Billions of years ago, as primitive lifeforms were becoming more complex, a selfish genetic component became a sort of genome colonizer. Using a copy-and-paste mechanism, this pernicious bit of code replicated and inserted itself again and again into a variety of genomes.

Over time, all eukaryotic organisms inherited the code—including us. In fact, this ancient genetic element wrote about one-third of the human genome—and was considered junk DNA until relatively recently.

This genetic component is known as LINE-1, and its aggressive intrusion into the genome can wreak havoc, leading to disease-causing mutations. A key protein called ORF2p enables its success—meaning understanding ORF2p's structure and mechanics could illuminate new potential therapeutic targets for a variety of diseases.

Now, in collaboration with more than a dozen academic and industry groups, Rockefeller scientists have rendered the protein's core structure in high resolution for the first time, revealing a host of new insights about LINE-1's key disease-causing mechanisms. The results were published in Nature.

"The work will facilitate rational drug design targeting LINE-1 and may lead to novel therapies and strategies to combat cancer, autoimmune disease, neurodegeneration, and other diseases of aging," says senior author John LaCava, a research associate professor at The Rockefeller University.

You can read more in an article in the medicalxpress web site at: http://tinyurl.com/2hypfdf3.

The New York Public Library is the latest organization to publish an article about the myth of "the family name was changed at Ellis Island" and then describes exactly one exception. Almost every genealogy writer in the US, including myself, has written about the myth before. It is nice to see someone with the authority and credentials of the New York Public Library write about it. Perhaps this fairy tale will now be put to rest.

 Immigrants undergoing medical examination at Ellis Island 

The article by Philip Sutton says many things, including:

"There is a myth that persists in the field of genealogy, or more accurately, in family lore, that family names were changed there. They were not. Numerous blogs, essays, and books have proven this. Yet the myth persists; a story in a recent issue of The New Yorker suggests that it happened. This post will explore how and why names were not changed."

The article then humorously goes on to describe one exception. Despite the clarification of the name change myth, there was one person's whose name actually was changed at Ellis Island. Harry Zarief, "the assistant concert master for Morton Gould," and famously a father of quadruplets, had his name changed at Ellis Island from Zarief to Friedman. The man now named Harry Friedman apparently was not happy with the name change. 

In 1944, went to court and obtained a legal change of name, BACK TO ZARIEF.

You can find the article, Why Your Family Name Was Not Changed at Ellis Island, at http://tinyurl.com/2whr5hmn.

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

Storing information "in the cloud" seems to have fewer security issues than storing data on your own hard drive or in a flash drive but that doesn’t mean that you can ignore the security issues involved. security issues, although not as many. Luckily, those issues are also easily solved. Let's start first with a definition of the cloud.

What is The Cloud?

The word "cloud" is a collective term. The cloud is not a single thing. Rather, it is a collection of hardware, software, data, and networks. It exists in thousands of data centers located around the world. No one company or government controls the cloud; it is a collection of many things owned and operated by thousands of different corporations and non-profit organizations.

The cloud also may be envisioned as the next evolution beyond the World Wide Web. While the original World Wide Web delivered information one-way to the user, the cloud does all that and more. The cloud provides two-way data as well as multi-user and even collaborative applications. Do you use Google Docs? If so, you are already using the cloud. Do you use Find-A-Grave? If so, you are already using the cloud. Do you pay bills online? If so, you are already using the cloud. The same is true for Facebook, Flickr, Shutterfly, Twitter, Carbonite, Gmail, and thousands of other cloud-based services.

On thing that is radically different with using the cloud is that applications may be stored in remote servers located around the world, not in your own computer’s hard drive. However, the use of remote applications, or “apps,” stored in the cloud is optional; you can still continue to use the appliucations stored in your own computer or use the apps in the cloud or, in some cases, even use a combination of both.

Gmail is a good example of using software in the cloud. Unlike a few years ago, there is no need to install an email program in your computer. Gmail (and a number of other online email services) provides both the software and the email messages without installing any software in your computer. It works on Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Chromebooks, iPads, iPhones, Android devices, and probably other kinds of computers as well. That is a perfect example of cloud computing.

In fact, the cloud also is an assortment of redundant servers that provide advanced computer applications to corporations, governments, and the general public alike. If any server or if an entire data center goes offline due to hardware failure, a disaster or a simple power failure, other servers in other data centers in other locations usually step in and take over the load within seconds. Of course, the data also has been previously copied (or “replicated”) to the other data centers as well. The end user typically doesn’t even realize there has been a problem in the server(s) he or she has been using. From the end user’s viewpoint, everything continues to function as expected.

Cloud computing offers many benefits. Not too long ago, many of us worried about losing our documents, photos, and files if something bad happened to our computers, such as a hard drive crash or a virus. Today, our data can migrate beyond the boundaries of our personal computers. Instead, we’re moving our data online, into “the cloud”. If you upload your photos, store critical files online, and use a web-based email service like Gmail or Yahoo! Mail, an 18-wheel truck could run over your laptop, and yet all your data would still remain safely stored in the cloud, accessible from any Internet-connected computer, anywhere in the world.

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/13295245.

Many people who are unfamiliar with DNA will have a test conducted and then will believe the results are exact. Unfortunately, that isn’t always true, especially when it comes to the ethnic origins of their ancestors. Estimates of ethnic origins from DNA are ESTIMATES – or perhaps we should call them PROBABILITIES. 

If your DNA test says you have 60% Irish ancestry, then we can assume that you undoubtedly do have a lot of Irish ancestry, but it probably isn’t exactly 60%. If your DNA test says you have 2% Middle Eastern ancestry, that means that you MIGHT have a little bit of Middle Eastern ancestry, but even that is not guaranteed. It could be more than 2% or it might be zero. 

First of all, any DNA test that says you have a specific percentage of ancestry from another country is to be taken with some skepticism. For instance, your test results might say you have 60% Irish ancestry. While it is undoubtedly true that you do have a lot of Irish ancestry, the reported percentage will vary from one testing company to another. Even more confusing for newcomers to DNA is the fact that your brother’s or sister’s DNA test results might report a different percentage of Irish ancestry. Once you understand how DNA works, the reasons are obvious. However, it is confusing for newcomers. 

In the case of siblings, both of your parents contributed to the family’s gene pool. 

NOTE: I assuming both have the same father and mother. I am ignoring half-brothers and half-sisters. That’s a different topic.

You and your brother or sister each got SOME of your DNA from your father and SOME from your mother, but it is rare for both siblings to inherit exactly the same percentages from both parents. You never get exactly 50% from either parent. Instead, you might get 35% of your ethnic DNA from one parent and 65% from the other parent. Your sibling usually will receive different percentages of the same DNA. The percentages are variable but obviously always add up to 100%. 

One common analogy is that DNA ethnic origins are like vegetable soup. The soup contains a mix of different vegetables. When you dipped your ladle into the soup bowl, you might have pulled out 25% potatoes, 35% carrots, and 40% beans. Your brother or sister then dipped their ladle into the same soup bowl and pulled out the same vegetables, but in a somewhat different percentage of each. To further complicate the picture, it’s also possible for one sibling to get no carrots! So, for example, your father might have a Viking ancestor whose DNA gets passed on to you but not to your sister.

Next, please keep in mind that all these numbers are ESTIMATES. A DNA test shows the percentage of various ethnic origins DNA you inherited from your parents, according to one laboratory’s test. If you take DNA tests from two or three or four DNA testing companies (as I have), you will find that even your own DNA ethnic origins will vary somewhat in percentages. That is because different testing companies are looking at different gene pools from different times in history. The human race has been migrating back and forth to different locations forever. Two thousand years ago, Europe was inhabited by often-roaming tribes of various barbarians. For instance, there were the Goths (including the Visigoths and Ostrogoths), Huns, Franks, Vandals, Saxons, Celts, and many others. They all roamed throughout Europe, settling down wherever they pleased as long as their new neighbors didn’t kick them out in various battles and raids. 

So, if your DNA test says you have German ancestry, you need to consider the question, “Which Germans?” The same is true of Polish ancestry, Czech ancestry, and all other countries. 

For instance, if your DNA test says you have a lot of Irish ancestry, the first question you need to ask yourself is, “In what years?” Was that the DNA of the Celts who were the primary inhabits of Ireland 3,000 years ago and whose own ancestors came from Germany and France and into the Balkans as far as Turkey, or was the testing company's DNA database based on a mix of Celts and English and Normans who inhabited Ireland a few hundred years ago?

Here is another example: If your DNA test reports that you have English ancestry, the question you need to ask yourself is, “And where did THEY come from?” Almost everyone from England has a least a little bit of ancestry from Ireland, from the Nordic countries (primarily Norway, Sweden, and Denmark), and from Normandy, which is now a region of France. The ancestors of the Normans were mainly Danish and Norwegian Vikings ("Northmen") in the 9th century, not the Franks from France. Of course, there was a mix of ethnicities in Normandy even in the 9th century; nothing is ever 100%. 

Remember William the Conqueror? He and his army came from Normandy in 1066 and conquered England. Some soldiers of the occupying army took local wives or mistresses. Within a few years, the various bureaucrats, other “followers,” and even settlers from Normandy followed the army, again with many of them taking local women as their brides or mistresses.

Of course, most everyone knows what the Vikings were doing in England in the early Middle Ages, especially in the coastal areas of England. They were raping and pillaging in most all the villages along the coast and even traveling up navigable rivers. As a result, almost all English people of today have some Viking ancestry (primarily from present-day Norway, Sweden, and Denmark) as well as ancestors from other nationalities. 

In addition, the boundaries of many countries have changed many times over the centuries. One common example involves Germany. If your DNA report says you have German ancestry, the question arises: "Which Germany?” In fact, Germany didn’t even exist as a country until 1871. Prior to that, the area now called Germany was a mix of small countries and city-states, and the borders amongst them changed frequently. There was Bavaria and Saxony and Prussia and Württemberg and a bunch of other countries and independent cities and more. 

In addition, the ownership of Alsace-Lorraine has swapped between Germany and France several times. The people of Alsace-Lorraine typically spoke the Alsace-Lorraine dialect, which is similar to German but has a lot of French words and grammar rules.  After the 30 Years War (1618 to 1648), many Swiss citizens migrated into Southwest Germany, including many who settled in Alsace-Lorraine, which was part of Germany at the time. In 1681, Strasbourg (the capitol city of Alsace-Lorraine) was conquered by French forces.  

If your ancestor came from Alsace-Lorraine, was he or she German or French? In what years?

One of my ancestors came from the city of Strasbourg in Alsace-Lorraine, which was part of France at the time of his emigration to what is now Quebec Province, Canada in the late 1600s. In 1871, Alsace-Lorraine became part of Germany once again. In 1918, after Germany's defeat in the First World War, the region was ceded back to France under the Treaty of Versailles. The region was then occupied once again by Germany during the Second World War. During that time, people from Alsace were made German citizens by decree from the Nazi government. After World War II ended, Alsace-Lorraine was transferred back to France, and all of its native-born citizens were decreed to be French citizens once again. However, the majority of citizens there still speak either German or the Alsace-Lorraine dialect that is similar to German but with a lot of French influence. 

How about the DNA I inherited from my Alsace-Lorraine ancestor from the 1600s? Is it French or is it German DNA? Was he possibly of Swiss descent? What if his ancestors came from even someplace else before moving to Alsace-Lorraine? 

Finally, the DNA testing companies are constantly updating and refining their databases of ethnic DNA. For instance, my mother’s ancestry is 100% French-Canadian, at least back until the 1600s. Yet one company’s DNA test result claimed that 50% of my DNA was from the Iberian Peninsula (Spain and Portugal). A few months later, the company updated its database with additional information. Now the same DNA company says that the one DNA sample I originally submitted now shows my maternal ancestry was mostly from France, which makes much more sense when you read the history of French-Canadians. There are dozens of similar stories as the various DNA testing companies keep refining their test procedures.

For the company that tested your DNA, do you know if they looked at the DNA of people from 200 years ago? Or 2,000 years ago? or even earlier? The different DNA testing companies use different data representing different points in time.

In short, your German or Irish or Polish ancestors undoubtedly all came from someplace else at some point in history. Indeed, you are the product of a large melting pot of various ethnic groups. 

For more information, see: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/1/28/18194560/ancestry-dna-23-me-myheritage-science-explainer and https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2019/1/28/18194560/ancestry-dna-23-me-myheritage-science-explainer. 

Here is an article that is not about any of the "normal" topics of this newsletter: genealogy, history, current affairs, DNA, and related topics. However, I suspect some readers of this newsletter will be interested. From the Internet Archive:

The Cameraman – 1928 – Buster Keaton

We are looking for filmmakers and artists of all levels to create and upload short films of 2–3 minutes to the Internet Archive to help us celebrate Public Domain Day at our celebrations on January 24 (in-person screening & party) & January 25 (virtual celebration), 2024!

Our short film contest serves as a platform for filmmakers to explore, remix, and breathe new life into the timeless gems that have entered the public domain. From classic literature and silent films to musical compositions and visual art, the contest winners draw inspiration from the vast archive of cultural heritage from 1928. We want artists to use this newly available content to create short films using resources from the Internet Archive’s collections from 1928. The uploaded videos will be judged and prizes of up to $1500 awarded!! (see details below)

Winners will be announced and shown at the in-person Public Domain Day Celebration at the Internet Archive headquarters in San Francisco on January 24, 2024, as well as our virtual celebrationon January 25. All other participating videos will be added to a Public Domain Day Collection on archive.org and featured in a blog entry in January of 2024.

Here are a few examples of some of the materials that will become public domain on January 1, 2024:

• Books: e.g. Orlando by Virginia Woolfe, Well of Loneliness by Radclyffe Hall, and Black Magicby Paul Morand
• Periodicals: E.g. issues from Life, The New Yorker, and Time
• Music! E.g. Dorothy Field’s “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby” and Cole Porter’s “Let’s Misbehave”
• Movies: E.g. Steamboat Willie, The Fall of the House of Usher and Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Jr. and The Cameraman

Possible themes include, but are not limited to:  

• Weird Tales of 1928
• Sleuthing the Public Domain
• What can 1928 teach us about 2024?
• Steamboat Willie re-imagined

Guidelines

• Make a 2–3 minute movie using at least one work published in 1928 that will become Public Domain on January 1, 2024. This could be a poem, book, film, musical composition, painting, photograph or any other work that will become Public Domain next year. The more different PD materials you use, the better!
  • Note: If you have a resource from 1928 that is not available on archive.org, you may upload it and then use it in your submission. (Here is how to do that). 
• Your submission must have a soundtrack. It can be your own voiceover or performance of a public domain musical composition, or you may use public domain or CC0 sound recordings from sources like Openverse and the Free Music Archive.
  • Note: Music copyright is TRICKY! Currently sound recordings published up to December 31, 1922 are public domain; on the upcoming January 1 that will change to sound recordings published up to December 31, 1923.  Sound recordings published later than that are NOT public domain, even if the underlying musical composition is, so watch out for this!
• Mix and Mash content however you like, but note that ALL of your sources must be from the public domain. They do not all have to be from 1928. Remember, U.S. government works are public domain no matter when they are published. So feel free to use those NASA images! You may include your own original work if you put a CC0 license on it.
• Add a personal touch, make it yours!
• Keep the videos light hearted and fun! (It is a celebration after all!)

Submission Deadline

All submissions must be in by Midnight, January 17, 2024 (PST) by loading it into this collection on the Internet Archive.

How to Submit

• Create an Internet Archive Account
• Upload your film to archive.org with a subject tag field of “public domain day film contest 2024” in the upload form by January 17, 2024. This is the collection it will be archived in.
• Link all your sourced materials from 1928 in the upload description

Prizes

• 1st prize: $1500
• 2nd prize: $1000
• 3rd prize: $500

*All prizes sponsored by the Kahle/Austin Foundation

Judges:

Judges will be looking for videos that are fun, interesting and use public domain materials, especially those from 1928. They will be shown at the in-person Public Domain Day party in San Francisco and should highlight the value of having cultural materials that can be reused, remixed, and re-contextualized for a new day. Winners’ pieces will be purchased with the prize money, and viewable  on the Internet Archive under a Creative Commons license.

• Amir Saber Esfahani (Director of Special Arts Projects, Internet Archive)
• Rick Prelinger (Board Member, Internet Archive, Founder, Prelinger Archives)
• BZ Petroff (Director of Admin & HR, Internet Archive)
• Special guest judges

For reference, check out the 2023 Entrants

I first wrote about this issue 3 days ago at https://eogn.com/page-18080/13294458. However, a new article by Angela Couloumbis published on the Yahoo News web site adds more information:

What began in 2022 as a one-paragraph public records request has morphed into a full-blown court fight over who owns digital copies of Pennsylvania’s historical records.

Are they the property of the commonwealth? Or are the documents — which include birth and death certificates, veterans’ burial cards, and slave records — fully controlled by a private company?

That question has pitted a New York City-based professional genealogist against the Pennsylvania agency in charge of a vast array of historical documents and artifacts, as well as Ancestry.com, an online genealogy company used by millions of people to search for family and other records.

The genealogist is Alec Ferretti, a director at Reclaim The Records, a nonprofit that pushes governments to make genealogical information more broadly available.

The state agency is the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC), which in 2008 contracted with Ancestry to digitize a sweeping list of historical documents and make them available on the company’s website. Those records also include naturalization documents, prison records, and Civil War border claims and muster rolls, according to the contract.

Those digitized records, according to PHMC’s website, are free to Pennsylvania residents who create a user profile with Ancestry.

Ferretti, however, isn’t a Pennsylvania resident.

So in September of last year, Ferretti asked PHMC for all records the state agency turned over to Ancestry. He also asked for the metadata on the digitized documents, as well as any indexes Ancestry created for them.

PHMC denied the request, saying it had no responsive records in its possession. Ferretti appealed to Pennsylvania’s Office of Open Records, an independent state agency that’s the first stop in deciding most disputes over access to government information.

According to legal briefs in the case, PHMC said that documents Ancestry eventually digitized encompassed a huge amount of data — approximately 45 terabytes — that would have cost the agency roughly $300,000 annually to maintain. So it chose to have Ancestry house the scanned records for the state.

Copying those records, indexes, and metadata, as Ferretti requested, would be considered a breach of its contract with Ancestry, PHMC argued.

Ferretti countered that Ancestry could at the very least transfer the data using USB hard drives. He noted that because he doesn’t live in Pennsylvania, he would have to pay a subscription fee to the company to access the records. He also argued that though Ancestry houses the documents and their data, the state is their “legal custodian.”

Ownership of the commonwealth’s physical records is not contested. Those are available to Pennsylvania residents and nonresidents alike at the state archives in Harrisburg.

You can read more at: https://ca.news.yahoo.com/inside-pennsylvania-court-case-pitting-100000362.html.

When it comes to getting to know who we are, there’s few better places to start than on the branches of our family tree. As we take a look back and explore the generations, we are offered a greater understanding of who are ancestors were, from where they hailed, and how their lives led up to where you are today. If you’ve yet to dive deep into the world of genealogy, it can be an intimidating endeavor. With so many resources now available to researchers, it can be difficult to know exactly where to start. However, with a bit of patience and some guidance from the experts, you too will be a master of genealogy in no time.

On Wednesday, January 10th, you are invited to join the New Jersey State Library for their very first webinar of 2024, “Electronic Resources for Genealogy”. This virtual event will be held from 12pm to 1pm on Zoom. For those planning on attending, please be certain to register in advanced by submitting the following form: Zoom – Register. This compelling conversation will be hosted by Regina Fitzpatrick, the Genealogy Librarian for the NJSL. If you are planning on attending, please do be aware that they will not be demoing personal research requests at the time of the talk.

If you aren’t certain where to get started, not to worry – you can start from anywhere! With a wealth of genealogical information available online, you can access key information from anywhere in the world. Throughout the afternoon, guests will have the opportunity to learn more about these online resources and how they can be leveraged for personal research. The resources covered in this upcoming webinar are as follows:

• HeritageQuest is a family history research database that any New Jersey resident can access from home with their local public library card through JerseyClicks.
• FamilySearch.org is a free website accessible from home with tons of digital collections and research information.
• The New Jersey State Archives has a series of searchable online indexes and records databases that are freely accessible from home.
• Ancestry Library Edition is generally the most well known electronic resource for genealogy, but many users are overwhelmed and don’t know where to start.

Your host for the afternoon, the New Jersey State Library, is a wealth of knowledge for residents all throughout the Garden State. Whether you’re trying to connect with your past through genealogical research or exploring the fascinating fields of history, science, and more, the New Jersey State Library is here to offer you a closer look at some of the most fascinating topics the world has to offer. From fun and free webinars led by subject matter experts to a whole host of resources available to patrons, visitors of the NJSL can look forward to a vast array of knowledge to explore. For more information about this and other upcoming events at the New Jersey State Library, please visit their website, available here:

Guests with any questions can contact the New Jersey State Library at (609) 278-2640 for further assistance. The limbs of your family tree are waiting to be explored, so be sure to enroll now for a day of discovery!

Here is an article by Megan Banner published in the YorkshireLive web site that will interest many people:

Have you ever wondered where your surname originates from? And, if in fact you are a true Yorkshireman or woman.

Well, this list of historic Yorkshire surname can confirm if your name truly originates from God's Own Country. Names often carry deep personal, cultural, familial, and historical connections

Many of us have ancestors from Yorkshire – if you have one of these surnames in your family tree, listed by Who Do You Think You Are, it could show that you have a connection to ‘God’s own country’

Here is a full list of Yorkshire surnames, according to magazine, Who Do You Think You Are.

ACKROYD

This name is derived from the Old English words ac meaning ‘oak’ and rod meaning ‘clearing’.

AINLEY

This surname might be associated with Ainley Top, a village near Huddersfield.

ALDERSON

Alderson is a relationship name from the Middle English personal name Aldus and the word ‘son’.

ATKINSON

Atkinson is also a relationship name from the personal name Atkin which was a pet form of Adam.

BARRACLOUGH

This is a habitational name from Barrowclough near Halifax, which combines the Old English words for grove and ravine.

BARWICK

This name has the same root as the surname Berwick (from the Old English for an outlying grange or farm), but this form of spelling was more common in North Yorkshire.

BLAND

Although found throughout Yorkshire, Blands are particularly prevalent in the districts of Clayton, Keighley and Scarborough.

BULMER

This locative name comes from Bulmer in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire.

COCKROFT

This is a locative name from a place in Rishworth.

COVERDALE

This is a habitational name from North Yorkshire and Lancashire.

CROSLAND/CROSSLAND

This name is taken from Crosland in Almondbury.

DINSDALE

This name originates in Over Dinsdale and Low Dinsdale, which are on opposite sides of the Tees.

EXLEY

Heckmondwike, which today is part of the metropolitan borough of Kirklees, was historically a hotspot for the surname Exley.

FEATHER

In the 1881 census records this name was most common in Haworth, Keighley and Thornton, all in Bradford. It originates from the Middle English for father.

FEATHERSTONE

Although most common in North Yorkshire, the name comes from the place Featherstone in West Yorkshire.

HAINSWORTH

This habitational name comes from the hamlet Hainworth, near Bradford.

HARDAKER

Hardakers pop up all over Yorkshire in the 1881 census, although Horton in Bradford, Idle, Leeds, Eccleshill and Yeadon are the main local hotspots.

HODGSON

Widespread throughout the north of England, Hodgson comes from the Middle English personal name Hodge – itself a pet form of Roger.

KNAGGS

Knaggs is a topographic surname for someone whose home was by or near a rugged hill or an outcrop.

LONGBOTTOM

This topographic name for someone who lived in a long valley is relatively common throughout the county.

LUMB

This habitational name is most commonly found in West Yorkshire and Lancashire.

METCALFE

Yorkshire had over 5,500 Metcalfes in 1881.

NEWSUM

In the 1881 census this name crops up in the Rotherham registration district.

OGLEY

The surname Ogley can be found frequently in Barnsley, as well as wider Yorkshire.

OLDROYD

Oldroyd is a habitational name that derives from a number of places throughout the north of England.

PULLAN

This is the Yorkshire variant of Pullen, which was an occupational name for a horse-breeder or a nickname for someone frisky. It comes from the Old French word poulain meaning ‘colt’.

SPIVEY

This Yorkshire surname was originally a medieval nickname for someone who was blessed with business smarts.

STANIFORTH

The late Sheffield historian David Hey once suggested that a farm named Stonyford in Ecclesfield could be the origin of this South Yorkshire surname.

STEPHENSON

Although found all over the UK, there are concentrations of Stephensons in County Durham and East Yorkshire.

WALKINGTON

This habitational name derives from a village in the East Riding that was first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 under the name ‘Wachetone’.

WILBURN

Many Doncaster locals recorded in the 1881 census went by this toponymic surname, which is thought to be derived from Welbourn in Lincolnshire.

Did you ever consider YouTube as a resource for genealogy? No, it won’t show you the names of great-great-grandpa and of great-great-grandma. However, the online video site has dozens of introductory “how to” videos showing how to use some of the better genealogy resources (as well as about thousands of other topics).

After all,  youTube is the second most visited website in the world, after Google Search. 

Here are a few videos that genealogists, especially newcomers to genealogy, will find useful (and so will a lot of genealogy old-timers). This is a list I found on the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration’s web site. 

You can find dozens more excellent introductions to most popular genealogical records at NARA at: https://www.archives.gov/research/genealogy/start-research. 

Now this is something I think I am going to use A LOT! The following is from the MyHeritage Blog:

Many genealogists want to write detailed biographies of their ancestors and relatives, and add these biographies to their family tree, but cannot find the time to do it. If you can relate to this pain, we finally have a solution for you! We’re happy to introduce AI Biographer™, an exciting new feature that’s exclusive to MyHeritage. With a single click, it automatically compiles a Wikipedia-style biography article about a person’s life. It uses details from matching historical records and family tree profiles, and curates the information into a beautiful, well-written article that will make you proud.

Beyond the time it takes to write a biography manually, sometimes facts in the family tree or data from historical records can seem dull. But when combined with the broader historical context, they can often tell a deeper and more colorful story. AI Biographer™ automatically creates a compelling life story for an ancestor or relative using facts from genealogical sources on MyHeritage and enriches it with information from the web, saving you time and creating a document that you can easily share with your loved ones. This is especially useful for creating biographies about the billions of individuals who were not famous, and therefore do not appear in Wikipedia.

AI Biographer™ is available on the MyHeritage website on desktop and mobile web browsers, and will be added to the MyHeritage mobile app in the future.

How it works

AI Biographer™ uses MyHeritage’s acclaimed matching technologies to curate historical records and family tree profiles that pertain to a specific ancestor or relative, together with automated third-party Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology powered by OpenAI. An AI Biography™ can be created within your family tree on MyHeritage, and also from historical records found via AI Record Finder™, our exciting new AI chat-powered search engine. All information from the relevant records is then compiled into an article that is enriched with photos and scanned documents, and in some cases, additional information from the web. The resulting biography includes the person’s immediate family, describes the main events of their life, and includes rich historical context and the origins of their surname. Each biography is a unique narrative that can be shared with family and friends, and saved for posterity.

When created from a family tree, an AI Biography™ is added to the family tree as a media item and tagged with the individual’s name. When a family tree is exported in GEDCOM format, the biography is referenced, ensuring that the enriched biographical information remains an integral part of the family tree. We will soon add the option to regenerate biographies whenever new information becomes available.

AI Biography™ Example

You can read a lot more at: http://tinyurl.com/2jf4sn4y