23and Me in the headlines

 

https://investors.23andme.com/news-releases/news-release-details/23andme-announces-business-restructuring-streamline-operations

https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Wellness/23andme-dna-data-security/story?id=115818849

It isn't very often that the national news features articles with direct consequences to the greater genealogical community. In this case, many genealogists and family historians have taken DNA tests from 23andMe.com over the years. The simple caution for those with 23andMe tests is to download your data. A quick Google search indicates that downloading your data is fairly simple. Here is one of many links to the process from 23andMe.com

Accessing Your Raw Genetic Data

You can also upload your data for free to MyHeritage.com, the large online genealogy company. Here is a link to the process.

Upload DNA data

What I find online is that Ancestry.com does not allow raw DNA data to be uploaded. There are many posts online explaining about Ancestry's position. 

MyHeritage Holiday Season DNA Sale

 MyHeritage DNA

Quoting from a recent email announcement:

MyHeritage DNA  is now on sale for a great price at https://www.myheritage.com/dna/.

 

What could be a more meaningful gift than the opportunity to discover more about who you are and where you belong? With the most international user base and the most comprehensive set of advanced genetic genealogy tools, MyHeritage DNA is the best DNA test for exploring global roots. It reveals your origins across 2,114 geographic regions and finds new relatives from across the globe — all with a simple swab of the cheek.

I currently have well over 17 thousand DNA matches. MyHeritage DNA enabled us to resolve an old adoption issue with one of my great-grandparents. I have DNA matches in almost a hundred countries around the world corresponding to the historical spread of my family over the world. 

 

Update on the end of the FamilySearch.org Catalog

 

https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/results?count=20&placeId=1927135&query=%2Bplace%3AArgentina 

What is missing from this screenshot of the FamilySearch.org Catalog? The answer is the entire Province of Buenos Aires. I realize that I wrote about this previously in this blog post.

https://genealogysstar.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-beginning-of-end-of-familysearch.html 

But now I have more information about what is happening at FamilySearch. However, saying anything about FamilySearch usually includes a healthy dose of speculation. The FamilySearch folks are usually responsive in the FamilySearch Community but there is issue with the Catalog and the Images sections of FamilySearch go way beyond leaving a comment in the Community. 

I recently saw a Facebook post from David E. Rencher, Chief Genealogical Officer at FamilySearch, notifying the genealogy community at large about this issue, quoting from the Facebook post:

FamilySearch product managers have set up automatic creation of Full-Text Search collections based upon the primary life event of the image. Internal genealogists have advised that researchers are better served by record collections organized by record type. Product managers feel differently. https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100067913932788

The issue is illustrated by this chart:

The issue of changing the entries in the old FamilySearch.org Catalog and the Image section as well as developing the Full-Text Search capabilities are the same issue: how do we find valuable genealogical information?

Catalogs, such as the FamilySearch Catalog (Old) mirror the reality of where documents might be found. The Catalog is organized geographically i.e. by the places where documents may be found in the real world. 

Well, what about using "Life Events"? One example will suffice: Coming-of-Age. Not only is the category vague and could include a huge variety of unrelated events, it is not found in any existing cataloging system. To illustrate this, do a Google search for "Arizona coming-of-age" and see the results. 

What you will see is a long list of ceremonies performed by Native Americans in the present and the past. There is no mention of records or record sources. You can get another idea from the Library of Congress Classification Outline. See https://www.loc.gov/catdir/cpso/lcco/  

You can also get some idea about cataloging systems from the WorldCat.org website. Try searching for Coming-of-Age and see the responses. Do you see any genealogically related books or records? 

My example of searches using "Coming-of-Age" is just the same as changing the jurisdictional categories in the Old FamilySearch Catalog by adding Buenos Aires City and dropping the category for Buenos Aires Province (where the records are actually found). Why are these people at FamilySearch thinking that they can somehow come up with a new system of organization for finding genealogy records when all the world's records are organized by location and topic?

There is a lot more to say on this topic but I have stacks of other pressing matters besides trying to explain to engineers at FamilySearch how to do genealogy. But, of course, I will take the time if they are willing to listen. One example is a review of the "New" FamilySearch Library Catalog. https://www.familysearch.org/en/library/our-catalogs which makes no effort at all on organization and looks a lot like the university catalogs I have been working with for the past 60 years. 

Challenges in adding one tag to the FamilySearch Memories almost defeats me

 

I am concerned that the FamilySearch.org website is going through a phase of reorganizing rather than taking advantage of new tools without throwing out the old. 

Recently, I spent about 45 minutes adding two image to the FamilySearch Memories section. I found that the entire procedure for uploading a single memory had changed. The last explanation of the update was a post back on May 11, 2024. https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/memories-viewer-updates-2024 This short announcement doesn't describe any of the major changes.  Here is a screenshot of one of the two uploads that took so long to do. 

The main issue was tagging a photo. The process of tagging apparently now takes several steps. I didn't think I could yet describe the steps because it is so complicated. When I started writing this post, I noticed that Elias W. Tanner's wife Rebecca P. King was also on his grave marker so I decided to see if I could describe the process. 

Step #1: I clicked on the image with Rebecca's name. Here is what showed up. 

Step #2 I remembered that I needed to have her ID# or name, so I typed in her name. The name wasn't recognized so I had to click on her husband who I already had listed and found her name Rebecca Potter King and ID#. I copied the ID number and pasted in the number. 

Step #3 Remember, I had recently already managed to tag four other people. However, at this step, if I click on the name that says "Add New" the program does not look up the ID# it just adds the ID# as the name for the tag. 

Step #4 At this point I am puzzled. Below the number it says Attach to Tree. Well, Rebecca is already in my part of the Family Tree, but I decide to click and see what happens. Now it asks me to search for the number I just copied from the Family Tree. 

Step #5 I don't seem to remember that it was this complicated just to add one tag. But I click on search the family tree and now I am lost. I am taken to the general search page. 

I already know that Rebecca is in the Family Tree so I change the field to Find by ID and once again put in her ID#.

Step #6 Remember again, that I am trying to tag an image in memories and it shows me her entry in a search field. 

Step #7 So far, I haven't tagged the photo and I am totally lost because I don't know what to do next. I see the normal Select button that takes me to the person in the Family Tree where I started. So, I click the button. Amazingly, this takes me back to the Memories section and there is a tag on Rebecca's name. although the name on the tag is an ID#

Step #8 Now, I can't remember how I got the names on the other tags. I randomly decide to click on the ID#.

Step #8 Remember, I am still just adding one tag to one person and I have spent almost an hour writing this blog post so far. Here is what I am looking at when I randomly click on Rebecca's ID# 

Step #9 I can detach the memory from the Family Tree. This is not what I wanted to do. So, I do what I usually do in these situations, I click on stuff.  I click on the number. Not that there was any particular reason for clicking but I see that the number is blue and that usually indicates a link. 

Step #10 Apparently, I can now edit the ID# tag to a name. So I type in her name. That changes the name to Rebecca Potter King. 

Step #11 Now what? Do I have to do this for every single memory I put on the FamilySearch.org website? There must be a shorter way to do all this. So I look for some instructions on the new changes. Remember, this is me looking for one of my memories. I know how to search since I sit here and do that almost all day, every day. I do not find any instructions. I decide to click in the image. 

I now have one tag on an image with seven potential tags. 

Does anyone out there know of a better system for adding one tag? I do figure out that there is one small shortcut. But I am keeping that to myself until I see the explanation in print from someone who should have stopped trying to reorganize the team. 

RootsTech 2025 Genealogical AI Spotlight on Military Records.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fV1Rjv93ekc?feature=share

RootsTech 2025 Reel Stories presents your Genealogical Artificial Intelligence Spotlight. This month’s AI spotlight is about the treasure trove in military records. 172 countries have had military forces during the last 100 years and there have been more than 35 wars. Many countries with a miliary kept records about their soldiers. Military Records may be detailed but can be elusive. They are always a valuable source of genealogical and family history information. Artificial intelligence helps make all records, including military records more easily discoverable. The huge video collection on RootsTech.org and the documents and records on FamilySearch.org, with assistance of AI can help you find elusive military records. Sign in for free on both RootsTech.org and FamilySearch.org and begin discovering your military ancestors.

You can register for free at RootsTech.org online and also register for in person at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah on March 4th through 6th, 2025.