THANK YOU to all who participated in our 2nd Annual Members' Meeting! 
If you weren't able to attend the meeting, the recording is on our Past Webinars page.

Have you ever wondered where all of our members are from? Here's a breakdown to give you a general idea.



 

Recently posted on the Members' Forum

Costello/Brophy Family Quebec
" I've hit a brick wall in my research of my great great grandparents who came to Quebec during the late 1840's or early 1850's. My GG Grandfather was John Brophy and his wife was Mary/Margaret Costello. I'm trying to determine exactly when they came to Quebec and where they are from in Ireland. I found John Brophy, his wife Mary and two sons, Michael and William listed in the 1851 Census of Canada East.... through Ancestry. Michael Brophy is my great grandfather. I know he was born and baptized Canada because I've also found birth records through Ancestry. Further, his obituary indicated that he had been born in Canada and came to the United States after his mother died. I also found the death information for Mary Costello in the Drouin records on Ancestry. She died in 1855 and was buried in St. Louis Cemetery from the Basilica of Notre Dame in Quebec. To date, I have not been able to find any information on when they arrived in Canada. My hope is that this information will lead me back to their place of birth in Ireland. I have some theories and data related to possible connections in Ireland but I am hopeful that information on ships passenger list or other sites may provide conclusive information. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated."

If you can help Paula, go to our Members' Forum page on our website, under Genealogy Discussion — Discussion de généalogie and post a reply!

Our Upcoming Webinars 

Self-Publishing Your Family Stories

Date and Time: Wednesday, May 29, 2019 - 19:00 EDT

Our members Tracey Arial and Sandra McHugh, who are also members of the group "Genealogy Ensemble", will take you on the same journey they followed with the self-publishing of their book "Beads in a Necklace".
They will discuss writing, planning, layout, printing, book launch, advertising and distribution including libraries,
Kindle, Kobo, Indigo, Chapters, Blurb, Lulu and others.

Language: English

Don't forget our Past Webinars page on our website has recorded webinars that you can view at your leisure.

A closer look at solving crimes with the help of genetic genealogy   

by JOY LEPOLA, Sinclair Broadcast Group
Tuesday, May 14th 2019

BALTIMORE, Md. (SBG) - Police may be using your data to track down rapists and killers without you even knowing it.
 

It's in the summer of 2007, in Gaithersburg, Maryland, where police say a serial rapist carried out his first attack.

At the scene, police recover a t-shirt with the suspect's DNA on it. A piece of a puzzle detectives would struggle to solve. But the arrest of the suspected Golden State Killer, tied to twelve murders in California, may have revealed a new technique for finding violent criminals.
 

"We were so anxious we thought that everything was going to come crashing down, that people would be so angry, but for the most part people were fine with it," said Dr. Ellen Greytak.

It is genetic genealogy.

It turns out those home DNA kits that can help you discover your ancestry are also being used to solve crimes.

Once you submit a sample of your DNA, companies store that information in a database.

After people get their DNA profiles, many of them voluntarily upload their information to Gedmatch, a crowd-sourced database that allows you to learn even more about potential family members and genealogy. And it's this database that's being increasingly used to cross reference DNA taken from crime scenes.

Genetic genealogists are building family trees that go back generations. Through those long-lost relatives, suspects who've eluded police for years are getting caught.

Read more http://wjla.com/news/spotlight-on-america/the-science-of-solving-crimes

Genealogy sites are helping birth parents find children they placed for adoption — but not everyone wants to be found 

By Alison BowenContact Reporter Chicago Tribune
April 18, 2019

DeAnn Link is searching for her daughter. She’d be 23 years old now.

Link said she gave birth in a Chicago hospital in 1996 at age 18, and the baby was placed with an adoptive family.

She has searched for her on LinkedIn, Google and through websites that allow birth parents and adoptees to register with contact information. But years of searching has led to nothing.

“It’s kind of frustrating,” she said. “I know she’s out there, and I know I’ll find her soon. The more I try, the more I put myself out there, the more she’ll be able to see it.”

Recently, Link opened an account on Ancestry.com, and she is waiting on the next steps to submit her DNA, which could potentially match others who have submitted to the site. Maybe, she hopes, she will find her that way.

“I'm excited,” she said. “I was so young when everything went on, and it’s been a missing piece in my heart since then.”

Genetic testing sites like Ancestry, 23AndMe and MyHeritage are expanding the options for biological parents seeking to find adoptees.

The ability to seek matches instantly is an enormous shift, adoption experts said.

“That is a huge, huge sort of change in the way that nobody ever anticipated,” said Nina Friedman, director of post adoption support at The Cradle, an adoption agency based in Evanston, Ill.

At Adopted.com, a website that has 850,000 members and helps adoptees and biological parents connect, founder Katharine Wall said, “Technology can really change things overnight.”

Last fall, the website, which already helps connect searchers with investigators and genetic researchers, began letting users upload their own DNA profiles. Adopted.com is working on partnerships with some genealogy websites in hopes of eventually being able to offer users a way to check matches across several sites.

Read more http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/sc-fam-adoption-genealogy-birth-parents-0430-story.html