Reader Comments on Ancestry Search Problems

I posted Are There Search Problems on Ancestry.com?  last week, and have had significant reader comments in blog comments, email and Facebook.  I want to share the most significant and useful comments here.

1)  The Down-East Genealogist (in blog comments) said:

"I've been having a lot of issues with the site recently, particularly involving erratic behavior with the member family tree searches.

"- Often search results will not show a 'Family Trees' category in the 'All Categories' list, but clicking on the Categories tab will show the category at the bottom of the page with links to Public and Private member trees.
- That link to the Public Trees may take you to the 'All Family Trees results' page, or it may go to the "no results found" page (even when there are thousands of results).
- When a single 'Matching Person' is shown at the top of the results page (which seems to be totally random whether one appears or not), clicking on the 'See more like this...' link, again, may take you to the 'All Family Trees results' page, or it may go to the 'no results found' page.
- Sometimes when you do manage to get to the 'All Family Trees results' page, there is no 'All Categories ' link under the Search Filters, so there is no way to get back to All Categories with your search criteria intact.
- The order in which the various trees appear seems to vary randomly for the same search.
- I've been getting the 'Page not available' message more and more often, both with family trees and when attempting to view records from the search results list. Sometimes I can reload and the page comes up, more often I can't get to it at all. Once today a family tree page actually loaded, and then promptly disappeared to display the 'Page not available' message.
- Some Find A Grave index results have bad links that open the wrong memorial on FindAGrave.com.

"The most serious issue I have noted is one that appeared several times today: the All Family Trees results list showed full names for spouses and children who, upon opening the tree, were found to have 'Private' (presumably living) profiles. Clearly Ancestry has a problem with their privacy settings! I'm planning to replace my online tree soon, and I'm going to privatize the living people in my GEDCOM, and not rely on Ancestry for privacy."
2)  Sharon (in blog comment) noted:

"I have posted many tweets on the subject over the last 14 days since the Search function has been practically unusable.  I listed  no less than 7 search issues here:
https://twitter.com/Ancestry/status/986173191470092288
The problems are tripling my research time.  Not a happy subscriber of 16 years.
3)  mbm1311 (in blog comment) shared:

The subject has been discussed on the genealogy sub reddit - without your level of detail and insight. Ancestry corporate doesn't seem to publicly address questions and concerns. Many of us are noticing this, I wish corporate would describe the problems and say what they are doing to fix it. I'm encouraging ancestry to get some good PR help.

4)  Dick (in blog comment) submitted:

"I was talking to a friend this morning about the problems we both are having, and they seem to fall into two main categories, response time and search problems. Response time may be a function of the 'pipe size' between Ancestry and their new server farm. If they don't have a big enough 'pipe' everything slows down, and this may be the cause of the constant Orange status flag while trying to sync [with FTM].

"If you search Ancestry directly you get different results than when you do a Web Search thru FTM. The reason? Going thru FTM requires the API (Application Program Interface) between Ancestry and FTM. As a former computer programmer on large mainframe operating systems I am well familiar with the problem. The API interface MUST be well documented, no ifs, ands, or buts. Then the user program (here FTM) MUST follow those rules precisely. If Ancestry didn't publish the FULL and ACCURATE specs the fault is theirs. If FTM failed to precisely follow the specs when invoking the FTM -> Ancestry link, the fault is theirs. I don't know which one is at fault, but my money is on this as the root cause of all the underlying problems we are all experiencing."

5)  Elizabeth Handler (in blog comment) said:

"When I search in a record set at Ancestry and I start to enter a name, a list of possible names from my tree appears in a selection box below the first name field. However, there is now NO identifying information (where there used to be birth and death years to the right of their names). This is a problem because I have plenty of lines where I have same-named individuals and if I want to select one of them, I have to try each one until I get the one I want. Not major, but certainly a pain when I want to search an individual and incorporate his or her family information. Thanks for speaking out on this!"

6)  Julie (in email) noted:

" I have a few comments, not all related to searches, but I want to mention them in case they are of interest to you.  I don’t know how to get Ancestry’s attention or I would send them my ideas directly.

"I am a daily user of their DNA pages, monitoring activity for myself and a dozen relatives.  Sometimes I feel that I am limping through their system and many things are much harder than they ought to be.  A few simple changes would be so helpful:

•  Return to showing the total number of pages of DNA matches, as they did until late October of last year.
•  Provide the total “fourth cousins or closer” even if it is over 1,000.  Now all they say is “1,000+” which makes it difficult to know if any new matches have been added since the matches were last viewed.
•  Fix the problem of disappearing notes.  When I add a note to a DNA match, save the note and leave the screen—for instance, to examine a shared match—then the note does not appear when I go back to the match, and the page does not update until (apparently) I back all the way out of my match list, by which time I have lost my place on the list.
•  Here is the big one:  Provide the cM number in a conspicuous place, not hidden behind the lower case “i” where many new users don’t even know to look.  If the cM number was visible on the match list itself, it would save wading through many pages of relatively weak matches to find those matches who no longer come up in Ancestry searches!  (That assumes I have noted the match strength in the past.)

"There are many other small changes I could recommend that would make Ancestry faster and easier to use.  For example, when updating Fact Details on ancestor profiles on my tree, I’d like a bigger box for Location so the whole thing would be visible at once.  How hard could that be?

"One last thing for now.  Ancestry seems to have made it their last priority to keep their website updated and problem-free for users of the Safari browser.  Often I have to switch to Google Chrome just to get things to work right.  I realize I can do that, but I like Safari better.  Some problems go on for many months before being fixed, then new ones appear.

"I absolutely agree that Ancestry is the best genealogy website around.  What disappoints me is how they have let it deteriorate for their most dedicated users while adding a bunch of DNA users who are totally clueless and don’t even have trees."

My thanks to all of my readers who made comments on the blog, in email and on Facebook (mainly on DearMYRTLE's profile!).  I hope that Ancestry reads the above and the other comments too.

7)  Here is one of my complaints:  Ancestry has lost the ability to count things.  For example:

a)  I searched for Isaac Seaver, born 1823, lived in Massachusetts, all exact.  The "Records" page says:

I wanted to see if my recently added Ancestry Member Tree (October 2017) had been indexed yet (nope!), so I clicked on the "See more like this..." and saw:

On the screen above, it says "Results 1 of 1" but there are three results listed.  At least all of them were correct.

b)  On the first screen, I clicked on the "Categories" link, and saw:

The "Family Trees" section on the screen above says there is 1 result.  I clicked on "Public Member Trees" link and saw:

There are 17 public tree matches, not 1 or 3.  

It's strange that simple things like counting results can be so wrong.  The lesson for me is that I can't trust Ancestry.com to provide a complete and accurate list of search results.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/05/reader-comments-on-ancestry-search.html

Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Treasure Chest Tuesday - Betty Carringer's High School Record Card

Today's Tuesday's Treasure is the entrance record card for my mother, Betty Virginia (Carringer) Seaver, to San Diego High School.

The extracted information from this "Cumulative Record Card" is:

*  Name:  Carringer, Betty Virginia
*  From What School:  Roosevelt Jr. H.S.
*  Place of Birth:  San Diego, California
*  Date of Birth:  July 30, 1919
*  Name of Parent or Guardian:  Lyle L. Carringer
*  Occupation of Parent:  Book-keeper (Marston)
*  Residence of Parent or Guardian:  2130 Fern Street
*  Date of Graduation:  June 12, 1936
*  Date of Admission:  9-11-33
*  Grade:  L-10
*  Age at Entrance:  14 yrs 1 month
*  Left School:  [blank]
*  Transcript sent to:  S. D. State Col. 6/19/36
*  Residence:  2130 Fern Street
*  Phone No.  Ran. 8453
*  Test:  Otis
*  IQ:   131

The source citation for this record is:

San Diego [Calif.] Senior High School, "Cumulative Record Card," Cum File Cabinet C-D, Betty Virginia Carringer card, 1933; San Diego High School Alumni Association History Center, San Diego, California.

My friend, and San Diego genealogy colleague, Yvette Porter Moore, is also a graduate of San Diego High School, and is current Historian of the SDHS Alumni Association.  When she told me that on Facebook, I asked her if there were any school records, besides Yearbooks, for me, my mother, and my grandparents.  There were!!  Yvette copied them for me and sent them via email.  I was genea-smacked by them.  What treasures.

The card above is the card created at the high school when my mother, Betty Virginia Carringer, enrolled on 11 September 1933.  [Note to self:  another 9-11 event in my family history!].  I didn't know their home phone number or my mother's IQ in 1933.  IQ = 131, wow!  Of course, it meant that she had intelligence of an 18 year old when she entered at age 14.  I'm pretty sure that she was really smart all her life!

More records like this one to come!

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The URL for this post is: http://www.geneamusings.com/2018/05/treasure-chest-tuesday-betty-carringers.html

Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com. 

Monday Genea-Pourri - 30 April 2018

Here are some of my family history and genealogy related activities over the past week:

1)    Found and downloaded the 5 pages of the probate records of George Martin (1618-1686) of Amesbury, Mass. from AmericanAncestors.org, transcribed the will for today's Amanuensis Monday post.  

2)  I downloaded my autosomal DNA match chromosome segments from FamilyTreeDNA and saved them in a spreadsheet.  I still need to do this for GEDMatch, and then I will try to get my DNA Painter chart started.

3)  I attended the Chula Vista Genealogical Society program on Wednesday.  The speaker was CVGS member Carole Sobke on "A New Family Tree to Plant, or How My Hobbies Have Branched Together."  Carole has significant San Diego and Sacramento ancestry, and has a custom button collection that memorializes her ancestors and their accomplishments.

4)  I taught the fourth and last class of "Beginning Computer Genealogy" at OASIS (a senior adult-education center) on Thursday.  This session covered creating reports in RootsMagic software (including narrative, ancestor and descendant reports and books), understanding the genealogical proof standard, searching using an Ancestry Member Tree, and the basics of DNA  testing and analysis.  

5)  I moderated the monthly SDGS RootsMagic Users Group on Saturday.  We had 9 in attendance, including several first-timers.  I answered a number of questions about adding media, copying from one file to another, fixing an incorrect merge of two persons, adding a relationship chart to media (but not notes), with demonstrations on the screen.  I also reviewed TreeShare by downloading an Ancestry Member Tree, changing data in RootsMagic, and TreeSharing back into the Ancestry tree, and using WebHints.  Finally, we discussed and I demonstrated using the FamilySearch Family Tree interactions.

6)  I made more progress on my genealogy project - I am researching the ancestry of a local personality, and will present what I find at the CVGS Family History Day in September.  I am replacing the Ancestry sources I initially had with free-form sources, and adding Fact notes for many of the records.  The RootsMagic tree has grown - 187 persons with 348 citations (I deleted more that were Ancestry generated).  I TreeShare this with an Ancestry Member Tree (which generates Hints!), access the WebHints for Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage and Findmypast, and share data with  FamilySearch Family Tree profiles.

7) There were occasional sessions working in RootsMagic to update FamilySearch Family Tree profiles for Seaver families and other database families, with occasional additions to the RootsMagic profiles. I have matched 23,269 of my persons with FSFT.  I now have 49,872 persons in my RootsMagic file.   I TreeShared once during the last week.  There was also one session in Ancestry Hints to add content and source citations for the new RootsMagic profile additions.   I've fallen behind on the Record Hints with 61,166 waiting to be resolved, but I'm working on them.

8)  I have 281 Shared Ancestors on my AncestryDNA list (I had 281 last week), 859 4th cousins or closer (up from 846 last week), and 768 pages (over 38,350 matches with at least 5 cM) (was 756 pages last week) of  matches.  I have 13 matches that are third cousins or closer, and 96 matches with 34 cM (0.5%) or more (was 94 last week).  My highest match has 779 cM (11.5%), and is one of my first cousins.  I have 19 DNA Circles (was 19 last week). Very few of the new matches have an Ancestry Member Tree.

9)  I have 3,640 DNA Matches on MyHeritage (up from 3,567 last week) with at least 8 cM (0.1%), with 21 matches with more than 34 cM (0.5%) or more (was 21 last week).  I have two close relatives, both first cousins twice removed.  The highest match is 293 cM (4.0%).  Most of my  matches have very small trees with no common ancestors shown.

10)  I have 1,034 DNA Relatives on 23andMe (I had 1,054 last week) who share at least 0.10% with me.  Of these, only 1 shares 1.0% or more, and 42 share 0.50% or more (was 42 last week), with the highest match being 1.54%.  I struggle to find out anything about most of these testers.

11)  I have 2,579 autosomal DNA Matches on FamilyTreeDNA (up from 2,563 last week) who share 0.25% (18 cM) or more, with the highest match being 96 cM (1.42%).  I have 12 who share at least 1.0% (68 cM) with me, and 1,396 who share at least 0.50% (34 cM) or more (was 1,372 last  week) with me.  I have had better luck finding shared ancestors here with a few of these testers.

12)  I wrote 18 Genea-Musings blog posts last week, of which only one was a press release.  The most popular was Are There Search Problems on Ancestry.com? - UPDATED with over 4,700 views and 26 comments.

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The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/04/monday-genea-pourri-30-april-2018.html

Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

New MyHeritage Feature: Family Tree Pedigree View

MyHeritage announced today that they have added a Pedigree View to complement their Family View (which I have not liked for years).   You can read their blog post New Feature: Pedigree View for Family Trees for all of the details and example screens.

The reasons given for adding the Pedigree View were:

You asked for it, and we developed it for you! This week, we released a Pedigree View mode for family trees, created in response to popular demand from our users. Many users considered the Pedigree View as their most wanted feature on MyHeritage, so we are delighted to fill this need. 

A Pedigree View includes a root person and his/her ancestors. It does not show siblings, spouses, or anyone else who is not a direct ancestor. In this view you can navigate to anyone else in your tree and view their pedigree as well. 

The new Pedigree View doesn’t replace the current view, which we call Family View. It comes in addition, and you can toggle between the two and a third view, which is a List.

Yay!  Finally.  My opinion has always been that a Pedigree View is much easier to navigate from one ancestor to another.  In the Family view, I often have to drag-and-drop the screen several times to get to a grandparent or great-grandparent.  For DNA Matches, having a Pedigree View is essential - it should be the default view for viewing the tree of a DNA Match.

Here is my Pedigree View chart, with me as the Root Person:

The "Pedigree View" button is on the upper right of the page, next to the "Family View" button and the "List" button.

Note that the Pedigree View provides five generations of ancestors of the Root Person - that is super.

If I want two more generations of one of the ancestors on the right side of the screen, I can click the right-arrow beside the ancestor's name.  On the image above, I clicked on my 3rd great-grandmother Elizabeth Horton Dill, I saw two more generations:

If I want information about one of the persons in my tree, I can click the right-arrow at the top left of the screen above.  I highlighted Thomas Richmond in my tree above, and clicked the right-arrow at the top left, and the information appeared on the left side of the screen:

That profile card shows birth and death dates and places, a list of discoveries, and family members (parents and siblings, spouse(s) and children).  I can navigate to any of those persons from the profile card.

I can also "Research this person" for the highlighted person from within the "Discoveries" section of the profile card.  I clicked on the "Research this person" link and saw:

Note also that the "Smart Matches" (green), "Record Matches" (brown) and DNA Match (purple) badges are included in the "Discoveries" section of the Profile Card and the Pedigree View.  I clicked on the brown "Record Match" badge for Thomas Richmond and saw:

I am happy that MyHeritage has added this Pedigree View.  It was long overdue.

I do hope that MyHeritage significantly improves their Search capabilities so that I don't have to scroll through the family trees before I get to the records, and enable me to choose exact or broad or in between for a person's name, birth, death, marriage, relatives, etc.  

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The URL for this post is:   https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/04/new-myheritage-feature-family-tree.html

Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Announcing the Virtual Genealogical Society

I received this information yesterday from the new Virtual Genealogical Society:

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ANNOUNCING THE VIRTUAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY

The Virtual Genealogical Society is a global organization serving family history enthusiasts of all levels, geared towards those:

● whose circumstances make it difficult to attend local genealogical society meetings
● who prefer online presentations, special interest groups (SIGs), conferences, and socializing
● with an interest in connecting, networking, and mentoring with global genealogists

The Virtual Genealogical Society began with the recognition that many family history enthusiasts are merging technology and globalization in their genealogical pursuits. We aim to provide a forum for genealogists to connect, network, and mentor with genealogists around the world through monthly meetings online, webinars, social networking, annual conferences, and in-person meet-ups at conferences, institutes and events around the world.

Membership is just $20 per year and provides:

● 24/7 access to Members-Only section of website
● Recorded monthly webinars by nationally-known speakers
● Webinar handouts
● Live chat with featured speakers in members-only Facebook group
● Fillable PDF forms for family history research
● Digitized monthly newsletter
● Eligibility for prizes offered during monthly webinars
● Access to Special Interest Group (SIG) discussions and handout
● Discount on annual virtual conference registration cost
● Eligibility for prizes during annual virtual conference
● Discounts on genealogy software, databases, publications and products
● Members-only Facebook group for networking, mentoring, and socializing

The Virtual Genealogical Society encourages all members to continue joining the genealogical societies in their local area and/or in the area where their ancestors lived. These societies can provide additional benefits that include:

● Access to their local database of records and indexes
● Mentorship from society members with expertise in local records and repositories
● Field trips to area repositories

The Virtual Genealogical Society will be hosting a three-day virtual conference from November 1-3, 2019. Confirmed presenters are listed on our website:  http://virtualgensoc.com/

For more information, contact us at info@virtualgensoc.com or visit http://virtualgensoc.com/. 

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My comments:  This looks like a winner to me --  I will join.  Genealogy education in the comfort of your own genealogy cave is ideal for those who can't get to a local society or are homebound but want to be "tuned-in," plus the discounts, the annual conference, and the social aspects on Facebook.

The URL for this post is:   http://www.geneamusings.com/2018/04/announcing-virtual-genealogical-society.html

Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Amanuensis Monday - Will of George Martin (1618-1686) of Amesbury, Mass.

This week's document for Amanuensis Monday is from the Essex County, Massachusetts Probate Packet records for George Martin of Amesbury, Massachusetts:

a)  Essex County (Mass.) Probate Packet 17,890, image 4 (of 5):

The transcription of this will is:

In y^ name of God Amen.

I George Martin of y^e town of Amsbury in y^e County

of Essex being through Gods goodness of prfect memory

* undrstanding Doe make this my Last will & testa-

ment in manner as followeth.

Imprimis I Commend my Spirit to God whoo gave it, & my body

tp y^e dust decently to be buried (at y^e Charges of my Exe-

cutr whome I Shall hereafter name & appoynt) in hopes

of a ???full resurrection at y^e last day unto life eternal.

2ly I give & bequeath unto my natural Children viz: my

Sonns Rich^rd Martin & John Martin, & my Daugh-

ters Hanna Wathen, Hester Gimson, Jane Hadley

& Abigail Hadlock unto each & every of them five

Shillings a piece to be payd in good & merchantable

pay within one twelve month next aft^r my decease.

3^dly I Give & bequeath unto my Grandchild John Had-

lock five pounds in good & merchantable pay in case

y^ y^e s^d John live w^th ??? or my wife or my Son Will

until y^t he come unto y^e full & compleat at age of

twenty one years.

4^thly I Give & bequeath all y^e rest of my housing lands

stock & estate both moveable & Immoveable unto

my wife Susanna during her Widowhood, & after

her marriage or decease (in case she marry not

againe) unto my youngest son William.

Finally I Doe appoynt, Constitute & Ordaine my

Wife Susanna to be Executrix & my youngest

son Will Martin to be Execut^r in Conjunction

w^th her unto this my last Will & testament

As????? confirmat of y^e promisses I have hereun-

to Subscribed my hand & Seal Dated the nine-

teenth day of January An:Dom one thousand Six

hundred Eighty three or foure.

Subscribed, Sealed, & declared                       his

to be his Last Will & testam^t            George M Martin {seal}

in y^e presence of us                                   marke

Thomas Wells

Mary Wells

M^r Thomas Wells and M^rs Mary Wells

appeared before the Worshipfull Jn^o Woodbridge Es^r

& Cap^t Richard Dumer and upon oath did testifie

that they did see George Martin Signe & Seall and

declare this to be his last will & testament.

Reg. 23^d Nov^r 1686 as att ??? D Davison CC^r

The source citation for this document is:

"Essex County, MA: Probate Papers, 1638-1881," digital images, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org : accessed, 17 May 2015), Packet 18,790, George Martin of Amesbury, 1686 (5 images); citing original records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives, with digitized mages provided by FamilySearch.org.

George Martin (1618-1686) married, firstly, Hannah LNU (1624-1646) in about 1641, who bore him one child, daughter Hannah Martin (1643-1730), who married Ezekiel Wathen (1636-1716).  George married, secondly, Susanna North (1621-1692) in 1646, and she bore him nine children.  Susanna (North) Martin was executed in the Salem witch trials of 1692.

The only other document in the probate packet was an inventory taken by John Weed and Nathaniel Park on 15 April 1686.  The inventory totaled £75-10-0, with the real estate £48.  

George Martin probably died before 15 April 1686, which was the date of the inventory.  There is no entry for his death in the Salisbury or Amesbury vital record books.  

In his will, George mentions his wife Susanna, and names her executrix with their son William Martin (1663-1726) also an executor.  He mentions three living sons in 1684 - Richard, John and William, and four living daughters - Hannah Wathen, Hester Gimson [Jameson], Jane Hadley and Abigail Hadlock.  He bequeathed five shillings to each of them.  He also bequeaths money to his grandson, John Hadlock, certainly a son of his daughter Abigail.  He did not mention son George Martin (1648-1734) for some reason (perhaps he was not a "natural" child?).

George and Hannah (LNU) Martin are my 9th great-grandparents.  I am descended through their daughter, Hannah (Martin) Wathen (1643-1730) who married Ezekiel Wathen (1536-1716) in 1661  resided in Salisbury, Massachusetts.

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NOTE:  Genea-blogger John Newmark (who writes the excellent  TransylvanianDutch blog) started a Monday blog theme years ago called "Amanuensis Monday."  John offers this definition for "amanuensis:" 

"A person employed to write what another dictates or to copy what has been written by another."

The URL for this post is:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/04/amanuensis-monday-will-of-george-martin.html

Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Best of the Genea-Blogs - 22 to 28 April 2018

Dozens of genealogy and family history bloggers write thousands of posts every week about their research, their families, and their interests. I appreciate each one of them and their efforts.

My criteria for "Best of ..." are pretty simple - I pick posts that advance knowledge about genealogy and family history, address current genealogy issues, provide personal family history, are funny or are poignant. I don't list posts destined for daily blog prompts or meme submissions (but I do include summaries of them), or my own posts.

Here are my picks for great reads from the genealogy blogs for this past week:

*  DNA Testing: Balancing Value and Privacy by Thomas MacEntee on the DNA Bargain$ blog.

*  One, Two, Three ... Many by Judy G. Russell on The Legal Genealogist blog.

*  Our Ancestors Hoped For a Better Life by Diann Iamarino on the Fortify Your Family Tree blog.

*  5 Most Important Ancestry.com Updates by Andrew Koch on the Family Tree Magazine blog.

*  Expanding Family Lines Using Reverse Genealogy Techniques by Amie Bowser Tennant on The Genealogy Reporter blog.

*  Create Your Own Genealogy Reference Center with Evernote by Diana Elder on the Family Locket blog.

*  DNA Basics Chapter 5: How DNA testing works by Aaron on the MyHeritage Blog.

*  Have You Found the Hidden Features at AncestryDNA? by Jennifer Dondero on The Occasional Genealogist blog.

*  Understanding Genealogy Sources by Amy Johnson Crow on the Amy Johnson Crow blog.

*  How to Mine Family Memories for Genealogy Clues by Sunny Morton on the Family Tree Magazine blog.

*  DNA and the Golden State Killer by Leah Larkin on The DNA Geek blog.

*  She's Baaaaaaaack! by Jill Morelli on the Genealogy Certification: My Personal Journal blog.

Here are pick posts by other geneabloggers this week:

*  Friday's Family History Finds by Linda Stufflebean on the Empty Branches on the Family Tree blog.

*  Friday Finds 27 April 2018 by Nichelle Barra on the Copper Leaf Genealogy blog.

*  High Fives -- April 27, 2018 by Dianne Nolin on the Genealogy: Beyond the BMD blog.

*  Friday Finds, 27 April 2018 by Lois Willis on the Lois Willis - Genealogy and Family History blog.

*  Friday Finds: Week 17 -- 2018 by Martin Roe Eidhammer on the Norwegian Genealogy and then some blog.

*  Friday Fossicking - 27th April, 2018 by Crissouli on the That Moment in Time blog.'

*  This Week's Creme de la Creme -- April 28, 2018 by Gail Dever on the Genealogy a la Carte blog.

Readers are encouraged to go to the blogs listed above and read their articles, and add their blogs to your Favorites, Feedly, another RSS feed, or email if you like what you read. Please make a comment to them also - all bloggers appreciate feedback on what they write.

Did I miss a great genealogy blog post? Tell me! I am currently reading posts from over 900 genealogy bloggers using Feedly, but I still miss quite a few it seems.

Read past Best of the Genea-Blogs posts here.

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The URL for this post is:   https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/04/best-of-genea-blogs-22-to-28-april-2018.html

Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.

Added or Updated Ancestry.com Collections - Week of 22 to 28 April 2018

The following collections were listed on the Recently Added and Updated Collections list on Ancestry.com during the period from 22 to 28 April 2018:  

The collections added or updated since last week include:
*  Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1669-2013; indexed records with record images, Updated 4/24/2018

*  U.S., Border Crossings from Canada to U.S., 1895-1960; indexed records with record images, Updated 4/23/2018

*  New York, Sing Sing Prison Admission Registers, 1865-1939; indexed records with record images, Updated 4/23/2018

The complete Ancestry.com Card Catalog is at   http://search.ancestry.com/search/CardCatalog.aspx.  

By my count, there were 0 NEW collections ADDED this past week, per the list above.  There are now 32,755 collections available as of 28 April, an increase of  0 from last week.   

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Disclosure:  I have had a fully paid Ancestry.com subscription since 2000.  Ancestry.com has provided material considerations for travel expenses to meetings, and has hosted events and meals that I have attended in Salt Lake City, in past years.

The URL for this post is: https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/04/added-or-updated-ancestrycom_29.html

Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.