Nu? What's New? Vol. 20 No. 9

Underlined words are links to sites with additional information.

MyHeritage Completes Digitization of All Israel’s Cemeteries

The energy, ingenuity and caring of MyHeritage never ceases to amaze me! MyHeritage has announced that after five years of dedicated effort they have digitized and indexed all of Israel’s cemeteries: 638 cemeteries, 2.1 million photos of 1.5 million gravestones. Volunteers alone could not finish the project in a reasonable amount of time, so MyHeritage recruited full-time employees to complete the work at a cost of more than one million dollars.
The project was a joint venture with BillionGraves.com. The data will also be available at that company’s website.

The announcement can be found at https://blog.myheritage.com/2019/03/myheritage- completed-digitizing-all-of-israels-cemeteries/. Search the database at https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-10147/billiongraves.

A cute sidebar. One of the persons in the database is Malcah Mokotov. Her name was translated into English as Queen Mokotov. “Malcah” is the Hebrew word for “queen.”

What’s New at Ancestry.com

Ancestry announced a number of new features at the recently completed RootsTech conference.

ThruLines™: This feature of DNA testing is described as showing you “the common ancestors who likely connect you to your DNA Matches—and gives you a clear and simple view of how you’re all related.” It requires that you and your DNA match place your family trees (public or private) on Ancestry.

New & Improved DNA Matches: Ancestry has redesigned the DNA Matches experience to help you make more discoveries, faster. Now you can sort, group and view your DNA Matches any way you would like. New features include color coding and custom labeling offering you more control over how you group and view the matches, quicker identification of your newest matches and new ways to filter your matches.

MyTreeTags™: This family tree feature allows you to add tags to people in your family tree to indicate whether your research on them is confirmed or verified, or to record personal details, like “never married.”

The complete announcement can be found at http://www.ancestry.com/product/new-release.

What’s New at MyHeritage

MyHeritage also announced a number of new features.

Theory of Family Relativity™: This serves the same purpose as Ancestry’s ThruLines feature but takes it a step further. In addition to doing matching between two tree profiles that are likely to be the same person, it looks at its historical records database to look for connections. Complete information can be found at https://tinyurl.com/MHTheoryofFamilyRelativity.

AutoClusters: DNA results typically do not describe the exact relationship path between two matching people, and only cite the likely connection (for example, 3rd cousins). AutoClusters are helpful in shedding light on the relationship paths, by grouping together DNA Matches who likely belong to the same branch and have a common ancestor. Reviewing their family trees can allow users to piece together the entire branch. A complete description of this feature can be found at https://tinyurl.com/MHAutoclusters.

MyHeritage Extends Offer of Free DNA Kits to Adoptees
In March 2018, MyHeritage donated 15,000 DNA kits to adoptees and those seeking to reunite with family members who were placed for adoption. They have now extended their offer with an additional 5,000 kits to eligible participants. The original offer produced a number of success stories. Visit https://www.dnaquest.org/ to apply. Applications will close on April 30.

Forces War Records (UK) Offering Free Access Through March 3
Forces War Records is offering free access to their UK military records through March 3. It also includes civilian deaths during World War II. There are more than 20 million records. Access is at https://www.forces-war-records.co.uk/.

RootsTech-London to Be Held October 24–26
Registration is now open for RootsTech London 2019 which will take place October 24–26 at the ExCeL London. The event will offer more than 150 classes, an exhibition hall where exhibitors from around the world will showcase family history technology and products, and inspirational keynote speakers. The announcement can be found at https://media.familysearch.org/RootsTech-London-2019-registration-open/.

FamilySearch Places Canada 1926 Census of the Prairie Provinces Online

FamilySearch and Library and Archives Canada (LAC) have partnered to publish online the 1926 Canadian census of the Prairie provinces. The free database provides a searchable index of 2 million names linked to 45,000 digital pages of the historical regional Canadian census. People with Canadian roots can find information about their ancestors who might have lived in the provinces of Manitoba (639,056), Saskatchewan, (820,738) and Alberta (607,599).

The announcement can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FSCanada1926Census.

FamilySearch Center at UK National Archives to Close Permanently
FamilySearch is closing its physical presence at the National Archives in London on March 23. The National Archives has agreed to become a FamilySearch Affiliate Library, meaning that access to all digitized records on FamilySearch will continue on PCs located in the library’s reading rooms.

The justification for the closing is that many records can now be accessed at home, in one of the local Family History Centers, or in a FamilySearch Affiliate Library.

FindMyPast Adds School Records 1870–1914 for Liverpool and Lancashire

FindMyPast has added National School Admission Registers and Log-Books 1870–1914 for hundreds of schools across Liverpool and Lancashire. The new additions include admissions, withdrawals and log books. Non-subscribers will find name, birth year, event year, school name, town and county. Subscribers additionally may find parents' names, father's occupation, exam results and any illnesses that led to absence from school.

The database is located at https://tinyurl.com/FMPSchoolRegisters.

FindMyPast to Publish 1921 UK Census
The UK National Archives, in association with the Office for National Statistics, has awarded FindMyPast the contract to digitize and publish the 1921 Census online. The project is expected to be completed by January 2022. Taken on 19th June 1921, the census consists of more than 28,000 bound volumes of original household returns containing detailed information on close to 38 million individuals.

In addition to the questions asked in 1911, the 1921 returns also asked householders to reveal their place of employment, the industry they worked in, and the materials they worked with as well as their employer’s name. Those aged 15 and older were required to provide information about their marital status, while for those under 15 the census recorded whether both parents were alive or if either or both had died. The 1921 Census also included detailed questions on education and was the first in which individual householders could submit separate confidential returns.

The announcement can be found at https://www.findmypast.co.uk/1921-census.

New Collections at Ancestry.com

Ancestry has added/updated the following record groups at their site. The list with links to individual collections can be found at https://tinyurl.com/AncestryAdditionsWeek09. Announced collections may not be complete for the dates specified and will be added at some later date.
•10,000 Vital Records of Eastern New York, 1777–1834
• 10,000 Vital Records of Central New York, 1813–1850
• Hautes-Alpes, France, Censuses of 1836, 1856, 1876, 1896
• Vienne, France, Census, 1896
• UK, WWII Alien Internees, 1939–1945. This list includes Jewish refugees.
• Bad Doberan, Germany, Tourist Registers, 1794–1878
• London, England, Poor Law Hospital Admissions and Discharges, 1842–1918
• Maine, War of 1812 Veterans
• Minden, Germany, Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1809–1873
• Barnim, Germany, Births, 1874–1906, Marriages, 1874–1936

Encyclopedia of the Warsaw Ghetto Planned

The Emanuel Ringelblum Jewish Historical Institute has announced plans to produce an Encyclopedia of the Warsaw Ghetto by 2023. The work will be placed online. The implication is that it will be available free of charge. The announcement can be found at http://www.jhi.pl/en/blog/2019-02-27-encyclopedia-of-the-warsaw-ghetto.

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