Nu? What's New? Vol. 21 No. 2

Underlined words are links to sites with additional information.

FamilyTreeDNA Merges with Australian Genomics Company

FamilyTreeDNA, and its parent company, Gene by Gene, has merged with Australian genomics company, myDNA. FamilyTreeDNA will continue acting in the field of genetic genealogy, their original business, keeping intact their privacy rules and all terms of service.

FamilyTreeDNA, launched in 2000, is the first company in the U.S to offer direct-to-consumer DNA testing for genealogical research. myDNA, founded in 2007, started with a mission to improve countless lives by revolutionizing the field of pharmacogenomics, making truly personalized medicine a reality, before expanding into nutrigenomics to deliver actionable, personalized nutrition, fitness and skincare recommendations.

The announcement states that the merger is built on several shared beliefs about the tremendous potential of genetic information to dramatically improve our understanding, not only of who we are and where we come from, but by providing a scientific foundation for actionable, personalized insights, and how they can guide us in how best to care for ourselves and maintain optimal health and wellness both physically and mentally.

Additional information can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FTDNAMerger.

Online Lecture: Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names and Other Genealogical Sources at Yad Vashem

Israel Genealogical Research Association’s next “Show & Tell” session will be January 11 at 9 pm Israel time (2 pm EST) in English. The topic is “The Central Database of Shoah Victims’ Names and Other Genealogical Sources at Yad Vashem.” The speaker will be Serafima Velkovich of the Reference and Information Department of the Yad Vashem Archives.

More than 4.8 m-ill-ion of the six m-ill-ion Jews murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices are commemorated in Yad Vashem's online Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names. The lecture will highlight new features and materials, as well as "tips" on utilizing the database to the fullest. It will also include guidance on the use of other Yad Vashem sources online that are relevant for genealogists.

Register at https://tinyurl.com/IGRALectureYV.

RootsTech Update

More than 183,000 people from 199 countries have registered to date for the RootsTech Connect conference which will be held virtually from February 25–27. Attendees will have more than 800 lectures to choose from. Once the program is made public, Nu? What’s New? will identify those lectures of particular interest to Jewish genealogists.

Register at https://www.rootstech.org/?lang=eng.

Apologies to Jeanette Rosenberg
The last issue of Nu? What’s New announced the award of Order of the British Empire to Michael Tobias. It noted two other Jewish genealogists received awards from their respective governments: Sophie Caplan (Australia) and Stanley Diamond (Canada). Omitted was Jeanette Rosenberg, who received the Order of the British Empire in 2015.

Library and Archives Canada Suspends Most of Its Digital Copy Services

Library and Archives Canada (LAC) has temporarily suspended most of its digital copy services due to the pandemic. It will allow them to reduce the movement of staff and the handling of collections. It still will be possible to submit new copy requests for specific collections located in Winnipeg and Vancouver.

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

GenTeam Adds 200,000 New Records
The Austrian-based genealogy site GenTeam, has added 200,000 new records to its collection bringing the total number of entries to 21M. Some of the collections are Jewish records. Added recently is “Austria-Hungary Military Loss List 1914–1919).” The site is at http://www.GenTeam.eu.

FamilySearch Adds More Than 14M Records This Week

A list of recent additions to FamilySearch, 14M index records, can be found at https://tinyurl.com/FamilySearch010421. This site provides direct links to the individual collections. They include records from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Kirbati, Mexico, Micronesia, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Samoa, South Africa, Sweden, Tuvalu, United States and Zambia. Index to German church records amounted to 8,285,266 of the additions.

Of significance is the addition of 4,259,327 records to the Find A Grave Index. The addition of German church records accounted for 8,285,266 of the additions.

Note that at the website, announced collections may not be complete for the dates specified and will be added at some later date. Also note that counts shown in the announcement are the number added, not the total number available in the collection, which can be greater.

Still Nothing New from Ancestry
Ancestry additions to their collection for 2021 to date only include Quaker records and Slave Schedules.

Have You Registered to Receive Notices from Avotaynu Online?

Have you subscribed to Avotaynu’s latest venture: Avotaynu Online? We have created a special sign-on site at http://eepurl.com/biR8WD. By registering, you will receive a weekly notice of items added to the site.

By virtue of its focus on the in-depth reporting of specific subjects, Avotaynu Online will be entirely distinct from the existing print journal, AVOTAYNU, which for over three decades has covered the broad spectrum of Jewish family history research, and from the weekly Nu? What’s New?, which reports breaking stories in the world of genealogy.

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