People are people. New genealogists join in and post data much faster than we can educate them. The idea of requiring source citations for all data sounds wildly Utopian to me.

You know what? I don't care. I want to see the claimed information anyway. Yes, I even want to read the inaccurate information. When I am looking for the unknown parents of one of my "end of the line" ancestors, I want to see every possible clue, accurate or not. If someone else even thinks that he or she knows the parents of Washington Harvey Eastman, I want to know what that person is thinking. No, when first scanning for information, I don't care if their information is accurate or not because I am going to check it in any case. If possible, I'll contact the person who created the information and ask, "Where did you find that?" If they don't have a good answer, I still have a clue of a possible place or parents, clues that I didn't have before. I'll find out later if the information is accurate or not when I verify it in primary records. Only after I have verified the data will I believe it.

I do that for all unsourced information. I also do exactly the same thing for information that does contain source citations. I verify everything. So, what's the difference?

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John Cardinal, owner of FamilyHistoryHosting.com, is well-known within the genealogy community. He has written several software products that add extra functionality to existing products that appeal to genealogists.

John has now upodated the Online Repository Assistant, or ORA for short. It is an automated software assistant for use with the U.S. census records when using online repositories including Ancestry, FamilySearch, and others.

ORA combines a Windows program with a web browser extension to extract data and streamline your use of popular online services. The browser extension is compatible with Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Opera.

Rather than my writing about ORA, I will refer you to an article that John wrote at: https://ora-extension.com/en/article-ora-and-1950census.htm. It provides a detailed explanation of both the purpose of ORA as well as instructions about how to use it.

"It's frustrating to use the search page for the 1950census.archives.gov site. The AI-generated name index leaves a lot to be desired compared to transcriptions created manually. To be fair, it's a difficult problem to solve with technology alone. Unfortunately, there are issues with the implementation of the search results page that exacerbate the challenges with the name index. ORA alleviates some of those issues."

You can read much, much more at: https://ora-extension.com/en/article-ora-and-1950census.htm

For even more information, see the Introduction slideshow or see the help pages.

ORA is sold as a subscription service, $24 USD per year.

The following announcement was written by MyHeritage. While the (unindexed) IMAGES of the 1950 U.S. census records were already added on April 1st, this latest news release describes the newly-added INDEXES:

Census indexed records (and their corresponding images) from Vermont and American Samoa. 439,893 historical records were added in this release for a total of 1,083,939 historical records in the collection. All of the records are available to search, view, and add to your family tree on MyHeritage for free!

Search the 1950 United States Census Index collection

Just yesterday, MyHeritage published the initial installment of the 1950 U.S. Census Index from the states of Wyoming and Delaware, and last week, MyHeritage became the first commercial company to publish a full collection of the 1950 U.S. Census images. Additional releases are expected in the days and weeks ahead until the index is complete. Our U.S. Census content hub and dedicated 1950 Census page remain great places to stay updated on all MyHeritage 1950 Census releases.

The 1950 Census contains information on the 150 million Americans living in the continental United States and its territories during April and May of 1950. Within it, you’ll find information on the names, ages, locations, households, relations, genders, races, education, places of birth, and other details of those who were enumerated.

Searching the 1950 U.S. Census on MyHeritage and viewing records is FREE.

You can read more in the MyHeritage Blog at: https://bit.ly/3v7gQkW.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

Is this the death knell for genealogy (and other) magazines? They are already suffering from competition from the internet. Now this article mentions another problem: paper shortages.

This article is about ham radio (printed) magazines but I suspect the problem is widespread. Many organizations and industries have struggled with supply chain issues. The supply of paper has become constrained for many reasons.

Will your favorite printed magazine(s) survive? As stated in the article:

"Even before the current supply chain problems, we were facing the reality that there are, today, fewer printers, fewer paper mills, and always-rising costs for paper, transportation, and mailing. This is not a short term problem - it will require our continued close attention as we manage the print side of our organization."

You can read this article at: https://bit.ly/3x7SSsv.

Here is a field that I am not very familiar with: genetic counseling. An article by Simon Barnett and published in the ARK-INVEST.com web site just taught me a great deal. It contains an (audio) podcast that sheds light on genetic counseling.

The podcast discusses:

• Levels of detail that genetic counselors are able to provide their patients with, in comparison to physicians.
• Emily’s experience working in the pediatric and rare disease counseling realm, and how this contrasts to the oncology genetic counseling realm she is now working in.
• The process of deciding which genetics tests to do on a patient.
• Germline versus somatic mutations, and the increasing frequency of paired testing.
• Limitations of the guidelines around who should have genetic testing.
• Comparing polygenic and monogenic testing, and why Emily is excited about the former.
• Changes that Emily hopes to see take place in the genetic counseling field in the future.
• Some of the factors that lead to preventable cancers not being picked up early enough.

You can find the article (and the podcast) at: https://ark-invest.com/podcast/genetic-counseling/.

The following book review was written by Bobbi King:

Scots-Irish Links, Consolidated Edition

Volume I

Scots-Irish Links, 1575-1725, Parts One to Eight

By David Dobson. Published by Genealogical Publishing Co. 2022. 926 pages.

Scots-Irish Links, Consolidated Edition

Volume II

Scots-Irish Links, 1575-1725, Parts Nine to Eleven

Later Scots-Irish Links, 1725-1825, Parts One to Three

Scots-Irish Links, 1825-1900, Parts One to Two

Addendum to Later Scots-Irish Links, 1725-1825

By David Dobson. Published by Genealogical Publishing Co. 2022. 910 pages.

This consolidation is a set of reprints of the seventeen Parts of the series titled Scots-Irish Links, the Scottish emigration records transcribed by David Dobson and published by Genealogical Publishing Co.

The set encompasses records of the years 1575 to 1900, recovered from a wide variety of original sources.

Each volume has an extensive name index.

The partnership between Mr. Dobson and GPC has offered genealogists countless numbers of Scottish resource materials, bequeathing an everlasting contribution to genealogy.

GPC continues to publish hardcopy book resources, a still-indispensable tool for the genealogist in this era of online research.

The Scots-Irish Links series of books may be purchased from the publisher, Genealogical Publishing Company (GPC), at: https://genealogical.com/store/?gpc_search=1&woof_text=Scots-Irish%20Links.

Since her time at Parabon Labs, CeCe Moore has helped solve more than 200 cases in four years, which is about one case per week.

On Tuesday, law enforcement officials credited investigative genealogy for helping close the case of the “I-65 Killer,” who was identified as Harry Edward Greenwell. The FBI’s Gang Response Investigative Team (GRIT) compared DNA evidence with traditional genealogy research and historical records.

Before that, this type of genetic genealogy was most notably used in the case of the “Golden State Killer” in 2018. It was also used earlier this year to track down a serial rapist in Shelby County who committed crimes in the 1980s. This week he was sentenced to 650 years in prison.

CeCe Moore helped work on that case. She is the chief genealogist at Parabon Labs. Even though she did not assist in the case of the “I-65 Killer,” she said the process is similar.

You can learn more in an article by Lauren Kostiuk published in the WTHR web site at: https://bit.ly/3DMU1Y1.

With its Mission Revival-style architecture and red-tiled roof, the historic Thistle Cottage stands out from the other homes along Cherry Street in Greenville.

Today, the house built in 1912 is operated by the Muhlenberg County Public Library as a gallery, museum and, most recently, genealogy center.

“This house was built by William Graham Duncan, he was a coal mine owner here in Muhlenberg County,” archivist Amie Waltrip said.

The home was donated to the City of Greenville in 1986 by Duncan’s grandson, and it was opened in 1989 as the Duncan Center Museum and Art Gallery. The property was transferred to the Muhlenberg Public Library in 2013.

While the upstairs portion of the house is undergoing renovations, it is typically used as a gallery and museum space. The downstairs is the new home of the library’s history and genealogy collection, which was previously in a separate annex adjacent to the main branch in Greenville.

You can read more in an article by Nathan Havenner published in the Messenger-Inquirer web site at: https://bit.ly/37prECW.

Here is a name that many people will recognize: Margo Georgiadis is the former CEO of Ancestry.com. The following is a press release written by Flagship Pioneering:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 7, 2022 -- Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, announced today that former Ancestry.com CEO Margo Georgiadis is joining Flagship as CEO-Partner. Georgiadis brings extensive expertise in technological innovation and high-performance business transformation. As a CEO-Partner, she will serve as the CEO of a Flagship Pioneering company currently in stealth mode, play an instrumental role in Flagship Pioneering's efforts to scale its focus on preemptive health and medicine, as well as efforts to leverage artificial intelligence and machine learning to advance biotech innovation.

Georgiadis was most recently an Endurance Partner in Residence at venture capital firm General Catalyst, where she focused on building next-generation healthcare platforms that improve clinical outcomes while making healthcare more customer-centric, accessible and affordable. During her tenure as President and CEO of Ancestry.com, she scaled the company to over 3.6M subscribers, doubled its genomics network to over 20M consumers, increased subscription revenue to over $1B, and oversaw the sale of the company to Blackstone for $5B.

"The future of health lies in two forces advancing and converging: the development of diagnostics and therapeutics that preempt and deter disease, and AI and ML generating new classes of programmable medicines." said Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. "Margo is uniquely positioned to accelerate Flagship's efforts to help transform the sick care system to a true health care system, and to help drive our company-building activities in this arena."

With an extensive background in data-driven ecosystem transformations across multiple sectors, Georgiadis will draw upon her experience serving as President of the Americas at Google, where she led the hyper scaling of Google's commercial operations and advertising sales across all digital solutions and platforms. She has also served as Chief Executive Officer of Mattel, Inc., Chief Operating Officer at Groupon, Executive Vice President of US Card Services and Chief Marketing Officer at Discover Financial Services, and Partner at McKinsey and Company.

"I am thrilled to have the opportunity to join Flagship Pioneering and contribute to building new models for preemptive health. With an unrivaled team of world-class scientists and technologists, Flagship is bringing to market transformational technology platforms that are reshaping the future of health and sustainability," said Margo Georgiadis, Flagship Pioneering CEO-Partner. "I am excited to join an organization creating boundary-pushing life sciences platforms to improve health outcomes for as many people as possible."

Georgiadis is a champion of organizations that inspire women and girls to pursue education and careers in STEM and advancing the next generation of women leaders. She has received multiple awards for her business and community leadership including the Forbes "Excellence Award in Innovation," Chicago Innovation's "Visionary Award," the Eastman Medal from the University of Rochester, Executive of the Year in Utah, and was named to Crain's "Most Powerful Women in Business" and Fortune's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" lists.

Her appointment complements recent executive appointments of Tom DiLenge, Senior Partner, Global Policy, Regulatory & Governmental Strategy; Vaithianathan "Palani" Palaniappan, Chief Technology Officer of Pioneering Medicines; Justine Levin-Allerhand, Senior Partner, Corporate Development; Kathy Biberstein, General Counsel; and Dr. Stephen Hahn, CEO-Partner and Chief Executive Officer, Harbinger Health, among others.

About Margo Georgiadis

Margo Georgiadis is a seasoned CEO and company builder with a passion for innovation, technology and health. A mission-driven leader with a track record for delivering results, Georgiadis brings more than two decades of distinguished leadership, business transformation and technological innovation to drive growth. Most recently, she served as an Endurance Partner at venture catalyst firm General Catalyst, where she focused on building and scaling health technology companies focused on improving clinical outcomes, access and affordability. Previously, she served as President and CEO at Ancestry.com, where she led the democratization of access to everyone's family story and built new platforms in personalized health. Georgiadis spent nine years at Google as President of the Americas and Vice President, Global Sales Operations, where she led the company's commercial operations and advertising sales for Google's largest region. As Chief Executive Officer of Mattel, Inc., she spearheaded an 18-month turnaround to reset the mission and align the organization, product and channel strategy, partnerships and operating platform. Georgiadis has also served as the Chief Operating Officer of Groupon, Executive Vice President of US Card Services and Chief Marketing Officer at Discover Financial Services, and as a Partner at McKinsey and Company. She holds a BA in economics as well as an MBA from Harvard.

Georgiadis sits on several boards, including McDonald's Corporation, AppLovin, Handshake, Neeva, WorkBoard, and Ro. Margo has received multiple awards for her business and community leadership including the Forbes "Excellence Award in Innovation," Chicago Innovation's "Visionary Award", the Eastman Medal from the University of Rochester, Executive of the Year in Utah, and was named to Crain's "Most Powerful Women in Business" and Fortune's "50 Most Powerful Women in Business" lists.

About Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category bioplatform companies to transform human health and sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has, through its Flagship Labs unit, applied its unique hypothesis-driven innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $140 billion in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed over $2.6 billion in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $19 billion of follow-on investments from other institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises 42 transformative companies, including Axcella Therapeutics (NASDAQ: AXLA), Codiak BioSciences (NASDAQ: CDAK) Denali Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Evelo Biosciences (NASDAQ: EVLO), Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Indigo Ag, Kaleido Biosciences (NASDAQ: KLDO), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Omega Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OMGA), Rubius Therapeutics (NASDAQ: RUBY), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB), and Sigilon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: SGTX).