One of the coolest genetic tools in the genealogist's toolbox (especially for those of us of the female persuasion without Y-DNA) is the relatively new autosomal DNA test. This month Ancestry.com entered the market, joining 23andme.com and FamilyTreeDNA, with their own autosomal DNA test known as AncestryDNA. In the interest of full disclosure, I was one of the ones lucky enough to receive my results during the beta period as Ancestry.com offered me a free test for review, but I was more excited about the quicker results than the free test. I would have happily paid for the test, and already have my name on the waiting list to order a few more for some relatives in the hopes of possibly solving a few genealogical mysteries. Other autosomal tests which I have had done include 23andme.com's Relative Finder ($299, with no subscription required) and FamilyTreeDNA's Family Finder ($289, no subscription required).

Ancestry.com's new AncestryDNA test is currently being offered for an introductory rate of $99, but is available only for Ancestry.com subscribers. This is a great rate, so if you are interested in pursuing autosomal DNA testing I would highly recommend taking advantage of it. Their genetic database isn't yet nearly the size of FamilyTree DNA, but they have a huge potential list of participants in their own current customer database of 1.87 million subscribers -- and I think will be especially good at attracting those with a more casual interest in genetic testing who might not otherwise seek out such a service. They also link results directly to Ancestry Member Trees (when available), which can really help to narrow the focus for potential ancestral matches.

On the downside, ...

Autosomal DNA Testing - Can it Really Predict Our Ancestors? originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, May 15th, 2012 at 12:14:19.

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Ancestry.com released an interesting new collection this week, the WWII Cadet Nursing Corps Card Files. The more than 300,000 records, including more than 124,000 young women between the ages of 17 and 35, date between 1942 and 1948 and provide an interesting look at the young women who joined this program to ensure that the United States had enough nurses to care for its citizens on both the home and war fronts. As a part of the program, cadets went through an accelerated training that fit a 36-month course into a 30-month period. Senior cadets then served their last six months in civilian, military and veteran hospitals and other public health agencies, which freed up registered nurses to help with the war effort. All cadets received a scholarship and a monthly stipend, effectively giving these young women an education they otherwise may not have been able to afford.

It is interesting to note that for many of the young women, there is more than one record available, including a Membership Card A and a Membership Card B, each indexed separately. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is represented in the collection with more than 5,000 records, including that of Eveline E. Broadwell, who was born on 7 April 1927 and enrolled in the Cadet Nursing Corps from Imperial, PA, at Pittsburgh Hospital on 16 June 1945 (Membership Card A). Membership Card B names her father as John E. Broadwell, and states that she had been living in Imperial for at least 10 years prior to her admission to the Corps. This card also has a back, which tells us she learned about the Cadet Nursing Corps over the radio.

The US WWII Cadet Nursing Corps Records are available online at Ancestry.com (subscription required). If you don't already have a membership to Ancestry.com, or are looking for an interesting gift for a special lady in your life, Ancestry.com is offering a 10% discount on Ancestry.com Gift Memberships through Mother's Day.

U.S. WWII Cadet Nursing Corps Records originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, May 8th, 2012 at 07:29:17.

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Ancestry.com announced this afternoon that it has entered into an agreement to acquire family history website Archives.com for approximately $100 million in cash and assumed liabilities. You can view the full press release on GeneaPress. Archives.com offers access to over 2.1 billion historical records and in just over two years has grown to more than $380,000 paying subscribers at an annual subscription fee of $39.95.

Now before you start grumbling about Ancestry.com gobbling up everything, it is important to realize that Ancestry sees Archives.com as a complementary offering, not a competitor, and plans to continue operating the site much as it is now with different search options, mostly different record sets, and a lower subscription rate. Much as with Ancestry's acquisition of Fold3, Archives.com will continue to retain its own brand, website, and customer base under the Ancestry.com umbrella. According to Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan, Archives.com will not become a clone of Ancestry. Ancestry.com likes the vision that Archives.com has for its online family history service, and plans to leverage the resources of Ancestry.com along with the employees of Inflection/Archives.com to help achieve these goals. As a separate product from Ancestry.com, Archives.com will continue to focus on attracting new users to family history with a product that is affordable and easy to use.

Ancestry.com, Inc. to Acquire Archives.com for $100 million originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Wednesday, April 25th, 2012 at 18:48:09.

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It is frustrating as a volunteer FamilySearch indexer to spend oodles of extra time making sure you get every last name and detail deciphered correctly, only to have an arbitrator come back and undo your hard work because they didn't spend the same quality time. Or to have one of your batches come back with multiple arbitrated changes -- for situations such as blank lines and 1935 place of residence where you feel you have followed the rules correctly. From an arbitrator's point of view, however, I can say it is equally frustrating having to ding an excellent indexer's arbitration results for a easily avoided, minor error repeated over and over.

Just so we are all on the same page here, this is not a rant or grumble about poor indexing or arbitration -- far from it. I applaud everyone who is volunteering their time to help make the 1940 census more easily available to all (not to mention that there are many genealogical discoveries to be made with the use of an index). We aren't all perfect (at least I'm not). But for all of you out there helping to index and/or arbitrate the 1940 US Census index for FamilySearch, here are some tips and resources to help us all get it right and eliminate most if not all of the frustration. ...

FamilySearch Indexing the 1940 Census - How to Get it Right! originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 at 11:37:36.

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The recent release of the 1940 U.S. Census provides an interesting lens into the lives of many famous Americans. Celebrity actors, sports stars, authors, artists, and scientists can all be found among its pages, including Clark Gable of "Gone With the Wind" fame living with his new wife, Carole Lombard, outside of Los Angeles, less than two years before her death in a tragic plane crash. And while I'm talking about tragic plane crashes, the 1940 census also includes famous baseball legend Roberto Clemente, who died when his plane went down during a humanitarian mission to Nicaragua on 31 December 1972 with relief supplies for earthquake victims.

The brainy Albert Einstein is the first person I looked for in the 1940 census - even before my own grandparents if you can believe that. But it was for my 10-year-old daughter who was portraying him during a presentation at school that day, so I just couldn't resist. From there, I just started having fun practicing my search skills by looking for Famous Americans in the 1940 U.S. Census, locating not only Hollywood celebrities such as Clint Eastwood, but also other iconic American names, including E. E. Cummings, Babe Ruth, Henry Ford, Tom Brokaw, Neil Armstrong and Frank Lloyd Wright.

And yes, I also located two of my three grandparents who were living in America at the time!

Celebrities in the 1940 Census originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, April 10th, 2012 at 23:02:38.

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When I finally get the chance to show my grandmother the 1940 U.S. census image which includes her and her family, I know I will get some great new stories! Who were all of those neighbors who she grew up with as friends? Where was she looking for work during the final week of March in 1940? How soon after 1 April 1940 did she finally get that job at the Western Union office where she would meet my grandfather in 1941? The 1940 Census is a great vehicle for inspiring new family stories, but how can we as genealogists help to get those conversations started? One of the best ways, I believe, is to help get the census indexed as quickly as possible -- making the records more accessible for discovery by the general public. What a great boost to genealogy this could be!

After getting over the excitement of exploring the 1940 census upon its release last Tuesday, I have finally settled down to help get the indexes online. It is super easy once you become familiar with using the free online indexing software, and indexing a batch of 40 names doesn't take much time out of your day. It's also helped me to become familiar with enumeration quirks and abbreviations, variations that I might not have otherwise noticed. The increased familiarity can only help me as a genealogist to pull every last bit of information out of these 1940 census records.

As of April 10, FamilySearch Indexing volunteers have the state of Delaware fully indexed, followed closely by Colorado (89%), Kansas (86%), and Oregon (82%). Also well underway are the states of Virginia (23%) and New Hampshire (17%). Indexing has also begun in additional states including California, Pennsylvania, Florida, Texas, and Illinois. Won't you join us?

FamilySearch Indexing Step-by-Step

FamilySearch Indexing - The Latest Status by State

Help Index the 1940 US Census! originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, April 10th, 2012 at 11:13:28.

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The launch of the 1940 census on April 2 was far more popular than even the experts predicted. Over 25 million hits (1.9 million users) in the first few hours brought the National Archives 1940 Census website, hosted by Archives.com, to a grinding halt. The National Archives reported that at one point their servers were receiving up to 100,000 requests per second, with each requested image being 10 MB+. 1940 Census was even the #1 "Hot Search" both yesterday, and again today, according to Google Trends. As disappointing as it was to not be able to just dig into the images immediately, I can't say anything bad about the excitement this is generating for family history!

As of this morning, I can now easily view images on several major genealogy websites -- including the National Archives 1940 Census website, MyHeritage, Ancestry.com, FamilyLink.com, and FamilySearch.org. The first of the 1940 census indexes are also now available. If you want to look for your relatives in the 1940 census, here's a list of the 1940 census sites with their available images and indexes. Everything is FREE unless indicated otherwise.

Last updated: 10 April 2012 at 11:01 a.m. EDT

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Where to View 1940 US Census Images & Indexes originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 at 09:44:32.

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Genealogical citations are one thing that genealogists of all levels struggle with at one time or another. We all know that it is important to write down where we found a particular piece of information -- or at least that is a lesson we quickly learn as we begin to run into conflicting information. But how many details do we need to record? Is the order and punctuation of the citation elements really that important? Will we get our hand slapped by the citation police, or be taken less seriously, if we "do it wrong"?

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Citations Explained - A Don't Miss Resource For All Genealogists originally appeared on About.com Genealogy on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 at 05:43:54.

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