Enjoy millions of new records from the ‘Genealogy Giants’ websites this week: Ancestry, FamilySearch, Findmypast, and MyHeritage! New collections are now available for England, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Denmark. Also new are two collections of WWII Holocaust records.
England Records at Findmypast & Ancestry
A massive amount of new records at the ‘Genealogy Giants’ websites were published this week. First up are millions of new English records collections. We’ll start with Findmypast’s new databases:
Court Cases 1391-1835: The records contain cases from four courts and will give you the necessary references for accessing the original records in The National Archives.
Wills & Probate Index, 1470-1856: The area covered includes the old county of Surrey in the southeast of England, which contains parts of South London.
East Surrey Regiment 1899-1919: Spanning the Boer War and the First World War, this index may reveal rank, regiment, and battalion, as well as whether your ancestor was wounded or received a medal.
Railwaymen Died in The Great War: This index of records comes from the National Railway Museum website and may contain details of your ancestor’s pre-war career, military service, and death.
Next, we head to Ancestry for even more new English record collections.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi AKA Mahatma Gandhi attending the University of London, 1890
Records from the third oldest university in England, including students who attended other institutions and took University of London examinations as external students. (see image right for one of their most famous students!)
Berkshire Electoral Registers, 1840-1965: This database contains yearly registers listing names and residences of people in Berkshire, who were eligible to vote in elections. These year-by-year registers can possibly also reveal a bit about property they owned.
UK Absent Voter Lists, 1918-1925, 1939: The Absent Voter Lists record the civilian address of the absent voter, but more importantly, they give service numbers and regimental details.
Lastly, FamilySearch has a new collection of Essex Parish Registers, 1538-1997. This collection contains christening, marriage, and burial entries.
Ireland – Findmypast
New at Findmypast for Ireland are British Army, Irish Regimental Enlistment Registers 1877-1924. This collection has enlistment registers from five Irish regiments serving in the British Army. The regiments included in these records are Connaught Rangers, Leinster Regiment, Royal Dunlin Fusiliers, Royal Irish Regiment, and Royal Munster Fusiliers.
A new Irish newspaper title has also been added at Findmypast: the Carrickfergus Advertiser 1884 – 1919. The collection currently contains over 1,300 issues and will be updated further in the future.
Netherlands Public Records at FamilySearch
New at FamilySearch: Netherlands Archival Indexes, Public Records. This collection contains nearly 3 million records that cover events like population registration, emigration and immigration, military enrollment and more.
Denmark – 1930 Census Free at FamilySearch
The Denmark Census, 1930 is now available for free at FamilySearch! “Commonly indexed fields include principle name, locality data, gender, marital status, and relationship to head of household.” The images and index were provided in partnership with MyHeritage.
World War II Holocaust Records and MyHeritage and Ancestry
New at MyHeritage are Auschwitz Death Certificates, 1941-1943. Information listed includes name, birth date, death date, birthplace, residence, and religion. The information originates from the Auschwitz Sterbebücher (Death Books).
Ancestry also has a new collection of Romania select Holocaust Records 1940-1945 (USHMM). This collection is primarily in Romanian, but may also be in Hungarian. It was indexed by World Memory Project contributors from the digitized holdings of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Get the most out of the top genealogy records websites
“Which genealogy records membership website should I use?” It’s one of the most-asked questions in genealogy. There are so many features on each site–and an apples-to-apples comparison is laden with challenges. But Genealogy Gems Contributing Editor Sunny Morton has the answers for you in the jammed-packed Genealogy Giants cheat sheet. Use it to quickly and easily compare all of the most important features of the four biggest international genealogy records membership websites: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com, and MyHeritage.com. Then consult it every time your research budget, needs or goals change. Tables, bulleted lists, and graphics make this guide as easy to use as it is informative. Click here to learn more and grab your copy.
Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting the free Genealogy Gems podcast and blog!
Your genetic family tree is not the same as your genealogical pedigree–and not just because of non-paternity events and adoption. Here’s how.
Your genealogical pedigree, if you are diligent or lucky (or both!) can contain hundreds, even thousands of names and can go back countless generations. You can include as many collateral lines as you want. You can add several sources to your findings, and these days you can even add media, including pictures and copies of the actual documents. Every time someone gets married or welcomes a new baby, you can add that to your chart. In short, there is no end to the amount of information that can make up your pedigree chart.
Not so for your genetic pedigree.
Your genetic pedigree contains only those ancestors for whom you have received some of their DNA. You do not have DNA from all of your ancestors.
You do not have DNA from all of your ancestors.
Using some fancy math we can calculate that the average generation in which you start to see that you have inherited zero blocks of DNA from an ancestor is about seven. But of course, most of us aren’t trying to figure out how much of our DNA we received from great great great grandma Sarah. Most of us just have a list of DNA matches and we are trying to figure out if we are all related to 3X great grandma Sarah. So how does that work?
Well, the first thing we need to recognize is that living descendants of Sarah’s would generally be our fourth cousins. Again, bring in the fancy math and we can learn that living, documented fourth cousins who have this autosomal DNA test completed will only share DNA with each other 50% of the time.
Yes, only half.
Only half of the time your DNA will tell you what your paper trail might have already figured out: that you and cousin Jim are fourth cousins, related through sweet 3X great grandma Sarah.
But here’s where the numbers are in our favor. You have, on average, 940 fourth cousins. So if you are only sharing DNA with 470 of them, that’s not quite so bad, is it? And it only takes one or two of them to be tested and show up on your match list. Their presence there, and their documentation back to sweet Sarah, helps to verify the genealogy you have completed. It also allows you to gather others who might share this connection so you can learn even more about Sarah and her family. Plus, if you find Jim, then Jim will have 470 4th cousins as well, some of which will not be on your list, giving you access to even more of the 940.
This genetic family tree not matching up exactly with your traditional family tree also manifests itself in your ethnicity results, though there are other reasons for discrepancies there as well. Read this article to learn more about why ethnicity results may not match.
In short, this DNA stuff is not a stand alone tool, but if you combine it with your traditional resources, it can be a very powerful tool for verifying and extending your family history. Remember, just because a cousin doesn’t show a match in DNA, it doesn’t mean there isn’t a genealogical connection! Genealogical research and primary sources can still prove connections even if DNA doesn’t show it.
Ready to learn more?
My goals as Your DNA Guide here at Genealogy Gems is to help you get the most from your DNA testing efforts, and to make it fun and easy-to-understand along the way. I’ve got more DNA articles for you. Check these out:
Listen to Lisa Louise Cooke’s interview with Ancestry’s Chief Scientific Officer, Catherine Ball, on how your DNA and pedigree chart can work together to reveal your family’s migration story:
SHOW NOTES: Episode 294 of the Genealogy Gems podcast shines a spotlight on 15 under-the-radar websites that serious genealogists should know about. Lisa Louise Cooke reveals powerful resources like AI tools capable of deciphering old handwriting in unindexed records, clever ways to hunt for unique family artifacts and ephemera online, specialized digital libraries perfect for finding memoirs, how obscure fashion archives can help date your mystery photos, and cutting-edge map sites that let you search text within the historical maps themselves. Plus, stick around until the very end for a special bonus tech tip to make your research even smoother!
Listen to the Podcast Episode
To Listen click the media player below (AUDIO ONLY):
You know how OCR technology lets computers read typed text on old documents? For years, which didn’t work well for handwritten records. But FamilySearch is changing the game! Their Full-text Search project, available through FamilySearch Labs, is training AI to decipher historical handwriting. The exciting part? More and more handwritten records that once required tedious page-by-page Browse are becoming keyword searchable. Dive in and explore the collections currently using Full-text search.
2. Calculating Cousins with FamilySearch
Ever get tangled trying to figure out if someone’s your second cousin once removed, or… something else entirely? Take the guesswork out of cousin relationships with the fantastic Cousin Chart blog post on FamilySearch. It pulls together some of the best tools – a handy visualization chart, a ‘Cousin Calculator’ tool, and even a math-based method. Bookmark this one – it’s a lifesaver!
3. Ancestry.com – Just How Far Back Can They Go?
We know Ancestry.com lets you filter searches way back, even to the 1600s. But is that the limit? Not even close! According to Ancestry themselves, their oldest documents are the Mühldorf Deeds from Germany, dating back to the 1300s! And thanks to modern tech, even these incredibly old documents can be surprisingly legible and searchable. Visit Ancestry.com’s Card Catalog.
4. Get Organized with Family Tree Magazine
Feeling buried under piles of papers or drowning in digital files? Getting your genealogy organized is a common goal, and Family Tree Magazine has a fantastic resource page to help you finally conquer the chaos. Their Organize Your Genealogy page gathers their best guides on everything from taming paper clutter and digital files to organizing photos and your workspace.
5. Newspapers – Veridian Collections
Many of us were sad to see the newspaper site Elephind.com go. But the good news is, the company behind it, DL Consulting, is still helping libraries digitize their collections using their Veridian software. Why does this matter to you? Because you can browse the fascinating, digitized content from their clients – including many unique and free newspaper collections – directly through the Veridian website.
6. In Search of Memoirs at FamilySearch Digital Library
Imagine discovering a detailed, personal memoir written by an ancestor born over 170 years ago! That actually happened to me. For decades, I knew my husband’s great-grandmother, Minna Boettcher, born in 1853, had written about her pioneer life, but the book was lost. Then, just recently, my sister-in-law found it while downsizing! It’s filled with incredible details. This experience is a reminder to talk to your relatives – you never know what family history treasures might be hiding in their homes! But while you wait (hopefully not 40 years like me!), try searching for memoirs in the FamilySearch Digital Library. I recommend using the Advanced Search, putting ‘Memoirs’ in the Title field and a surname in the Keyword field.
7. Shopping for Family History at eBay
Time for some retail therapy – genealogy style! You might be surprised what family history treasures you can find on eBay.com. Think beyond records – I’m talking about artifacts! Over the years, I’ve snagged things like catalogs and tools from my husband’s great-grandfather’s hardware store, an old stock certificate signed by an ancestor, photos, yearbooks, postcards, even a tablecloth embroidered with family names and dates! My pro tip: Run searches for family names, ancestral businesses, or hometowns, and save those searches. eBay will then notify you when matching items pop up!
8. Giving Back: Birth Parent Finder
Navigating searches related to adoption often requires specialized help. BirthParentFinder.com is a resource dedicated to this, combining investigative expertise with DNA analysis to help reunite birth parents, siblings, and adopted children across the US. They offer a fantastic free blog with strategies and success stories, and they’ve recently launched the ‘Finding Family DNA with Chris and Jay’ podcast. Don’t miss the episode featuring Family Tree Magazine’s own Andrew Koch!
9. The New Chronicling America
Next up, a long-time favorite that just got a major upgrade: The Library of Congress’s Chronicling America newspaper site! It’s always been a go-to for free historical newspapers, but the new Chronicling America Historic American Newspapers collection website is fantastic. It boasts a completely redesigned interface built to handle its massive, growing collection. Key upgrades include better search refinement, an improved image viewer, and updated advanced search options. But one of the coolest new features, especially if you’re a visual person like me, is the ability to explore newspapers geographically. The interactive map lets you zoom into specific areas and click blue dots to see available digitized papers. Plus, there’s a time slider to filter by date. They add new content weekly, so keep checking back!
10. MyHeritage’s New OldNews.com
Broaden your newspaper horizons with MyHeritage’s dedicated newspaper site, OldNews.com. Launched recently, this site already contains hundreds of millions of pages from small-town papers to major international ones, effectively doubling the newspaper content previously on MyHeritage. And they plan to add millions more pages monthly, so it’s a rapidly growing resource!
11. Fashion History Timeline
Those old family photos hold more clues than you might think, especially in the clothes! Fashion can reveal social standing, hint at activities, and crucially, help date photos. To decipher these clues, check out the free Fashion History Timeline from the Fashion Institute of Technology. It’s an academic resource with searchable databases of publications on fashion history, perfect for pinpointing that unfamiliar style in Grandma’s portrait.
12. The American Immigrant Wall of Honor Database
Did your ancestors immigrate to the US? You might find their names – or add them yourself – to The American Immigrant Wall of Honor at Ellis Island. Originally started in 1990 for Ellis Island immigrants, it’s now open to honor any immigrant, regardless of when or where they arrived. You can search the existing database for free at the Statue of Liberty.org website and even add your own ancestor’s name to the wall through the Foundation’s heritage site.
How incredible would it be to find a lost photo of your ancestor online? Thousands of people have had that exact experience using the free photo archive, DeadFred.com! It’s a repository of user-submitted old photos, many unidentified or partially identified. Search by surname or location – you might get lucky! And if you find a photo of a direct ancestor that’s part of the DeadFred archive itself, they’ll often send you the original for free. It’s also a great place to upload your own mystery photos – maybe someone out there holds the key!
The David Rumsey Map Collection, already an amazing resource, recently launched a Machines Reading Maps tool. It has indexed 100 million words across 57,000 historical maps. Think about searching for terms relevant to your ancestors’ lives: ‘saloon,’ ‘lumberyard,’ ‘winery,’ ‘livery stable,’ or even a specific business name! The Advanced Search lets you combine text searches with map metadata. Hover over results to see the map snippet, and yes, all maps are free to download.
15. Primary Sources at JSTOR
Let’s enrich your family’s story with historical context. JSTOR is a vast digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources. While you might not find your great-aunt’s birth certificate, you can find incredible materials that describe the world your ancestors lived in. For instance, I found the incredibly detailed WWII POW journal of Lt. Joseph ‘Ed’ Carter on JSTOR Daily. Reading accounts like this – journals, articles about local industries, social histories – can bring your ancestors’ experiences to life, even if they aren’t mentioned by name. Dive in and see what context you can uncover!
Bonus Tech Tips
Chrome Web Browser: Type @Gemini in the address bar, press the space bar, and then type your question. Press Enter on your keyboard for the answer!
Sign up today here. The Genealogy Gems email newsletter is the best way to stay informed about what’s available with your Premium eLearning Membership.
“Which genealogy records membership website should I use?” It’s one of the most-asked questions in genealogy. There are so many features on each site–and an apples-to-apples comparison is laden with challenges. But Genealogy Gems Contributing Editor Sunny Morton has the answers for you in the jammed-packed Genealogy Giants cheat sheet. Use it to quickly and easily compare all of the most important features of the four biggest international genealogy records membership websites: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com, and MyHeritage.com. Then consult it every time your research budget, needs or goals change. Tables, bulleted lists, and graphics make this guide as easy to use as it is informative. Click here to learn more and grab your copy.
Your genealogical pedigree, if you are diligent or lucky (or both!) can contain hundreds, even thousands of names and can go back countless generations. You can include as many collateral lines as you want. You can add several sources to your findings, and these days you can even add media, including pictures and copies of the actual documents. Every time someone gets married or welcomes a new baby, you can add that to your chart. In short, there is no end to the amount of information that can make up your pedigree chart.
But here’s where the numbers are in our favor. You have, on average, 940 fourth cousins. So if you are only sharing DNA with 470 of them, that’s not quite so bad, is it? And it only takes one or two of them to be tested and show up on your match list. Their presence there, and their documentation back to sweet Sarah, helps to verify the genealogy you have completed. It also allows you to gather others who might share this connection so you can learn even more about Sarah and her family. Plus, if you find Jim, then Jim will have 470 4th cousins as well, some of which will not be on your list, giving you access to even more of the 940.
My goals as Your DNA Guide here at Genealogy Gems is to help you get the most from your DNA testing efforts, and to make it fun and easy-to-understand along the way. I’ve got more DNA articles for you. Check these out:
