The Genealogy Guys Podcast & Genealogy Connection – Details, episodes & analysis

The Guys return after George has been exploring new treatment options for effective management of severe depression. More details can be shared if you email genealogyguys@gmail.com.

The Guys are devastated at the news that the historic courthouse in Rome, Floyd County, Georgia, was destroyed by fire on 23 March 2026. This is the epicenter of George's research into his maternal ancestry.

The Guys are celebrating 20 YEARS of the podcasts!

News You Can Use and Share

• WikiTree is one of the biggest collaborative genealogy research sites on the Internet. WikiTree invited George to share his GEDCOM and allow WikiTree volunteers one week to collaborate on his ancestral research. The WikiTree Reveal can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2Ea6XxZFRY&t=2402s.
• Nathan Dylan Goodman's latest book, The Hop-Picker Murders has been released. Drew reviews the latest installment of the Forensic Genealogist mysteries with Morton Farrier.
• MyHeritage has released UK and Ireland incoming and outgoing passenger lists (1678-1960). They also released Nonconformist Births, Deaths & Burials.
• MyHeritage has released the Spanish Newspaper Collection on OldNews.com.
• MyHeritage has published the England & Wales Probate Index (1858-1995) and the 1890 New York Police Census.
• MyHeritage has now expanded its contents and it is now available in 50 languages, perfect for precise research!
• MyHeritage is now home to the complete Swedish Births (1850-1920), Marriages (1850-1945), and Deaths (1850-1945).
• MyHeritage introduced Scibe AI, a powerful new feature that uses AI to transcribe, translate, and analyze historical documents and photographs.
• FamilySearch announces a collaboration with America250 to celebrate the founding of the United States in 1776.
• FamilySearch in March added more than 30 million records from 28 countries.

Listener Email

• Judy asks about legal obligations to register a name change in the U.S. Drew responds in detail.
• Laurie asks about George's deep dive into Scots-Irish records and reference books he has found helpful and instructive.

Drew recaps his experiences at RootsTech 2026 in Salt Lake City.

Drew will be presenting in person for the Sacramento Roots Cellar Spring Seminar on 18 April 2026. Get the details and register online at https://www.rootcellar.org/.

Please let us hear from you at genealogyguys@gmail.com with your questions and comments.

The Guys are celebrating 20 YEARS of the podcast!

News You Can Use and Share!

• MyHeritage is making a landmark move to Whole Genome Sequencing for its at-home DNA test. See https://blog.myheritage.com/2025/10/myheritage-upgrades-its-dna-tests-to-whole-genome-sequencing/ for more details.
• MyHeritage has released a major update to its Theory of Family Relativity with 103 million new theories.
• MyHeritage announced that the 1921 England & Wales Census is now available to search online.
• MyHeritage has added 95 million marriage records extracted from newspapers using advanced AI on MyHeritage.
• Legacy Family Tree Webinars has expanded to offer a new series of webinars in Spanish.
• Newspapers.com and Gannett Co., Inc., are partnering to make hundreds of newspapers available online. [Gannett Co., Inc. has just rebranded as USA Today Co.]
• FamilySearch added 21 million new records in October and 18 million new records in November.

Listener Email

• Hal Barker writes to encourage people to use the Korean War Project website (https://www.koreanwar.org/) for research on military ancestors and family members involved in this conflict.
• Julia writes to inquire about organizing a genealogy society project about the Roe Institute. Drew recommends Trello as a preferred project management software package.

WikiTree will conduct a WikiTree Challenge in which volunteers will deep-dive into George's family tree and hope to break down some walls with new information. You can watch the Kickoff Meeting at 12:00 PM (Eastern Time) at https://wikitree.zoom.us/j/83430757286, and you'll want to watch George's results Reveal on 17 December 2025 at 8:00 PM (Eastern Time) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2Ea6XxZFRY.

You can see Drew's WikiTree Challenge videos at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDAtp16w5pU (starting at the 31 minute 18 second mark) and the reveal at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Lmu1Lc-fVM.

Registration for RootsTech 2026 is now open at https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/registration.

Drew discusses his work with MyHeritage's Theory of Relativity matches.

Please let us hear from you at genealogyguys@gmail.com with your questions and comments.

The Guys have been on a hiatus because of Hurricanes Helene and Milton and the damage in Florida.

News You Can Use and Share!

• David Rencher, Chief Genealogy Officer at FamilySearch, received the Italian Heraldic Genealogical Institute's Lifetime Achievement Award.
• MyHeritage has given its Inbox a fresh new look.
• MyHeritage added 56 million new records in September 2004.
• MyHeritage has updated its Theory of Family Relativity facility by 40%.
• Ancestry has launched its largest update to DNA matches.
• Findmypast has added large numbers of Cornwall baptisms, marriages, and burials.
• RootsTech 2025 registration Is now open and an early bird discount registration rate is available through 31 October 2024.

Listener Email

• Kelly asks for suggestions to locate marriage annulment records.
• Kristina has located her grandfather's WWII draft registration card and wants to know how to proceed to obtain his service records.
• Jean shares a website, "A Guide to Interpreting Passenger List Annotations" at the JewishGen website.

Drew discusses the WikiTree Symposium online on 1-3 November 2024. He will be presenting a talk about Copyright and Plagiarism. Schedule.

Please let us hear from you at genealogyguys@gmail.com with your questions and comments.

Pat Stamm is a popular genealogy speaker and long-time genealogy educator, who specializes in research in the St. Louis, Missouri area. 

You can find out more about Pat and her available lectures at http://stlouisgenealogy.com/

Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your genealogy friends or your local genealogy society about our free podcasts.

Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy.

Shannon Combs-Bennett is a popular genealogy speaker and writer. Her new book, co-authored with Brianne Kirkpatrick, is entitled The DNA Guide for Adoptees: How to Use Genealogy and Genetics to Uncover Your Roots, Connect with Your Biological Family, and Better Understand Your Medical History.

You can read more from Shannon at her blog Trials and Tribulations of a Self-Taught Family Historian.

Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your genealogy friends or your local genealogy society about our free podcasts.

Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy.

News You Can Use and Share

The Genealogy Guys and Vivid-Pix announce that nominations for the Unsung Heroes Awards for the 3rd quarter of 2019 are being accepted until midnight Eastern Time on 1 August 2019. Learn more at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2019/06/genealogy-guys-and-vivid-pix-announce.html and at Aha! Seminars, Inc., at https://ahaseminars.com/.

MyHeritage has begun selling DNA kits at Costco in the UK, added new features to its mobile app, and introduced the "Genealogy Basics" Blog Series.

The schedule and details about MyHeritage LIVE in Amsterdam on 6-8 September 2019 have been announced. Details can be found at https://blog.myheritage.com/2019/06/myheritage-live-2019s-schedule-genealogy-dna-and-so-much-more/.

RootsMagic has upgraded and enhanced its Live Chat support at its website. This complements their telephone support and other customer support resources.

Penguin Random House has posted the winning bid to acquire the book publishing rights for F+W Media, which includes Family Tree Books.

American Ancestors, the online site of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, commemorates Juneteenth with the launch of a new website: The GU Memory Project is named for Georgetown University and the 272 enslaved individuals listed on the 1838 bill of sale, and the GU272 Memory Project website (gu272.americanancestors.org) features fully documented genealogies of the families who were sold, along with audio interviews of their modern descendants speaking about a wide range of topics, from personal memories of family members to racism in America.

Findmypast announces new and updated collections including: the Greater London Burial Index; New Jersey Marriage Index, 1901-2016; International Records Update for Sweden, Iceland, and Luxembourg; Lancastershire Baptisms, Marriages and Banns, and Burials; and updates to its British and Irish newspapers.

Ancestry unveiled over 225 new AncestryDNA communities and moved its ThruLines, MyTreeTags, and Improved DNA Matches out of beta and into production.

Drew recaps some major record additions at FamilySearch, including some massive new collections.

Blaine T. Bettinger

This week's discussion between Blaine and Drew focuses on the reasons for Y-DNA testing, how to choose the most appropriate Y-DNA test, and when to upgrade.

Get more from Blaine in the Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques group on Facebook, and at Blaine's DNA Central subscription site.

Cyndi Ingle

Cyndi Ingle's "Cyndi Says" segment discusses Using Tabs in Your Browser.

• OneTab - Chrome & Firefox https://www.one-tab.com
• Humble New Tab - Chrome & Firefox https://ibillingsley.ca 
• Toby - Better Than Bookmarks - Chrome & Firefox http://www.gettoby.com 
• Tabli - Chrome https://www.gettabli.com
• TabLister - Safari https://safari-extensions.apple.com/details/?id=com.paulgriffinpetty.tablister-54DM2A49PR

• 14 Best tab managers for Chrome as of 2019 https://www.slant.co/topics/7734/~tab-managers-for-chrome 
• The Best Chrome Extensions for Managing Tabs https://www.howtogeek.com/354145/the-best-chrome-extensions-for-managing-tabs/
• The 10 Best Extensions for Chrome Tab Management https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/10-extensions-chrome-tab-management/
• The Best Firefox Extensions for Managing Tabs https://www.howtogeek.com/357715/the-best-firefox-extensions-for-managing-tabs/ 
• 12 Incredibly Useful Ways to Manage Multiple Tabs in Firefox https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/12-incredibly-useful-ways-manage-multiple-tabs-firefox/
• How to use Safari's tab management and bookmark stashing to avoid losing web pages https://www.macworld.com/article/3267710/safari-tab-management.html
• 8 Ways to Manage Tabs in Microsoft Edge Browser https://www.webnots.com/8-ways-to-manage-tabs-in-microsoft-edge-browser/

Get more from Cyndi Ingle at Cyndi's List (cyndislist.com).

Our Listeners Talk to Us

• Chris wrote about seeking a GEDCOM splitter program for use in breaking his large tree into pieces. He found a program called Splitter at http://www.llenrup.com/.
• Petty wants to know if it is still possible to become a professional genealogist and The Guys respond.
• Ray is seeking information about early Native American records and other resources that might exist, particularly in North Carolina for Cherokee. The Guys ask our listeners to share information that they might know or suggest.

George and Drew end the episode by discussing some additional ways to improve the use of the physical genealogical workspace.

Thank you to our Patreon supporters! You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts.

Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy.

Join The Genealogy Squad Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad/.

Janet Hovorka, the "Chart Chick", is the co-owner with her husband Kim of Family Chartmasters, a company that produces beautiful printed family trees. She is a popular speaker at genealogy conferences and the author of the Zap the Grandma Gap books.

Learn more about Janet at janethovorka.com.

Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your genealogy friends or your local genealogy society about our free podcasts.

Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy.

Our podcast hosting service, Libsyn, has partnered with Entercom to distribute podcasts on Radio.com. That means that this podcast will be available there.

Drew talks about Apple's announcement that it is discontinuing iTunes in the next version of the macOS, Catalina, and what that means for music, podcast, and television users who upgrade their Mac's operating system this fall.

The launch of the new Facebook group page, The Genealogy Squad, took place on May 6, 2019. Membership is nearing 15,000. You can join at https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad. And read our blog posting at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2019/06/the-genealogy-squad-you-are-not-alone.html about where our members are located.

News You Can Use and Share

New historical birth, marriage, and death registers for Ireland are available at https://www.irishgenealogy.ie.

Findmypast has released Dumfriesshire, Scotland, Death & Burial Index records, Pennsylvania Register of Mine Accidents, Cardiganshire Baptisms, Marriages & Banns, and Burials, Kent Baptisms, Marriages & Banns, and Burials, Phillimore Marriage Registers, and updates to Italian and Danish records.

Drew recaps some major record additions at FamilySearch.

Blaine T. Bettinger's DNA Segment

This week's discussion between Blaine and Drew focuses on creating a DNA testing strategy that will both fit your budget and will get your DNA testing data on as many sites as feasible.

Cyndi Ingle's "Cyndi Says"

Cyndi Ingle's "Cyndi Says" segment discusses how you can use Google to search for specific file types.

Our Listeners Talk to Us

• Katherine writes to tell us she earlier connected with one of our Unsung Heroes Award winners, Stacy Ashmore Cole.
• Scott, Gloria, and Katherine wrote praising the Genealogy Connection interview with Sunny Morton.
• Debra wrote about how much she enjoyed the Genealogy Connection interview with Russ Worthington. She also shared two good tips.
• Tom wants help and advice about splitting his existing single family tree at Ancestry into multiple trees. Listener suggestions and insights are welcome.

The Guys discuss how they have their home genealogical research workspaces set up, and how George has created lighting under his hutch.

The Guys share some of their upcoming speaking schedules. You can always learn more at https://ahaseminars.com/eventListings.php?nm=52.

Thank you to our Patreon supporters! You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts.

Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy.

Sunny Morton is an internationally known and award-winning writer and speaker. In this episode, Sunny shares her thoughts about writing, and discusses her upcoming book about using U.S. church records for genealogical research.

Find out more about Sunny at sunnymorton.com.

Thank you to our Patreon supporters! Please tell your genealogy friends or your local genealogy society about our free podcasts.

Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy.

The Guys have resolved the high-pitched sound problem and have replaced the six affected episodes (GGP 359, 360, 351 & GC 52, 53, 54) with clean ones. Read more at our blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/2019/05/6-previous-episodes-re-released-with.html.

Winners of the Unsung Heroes Awards for 2Q2019 will be announced on Saturday, June 1, 2019, at the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree in Burbank. A special presentation will be made at 1:30 PM in the convention center lobby, followed by the remainder in the Exhibit Hall at the Flip-Pal/Vivid-Pix booth.

The launch of the new Facebook group page, The Genealogy Squad, took place on May 6, 2019. Membership has topped 11,800 in just three weeks and is still growing fast. The principals are Blaine T. Bettinger, Cyndi Ingle, George G. Morgan, and Drew Smith. You can join at https://www.facebook.com/groups/genealogysquad.

News You Can Use and Share

MyHeritage announced the launch of the MyHeritage DNA Health+Ancestry test on May 20, 2019. It includes dozens of personalized and easy-to-understand health reports in addition to the ethnicity results, a chromosome browser, and matching with others in their database.  A new kit is $199; an upgrade to your existing DNA kit is $120. Read their announcement at http://blog.genealogyguys.com/search/label/MyHeritage%20Health%20%26%20Ancestry%20Test and learn more at their website.

Ancestry announced that it has surpassed 15 million members in its DNA network.

Findmypast has announced the launch of ancestor sharing for users with family trees online. This is an optional feature.

Findmypast has released Queensland Soldier Portraits (1914-1918), and has announced the launch of over 114 million new birth, christening, marriage, death, and burial records covering 20 European nations (1502-1960).

FamilySearch celebrates 20 years online.

Drew recaps some major record additions at FamilySearch.

Blaine T. Bettinger

This week's discussion between Blaine and Drew focuses on the researcher's problem of confirmation bias, and how it can affect both DNA-based research and traditional genealogical research.

Cyndi Ingle

Cyndi Ingle's "Cyndi Says" segment highlights web resources about archives. She provides links to:

• Alabama Mosaic, http://www.alabamamosaic.org
• Alaska's Digital Archives, http://vilda.alaska.edu
• Arizona Memory Project, http://azmemory.azlibrary.gov
• Arkansas History Commission (AHC), http://www.ark-ives.com
• Online Archive of California, http://www.oac.cdlib.org
• Colorado Virtual Library, http://www.coloradovirtuallibrary.org
• Connecticut Digital Collections, http://libguides.ctstatelibrary.org/dld/CT_Digital_Collections
• State of Delaware – Digital Archives, http://archives.delaware.gov/exhibits/exhibits-toc.shtml
• Florida Memory, https://www.floridamemory.com
• Georgia's Virtual Vault, http://cdm.georgiaarchives.org:2011/cdm/
• Hawaii State Archives Digital Collections, https://digitalcollections.hawaii.gov/greenstone3/library
• Idaho State Archives, http://history.idaho.gov/idaho-state-archives
• Illinois Digital Archives, http://www.idaillinois.org
• Indiana Digital Archives, https://secure.in.gov/apps/iara/search/
• Iowa Heritage Digital Collections, http://www.iowaheritage.org
• Kansas Memory, http://www.kansasmemory.org
• Kentucky Digital Library, http://kdl.kyvl.org
• Louisiana Digital Library, http://louisianadigitallibrary.org/
• Maine Memory Network, http://www.mainememory.net
• Archives of Maryland Online, http://aomol.msa.maryland.gov/html/index.html
• Digital Commonwealth - Massachusetts Collections Online, https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org
• Seeking Michigan, http://seekingmichigan.org
• Minnesota Reflections, http://reflections.mndigital.org
• MDAH Digital Archives - Mississippi Department of Archives and History, http://www.mdah.ms.gov/arrec/digital_archives/
• Missouri Digital Heritage, http://www.sos.mo.gov/mdh
• Montana Memory Project, http://montanamemory.org
• Nebraska State Historical Society, http://nebraskahistory.org/index.shtml
• Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records Digital Collections, http://www.nsladigitalcollections.org
• New Hampshire Historical Society, https://www.nhhistory.org
• New Jersey Digital Highway, http://www.njdigitalhighway.org
• New Mexico's Digital Collections, http://econtent.unm.edu
• New York State Archives' Digital Collections, http://digitalcollections.archives.nysed.gov
• North Carolina Digital Collections, http://digital.ncdcr.gov
• Digital Horizons (North Dakota & Minnesota), http://digitalhorizonsonline.org
• Ohio Memory, http://www.ohiomemory.org
• Oklahoma Digital Prairie, http://digitalprairie.ok.gov
• Oregon State Archives, http://sos.oregon.gov/archives/Pages/default.aspx
• Pennsylvania State Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.state.pa.us
• Rhode Island State Archives - Digital Library, http://sos.ri.gov/archon/?p=digitallibrary/digitallibrary
• South Carolina Digital Library, http://scmemory.org
• Digital Library of South Dakota (DLSD), http://dlsd.sdln.net
• Tennessee Virtual Archive, http://teva.contentdm.oclc.org
• Texas Digital Archive, https://www.tsl.texas.gov/texasdigitalarchive
• Digital Utah, http://pioneer.utah.gov/digital/utah.html
• Vermont State Archives, https://www.sec.state.vt.us/archives-records/state-archives.aspx
• Library of Virginia, http://www.lva.virginia.gov
• Washington State Digital Archives, http://www.digitalarchives.wa.gov
• West Virginia Division of Culture and History, http://www.wvculture.org
• Wisconsin Historical Society, http://www.wisconsinhistory.org
• Wyoming State Archives, http://wyoarchives.state.wy.us

Our Listeners Talk to Us

• Florence wrote to Vivid-Pix to share her delight with the new software.
• John asks about maintaining a source database in MS Word, in Evidentia, or in EndNote. The Guys ask our listeners for their feedback.
• Tom and his wife are headed to Washington, DC, in May 2020 and plan to research at NARA. The Guys provide some advice but also ask listeners to share their recommendations for a successful research trip.

Thank you to our Patreon supporters! You can also tell your friends or your society about our free podcasts.

Visit The Genealogy Guys Blog at http://blog.genealogyguys.com for more news and interesting ideas for your genealogy.