If you haven’t taken had the chance to take a DNA test yet, here’s your chance to do it at a discount!
Just head over to http://ancstry.me/1dL8PCY to purchase yours.
*Offer open to U.S. customers only; expires August 17, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. ET
Ancestry’s Top Global Collections of 2014
Between today and December 29th, Ancestry.com is giving free access to select record collections.
You can search the records at http://search.ancestry.com/search/group/global_new_year.
And this is a list of the records that currently have free access.
1911 Census of Canada
1911 England Census
1921 Census of Canada
1940 United States Federal Census
Australia Birth Index, 1788-1922
Australia Death Index, 1787-1985
Australia Marriage Index, 1788-1950
Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980
Canada Obituary Collection
Canada, British Army and Canadian Militia Muster Rolls and Pay Lists, 1795-1850
Canada, Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current
Canada, Nominal Rolls and Paylists for the Volunteer Militia, 1857-1922
Canada, Voters Lists, 1935-1980
England & Wales, BMD Birth Index, 1837-1915
England & Wales, BMD Death Index, 1837-1915
England & Wales, BMD Marriage Index, 1837-1915
Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934
Historical Newspapers, Birth, Marriage, & Death Announcements, 1851-2003
Ontario, Canada Births, 1869-1913
Ontario, Canada, Deaths, 1869-1938 and Deaths Overseas, 1939-1947
Ontario, Canada, Marriages, 1801-1928
Quebec, Vital and Church Records (Drouin Collection), 1621-1967
Selected U.S. Naturalization Records – Original Documents, 1790-1974
U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s
U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project)
U.S. Naturalization Records Indexes, 1794-1995
U.S. School Yearbooks, 1880-2012
U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current
U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918
U.S., World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942
United States Obituary Collection
Web: Canada, GenWeb Cemetery Index
Web: CanadianHeadstones.com Index
Web: Obituary Daily Times Index, 1995-Current
Transfer your raw DNA data
If you have tested your DNA with Ancestry.com or with 23andme, but have not tested with FamilyTreeDNA (or transferred your raw data to their site), you can now transfer your raw data FOR FREE.
Please use this link to do so – https://www.familytreedna.com/autosomalTransfer?atdna=2%2bw6eIJLVxKkwUtEm%2f7rWQ%3d%3d as they only give you a certain number of matches for free and it costs $39 to unlock the rest of them. Or you can get 4 people to use your specific link to register and upload their data to unlock it for free. SO PLEASE HELP ME UNLOCK MY MATCHES.
Want to see if we match with the DNA sites I have my information on…
AncestryDNA – they don’t give out kit numbers, but my username is julie52479
Gedmatch – kit #A384941
FTDNA – kit #B29051
eta: As of April 14th I have unlocked all of my matches at FTDNA!
Finding Military Records
In honor of Veterans Day, Fold3 is offering free access to their World War II Collection until November 30th.
A few of the things you could find are
– Missing Air Crew Reports, WWII
– WWII US Air Force Photos
– WWII “Old Man’s Draft” Registration Cards
– WWII War Diaries
You need to sign up for the site, but do not need to be a paying member in order to search these records. They do offer a free 7 day trial, but I would recommend waiting until December to use it since you already get the WWII records free right now. No use using up your free trial on something already free.
Some other places to find military records are…
archives.gov – Historical Documents of Interest to Veterans
accessgenealogy.com – World War II Records
genealogy.com – Researching Through Military Records
Using ancestry.com and familysearch.org I have found WWII Registration Cards for my great-grandfathers (Benjamin L Silverstein and Silas H Waters), 2 great-grand uncle’s (George E Waters and Morris Goodman), my great-grand aunt’s husband (Isaac Chomsky), my 2nd great-grandfather’s (Jay Maynard Cooper and Sam Goodman) and 1st cousin (Mayer Schlar). And though I have not found their registration cards, I know that both my grandfathers (Phillip S Silverstein and James H Waters) also served in WWII.
I’ve also found WWI Registration Cards for my great-grandfathers (Benjamin L Silverstein, Clarence T Simmons and Morris Forman), my great-grand uncle (George E Waters, Morris Goodman and Louis Schlar), my great-grand aunt’s husband (Isaac Chomsky), my 2nd great-grandfather’s (Jay Maynard Cooper), and 1st cousin’s (Mayer Schlar and William Schlar).
For those interested, I have these registration cards added to the Gallery.
Here is there and there is here
This video completely explains why my European Jewish ancestors kept switching around where they were from. Sometimes it was Poland and sometimes it was Russia. After watching this video, no wonder they were confused!