Dick Eastman, author Dick Eastman has been writing this genealogy newsletter for 24 years. He has been involved in genealogy for more than 35 years. He has worked in the computer industry for more than 50 years in hardware, software,
How to Add Context to DNA Matches
No. I still haven’t figured out my parents’ DNA connection. It’s a journey, and along the way, I keep finding tools and methods to help make sense of DNA matches.After giving up on DNA triangulation, I wanted an easier way
Are Your Dead Ends Hiding DNA Matches?
Some dead ends are more important than others when a DNA connection is missing.Despite some juicy leads, I still don’t know why my parents share some DNA. They have a distant cousin relationship that I can’t nail down. So let’s
Finding Richmans, Richs, and Marshmans in the Hilperton Land Tax Assessment Records, 1773-1793 – Part II
I wrote Part I of this series last week, saying: “Continuing my quest for finding the parents of my 3rd great-grandfather John Richman (1788-1867) in Hilperton, Wiltshire, England, I recalled that I had obtained digital images of the Hilperton and
Comments on the Same Name = Same Person Problem
Using the Findmypast.com website, I can search for the frequency of any person’s name in all of the website’s millions of records. I can also filter the names by area and time. For example, if I were looking for an
1921 Czech Census for Podkarpatská Rus (Now Zakarpattia Oblast, Ukraine), Online!
If you have ancestors from the slice of Europe which is currently Zakarpattia Oblast (Ukraine), was Podkarpatská Rus (Czechoslovakia) between WWI and WWII, and which was part of Hungary before that, then prepare to get excited. After this area became
The Day Dad Shot Himself
Hot mid-summer days in Indiana were so stifling that you felt like you were trying to breathe water through a hot, saturated, oppressively heavy blanket. The air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Before you even
Bad News: SB 372 Passes Georgia’s Legislature
The following was written by Jan Meisels Allen, Chairperson of the IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee: On June 18, 2020, the Georgia House of Representatives passed SB 372 by a vote of 157 to 2. In March, the bill
Were Our Ancestors Truthful?
We have all come across an official document and from other sources, find a totally different bit of information on an ancestor that does not match. It makes you wonder if an ancestor lied at that time period for some
RootsIreland.ie uploads 67,000 North Mayo records
A lovely bundle of more than 67,000 records from North Mayo Family Heritage Centre has been added to RootsIreland.ie’s Mayo database. It includes gravestone inscriptions from 88 burial grounds: 63 Roman Catholic, 19 Church of Ireland, four Presbyterian and two