DISCOVERIES ~ This week’s focus will be Texas Marriages and Divorces from the My Heritage website

DISCOVERY – Detection, finding, spotting, unearthing

I have had a subscription to My Heritage for two years now.  I will be the first to admit that it is not my “go to” website.  I first go to Ancestry (to which I’ve had a subscription since 2004).
 
That being said, I recently attended a seminar hosted by the San Diego Genealogical Society and the speaker was Daniel Horowitz, Chief Genealogist for My Heritage.  To read about this presentation please click here Daniel Horowitz Presents for the San Diego Genealogical Society Fall Seminar  I learned a lot about the My Heritage website and what is available and how to use those features to my advantage.
 
Since I have DNA uploaded to this site and I’ve also added a family tree, it is in my best interest to use the site.  As researchers we should take advantage of all resources available to us, if possible.

Today I’m focusing on one feature, DISCOVERIES. These are located on the menu bar and can be sorted by Matches by People, Matches by Source or Instant Discoveries.  As of today I have 225 sources with 9,305 matches.  Some of these will duplicate information I already have, but as I’ve recently learned, many will not.
 

Today’s focus will be the Texas Marriages and Divorces.  There are 5 matches in this record set. Will these be new discoveries for me?  Let’s take a look and find out.

I will not be revealing the names of anyone still living.

The matches are:
1. Joseph Edward Cornelius
2. Living
3. Living
4. Gary Lee Hart
5. Robert Stanley Luckock

1. Joseph Edward Cornelius was my mother’s 2nd husband.  This record gives their marriage date & place and approximate ages at the time, as well as a file #.
Did I have this information already?  Yes

3. Gary Lee Hart is my paternal half 4th cousin.  I did already have the record of his marriage.

5. Robert Stanley Luckock married one of my husband’s cousins.  I did not have this information prior to seeing it here.  Now I can add this to my Legacy database.

This was a useful set of records because I found 1 out of 5 to contain information I did not already have.

My plan is to continue to use the My Heritage database to obtain more information about my ancestors.  With 9,305 matches I expect this will take some time, but also reveal some great new information and probably answer some questions as well.  

Stay tuned.

Have you used the My Heritage website?  If so, have you found it useful?  Do you use it exclusively or combined with other sites?  I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2019   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

ANCESTRY & MYHERITAGE ANNOUNCE EXCITING NEW FEATURES TO HELP WITH OUR DNA MATCHES

Right now up in Salt Lake City there’s a gathering of thousands of genealogists.  They are attending Rootstech.  I went last year with my friend, Pam and we had a wonderful time.  We hope to attend again next year.

Want to view live streaming from Rootstech – here’s the link Rootstech Live Streaming Schedule

Coinciding with the conference and not coincidentally, are announcements from major websites about additional functions to assist us with identifying our DNA matches.

There are other people who have already blogged about these new items.  Rather than re-create the wheel, I’m going to share what the new features are and then direct you to the other blogs and websites that can help you better understand how to use them.
 
Let’s begin with Ancestry.com  They are in a beta phase for these features right now.

• Thru Lines – illustrates how you may be related to your DNA matches through a common ancestor
• Labeling – This feature, which was previously available as a Chrome add-on, is now being offered by Ancestry.  It allows you to create groups and designate them by color.  This means when you are viewing matches or shared matches you can see exactly how they fit into your family. The labeling is up to you.  Here’s a sample of my labels so far.

MyHeritage new tools

• Theory of Family Relativity – theories about how DNA matches may be connected to a particular person.

• AutoClusters – An automatic tool that organizes your DNA matches into clusters that likely descend from common ancestors.  This can really help you determine how your matches are connected to one another.

I just began experimenting with these new tools yesterday.  I’m very excited about the opportunity this gives us to identify how our matches fit into our family trees.

For excellent explanations and tutorials about these new tools, please go to the following blogs.  There are other bloggers also writing about these exciting enhancements.

Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musings
MyHeritage Theory of Family Relativity
Ancestry DNA Thru Lines

Kitty Cooper’s Blog
MyHeritage Theory of Family Releativity

Extra tid bit – Kitty has also written about how to use the new Genesis that has replaced Gedmatch
Genesis - Gedmatch reinvented - How to Use it - Part 1

I’m sure there will be much more to come on both of the listed blogs and many others.  For now, I hope this will get you started.

Have you tried out these wonderful new features?  If so, are they helping you?
 
Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl

Copyright ©  2010-2019   Diane Gould Hall

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

SIGNING UP FOR A SUBSCRIPTION TO MY HERITAGE ~ Was it worth it? 100% YES!!!!

I’ve been a paid member of Ancestry.com$ since 2004.  I use the website daily in my research.  I also use many other websites such as Family Search, FindAGrave, Seeking Michigan, West Virginia Culture, Archive.org, Google Books, Interment.net, Newspapers.com$, Genealogy Bank$, Fold3$ and Steve Morse’s website.  There are many more not mentioned here.

Several of those are subscription based and I’ve indicated them with a dollar sign.  I don’t mind that because they have provided much information to me over the years.

So, why would I need to pay for another subscription service?  What could they possibly offer that I don’t already have access to?

That really was the question I’ve asked myself for some time now.  I have made use of the free version of MyHeritage by uploading DNA from family members and adding the limited number of people to a tree, available in the free version.  That always seemed like enough.

But then……………Lisa Louise Cooke of Genealogy Gems Podcast, advertised a 50% off subscription.  Just $125 for a year for All Access.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen offers like this before, or very similar.  I never acted on them.  Why now?

I don’t have a good answer to that question.  I will tell you that I purchased the subscription and immediately created a current Gedcom from my Legacy database and uploaded it.  If I’m going to use a website I may as well have my whole tree on there for finding matches.

Within 24-36 hours I checked back in and there were all of these matches listed, OVER 999!



My immediate thought (being the slight sceptic that I am), I thought, well, they will probably be census records and those things I’ve already located before.

I WAS WRONG!  Oh so very wrong.

Under “Record Matches” there were 111 sources with 6,889 matches – so what were these matches, which websites, would they be useful to me?



I began scrolling through this list of 111 sources.  What would I find?  Here’s a list of the first few of them:

• FamilySearch Family Tree
• Geni World Family Tree
• Many U.S. Federal Census Records
• Wiki Tree

OK.  Those are records sets I’m familiar with.  But, as I continued to scroll, I was immediately stopped in my tracks by one record set – Chronicling America.  If you know me, you know that I LOVE newspapers.  I have searched on the Chronicling America (a free site) on many occasions.  I have only found a couple of articles over the years.  BUT, now I see 114 matches!  In MY tree.  Are they valid matches?  OH BOY, let’s go look.

Note:  I took this screen shot after confirming two of the matches, so the number is down to 112.



The answer to my question about valid matches is Yes most of them are valid matches.  And, many of them are obituaries or articles I did not have.

I’m so happy that the $125 I spent on that subscription.  If I found nothing else, but these matches, the price was well worth it.  BUT…..wait, there’s so much more.

• I’ve got 48 matches in U.S. Yearbooks 1890-1979.  I’ve looked at yearbooks on Ancestry, but many of the ones I see here are matches I hadn’t located.
• There’s the Idaho death certificate I hadn’t yet found.
• Pennsylvania Newspapers with 21 matches
• England & Wales Death Index 1837-2005 with 25 matches
• Various other newspapers by state

Needless to say, I am going to be very busy for a long time.
The bottom line to this is.  We all need to make sure we are examining every resource available to us.  Maybe, just maybe, that one item you find will break down that long standing brick wall.  I sure hope it does for me, as I have several long standing ones.

One more thought.  Perhaps it’s the idea of a new resource that we aren’t totally familiar with?  It refreshes our thought pattern and re energizes us.  What do you think?

I’ve got lots of records to look at now, so off I go.  I’ll let you know what I find.
 
Speaking of that, please let me know what your experience has been when you’ve looked at a new group of records or subscribed to a site for the first time.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2018 Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION