This was unofficially announced earlier (see my earlier article at: https://eogn.com/page-18080/10134146) but today MyHeritage published the official announcement. It is a "done deal" The transaction was signed on February 24, 2021, and was pending regulatory approvals, which have recently been received, and hence the acquisition was completed today.

All the details may be found in the MyHeritage Blog at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2021/04/myheritage-acquired-by-leading-private-equity-firm-francisco-partners/.

The summation in that article states: "Going forward, MyHeritage will remain the same family history company that you have grown to love. Our mission remains unchanged and we will continue innovating to make family history more fulfilling, enjoyable, and accessible."

Great News! The Biden administration has halted the sale of the federal archives building in Seattle, following months of opposition from people across the Pacific Northwest and a lawsuit by the Washington Attorney General's Office.

A federal judge had already blocked the sale, pending a lawsuit by Washington, Oregon and more than two dozen Native American and Alaska Native tribes. All eight senators from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Alaska opposed the sale, and Murray and Cantwell had been pushing the Biden administration to halt it.

There are many online reports of this cancellation of plans to sell the building without first taking any public input. I read the story first in an Associated Press article by Gene Johnson at: https://bit.ly/3taSoNH.

The following announcement was written by Findmypast:

Explore electoral registers, Catholic records and more this Findmypast Friday.

Findmypast continues to add new records and newspaper pages every week so there’s always something new to discover. Read on to discover what's new this week.

Cincinnati Roman Catholic Parish Registers

Privacy rules have allowed Findmypast to release thousands of new Catholic baptism, marriage and burial records from churches in Cincinnati, Ohio. This includes;

• • Over 22,000 new Cincinnati Roman Catholic parish baptisms now covering records up to 1924
  • Over 28,000 new Cincinnati Roman Catholic parish marriages now covering records up to 1924
  • Over 19,000 new Cincinnati Roman Catholic parish burials now covering records up to 1953

All of these new additions come from Archdiocese of Cincinnati and have been published as part of Findmypast’s exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive. The Archdiocese was erected by Pope Pius VII in 1821 and has a long tradition of being a place of worship for pioneers.

The Church supported the growing influx of German and Irish immigrants and by 1910, around 70% of Cincinnati's citizens were Roman Catholic. These exclusive records detail some of the most important events in their lives.

Cambridgeshire, Licensed Victuallers

Did your ancestor run a pub in Cambridgeshire? Find out with this unique resource, including new records from Newmarket, Ely, Whittelsey and Thorney. Each record normally includes the name and abode of the victualler, the name of the alehouse, tavern or inn, its location and the name and abode of the person providing surety.

The surviving records for Cambridgeshire 1764-1828 are kept in the Cambridgeshire Archives in Ely. They have been photographed and transcribed by members of the Cambridgeshire & Huntingdonshire Family History Society, which has kindly licensed the records for the use of researchers on Findmypast.

UK Electoral Registers & Companies House Directors

Search over 2.9 million new entries, perfect for tracing long lost relatives or exploring house history.

Provided by 192.com, these modern records include names, addresses and other details of the UK electorate from 2002 right up to the present day. Business directors also feature.

Newspapers

This week Findmypast have published seven new titles along with updates to 16 others. Brand new to the collection are:

• • Atherstone News and Herald covering 1895-1910, 1913-1949 and 1951-1982
  • Blandford and Wimbourne Telegram covering 1886
  • Bridport, Beaminster, and Lyme Regis Telegram covering 1880 and 1882-1884
  • Bristol Observer covering 1877, 1879, 1886, 1889 and 1898
  • Llanelly Mercury covering 1891-1892, 1894-1896 and 1899-1908
  • Poole Telegram covering 1880
  • Rhos Herald covering 1922-1950

While the following titles have had their coverage expanded with additional pages:

• • Barrow Herald and Furness Advertiser from 1880
  • Bootle Times from 1882, 1889 and 1897
  • Bridgend Chronicle, Cowbridge, Llantrisant, and Maesteg Advertiser from 1884
  • Chester Courant from 1867
  • Daily Record from 1905
  • Fulham Chronicle from 1905-1906 and 1979-1980
  • Halifax Comet from 1893, 1898-1901 and 1904
  • Indian Daily News from 1898
  • Reynolds’s Newspaper from 1933
  • Saint James’s Chronicle from 1821
  • Stockton Herald, South Durham and Cleveland Advertiser from 1880, 1882-1889 and 1891-1892
  • Sun & Central Press from 1871 and 1873-1874
  • Sun (London) from 1873-1875
  • Swindon Advertiser from 1899, 1901-1910 and 1912
  • Swindon Advertiser and North Wilts Chronicle from 1911
  • Widnes Examiner from 1889

On March 1, 2021, Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler of the Northern District of California dismissed a variety of claims brought against the genealogy website Ancestry.com based on the website’s use of individuals’ personal information obtained from school yearbooks. In so doing, Judge Beeler added to the growing body of case law defining what constitutes an injury sufficient to support Article III standing in the context of data privacy class actions and highlighted the potential utility of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (“Section 230”) as a tool defendants can use to defeat privacy-related putative class actions.

The case is Callahan v. Ancestry.com Inc., No. 20-cv-08437-LB (N.D. Cal.), and you can read a summation at https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/northern-district-of-california-holds-7920296/ as well as the details Judge Beeler’s decision at: https://casetext.com/case/callahan-v-ancestrycom-inc.

American Ancestors and New England Historic Genealogical Society just launched a new project this this week, to be called Ancestor Strong. It depends upon submissions from users who are willing to share stories about the tough times their ancestors (and others) lived through. Wars, pandemics, oppression, displacement, economic crisis, and similar stories are strong candidates for stories that can be shared with others.

If you have a story that should be shared, you might want to contribute. Here is the announcement:

“We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” –Maya Angelou

As we all process the last year of tremendous challenge and change, there is an opportunity to reflect upon our lives in the context of history and our ancestors. Many of us have heard family stories about the tough times they lived through. Wars, pandemics, oppression, displacement, economic crisis – our foremothers and fathers often had it rougher than we do now.

In the spirit of finding inspiration and strength from those who came before us, we’ve asked members and visitors to share interesting family stories for a new web project – Ancestor Strong. The memories provided thus far are a testament to the courage, tenacity, and faith of generations past.

To date we’ve received nearly 50 responses and are looking for many more. We’re hoping an article would help us get the word out about the call for entries, as well as give these stories a wider audience. Anyone can visit the site, and via a simple form, submit a story on behalf of an ancestor who inspired them.

You can page through to see the existing submissions; and scroll down on the home page to see the “Share Your Ancestor’s Story” button, which leads to a submission page.

https://ancestorstrong.americanancestors.org/

Disclaimer: I certainly am not an expert in OPMD or any other medical conditions. However, I became very interested in OPMD when I realized it is frequently found amongst my relatives on the French-Canadian side of my family. (My mother's ancestry is 100% French-Canadian.) Several of my aunts, uncles, cousins, and more distant relatives appeared to have symptoms of OPMD although several relatives are now deceased so testing of those individuals is not longer possible. I am simply comparing my knowledge of their symptoms with what I have read in medical journals.

I simply have done a lot of reading about OPMD and can offer references to documents written by medical professionals who do have expertise in OPMD. For details, always refer to these articles or to qualified genetics professionals.

If your ancestry is from France, the French-speaking families of Canada, Jewish, Spanish, or Japanese families, and if you or someone in your family is having symptoms of the upper eyelids and/or the throat or muscle weakening, you might want to get tested for OPMD.

Oculopharyngeal Muscular Dystrophy (OPMD) is a genetic disorder characterized by slowly progressing muscle disease (myopathy) affecting the muscles of the upper eyelids and the throat. Onset is typically during adulthood, most often between 40 and 60 years of age. Symptoms may include: eyelid drooping (ptosis), arm and leg weakness, and difficulty swallowing (dysphagia).

According to information on the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) website, OPMD is most common among a population of Bukharan Jews living in Israel, where an estimated 1 person in 600 is affected. OPMD is additionally estimated to occur in 1 in 1000 individuals of French-Canadian ancestry and 1 in 100,000 individuals in France. In the United States, the number of people with OPMD is not known, however the majority of diagnosed individuals are of French-Canadian, Ashkenazi Jewish, or Spanish American background.

I don't have statistics but amongst my mother's relatives, there certainly are many more than "1 in 1,000 French Canadians" in this family with these symptoms!

In short, there are two types of OPMD, distinguished by their patterns of inheritance. They are known as the autosomal dominant and autosomal recessive types. Both types are caused by mutations in the PABPN1 gene.

If you or any of relatives have droopy eyelids, difficulty swallowing, arm or leg weakness, or related symptoms and if you or your relative have French-Canadian, Bukharan Jewish, Ashkenazi Jewish, or Spanish American ancestry, you might want to start reading about OPMD.

NOTE: OPMD is found in Spain and in the U.S.A. amongst families of Spanish ancestry, but it does not seem to be common among the Latin American countries. Therefore, it is possible the inherited problem was spread amongst the families who moved directly from Spain to present-day New Mexico in the late 1500s and into the 1600s but not amongst the families that spent generations in Latin America along the way. However, be aware this is conjecture, not a proven fact.

A small number of Japanese families also reportedly have inherited OPMD but I am not able to find much information about them published in English.

Diagnosis

According to the NIH website,:

"The diagnosis of OPMD is established in a proband with a suggestive phenotype in whom either of the following genetic findings are identified: a heterozygous GCN trinucleotide repeat expansion of 11 to 18 repeats in the first exon of PABPN1 (~90% of affected individuals) or biallelic GCN trinucleotide repeat expansions that are either compound heterozygous (GCN[11] with a second expanded allele) or homozygous (GCN[11]+[11], GCN[12]+[12], GCN[13]+[13], etc.) (~10% of affected individuals)."

Diagnosis for you or your family should be made by genetics professionals, not by directly contacting a laboratory. The genetics professional will first screen the individual's symptoms, along with family heritage, and then will send a DNA sample to a genetics laboratory if he or she believe OPMD to be a possibility.

Treatment

Treatment depends on the signs and symptoms present in each individual. Ptosis and dysphagia can be managed with surgery; however, recurrence of symptoms commonly occurs 5-15 years after intervention.

Summation

Again, I am not a OPMD expert. I offer this article simply as an introduction about why you might want to learn more about OPMD.  Always learn from the true experts.

There is a LOT more information available on the NIH website at https://rarediseases.info.nih.gov/diseases/7245/oculopharyngeal-muscular-dystrophy and in the GeneReviews website at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1126/.

French-Canadian families also will be interested in Genealogy and "The French Canadian Disease": OPMD by Mary Holmes at http://www.cantley1889.ca/english/echo/echocantley_2015-09.html. That article even lists the probable ancestors of thousands of present-day French Canadian families who brought OPMD to New France.

Here is a brief extract from an announcement in the the MyHeritage Blog:

"Every year, as the cold of winter melts away, spring comes and brings with it a new beginning. We’re excited to offer you a chance to research your family’s beginnings with free access to birth records for a whole week from April 18–24, 2021.

"Normally, birth records are free to search, but to view the full record or add it to your tree, you need a Data or Complete plan on MyHeritage."

The full announcement may be found at: https://blog.myheritage.com/2021/04/celebrate-spring-with-free-birth-records-on-myheritage/.

The following is an announcement written by ScottishIndexes.com:

[Glasgow, Scotland 5 April 2021] When the pandemic struck in 2020 and Scottish archives closed their doors, Scottish based scottishindexes.com immediately started hosting free online conferences to teach people how to trace their Scottish family tree and provide much-needed interaction for people stuck at home. Regarding these conferences, one attendee said, “Thank you very much for another great conference. They really are a bright spot in these days, weeks, months spent at home.” The 10th conference in this series will be held on 22 May 2021 on Zoom and Facebook.

During this 16-hour event, we will hear from many experts, including genealogist and author Chris Paton who will present, ‘Genealogy Without Borders’. Genealogist Kate Keter will present, ‘Mother dead, Father in prison’, which will tell how a single entry in a school admission register led to uncovering the stories of three generations of one family. Genealogist Andrew Armstong will present, ‘Patterns of Migration in the Scottish Textiles Industries 1750-1950’.

Following the March 2021 Scottish Indexes Conference, one attendee wrote, “Congratulations and thanks for the great program today. The level of expertise and information is wonderful for those of us who have been active in genealogical research for many years.”

To register, simply join the Scottish Indexes group on Facebook (www.facebook.com/groups/scottishindexes) or to register on Zoom follow the directions on www.scottishindexes.com.

About www.scottishindexes.com

www.scottishindexes.com is run by husband and wife team Graham and Emma Maxwell, both experienced Scottish genealogists. As well as helping clients with their family history, Graham and Emma also index historical Scottish records and make them available for free on their website.

​​Twitter: https://twitter.com/scottishindexes

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scottish.indexes

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/scottishindexes/

MyHeritage recently introduced Deep Nostalgia, a groundbreaking new photo feature that allows you to animate the faces of your loved ones in still photos to produce a realistic depiction of how the person in the old photo could have moved and looked as if they were captured on video. I haven't found anything similar on any other web sites.

(See my earlier articles about Deep Nostalgia photo enhancements by starting at: https://eogn.com/sys/website/system-pages/?pageId=SysSiteSearchResults.)

The popularity of this enhanced photographs has mushroomed. Since its launch 5 weeks ago, 72 million animations have been created on MyHeritage.

Deep Nostalgia appears to be only the foundation of the new service. In the last 5 weeks since its introduction, the folks at MyHeritage have introduced new enhancements to the service every week or two.

Today, the company released 10 additional "special" animations for Deep Nostalgia™, doubling the number of animations available and allowing you to see your ancestors express a wider spectrum of gestures and emotions, for example, dance, blow a kiss, smile wholeheartedly, nod approval, and more. The special animations are available to subscribers on the Complete plan.

(The eogn.com newsletter's software does not display the Deep Nostalgia version properly. If you do not see motion in the above video, click on https://blog.myheritage.com/wp-content/uploads/Dance1opt.gif to see it the Deep Nostalgia version.)           

Quoting the MyHeritage Blog's announcement:

"This feature is based on different sequences of gestures that can be applied to a photo, each originating from a pre-recorded driver video that we’ve prepared in advance using MyHeritage employees. When we launched this feature, 10 such drivers were available. Today, we’re excited to announce that we have doubled the number of drivers. The 10 additional drivers released today, which we call special animations, allow you to see your ancestors express a wider spectrum of gestures and emotions, for example, smile wholeheartedly, blow a kiss, nod approval, and more. The special animations are available exclusively to subscribers on the Complete plan.

"Many of our users were moved to tears to see their ancestors look around and smile at them. Now you can enjoy this even more, with the new special animations. "

A rather complete description of the new features as well as several examples of the results my be found at the MyHeritage Blog at https://blog.myheritage.com/2021/04/introducing-deep-nostalgia-special-animations/. I would suggest you read that to see what all the buzz is about and then try it on a few of your old family photographs.

I suspect you will be impressed. I was!

In 1665, King Louis XIV ordered the Carignan-Salieres Regiment to Canada to help save the Royal Colony from destruction at the hands of the Iroquois Indians. Between June and September 1665, some twenty-four companies of 1200 soldiers and their officers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment arrived in Quebec under the leadership of Lt. General Alexander de Prouville, Sieur de Tracy.

The Carignan-Salieres Regiment was the first regular military unit to serve in Canada. Almost immediately upon arrival, they launched an attack upon the Indians in the dead of winter, and the regiment was almost destroyed. Nevertheless, within months the Regiment stabilized the situation, ensuring the survival of the French colony.

The Regiment established a series of forts along the Richelieu River and conducted another successful campaign into the land of the Mohawk Indians, leading to a long period of peace. The colony prospered as a result. However, King Louis XIV’s plan also included the permanent settlement of many of the soldiers and officers in Canada. Following their service, many of the soldiers stayed on in Canada.

In fact, over 400 soldiers and officers decided to remain in New France when the regiment was recalled to France. Many of the soldiers married the newly arrived filles du roi (Daughters of the King). Most of today's French-Canadians have at least several ancestors who served in the Carignan-Salières Regiment.

The Carignan-Salières Regiment was one of the first to wear a uniform in the French army. The uniform was brown with a gray lining that was visible in the upturned sleeves, forming a decorative facing. Buff-colored and black ribbons decorated the hat and right shoulder, in accordance with the style of the time. The soldiers of the Carignan-Salières Regiment carried matchlock and flintlock muskets with bayonets, a novelty of the era. They left their pikes in France, since they were of little use against the Iroquois, but they all carried swords.

At that time, the army was made of volunteers. During recruitment, the only condition for the soldier-to-be was to stand at least five feet three inches tall.

A list of most of the soldiers of the Régiment de Carignan-Salières is available  at http://www.quebec.acadian-home.org/carignan-regiment.html and a somewhat different list may be found on the WayBack Machine at https://web.archive.org/web/20100722145914/http://www.fillesduroi.org/src/soldiers.htm.  Other web sites may have somewhat different lists because, “No list of Carignan soldier-settlers will ever be perfect. Since no contemporary list was made in the 17th century – other than one with only dit names (nicknames), made at an unknown date – we can never be sure of the identity of all the members of the regiment.”

For more information about the Carignan Soldiers, look at the following sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carignan-Sali%C3%A8res_Regiment

http://www.fillesduroi.org/src/soldiers.htm

http://habitant.org/carignan.htm

http://www.migrations.fr/Leregimentcarignan.htm (in French)

http://www.cbc.ca/history/EPCONTENTSE1EP2CH7PA3LE.html

http://www.quebec.acadian-home.org/carignan-regiment.html