By popular demand, the Cyber Monday sale on MyHeritage DNA has been extended for just a few more days — giving everyone one final chance to enjoy this record-breaking price! This is truly the last opportunity to get DNA kits at our lowest price ever. With MyHeritage DNA, users can explore their roots with detailed ethnicity results from 2,114 regions worldwide, connect with relatives globally through advanced DNA matching, and leverage the most comprehensive set of genetic genealogy tools available. Please don’t let your family, friends, and followers miss out on this amazing offer! You can use the graphic above to share the news of this final extension with your audience.  Go to https://www.myheritage.com/dna.

On Aug. 28, 1988, Pierce County Deputies (Washington) responded to a call of a body found in the Puyallup River near Sumner, Washington. A fisherman had located the body of a woman, identified two months later as Tracy Whitney.

Detectives were called out to the scene and an autopsy was performed. The autopsy revealed Whitney's cause of death to be asphyxia by strangulation and probable smothering. She had several blunt force injuries and was believed to have been sexually assaulted. Her death was ruled a homicide and DNA swabs taken from the body.

Detectives interviewed everyone who knew or had dated Whitney to try and find the killer. Unfortunately, the case went cold for years.

In 2005, DNA collected at the crime scene was sent into CODIS; however, no matches could be found. With a grant offered by the Washington State Attorney General’s Office in 2022, the cold case detective sergeant submitted the DNA to a third-party lab for genetic genealogy—and they found a match.

The suspect, John Guillot Jr., died a few weeks prior. Detectives matched the suspect DNA to Guillot’s biological son to confirm Guillot Jr. was the suspect. There were no connections between Tracy and Guillot Jr., and detectives believe this was a stranger abduction, rape and murder.

From: https://www.digitalnc.org/blog/franklin-county-library-system-brings-a-new-partnership-and-new-family-records/

Thanks to our new partners at Franklin County Library System, we are excited to announce that nearly a thousand new funeral programs and obituaries are now available on DigitalNC. The funeral programs and obituaries are divided by name and date and can be found in three records on our site:

• Franklin County Funeral Programs, Alston to Kingsberry
• Franklin County Funeral Programs, Lee to Young
• Franklin County Funeral Programs, 2015 to 2022

These funeral programs and obituaries, dating from 1944 to 2022, represent generations of history for many African American families from or associated with Franklin County. The majority of these programs can be found divided among Franklin County Funeral Programs, Alston to Kingsberry, and Franklin County Funeral Programs, Alston to Kingsberry – both of which include indexes at the beginning that list the individuals included in the record. 

To easily search for names within each record, users can locate the search bar titled “Search within this record:” at the bottom of the record viewer and type in the last name of the individual(s) they are looking for. Although many last names are found in several programs and obituaries, this search feature is still a great place to start narrowing down a search. The location of the search bar is indicated by a yellow arrow in the screengrab to the right!

More information about our partner, Franklin County Library System, can be found on their website here. 

Visitors can find all collections contributed by the Franklin County Library System on their partner page here.

Want to convert data from one format to another? Bookmark this web site: https://www.calculatorsoup.com/

Today is the first day of the month. That is a good time to back up your genealogy files. Then test your backups!

Your backups aren't worth much unless you make a quick test by restoring a small file or two after the backup is completed.

Actually, you can make backups at any time. However, it is easier and safer if you have a specific schedule. The first day of the month is easy to remember, so I would suggest you back up your genealogy files at least on the first day of every month, if not more often. (My computers automatically make off-site backups of all new files every few minutes.)

Given the events of the past few months with genealogy websites laying off employees and cutting back on services, you now need backup copies of everything more than ever. What happens if the company that holds your online data either goes off line or simply deletes the service where your data is held? If you have copies of everything stored either in your own computer, what happens if you have a hard drive crash or other disaster? If you have one or more recent backup copies, such a loss would be inconvenient but not a disaster.

Of course, you might want to back up more than your genealogy files. Family photographs, your checkbook register, all sorts of word processing documents, email messages, and much more need to be backed up regularly. Why not do that on the first day of each month? or even more often?

Our Cyber Monday Sale starts NOW! MyHeritage DNA kits are available at the lowest price ever: just $29 USD*!

Curious about your roots? Looking for a holiday gift that truly connects? MyHeritage DNA is the perfect choice. Discover your ethnic origins across 2,114 geographic regions and connect with relatives you never knew about. Millions of people around the world trust MyHeritage to help them explore their family history—now it’s your turn!

But don’t wait too long—this incredible deal won’t last forever. Order now to take advantage of this record-low price and enjoy free shipping when you purchase two or more kits.

Why MyHeritage DNA?

• Lowest price ever: Just $29 USD!
• Discover your roots: Explore your ethnic origins in stunning detail.
• Find family connections: Connect with relatives from around the globe.

This is the perfect opportunity to give the gift of discovery this holiday season—or treat yourself to a deeper understanding of your family story.

⏳ This sale is only available for a limited time—don’t miss out!
Order now: myheritage.com/dna

*Prices may vary by location and are displayed in your local currency at checkout.

The following is a Plus Edition article, written by and copyright by Dick Eastman. Please do not forward this article to others without the author’s permission.

One question that pops up frequently is: "What format should I use to save my files?" The question is often asked about digital pictures. Should they be saved as JPG or PDF or GIF or PNG or TIFF or some other format? Similar questions are often asked about word processing files, although there seem to be fewer options available. I thought I would offer a few suggestions and also tell what works for me.

Digital Pictures

Today's technology allows for a selection of image file formats, including JPG, GIF, TIFF, BMP, PSD, RAW, PNG, EPS, PDF, and others in a seemingly endless alphabet soup of abbreviations and acronyms.

You can find many good reasons and bad reasons for selecting any of these file formats. However, from a genealogist's point of view, there are two significant issues to deal with: image size and image compression.

NOTE: PDF files have unique advantages and disadvantages for both digital pictures and for documents. I will write about PDF separately later in this article.

Image size has been an issue since the first scanned images were stored on a computer, back in the vacuum tube days. In this case, the physical size of the picture is not the issue, but the size of the file you create is very important. That is, the problem revolves around the number of bytes required to store a faithful reproduction of the original image. 

Not many years ago, disk drives were expensive. Luckily, that problem is disappearing as the price per byte of storage has plummeted in the past few decades. Prices for one-terabyte disk drives have now dropped to the $40 range, a price undreamed of only a few years ago. It is now cost-effective to store hundreds of thousands of very large digital image files. Prices for disk storage are still dropping nearly every week.

However, file size remains an issue when transferring those files to another computer or when inserting images into a web page. Not everyone uses high-speed, multi-megabyte-per-second Internet connections. Next, even those who do use such high-speed connections find that including very large digital images in a web page results in slow performance. A high-resolution picture also might not display properly inside a web page. Such a picture might fill the entire screen or even “overflow” the screen, leaving no space for text, links, and other information in the web page. Finally, sending a hundred or so old family photographs to a cousin can be a painstaking effort if the files are very large.

The remainder of this article is for Plus Edition users only. If you have paid for a Plus Edition subscription, you may read the full article at: https://eogn.com/sys/website/system-pages/?pageId=18010.

Every parent-to-be who takes medication wants to be sure that what they put in their bodies doesn’t harm their unborn child.

Now with the new Healthy Pregnancy Hub, finding out what’s safe for mom and baby just got a whole lot easier.

The hub, launched November 19, is an innovative online resource developed by a team of over 70 researchers, including Dr. Sherif Eltonsy, an assistant professor in the College of Pharmacy.

“You shouldn’t rely on Dr. Google,” warns Eltonsy, “But that’s what we do – we look things up online.”

As a pharmacoepidemiologist who has spent nearly a decade researching drug safety and effectiveness, the new platform marks a major milestone for Eltonsy. “For years, pregnant women have had to rely on piecemeal information that may be outdated – or worse, turn to Google searches,” he said. “Now, we’re providing a centralized, evidence-based resource that they can trust.”

The hub, part of the Canadian Mother-Child Initiative on Drug Safety in Pregnancy – Outreach (CAMCCO-Outreach), offers bilingual fact sheets, infographics, podcasts and videos. It also includes a chatbot for fast, personalized answers. The site is extensive, covering everything from common medications like acetaminophen to managing chronic conditions like depression, epilepsy and asthma during pregnancy.

“Three out of four pregnant women take medication, yet accessing reliable information has been a challenge,” said Eltonsy. “We’ve designed this resource to empower women and health-care providers to make informed decisions for the safety of both mother and fetus.”

By collaborating with Indigenous groups and culturally diverse communities, the team has also worked to ensure the content is inclusive and sensitive to the needs of underrepresented groups. “Our goal is to provide information that resonates with all Canadians, no matter their background,” Eltonsy said.

“This project has been years in the making. To see it come to fruition – and to know it will make a real difference  –  is incredibly rewarding,” he said. “It’s about empowering families with knowledge and filling a gap that’s existed for far too long.”

For more information, visit the Healthy Pregnancy Hub at healthypregnancyhub.ca.

In a Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania, limestone mine, 220 feet underground, you can find the Bettmann Archive, a cache of 11 million photographs and film negatives featuring images of Albert Einstein, the Hindenburg explosion and the Apollo 11 moon landing, among many others. Getty Images acquired the collection in 2016.

The limestone mine is a perfect place to house such an important resource. It is temperature- and humidity-controlled and is kept under tight security. Visitors are searched before they enter, as are their vehicles and belongings. Advanced preservation methods allow the materials held inside to be viewed by present and, the hope is, future generations. 

Picturing Black History uses images from the Bettmann Archive to tell previously untold stories from the lives of Black people, said Nicholas Breyfogle, one of the book’s editors and a history professor at The Ohio State University. The book was published this month.

“We were able to embrace the power of images to really be able to capture stories from Black history,” he said. “We live in a very visual world. [We] use these images to tell the stories of everything from oppression and resistance to perseverance, resilience and joy, to everyday life and political moments ... to bring all of that out of the archives, into the world.”

Breyfogle is joined in the editor role by Steven Conn, a history professor at Miami University. Breyfogle and Conn edit Origins: Current Events in Historical Perspectives. After the civil unrest in 2020, Getty Images approached Ohio State and Miami about using their historic images to better understand racial injustice in the United States. So far, this collaboration has created the book and a Picturing Black History website.

Also serving as editors are two Ohio State doctoral students: Daniela Edmeier and Damarius Johnson. For them, the book was a special opportunity. 

A workstation in the Bettmann Archive.

“I feel like the chance to work on something like this, as a graduate student, is unheard of,” Edmeier said. “As grad students, especially as historians, we’re deep in the archives. It’s easy to be in your insular little bubble, so to be working on a project that’s so forward facing, that’s collaborating with an organization like Getty, I don’t think I’ve ever had an opportunity like this.”

Johnson was struck by how valued his and Edmeier’s input was. 

“The reception we’ve had from the larger team is important. Conversations could be had between the folks who started the project,” he said. “Graduate students having this much input is awesome. There was a baseline principle that we work as a team and have input from the team in equal balance.”

Having the chance to go down to the Bettmann Archive was remarkable, they agreed.

“Even entering the mine (that houses the archive), you’re going through extreme security,” Edmeier said. “You’re brought in on a golf cart, you’re going literally into a hollowed-out mountain, it’s dark and cold. You see other areas for this branch of the military or that organization. We’re in the epicenter of valuable information, a collection of American history that most people aren’t even aware exists, much less have the opportunity to physically enter.”

Having access to images and being able to discuss them on-site was invaluable, Johnson said.

“There are thousands of images we looked at. We’re having conversations back and forth about these images, in this mine. We’re thinking about how they’ll fit within the structure of the book,” he said. “Our table of contents was set; we knew who the contributors would be and we needed supplementary images. So, there was a lot of conversation, even in the mine.”

In addition to research experience, Breyfogle said, graduate students get valuable career training.

“These are a set of skills that are essential as one goes off into the job market,” he said. “Editing, budget management, engaging with the larger public on a topic, teaching the broader public. It’s a way to train a whole series of skills and opportunities that most graduate students don’t have.”

Proceeds from book sales will support more opportunities for work, research, and education in Black history, he said.

George Robinson has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the 1997 killing of 17-year-old James Hutson

Sullivan County Sheriff's Office, TN

Nearly three decades after a teenage boy was found murdered and his mother sexually assaulted inside a Tennessee home, authorities have arrested a suspect.

George Robinson has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the 1997 killing of 17-year-old James Hutson after his DNA was allegedly connected to the crime scene, the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release on Nov. 22.

On Sept. 6, 1997, the teenage boy was found stabbed to death and his mother, Mary Hutson, sexually assaulted in their Kingsport, Tenn., home, authorities said. DNA evidence was collected at the scene and submitted for testing. However, no match was found and the case eventually went cold.

WJHL reports Mary passed away about a year later.

In 2023, investigators reopened the case and began reviewing evidence with help from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. That May, the DNA evidence from 1997 was sent to Othram Labs, a genetic genealogy company based in Texas, and Robinson was identified as a potential suspect, per the release.

Authorities said they recently obtained a DNA sample from Robinson and compared it to the DNA evidence taken from the crime scene in 1997. Forensic scientists then alleged that Robinson’s DNA was a confirmed match to the DNA evidence.

On Nov. 20, a grand jury indicted Robinson on the murder charges. According to WJHL-TV, First Judicial District Attorney General Barry Staubus said Robinson has not been charged in connection with Mary’s sexual assault due to the statute of limitations.

When authorities tried to arrest Robinson that morning, they said he barricaded himself inside his Kingsport, Tenn., apartment. The county SWAT team arrived and tried to negotiate with Robinson, but he “refused to cooperate,” authorities alleged.

After several hours, authorities were able to enter the apartment, where Robinson shot himself, per the release. Authorities said he was taken to a local hospital for treatment, but did not share details regarding his condition.