Celebrate Labor Day with 50% off a MyHeritage complete subscription, valid through 12 September 2019

A Special Offer From Our Trusted Partner   The National Genealogical Society has an exclusive offer for our members, friends, and family: Celebrate Labor Day with 50% off a MyHeritage complete subscription, valid today through 12 September 2019. MyHeritage is an industry-leading platform that makes family history research easy and offers you some of the most advanced tools on the market to overcome genealogical brick walls. MyHeritage search and matching technologies enable you to grow your family tree more easily and make fascinating discoveries about your ancestors. Get 50% off the MyHeritage Complete subscription The Complete plan gives you full access to all MyHeritage advanced features, including: Unlimited family tree size (option to upload a GEDCOM file) 9.6 billion international historical records Automatic Smart Matches™ with millions of family trees Automatic Record Matches Instant Discoveries™, which can add an entire branch to your family tree with one click Consistency Checker, which automatically identifies inaccuracies in your tree Advanced DNA features PedigreeMap™ Family Tree Builder software premium edition Priority customer support via phone and email 24/7 Hurry up! For a limited time, every NGS member, plus their family, and friends can get a one-year Complete subscription for only $149. Grab this deal before it’s gone! Save 50% off now *Offer valid for NEW MyHeritage subscribers only, valid through 12 September 2019.

Hurry! 50% off MyHeritage Ends Sunday 21 April for NGS Members, Family, and Friends

Time is running out! The National Genealogical Society exclusive offer for members, friends, and family—50% off the ultimate subscription to MyHeritage—ends Sunday, 21 April 2019. MyHeritage is an industry-leading platform that makes family history research easy and offers you some of the most advanced tools on the market to overcome genealogical brick walls. MyHeritage search and matching technologies enable you to grow your family tree effortlessly and make fascinating discoveries about your ancestors. Get 50% off the MyHeritage Complete subscription The Complete plan gives you full access to all MyHeritage advanced features, including: Unlimited family tree size (option to upload a GEDCOM file) 9.6 billion international historical records Automatic Smart Matches™ with millions of family trees Automatic Record Matches Instant Discoveries™, which can add an entire branch to your family tree with 1 click Consistency Checker, which automatically identifies inaccuracies in your tree Advanced DNA features PedigreeMap™ Family Tree Builder software premium edition Priority customer support via phone and email 24/7 Hurry! For a limited time, every NGS member can get a one-year Complete subscription for 50% off. Grab this deal before it’s gone! Your purchase can help advance your family history and help NGS too.  MyHeritage makes a donation to our society for every new subscription purchased. Save 50% off now *Offer valid for NEW MyHeritage subscribers only, valid through 4/21/2019.

MyHeritage Promotion dates: 11 April to 21 April 2019

The National Genealogical Society is excited to share an exclusive offer for members, friends, and family: 50% off the ultimate subscription to MyHeritage, valid through 21 April 2019. MyHeritage is an industry-leading platform that makes family history research easy and offers you some of the most advanced tools on the market to overcome genealogical brick walls. MyHeritage search and matching technologies enable you to grow your family tree effortlessly and make fascinating discoveries about your ancestors. Get 50% off the MyHeritage Complete subscription The Complete plan gives you full access to all MyHeritage advanced features, including: Unlimited family tree size (option to upload a GEDCOM file) 9.6 billion international historical records Automatic Smart Matches™ with millions of family trees Automatic Record Matches Instant Discoveries™, which can add an entire branch to your family tree with 1 click Consistency Checker, which automatically identifies inaccuracies in your tree Advanced DNA features PedigreeMap™ Family Tree Builder software premium edition Priority customer support via phone and email 24/7 Hurry! For a limited time, every NGS member can get a one-year Complete subscription for 50% off. Grab this deal before it’s gone! Your purchase can help advance your family history and help NGS too.  MyHeritage makes a donation to our society for every new subscription purchased. Save 50% off now *Offer valid for NEW MyHeritage subscribers only, valid through 4/21/2019.

DNA News – Father’s Day Sales, History & Ancestry Sweepstakes

DNA News – Father’s Day Sales, History & Ancestry Sweepstakes

  

With Father’s Day just around the corner, some of you will consider “gifting” Dad a DNA test kit in order to help him further explore his ancestry … Here are some of the current sales.  Most of these end 18^th June!  Please read all the small print!  This list is NOT nor meant to be comprehensive!

AncestryDNA has a 20% off sale running now.

FamlyTreeDNA has a 20% off sale on select DNA tests running now.

MyHeritageDNA is running a sale, $69 versus $99

23andMe is running a sale where you get $20 off each kit (limit 2 kits)

If you know of other Father’s Day-related DNA sales, please post a comment.

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Currently running is a History [Channel] & Ancestry [DNA] sweepstake [Journey Through Your History]. Rules are found here and you can enter the sweepstake here. The sweepstake ends 22 June 2017.  Prizes are Ancestry DNA kits.  You select where you think your ancestors were from.

This sweepstake is linked to the History Channel program, America: Promised Land.  You will need to provide your name, email address and birth date to enter.

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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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DNA news -- The Legal Genealogist and Ancestry.com weigh in on a recent controversy & MyHeritage is running a father's day contest

DNA news -- The Legal Genealogist and Ancestry.com weigh in on a recent controversy & MyHeritage is running a father's day contest

Here are a couple of DNA news items relevant to genealogists …

(1) Recently there was a bit of controversy over an article published regarding Ancestry.com DNA testing whose intent seems to have been to alarm users and potential users of such DNA testing.  As always, The Legal Genealogist (Judy G. Russell) responded with a well-thought out article where she talks about the FACTS of the issue in her usual straightforward manner.  Please read her article, With all due respect. 

It’s not that everything said in the article was wrong; to the contrary, much of it is absolutely right. It’s more that perfectly ordinary facts are presented in alarmist terms, as if they were new or surprising or unusual when they’re none of those things.

Additionally, AncestryDNA responded via Setting the Record Straight: Ancestry and Your DNA. 

The article is inflammatory and inaccurate, and contains wild scenarios of the “did you know [insert scary hypothetical]” variety. If you don’t read our terms, and don’t spend a lot of time with our products and services, you might find this article alarming. So, let me try set the record straight by sharing some of the basic principles that guide everything we do at Ancestry.

We do always need to read and understand Terms of Service provisions and we do always need to seek the facts and hopefully an unbiased interpretation of said, as we make decisions.  And, we need to be cautious before embracing and sharing the aspersions cast by others, especially when not factually accurate.

(2) On a completely different note, MyHeritage is running a Father Look-alike Competition where you can win a MyHeritage DNA Kit.

Have you heard all your life that you look exactly like your father? Do you have any photos of yourself and of your dad that make you do a double-take? We want to see the uncanny resemblances between the two of you, and we’re offering one lucky winner the chance to win a MyHeritage DNA kit!

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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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MyHeritage Unveils Tribal Quest -- Global Pro Bono Initiative to preserve the family histories of remote tribes

From our friends at MyHeritage ...

... unveiling Tribal Quest, a global pro bono initiative of MyHeritage to preserve the family histories of remote tribes.

MyHeritage believes that every family history should be documented, and as we have the tools to do so we felt we could help those communities who live without access to modern technology, to preserve their precious family stories for generations to come. 

The first Tribal Quest expedition was to Namibia. MyHeritage employees interviewed hundreds of representatives from the Himba tribe. The MyHeritage team visited 19 villages, took hundreds of family photos, and used MyHeritage to record the family history information of over 2,000 tribe members. 

The next expedition was to Papua New Guinea. MyHeritage employees interviewed tribal groups and built 36 family trees containing over 4000 individuals.

We’ve produced a beautiful website featuring interesting family stories we discovered on our Namibia expedition, including video, photos, and a travel log. We will soon add materials from our trip to Papua New Guinea.

Here's a video which explains more about Tribal Quest.

Please read more about Tribal Quest in our official blog post: http://blog.myheritage.com/2016/05/new-initiative-tribal-quest/ .

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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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FREE Collection of Books Now Available on MyHeritage

Collections of digitized books keep popping up.  The newest one to join the growing ranks of such collections is available on MyHeritage.

We've just added an exciting new collection to MyHeritage SuperSearch™, containing over 37 million pages in 150,000 books relevant to family history!

The new collection includes tens of thousands of digitized historical books, with actual images of the books' pages, and all their text extracted using Optical Character Recognition. The books span the last four centuries and include family, local and military histories, city and county directories, school and university yearbooks, church and congregational minutes and much more. A vast amount of rich data from diverse publications makes this collection a fantastic source of rare genealogical gems, providing insight into the lives of our ancestors and relatives...

You can search this collection directly here.  As a test case I searched on publication place = North Carolina and keywords = “Wake County.”  There are purportedly 1,301,429 results though I only looked at the first 40 or so which included Yackety Yak (UNC Chapel Hear College Yearbook), Shaw University Catalogue (HBC), Minutes of the South River Baptist Association annual sessions, City Directory of Asheville NC (1910), Greensboro City Directory (1912-1913), Walsh’s Charlotte NC City Directory (1907), and much more.

I did a quick look at Internet Archive and NC Digital and Mocavo and Hathi Trust and none of them seemed to have the exact same publications across board suggesting that there is value to adding this digital book archive to your genealogy tool list.

Did you find something “new” to you via this database?

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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.

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NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

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Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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Global Name Translation (TM) Technology launched by MyHeritage

If you’ve ever researched names across multiple countries, it doesn’t take long to realize that there is no such thing as “a” name.  Both forenames and surnames were often translated as ancestors moved from one country to another.  Sometimes within one generation, a family may have lived in several different locations.

Back when I was doing a lot of European research, I used to keep name translation lists by my side so that as I was researching passenger lists I would be able to better consider all the different ways my ancestors names might have been spelled.

Well, MyHeritage recently accounted its Global Name Translation^TM Technology.

We’re delighted to announce the launch of Global Name Translation™, a new technology unique to MyHeritage, to help break through those language barriers in the quest to uncover your past.

This innovation now makes it even easier to discover your global roots. The technology automatically translates names found in historical records and family trees from one language into another, at very high accuracy, generating all plausible translations, to facilitate matches between names in different languages. In addition, a manual search on MyHeritage's SuperSearch, will return results in other languages, automatically translated into the language of the query.

Read the full news release for more details and examples of how the new feature works.

I did a quick test of this on a name that always was a bit of a challenge for me – Wasil Barna (though one challenge was enumerators and clerks often reversing the name!).  I was curious to see what “finds” the new feature yielded.  Besides Wasil/Wasyl it came up with Vasile and most impressively Basillus and Bazyli – these were two variants that I did come across and were important when I researched passenger records (he was listed as Barna Bazyli) and records in Poland (Basilius Barna). 

It took me quite a while to correlate these found names with what I started with, Wasil!  With the new MyHeritage Global Name Translation^TM Technology I would have been able to recognize these records for their relevance that much faster!

NOTE: I do not currently have a subscription to MyHeritage which prevented my accessing any records and I was still able to use the "search" feature to determine what name variants were located in the MyHeritage database.  

Let us know if the MyHeritage Global Name Translation^TM Technology helps you identify relevant family records that you would have previously overlooked !

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copyright © National Genealogical Society, 3108 Columbia Pike, Suite 300, Arlington, Virginia 22204-4370. http://www.ngsgenealogy.org.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

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Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

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Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

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Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

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50% off MyHeritage (Offer Good through 16 March 2015)

Friends and family of NGS members can take advantage of this special offer too. Just use the links below.

Dear NGS Member, We are always glad to provide our members with benefits and discounts. We have arranged a great special offer - full access to everything on MyHeritage for half price! Hurry, this offer is good for 10 days only! The offer expires Monday, March 16, 2015. Take this offer now for 50% off MyHeritage "I was amazed at the results. Within minutes MyHeritage.com showed me more information about a number of my ancestors than I had found in 35 years of searching on my own!"  Dick Eastman - Author of Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter MyHeritage offers billions of records and the industry's most powerful matching technologies, allowing you to 'Research while you sleep'. MyHeritage provides you with: PremiumPlus family site Start a new tree or import GEDCOM Unlimited storage for your family tree and photos Apps for iPhone, iPad & Android Smart Matches with 27 million trees Full privacy control VIP customer support Join 75 million users who have built trees with 1.5 billion people Over 6 billion historical records Automatic Record Matches Birth, marriage and death records More than 100 million newspapers Vital records from 48 countries Military and immigration records 1790-1940 US census 1841-1901 England & Wales census More added every month! Family Tree Builder premium software For a limited time, NGS members can join for only $119.40 for a one-year FULL ACCESS subscription, which includes a PremiumPlus Family Tree account and the MyHeritage Data Plan. To get this low price, join before MONDAY, March 16th. That's a savings of 50 percent! Click here to join MyHeritage today for only $119.40! Jordan Jones President, National Genealogical Society