MyHeritage has added a new filtering option on the DNA Matches page, which enables users to filter their DNA Matches to show only those who are members of a certain Genetic Group.

By filtering your matches based on a Genetic Group, you’ll be able to further pinpoint which matches come from a specific location or region, giving you deeper insight into how you’re related. You can filter the matches based on the Genetic Groups in your results, or use the search field to search for any of the 2,114 Genetic Groups supported on MyHeritage.

Please feel free to try this new feature on your own DNA results.

Here is an opportunity to exercise your detective skills and to possible solve (or at last to help solve) a crime. A group of genetic genealogy enthusiasts is trying to find the identity of a woman who was found dead in a Portland, Maine park in 2015.

The woman is Asian, probably Korean. When her body was discovered, she was well dressed,” Chief Medical Examiner’s Office Administrator Lindsey Chasteen said. “She had on her jewelry, which was nice jewelry. She has fairly extensive and expensive dental work."

The woman was between 30 and 50 years old with tattooed eyebrows and a scar like she had a cesarean section. Her death appeared to be a suicide.

Chasteen said they put her DNA information through a FBI database, known as CODIS, for missing people. They ran her fingerprints through another FBI database in 2015, 2017 and 2021 because it is constantly updating. Her DNA information has also been uploaded to GEDMATCH. However, GEDMATCH is known to contain very little DNA information for Koreans. In any case, there have been no matches so far in any of these databases.

Her name is unknown and her family also is still unknown. As a result, a family someplace has a missing relative and they probably have no idea that she is deceased.

You can read more in an article in the WGME news web site at https://wgme.com/news/local/genealogy-experts-try-to-identify-woman-found-dead-in-portland-in-2015.

If anyone thinks they recognize the woman or has any other information about her, they should contact the Portland, Maine Police Department.

The following is part of an email message sent by Reclaim The Records:

RUN AND TELL THAT: USCIS IS ASKING FOR YOUR PUBLIC COMMENTS ABOUT THEIR PRICE GOUGING

The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is actually asking people to tell them all about the problems we've had with their overpriced "Genealogy Program" for historical records. So let's tell them! 

Hello again from your friends at Reclaim The Records! Today we have a time-sensitive opportunity for you: a chance to tell a major federal government agency with millions of never-before-online historical records about how and why they can shape up and do better. If speed-kvetching about genealogy is your thing, now's your chance!

Here's the super-short version of what's going on and what you can do right now (like, today), and here's the super-long comment our organization has formally submitted to make the case for better public records access.

And here's the much longer backstory. The United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) holds millions of historical immigration and naturalization records that have never been given over to the United States National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), even though their own agency's record retention policies say they were supposed to have been transferred years ago. In this context, "records" means all sorts of historical material: C-Files (Naturalization Certificate Files), AR-2's (Alien Registration Forms), Visa Files, and more. Any immigrant who arrived in the US on or after July 1, 1924 would be found in at least one of these record sets, and almost all immigrants who came between the late nineteenth century and mid-twentieth century. They're full of genealogical goodies. Check out these amazing examples!

The full message is much longer and can be found at: https://mailchi.mp/reclaimtherecords/run-and-tell-that-uscis-genealogy-program-public-comments?e=0b398e0a30.

The following announcement was written by FamilySearch:

Capture new information about your family on FamilySearch this week in 4M new digital images from Australia, Victoria Wills, Probate and Administration Files 1841–1926, expanded collections from England Middlesex Parish Registers 1539–1988, and the 2008 Census for Liberia. 

Browse nearly a million added Catholic Church records from the Philippines (Archdiocese of Lingayen-Dagupan 1615–1982 and Caceres 1615–1982), plus more from Colombia 1576-2018 , El Salvador 1655-1977, Nicaragua 1740-1960, and Mexico (Distrito Federal 1514–1970, Hidalgo 1546–1971, Jalisco 1590–1979,  Puebla 1545–1977, Querétaro 1590–1970, Sinaloa1671–1968, Tlaxcala, 1576–1994, et al.)

Look for promising leads in US New York Land Records 1630–1975, Massachusetts Boston Tax Records 1822–1918 and expanded collections for Illinois and Indiana. 

Search these new records and images by clicking on the collection links at https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-17-may-2021/, or go to FamilySearch to search over 8 billion free names and record images.

This week's list is huge, much too large to publish here. You can find the entire list at https://media.familysearch.org/new-free-historical-records-on-familysearch-week-of-17-may-2021/.

I have known Jan Allen for a number of years and must say this award is well-deserved! The following was written by the Massachusetts Genealogical Council:

"Massachusetts Genealogical Council Awards the Third Annual Shirley M. Barnes Records Access Award to Jan Meisels Allen, Chair of the Public Records Access Monitoring Committee of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies and Sponsoring Member of the U.S. Records Preservation and Access Coalition."

(VIRTUAL: 1:00 PM, May 16, 2021) At the Society Fair of the New England Regional Genealogical Conference, the Massachusetts Genealogical Council (MGC) awarded its third annual Shirley M. Barnes Records Access Award to Jan Meisels Allen, the chair of the Public Records Access Monitoring Committee of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. The award is an engraved book clock, a replica of the award presented to Shirley Barnes July 14, 2007, upon her retirement as Civil Records Director of MGC.

WHO IS JAN MEISELS ALLEN? Since 2003 Jan has been the chairperson of the Public Records Access Monitoring Committee (PRAMC) of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS). She served on the IAJGS Board of Directors from 2004-2013. Since 2004 she represents IAJGS as a sponsoring member on the Records Preservation and Access Coalition (RPAC). In 2015 she was awarded the IAJGS Volunteer of the Year award. In 2013, the National Genealogical Society (NGS) awarded Jan the President’s Citation. In addition to her international and national work, she has served the boards of local Jewish genealogical societies in California. She continues to research her own Polish, Hungarian, and Galician roots. Jan’s work for records access is seen in her frequent Records Access Alerts on behalf of PRAMC. In recent years, Jan’s support of MGC in her letters citing law and precedent have been instrumental in our successes.

WHO WAS SHIRLEY M. BARNES? A little slip of a woman, frequently donning an inviting smile, and a big "Save Massachusetts Records" button, Shirley M. Barnes was committed to advocating for record preservation and access. Weekly she rode the commuter rail from Concord to Boston to walk the statehouse, visiting with legislators. Her work brought about the 1983 Massachusetts vital records law which mandated the transfer of vital records to the state archives in five-year intervals. After 25 years of dedicated service as MGC's Civil Records Director, Shirley tirelessly stayed on the board, mentoring her successors, until recently, attending meetings became a physical challenge.

THE SHIRLEY M. BARNES RECORDS ACCESS AWARD: The Massachusetts Genealogical Council, at the annual meeting on February 17, 2019, established an annual award to be given in memory of Shirley M. (Armstrong) Barnes at a luncheon, held in odd years at the New England Regional Genealogical Conference and in even years at the MGC Annual Seminar. The award will recognize people who emulate Shirley's volunteer spirit and whose dedication to records access has made a significant impact for genealogists. See www.massgencouncil.org/shirley-barnes-records-access-award for more information.

MASSACHUSETTS GENEALOGICAL COUNCIL: The Massachusetts Genealogical Council is an umbrella organization of Massachusetts genealogical and historical societies and libraries. We provide educational seminars and conferences to the members of those organizations. We also monitor legislative and administrative activity that might impact genealogists and historians.

The following article was written by Nancy Battick and originally published in The Piscataquis Observer newspaper and web site. The article is republished here with the kind permission of the author.

By Nancy Battick

My husband and I are in the process of renovating parts of our 196-year-old farmhouse. You don’t realize how much you can accumulate until you tackle something like this.  

Over the years our house has been the repository for various relatives including parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and who knows how many others. Out of loyalty I’ve kept many things I didn’t really like, want or need. After all, they’re family pieces and letting them go is hard. I feel guilty, though the more I shift things out of the house the less guilty I feel. I know family members expected me to keep and treasure their unwanted items forever, but I can’t anymore.

And then there are my genealogy records. I started genealogy before personal computers and genealogical software existed, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth. Everyone kept paper records. With the advent of personal computers and genealogical software I dutifully entered the genealogical information and filed the original material as a backup. Then I had so many files I divided them by family surnames. 

As I acquired more I organized them into binders by individual family members, mainly because the software was limited and you couldn’t scan in a great deal of material. Now it would take the rest of my life to scan everything into my software. Not happening. So I’m faced with a lot of binders, way over a hundred. Each relative has a family group sheet, original records, photos if they exist and so on.  

Then there are the family physical items, large and small, such as the berry set given to my grandparents when they married in 1905. The set was from my grandmother’s aunt and is the only item of hers anyone in the family has. Pretty but never used, it takes up space in one china cabinet — but if I ever have to seriously downsize what happens to that? What do I give up to keep it? Or the large crayon portraits of my great-grandparents and grand-aunts and uncles? My husband has his mother’s afghan crocheted by her uncle, a Catholic priest. My stepsons won’t want it. What to do with it?

As genealogists you will probably have to face the same sort of decisions I’m trying to resolve now before I get older and may have to move into smaller space. I certainly don’t want someone else making these decisions for me.     

Letting go is hard. I’ve sent things out of the house recently and I know Mom, a Depression baby who kept everything, would be appalled, but what else to do? 

If you’re also facing this kind of task, my advice is don’t throw everything away. Keep what you use, need, or value highly. In my case it’s still too much and I’ll have to wrestle with my conscience but eventually just let things go.  

We all have to do it no matter how painful it can be. But as for my genealogy, it remains where it is.  

Nancy Battick is a Dover-Foxcroft native who has researched genealogy for over 30 years. She is past president of the Maine Genealogical Society, author of several genealogical articles and co-transcribed the Vital Records of Dover-Foxcroft. Nancy holds an MA in History from UMaine and lives in Dover-Foxcroft with her husband, Jack, another avid genealogist. You can contact Nancy at nbattick@roadrunner.com.

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

WARNING: This article contains personal opinions.

For decades, the standard method of genealogy research has been to peruse original records as well as compiled genealogies, looking for information about each ancestor, one fact at a time. In modern times, we typically have used IMAGES of the original records published on microfilm and, more recently, images that appear on our computer screens. We then supplement these original records with compiled genealogies from many sources, including printed books, online web sites, and even GEDCOM files online or on CD-ROM disks. Experienced genealogists also understand the importance of VERIFYING each piece of information, regardless of where it was obtained. Yes, even original hand-written records made at the time of an event may contain errors.

Compiling a genealogy typically requires hundreds or thousands of hours of work, sometimes great expenditures of money, and, when original records have not been easily available locally, additional time and money on travel.

To be kind, I will simply say that the results have been variable.

The remainder of this article is reserved for Plus Edition subscribers only. If you have a Plus Edition subscription, you may read the full article at: https://eogn.com/(*)-Plus-Edition-News-Articles/10504599

If you are not yet a Plus Edition subscriber, you can learn more about such subscriptions and even upgrade to a Plus Edition subscription immediately at https://eogn.com/page-18077.

The following announcement was written by TheGenealogist:

TheGenealogist is marking the anniversary of the famous Royal Air Force Dambusters raid on the Ruhr Valley dams in May 1943 by releasing a massive tranche of fully searchable RAF Operations Record Books (ORBs) including those ORBs for the famous No 617 Squadron giving an insight into their lives.

Wing Commander Guy Gibson and his crew boarding their Lancaster bomber

With a release of 1,550,018 records, bringing the total to 6,748,021 these new diary-like RAF documents paint a picture of the goings on in a squadron on a day-to-day basis for those units under British control.

These are uniquely fully searchable by:-

• • Forename and Surname

  • Squadron

  • Date Range

Using keywords users can also search for Service Number, Rank, and Duty, Aircraft type and location where the fields appear in the record. This makes it possible to easily find your Royal Air Force ancestors and discover more about their war time activities on the base and in the air.

See the usefulness of these contemporary daily diary entries in a short video that spotlights the famous leader of No 617 Squadron, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, V.C., D.F.C. and Bar, D.S.O. and Bar as he and his unit prepare for their mission to drop the bouncing bombs on the German dam targets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd0gcQdbV_4

The Operations Record Books are for squadrons primarily from after the First World War, although there are a few early squadron records from 1911 to 1918. These ORBs follow the daily happenings in the air and on the base, and frequently name the brave aircrew who battled against the odds.

You can use the collection to follow an airman’s war time experiences from these fully searchable Air Ministry operations record books which cover various Royal Air Force, Dominion and Allied Air Force squadrons that came under British Command. The AIR 27 records allow the family history researcher a fascinating insight into their relatives serving in a number of wartime air force units, as can be seen in the video and article that shines a light on Wing Commander Gibson and his squadron.

• • See the wartime operations of air crew

  • Discover pilots, navigators, radio operators and gunners mentioned in the diaries

  • Find airmen receiving an Honour or a Medal

  • Note the names of squadron members wounded, killed, or who did not return

  • Fully search these National Archives records and images

Find out more about the AIR27 recordset here: https://www.TheGenealogist.co.uk/Air27

This release expands TheGenealogist’s extensive Military records collection for Diamond subscribers.

To take a deeper look into these records read TheGenealogist’s feature article and see how 617 Squadron recorded the famous Dambuster operation in the ORBs from the time.

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/featuredarticles/2021/guy-gibson-and-the-dambuster-raid-found-in-raf-operations-record-books-1411/

About TheGenealogist

TheGenealogist is an award-winning online family history website, which puts a wealth of information at the fingertips of family historians. Their approach is to bring hard to use physical records to life online with easy to use interfaces such as their Tithe and newly released Lloyd George Domesday collections.

TheGenealogist’s innovative SmartSearch technology links records together to help you find your ancestors more easily. TheGenealogist is one of the leading providers of online family history records. Along with the standard Birth, Marriage, Death and Census records, they also have significant collections of Parish and Nonconformist records, PCC Will Records, Irish Records, Military records, Occupations, Newspaper record collections amongst many others.

TheGenealogist uses the latest technology to help you bring your family history to life. Use TheGenealogist to find your ancestors today!

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

Discover remarkable war stories and more with Findmypast’s latest Friday releases. This week’s update includes new and exclusive WW2 service records, updates to Findmypast’s British medal collection, colour photos of thousands of Norfolfk headstones and memorials along with a whole host of new newspapers.

British Army Service Records

Search exclusive Scots Guards' service records from the Second World War and beyond. Some documents even include photos.

Ronald Tillotson from Dewsbury enlisted in 1938. View his full record.

The records range from a couple of pages to complete service histories documented over many different types of army forms. This is the first time this important collection has been digitised and published online and it's only available at Findmypast.

Britain, Campaign, Gallantry & Long Service Medals & Awards

Discover decorated military ancestors in thousands of new medal records. The latest additions cover:

• • Indian General Service Medals 1854-1895, 1908-1935 and 1936-1939
  • China War Medal 1900
  • Second China War Medal 1857-60
  • General Service Medal 1918-1962
  • India Medal 1895-1902

You can focus your search on any of the above awards by selecting it from the 'Medal type' filter on the search page. The records can reveal important details for tracing someone's military past including service number, rank and regiment.

Norfolk, Churchyard Graves and Memorials Image Browse

See if you can spot your Norfolk relatives’ graves or memorials in thousands of unique colour photos.

Gravestones and memorials can be full of useful family tree information. View this photo in detail.

Norfolk resident Louise Cocker provided these amazing photos. Louise's mission is to document all of the graves and memorials in her home county and we'll be adding more to the collection over time. Could you take on a similar challenge in your area? Photograph your local cemetery and give the snaps to your local family history society. Genealogists the world over will be forever grateful.

Newspapers

Six new papers from England, Scotland and Ireland have been published on Findmypast this week along with substantial updates to 17 existing titles. Brand new this week are;

• • Ballina Herald and Mayo and Sligo Advertiser covering 1891-1892, 1915-1924 and 1926-1927
  • Beacon (Edinburgh) covering 1821
  • Beacon (London) covering 1822
  • Glasgow Courier covering 1802
  • Midland Mail covering 1898, 1902-1910 and 1913-1923
  • Weekly Journal (Hartlepool) covering 1901-1904

While coverage has expanded in;

• • American Register from 1895
  • Argus, or, Broad-sheet of the Empire from 1841-1843
  • Barnsley Telephone from 1918
  • Blandford and Wimbourne Telegram from 1885
  • Bridport, Beaminster, and Lyme Regis Telegram from 1881 and 1886
  • Glasgow Sentinel from 1821-1823
  • Lancaster Standard and County Advertiser from 1907
  • London Daily News from 1912-1920
  • Lynn Advertiser from 1971-1977, 1980-1989
  • Nelson Chronicle, Colne Observer and Clitheroe Division News from 1893
  • Northern Weekly Gazette from 1924 and 1929
  • Pictorial Times from 1845 and 1847
  • Pierce Egan’s Life in London, and Sporting Guide from 1824-1825 and 1827
  • The Age from 1825, 1828, 1831, 1833-1834 and 1837-1845
  • Weekly True Sun from 1834, 1836, 1838 and 1840-1842
  • Weymouth Telegram from 1887
  • Y Tyst from 1884

Make amazing discoveries for less with a 20% discount on all subscriptions

There is still time to claim a 20% discount on any 1 and 12 month subscription but hurry, offer ends May 15^th!

The following book review was written by this newsletter’s Book Review Editor, Bobbi King:

A Taylor Double Ancestry

By Arthur Orison Taylor (1923); edited by E.F. Vogt (2021).
Self-published. 2021. 215 pages.

It’s a generous person who edits and publishes another author’s work. Particularly when the original manuscript was typed and handwritten nearly a century ago, crafted onto one hundred fifty-eight fragile onionskin papers, spent decades in storage, with an expansive hand-notated diagram that charts twenty-eight generations of ancestors. The chart is reprinted in the back of the book with its meticulous hand lettering and rigorously-drawn connecting lines, truly a family gem of a document.

The original author of this Taylor genealogy is Arthur Orison Taylor, born in 1858 and died in 1948. He assembled the ancestries of his father’s and his mother’s families, both his parents being born coincidentally with the same surname; hence the title of the book: A Taylor Double Ancestry. The record was safeguarded by his family, passed down to his granddaughter, then to her daughter and husband Lynn Munroe Vogt and Eugene Francis Vogt, who thus became the curators of the family genealogy.

The Vogts have painstakingly edited through all the material, checked as many sources as they could, and published A Taylor Double Ancestry. The book is divided into two parts: Part I is about the paternal Taylors, and Part II is about the maternal Taylors. The two parts are divided into chapters, with each chapter devoted to one surname. There are fifty-two surname-chapters with descriptive narrative, charts, and reference notes.

All the book’s content is of the author’s 1923 work, none of the editors’ own, except for the editing and footnoting. So the information reflects work done in 1923, and backwards from that date. The only current information is a genealogy descendant chart for the author, Arthur Orison Taylor, which illustrates his descendants up to today. So you won’t find much information about the Taylors after 1923, but there is plenty to read about for all the generations previous to this time.

The fruition of the Vogts’ work honors the original author and contributes to an enduring Taylor legacy.

A Taylor Double Ancestry, written by Arthur Orison Taylor with editing and updates by E.F. Vogt, is available from a number of online book stores. You can find many of them by starting at: https://bit.ly/2RScHRY.