New FreeCen Website

Did you know that FreeCEN gives free access to census records for England, Scotland & Wales?

FreeCEN offers a free-to-search online database of the 19th century UK censuses. Transcribed entirely by volunteers, they have more than 32 million individuals available on their website that anyone can search without having to create an account. The new ‘FreeCEN website launched on Monday 31st July 2017 with all of the records that the current website holds, but with a fresh new look and feel in-line with Free UK Genealogy and FreeREG.

Their new website will offer more features for researchers, and make it easier for people to find what they’re looking for. FreeCEN also brings with it a host of improvements for existing and future volunteers, such as a members sign-in area and brand new messaging system.

FreeCEN, FreeREG and FreeBMD are projects by Free UK Genealogy, a registered charity that promotes free access to historical records. FreeREG underwent this process in 2015, and FreeBMD is due to begin its renewal later this year.

Best Newspaper Sites for Genealogy

There are literally hundreds of newspapers sites that could be useful for your genealogy research. Many of them would gladly have you as a paid subscriber. But how do you know which one is worth spending your money on?

No newspaper website has all of the newspapers. There is some overlap between the sites, but their coverage does vary. The best newspaper site for your genealogy is the one that has the newspapers that you need.

Before subscribing to any of the paid newspaper sites, be sure to check out the Ancestor Hunter website. As of August, 2017 there are links to approximately 25,000 free newspaper sites, including the US Canada and other countries. It is definitely well worth checking out!

Good luck with your research.

Understanding DNA Tests

Have you gotten the bug yet and taken a DNA test? Once you receive the results, are you totally confused? There is definitely a huge learning curve, as you have probably found out.

Genetic genealogy or DNA testing can tell you, at its most basic level:

If you and another person are related /descended from the same individual
If you and someone else with the same surname are related
If your genealogical research is on the right track
What area of the world your paternal and maternal lines come from, as well as giving you an idea of your ethnic origins

It is very important to remember that most of the value of genetic genealogy (DNA testing for family history research purposes) is in the comparison and matching of your DNA results to others. Just because we have DNA testing does not mean we can throw exacting traditional research techniques out the window! Think of it as a marriage between two methods of finding and providing our family history – traditional genealogy research and DNA testing.

A brief but comprehensive explanation of the types of DNA tests and what you can find is available in a document provided by Mary Katherine Kozy and is well worth taking the time to read.

There are several sites that do DNA testing, including Family Tree DNA, 23&Me and AncestryDNA. You may choose to test with one or all of the companies and each one is completely reliable. Comparing the tests can be a new problem, though. One comparison site is Gedmatch.

If you are new to using GedMatch or want a brief overview of how it works, you may want to read a previous blog post on “Ten Tips for Making the Most of Gedmatch”.

Once you have uploaded your DNA results to GedMatch, the test results are not always a 100% match. The Legal Genealogist explains why this happens.

Uploading your tree to GedMatch is explained here.

Did you know that many cousins don’t share enough measurable DNA to get caught in DNA application filters? By using the GEDCOM search at GedMatch you can find people who have your relatives in their family tree even if you only share small amounts of DNA, The blog post How to find DNA cousins on Gedmatch with a Gedcom search provides information on how to conduct a search.

Good luck with finding more family research information using DNA results!