The Genealogy Guys Podcast #237 - 2012 May 26

The news includes: The Guys will be at the Southern California Genealogical Society’s Jamboree on June 8-10, 2012. RootsMagic announces new webinars and additions to its catalog of recorded webinars. FamilySearch announces the addition of millions of new records on its site and the completion of almost half of the 1940 U.S. federal census. The Federation of Genealogical Societies announced that its Malcolm H. Stern-NARA Gift Fund has participated with NARA recently in digitizing and making available the records of the Sultana Disaster at the Fold3.com website. Ancestry.com announced that it has added its 10 billionth record to its site. Ancestry.com announced its AncestryDNATM service. Listener email includes: Michael asks about the notation on the 1880 U.S. federal census of “NG” under the birthplaces of an ancestor’s parents. Chris sent a link to a fascinating article about using DNA to determine the origin of the Melungeons.(http://news.yahoo.com/dna-study-seeks-origin-appalachias-melungeons-201144041.html) Rich also sent another link on the same subject right after the podcast was recorded. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/24/melungeon-dna-study-origin_n_1544489.html?ref=fb&ir=Black+Voices&src=sp&comm_ref=false#s=1022230) Laurie asked about the available DNA tests, and Drew weighs in based on his experience. Walter asks whether there is a DNA test available to determine whether his mother and a good friend, who looks like his mother’s twin, are related. Susanne asks about genealogy sites that are free. Bob talks about the work he and his wife are doing as arbiters for the 1940 indexing project. Tom asks when we think an index to the 1940 census will be available, and comments about the indexes not being made available until an entire state is indexed. Amy shares information about Titanicat by Marty Crisp. Linda writes about resources for the descendants of the Armenian Genocide. She tells us that University of Michigan Professor Fatma Muge Gocek has done extensive research on this issue with other area specialists (one is also here at U Michigan – Ronald Suny in Political Science). If the person who asked the question in an earlier podcast is still trying to find resources that might help her find information on her ancestors, she might send an e-mail to either Professor Gocek ([email protected]) or Professor Suny ([email protected]) to see if they know where information on where people were moved or killed and records that might be useful. Gocek, Suny, and another scholar, Norman Naimark at Stanford, co-wrote a book, A Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman Empire (http://www.oup.com/us/catalog/general/subject/HistoryWorld/MiddleEastern/?view=usa&ci=9780195393743) about the genocide. The Guys both recommend checking the University of South Florida’s Holocaust & Genocide Studies Center site at http://lib.usf.edu/hgsc. Ann has a question about her husband’s paternal grandfather who was born in international waters while his mother was emigrating from Wales to the United States. In another email, she reports on remarkable files uncovered in the possession of a library. Jo wrote to provide some clues and resources to Moshe who is researching a Jewish man named Markowsky.