Patience pays off

My subscription to MyHeritage ran out a couple of months ago. I usually cancel the automatic renewal of subscription option because I don't want to pay the full price to renew. Within a couple of days I was phoned by a pushy marketer from Israel offering me a piddly discount off the full price of the $AU349 to renew. This has been followed up over the intervening weeks with several emails offering other smallish discounts. On the last occasion my renewal was due I hung out for a discount of around 50% before I renewed. I renew when the price represents reasonable value to me.

I only use MyHeritage for DNA Matches and Searching for Records. I totally ignore the other features like photo enhancement and others' online trees. Without a subscription I can still see my DNA matches and access from home the subscriptions from a genealogy society and public library to which I belong to explore the records on MyHeritage. 

A full subscription of MyHeritage is not worth $AU349 to me. It is a nice to have but not a must have subscription. Recently there was a discount of around 50% offered to Rootsmagic users which I was going to take up but I missed the closing date. Currently there is a discount offer of  around 50% through the Family History Federation which I have been considering.

I like to have a basic tree on MyHeritage  to make it easy for DNA matches to work out how we might relate but one of the emails I received from MyHeritage recently told me my tree was too large and I would have to renew to keep my tree in the site.  I also received an offer on 12th August to renew at up to 49% discount. I ignored that offer and put in a request for  my tree to be removed and received confirmation that this would happen in the next few days.

You'll never guess what was in my email box this morning. 

I paid up straight away. At $AU95.98 I am pleased to have MyHeritage back in my genealogy toolbox. (And they haven't removed my tree yet!!)

Three Rabbit Holes today

My annual subscription to MyHeritage runs out today so I am madly going through the DNA matches for the accounts I manage there before my access expires. I will probably resubscribe some time in the future when there is a decent offer but I cannot justify the AU $349‎  fee to extend my subscription now.

I am able to use the MyHeritage  subs at a local library or a genealogy society to search the MyHeritage record sets from home so I can't see the value investing in a premium subscription.

My Rabbit Holes of choice today are those MyHeritage Matches, DNAPainter to paint them and the Airtable database I use to track them.

The Ancestry Bug

I hear that Ancestry now have over 7 Million samples in their DNA database and after travelling around for several weeks I am not surprised.

So often at dinner on our cruise the conversation would turn to DNA and I would announce that I had taken 5 DNA tests and uploaded my results to some other sites - on hearing this some of my fellow diners' views labelled me as either an expert or a nutcase. Most of the affluent retirees had taken Ancestry DNA tests (and it was always Ancestry - good marketing at work there) but were clueless about the DNA matching side of things, they were all focussed on the ethnicity results and that is all they wanted to know about. They did the tests because it is an in thing to do. I did mention that these could be inaccurate due to the reference groups used to make these predictions but my fellow diners just wanted to know where their ancestors came from and don't question the results.

I learn lots of lessons when I travel. These conversations have reminded me not to expect everyone on my lists of matches to share my enthusiasm for hunting down cousins and to accept that others have valid reasons for taking DNA tests.

Reflecting on this has made me revisit my four Ethnicity results (still waiting on Living DNA to come back). There are no major surprises but I am pleased that all tests seem to confirm my aboriginal ancestry as Melanesian, Oceania, Melanesia and Oceania. I am kicking myself that I didn't take screenshots of the results when I first tested so that I could monitor changes over time.

Following are my results as at 4 May 2018.

23andme Results

FTDNA Results

Ancestry Results

My Heritage Results

Yet more DNA

At the recent Rootstech Conference in Salt Lake City I did a cheek scrape in the Exhibit Hall under the watchful eye of Daniel Horowitz, Chief Genealogist for MyHeritage. Although I had tested with two other companies I was keen to share my genetic ancestry with another group. Thanks to MyHeritage for offering me the chance to test. I note on their DNA site that the current price for a MyHeritage DNA test is $AU103.

Yesterday when I opened my email box I found that my MyHeritage results were in but, as I had an urgent task to complete, I had to put the results aside .... however I did sneak a peek at my ethnicity results.

What is interesting is that they indicate that I am 1% Papuan (and my Ancestry results say 1% Pacific Islander). So perhaps the aboriginal, Biddy Sargeant (whom I am pretty sure is my 3x Great-Grandmother really is).I have always been fairly sure that Biddy was my 3x Great-Grandmother there is nothing on paper to document this. Perhaps DNA will give me an answer! When I shared this result on the Using DNA for Genealogy - Australia & NZ Facebook Group it resulted in quite a few comments and likes.

I didn't expect to find many matches on MyHeritage because it is a relatively newcomer in the DNA testing field but, when I logged in yesterday afternoon I found 27 matches, two of whom are from Australia, most from the USA and a few from the UK. One of these is a 4th cousin match on my Pusell line that I have confirmed on Gedmatch.

My genimate Pauleen had mentioned in the Facebook Group that she was uploading her results from another company to MyHeritage (I didn't know you could do it for free) so I decided to add Mum's DNA too....but to do this she needed to be in the MyHeritage database (more opportunities for matches!). No problem, I uploaded a gedcom of my direct ancestors and then, with Mum's name in the database, found adding her results a breeze. I am now waiting for her results to be processed - then I anticipate I'll have at least 28 matches. Mum's kit is listed on my profile.

Next task was to go through my matches. I went through them one by one looking at trees where available but only identified a connection with Michelle with whom I have been in communication for many years. The matches (which cn be sorted in a number of ways) are displayed 10 to a page (I think there's an option to change that). Take a look at my closest match - a man from the USA.

I need to examine the site further to see what other features are available. It's early days yet but, as I want to make as many connections as possible, I am pleased to have my data in another database.

Disclosure: I was given a complimentary DNA test by MyHeritage

Deadline Looming

As  serial procrastinator I need a deadline. Well, I have a task that is due tomorrow so for today it's nose to the grindstone.

I am easily distracted so, as I haven't moved any of my geneastuff, into this new geneacave the opportunities to be distracted are limited. There is always the temptation of the internet and a spot of Tangential Genealogy, my surname study, CurryAus, needs some attention and I need to schedule another slew of posts for the Geneadictionary.

I am also an on time freak and always try to meet a deadline or arrive with plenty of time to spare. So I will wish you adieu until my task is done.

No distractions in the new geneacave (but plenty of space for bookselves)

It won't ever be this tidy again!

It's close to the kitchen for coffee and coke

Post Script ...and I just got this message - tempting!

MyHeritage News

News from genimatae, Daniel Horowitz, at MyHeritage

I'm delighted to announce the launch of the new Consistency Checker for online family trees at MyHeritage. This new tool scans your family tree and identifies potential mistakes and inconsistencies in your data so that you can quickly make the necessary changes in your tree, improving its overall quality and accuracy.

At MyHeritage, we hold accuracy in high regard and the Consistency Checker is an important tool for family historians of any skill level. We hope it will improve the quality of collaborative genealogy as a whole.

Please find attached a visual, and more information in the blog post here:

https://blog.myheritage.com/2017/02/new-online-family-tree-consistency-checker/

A New Genea Lovesong for Valentine's Day

Great fun at the MyHeritage after party.

Family Historian Data Matching

One of the first messages I read on Facebook this morning was from my genimate Shelley who was excited about the latest upgrade, 6.2,  to our favourite genealogy software package, Family Historian. Shelley's glee was soon matched by Colin Spencer who also shared the news.

Not to be outdone, when I had finished my morning chores I set about downloading the Family Historian upgrade and it took ages, I usually don't download upgrades so promptly so I was keen to get this upgrade as were probably many other FH users.

The FH site told me "Users of version 6 can now download a free upgrade to Family Historian 6.2 (the full 3-digit version number is 6.2.0). The new version adds automatic record matching and ‘hints’ for Findmypast databases. To learn more, see Automatic Internet Data Matching".

Well I have a sub to Findmypast that I don't use a lot so I thought I'd give this a try. Family Historian already had data matching with MyHeritage but, as I only recently won a sub to that site at Rootstech, I hadn't set up this facility.

After taking ages to download I installed the upgrade in a minute or two and following the instructions from Family Historian I set up data matching. It took me a while to get the hang of using the tool and I had to read the instructions (something I don't often do) but now I have it down pat. 

One must use the Focus Window view in Family Historian to see the matches. A little green icon in the bottom right hand corner of a person's name indicates there are matches available.

Family Historian - Focus Window View

When one hovers over the green icon a little box appears indicating how many matches have been found in each database. Selecting one of the databases opens a web search window within Family Historian where one can view and accept or reject the suggestions. One can use an external browser which is the way I started but I found the inbuilt browser easier for me.

Although one can't directly import into Family Historian I am not perturbed, it makes me stop and think before hastily adding something. One does not have to type data into FH (which is a boon for this hunter and pecker) one can use copy and paste or drag and drop to move data from the Web Browser into Family Historian. I have added quite a few records to my CurryAus study database via this method today. Of course I am concentrating on indexes at My Heritage and giving the user submitted trees a wide berth!

Am I happy - You bet your life I am. I am sure that after some more tweaking by the developers this feature will become even easier to use. 

My genealogy software package has become even more useful and I am about to get more value from two of the databases to which I have access.

Who wouldn't be smiling?

A Week of Webinars

All webinared out

In the past seven days I have watched four webinars from different providers in Australia and the US.

1. Evernote for Genealogy, Cyndi Ingle for The Society of Australian Genealogists $10

2. Golden Genealogy Rules, Shauna Hicks for MyHeritage FREE

3. Getting started with Research, Joanne for Queensland State Archives FREE

4. Staying Safe Using Social Media, Thomas MacEntee for Georgia Genealogical Society  FREE

I learnt a little from each presentation and a lot from the Queensland State Archives as I was not at all familiar with that institution amd its holdings. I learnt about presentation techniques from Thomas, he is an excellent and experienced presenter who speaks slowly and clearly with lots of humour (although having known Thomas for a while I have heard some of those oneliners before). He does not rely solely on slides but gives live demonstrations showing how things work on his computer. He engages with attendees during his talk by naming some of them, we realise he can't do a full roll call.

Three of the presentations used the GoToWebinar platform while the Queensland State Archives used another that I much preferred as it showed a video stream of the speaker as well as her slides, this webinar was recorded in front of a live audience and the moderator did a great job of involving the online attendees in the event. I did not realise that one could show a livestream of a presenter on GoToWebinar but Thomas came on screen at the beginning and end of his talk giving it a more personal touch.

This was Shauna's first webinar, she commented on her blog afterwards " I found it a bit strange just sitting in my study talking to my laptop knowing that there were about 120 people out there listening to me."  Shauna and Joanne were first time presneters and did an awesome job in their debuts. 

Having become used to Google Hangouts on Air, where there is video of presenters and panel and more interaction,  I find that, although I learn from them, some webinars are real "chalk and talk" formal lecture sessions. I fear that the moderators do not realise that they are using social media tools and that they have a role to make presenters feel comfortable and to interrupt presenters occasionally to ask questions and pass on comments from attendees.

While my $10 for the The Society of Australian Genealogists wasn't too expensive there were empty seats in the room (webinar lingo) I can't understand why SAG don't offer seats to non-members. This could be done as a last-minute offer via social media once members have had a reasonable time to enrol. I know my mates in country Queensland and the Northern Territory would be happy to add to SAG's coffers if they had a chance to attend the webinars.

Thank you to those three organisations who used their webinars as outreach or marketing tools, I appreciate being able to use your services. Getting a freebie leaves me with a good impression of your organisations.

Surprise from MyHeritage

Another social media success tale.

Yesterday morning after I arrived at The Central Coast Family Fair and had unpacked my gear I
took a couple of photos as the stalls were being set up. I posted one photo of the Familysearch display on Twitter and was pleased to see it taken up and retweeted by FamilySearch.

On Google+ I posted a photo of a couple of stalls with the message "The workers are busy getting ready for the Central Coast Family History Fair at East Gosford today. Come on down.". A few people gave the post a +1 and that was good BUT I also received a direct message from someone in the US. I had met Mark Olsen from MyHeritage at Roostech earlier in the year and he had been very keen to help me out. I filed Mark's business card away with all the bumph I got from #Rootstech and think any more about it, however, Mark and I follow each other on Social Media. 

The message that was from Mark said: 

"Hi Jill - if you like feel free to offer the East Gosford Folks one or two full access MyHeritage plans for one year as door prizes.  If you decide to do this just email the winners names and emails to me and I will take care of them. Have fun."

As the Fair was crowded (and I was busy on the Gould Genealogy stand) it took me a while to track down the organiser responsible for prizes. She was delighted when I relayed Mark's message and  asked me to Make an announcement over the PA system telling of The MyHeritage prizes. In an audience that is mostly unaware of the power of social media it was wonderful to be able to share a real-life example. 

After I made the announcement a few people came along  and asked me about MyHeritage and what it is. perhaps it is time for a marketing push for this product in Australia.

Thank you to Mark and MyHeritage for enabling me to share these prizes at the Fair.

MyHeritage.com Announces Its Top 100 Genealogy Sites

MyHeritage.com Announces Its Top 100 Genealogy Sites

I am thrilled to find Geniaus' blog listed with such sites of distinction.

In a former life I was on the international judging panel for the The International Association of School Librarianship (IASL) Concord School Library Web Page Award. Evaluating the various sites nominated was an enjoyable activity. During my career in IT and Libraries I was webmaster for a number of educational websites. As a judge for the Concord Award I was not eligible to have my site nominated for an award.

Now semi-retired I still have a passion for online communication and enjoy playing with new applications. Being able to combine my love of genealogy with my interest in technology and trying to promote genealogy in Australia through my Geniaus blog and Geniaus family site gives me much pleasure. I now understand the excitement experienced by those Teacher-Librarians who won the Concord award. We all like a bit of positive reinforcement.

Receiving a listing on the MyHeritage.com list of Top 100 Genealogy Sites will give my little blog exposure to a broader audience. It has provided me with the impetus to work on updating and improving my blog.