Wonderful announcements from RootsTech 2019

Steve Rockwood at the Opening Session

RootsTech often brings exciting new announcements, and this year is no different, except there seem to be more than usual. 

First, there two announcements concerning DNA. MyHeritage announced that it is offerning "The Theory of Family Relativity".  This combines paper trails (your genealogical heritage) with DNA (your genetic heritage) and uses graph theory (don't worry – I don't understand that either) to tell you the most likely way you and your matches are connected. And sometimes it gives potential alternative match scenarios. It makes use of the trees on MyHeritage, Geni and FamilySearch. It's a much easier way to find how your DNA matches are connected to you because it can now give you a visual connection that looks rather like the Ancestry shared matches used to to see how you connect to your DNA match. Sometimes. I found one case where it connected me to an incorrect parent for my ancestor, but the rest were very helpful.

Ancestry has also introduced "ThruLines", which are designed to suggest possible ancestors, and link to all people who have that DNA match where applicable. It is only available in beta at the moment to people who meet certain criteria (like searchable trees and having DNA matches). They have also introduced "MyTreeTags", allowing you to add tags to people in your tree. Those can be predefined tags, like "Direct Ancestor", "DNA match" or one of the other 18 tags, or you can create your own. There is also another new feature allowing you to more easily sort, group, and view your DNA matches in any way you'd like. Both of these latter two offerings are also in beta.

The power in these new offerings from MyHeritage and Ancestry is in the massive size of the trees these companies have. I'm sure more will come out about these functions as people have had a chance to play with them.

Tamsin Todd, Findmypast CEO

Findmypast was not to be left out. They made a very exciting announcement. The good news is that they have been granted an exclusive contract to digitize the 1921 census and make it available online. The bad news is that we won't be able to see it until January 2022 due to the legislated closure period.  The other good news – once we can get access to it – is that it contains more information than the 1911 census. Householders had to reveal their place of employment, the industry they worked in and the materials they worked with as well as their employer’s name. Those aged 15 and older were required to provide information about their marital status, including if divorced, while for those under 15 the census recorded whether both parents were alive or if either or both had died. I can't wait, as I need this to try to solve a particular mystery.

Findmypast also announced the addition of further catholic records to their collection, some from Liverpool and others from various parts of America. And they didn't miss the chance to reiterate their recently announced partnership with Rootsfinder, and their partnership with Living DNA, which will in future help build the kind of trees Ancestry and MyHeritage announced today.

FamilySearch had an announcement too: they are giving two million dollars to the International African American Museum. This museum is located in Charleston, on the spot where nearly half of all enslaved Africans arrived in America. FamilySearch's donation will help support the museum's Centre for Family History, and this donation will help.

Martin Luther King III

Much of the Opening Session was a tribute to the fact that this August marks the 400^th anniversary of the first slaves from Africa arriving in America.  And there was a very special guest: Martin Luther King III, the son of Martin Luther King Jr, who was assassinated in 1968. He talked about his father's vision of complete integration, not just desegregation. The end result, he felt, would be reconciliation.  This would allow everyone to Connect & Belong.

RootsTech starts on Wednesday!

Wednesday, US time, will herald the start of RootsTech 2019.  I will not be able to attend this year, so I will be watching some of the sessions live streamed from my home in Sydney. Luckily the changes to the times that the Keynotes are being held will make it far more reasonable for me to watch in my time zone.

The Wednesday General Session and Opening Event, with Steve Rockwood, CEO of FamilySearch International, will be 4.30pm in Salt Lake City, which is a very civilized 10.30am in Sydney.

The Thursday, Friday and Saturday sessions will be held at 11am in Salt Lake City, which is at the less civilized - but still possible - time of 5am in Sydney. I am particularly looking forward to watching Saroo Brierley from Australia on Friday. I am not a morning person, but will make every effort to struggle out of bed to watch.  At least I watch it all in my PJs.

The full live-streaming schedule is available here.

I have also signed up for the Virtual RootsTech, which will let me see another 18 sessions at a later time, again from home.



Even though I am not there in person this year, I am still very excited!

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New Virtual Pass for RootsTech

There is an exciting new development for this year's RootsTech conference, which will be a real bonus for those who can't attend the conference in person (as well as for those who are attending).  You will now be able to purchase a virtual pass which will give you one year's access to recordings of 18 of the talks. This is in addition to the live streamed sessions, which as well as being able to be viewed live, will be online for free, as they have been in past years.  The Virtual pass will cost $US129 for those who aren't attending RootsTech, and only $US79 as an add-on for those who are attending. The sessions can be viewed on your desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone. 

The complete list of the 18 talks is online here (and one of them relates to my passion, which is medieval English genealogy & history), and the list of the live-streamed sessions is online here.

Why not register for these sessions?

Less than 40 days til RootsTech 2019!

It is now less than 40 days til RootsTech 2019!  Whether you are a first timer, or a seasoned attendee, you will have a fantastic experience if you attend. And there are many reasons you should attend.

The RootsTech Expo Hall

Firstly, the classes. There are over 300 classes (labs and lectures), and they cover a variety of topics, so there will be something for everyone, not just those with American Ancestry. DNA will feature heavily in the class schedule, as it has become so popular.

The main hall, waiting for the Keynotes

Then there is the Expo hall. This is always a highlight for me, as I love the opportunity to speak to the big vendors and to see any new and upcoming ones.  This year there will be close to 200 exhibitors, so it's a great way to keep up with new developments in the industry.

Another draw-card are the Keynote speakers. They are always interesting, and this year looks to be no different.  Thursday's Keynote will be actress PatriciaHeaton from Everybody Loves Raymond and The Middle. Friday's Keynote is Saroo Brierley, who was separated from his family when he was five and eventually adopted by a family from Tasmania. His story was told in the movie Lion.

Then Jake Shimabukuro from Hawaii, who is a master of the Ukulele, will feature on the Saturday. But before you turn up your nose at this, thinking that the ukulele is a bit twee and amateurish and brings back memories of George Formby, you should look at some of his YouTube videos. This is his version of George Harrison's WhileMy Guitar Gently Weeps and a classical style piece called Dragon and the ever-popular Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

Me (far left), waiting for a Keynote speaker in 2018

Last year the "Relatives at RootsTech" part of the FamilySearch Family Tree app was a lot of fun. It is based on the giant family tree hosted by FamilySearch, and highlights other people who are at RootsTech who are related to you.  This year's version has some improvements, detailed here.

There is a lot of useful information in the Road to RootsTech videos, and a very useful blog post about what to wear and what to bring to RootsTech.

Register before Jan 25 to talk advantage of special price of $209.

But if you can't attend in person, details of the live streaming schedule are available here.

A Fabulous Find on Trove

I was looking at Trove recently, and had finished the search I was doing and decided to search to see if I could find an announcement of the wedding of my grandparents, William Spiller and Dorothy Highett. I think I'd searched for it before, but I just entered two words: the two surnames "spiller" and "highett" without the quotation marks. I was hoping to find one of those little notices in the births, deaths and marriages section, but I got much more than I could have dreamt of.

The first article I found in the Prahran Telegraph, 11 Nov 1927, was a full description of the wedding and the clothes worn by the bride, bridesmaids, and others.

MR. W. SPILLER TO MISS DOROTHY V. HIGHETT.
 A pretty wedding was celebrated on October 10 at the Presbyterian Church, Wattletree road, Malvern, when Dorothy Viola Highett, grand-daughter of Mrs. A. F. Alway, of Dixon street, Malvern, became the wife of William Spiller, youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Spiller, of Wattletree road, East Malvern.
 The bride, who was given away by her grandfather, Mr. Fiddes, looked charming in a frock of palest pink georgette heavily embroidered with crystal and showing an uneven hem line. Silver lace caught with orange blossom secured her pale pink tulle veil, and she carried a shower bouquet of pink roses and lily of the valley.
 Misses Nance Green and Vi MacDonald, as bridesmaids, wore dainty pale pink, georgette frocks under silver lace coats, and their shower bouquets were of pink roses and delphiniums. Mr. K. Cummins was best man, and Mr. D. Robinson groomsman.
 The reception was held at 9 Darling street, South Yarra, and was followed by dancing. The bride's grandmother wore a black georgette frock trimmed with goffered frills, and carried a posy of dark red roses. The bridegroom's mother wore black georgette, the panels embroidered with mauve beads, and pansies formed her posy. Mr. and Mrs. W. Spiller will reside in Sydney.

The next article I found was from Table Talk, 2 Nov 1927. It carried the same text, but included a photograph! This was a particularly important find as my grandparents had accidentally thrown out their wedding photos during one of their house moves, so I had never seen any.

It may be just a grainy photo from a newspaper, but it is invaluable to me.

It illustrates perfectly that even if you have already searched Trove for something, you should keep searching, as new publications are added all the time.

Win a free Registration for RootsTech 2019

UPDATE: The winner of the free pass to RootsTech 2019 is Charlene Ferris!
The correct answers were counted and the winning entry chosen by a random number generator (Random.org)

Registration is now open for RootsTech 2019, which will take place in Salt Lake City from 27 February to 2 March.

RootsTech is always a wonderful experience, and here are nine reasons to attend and another five reasons to attend. You may have heard a bit of negative feedback about this year's conference, but the good news is that the organizers also heard that feedback and are making changes accordingly. The first episode of the Road to RootsTech details some of these changes in response to the feedback. Do keep an eye on this series, as new videos will be added every few weeks.

So don't let anything you heard about this year stop you from enjoying the experience in 2019! Register before 25 January to get the special price of $209.

As a RootsTech Ambassador, I get to give away a free pass 4-day pass for RootsTech 2019, valued at $299. If you win and have already registered for the conference, your registration fee will be refunded.

The pass gives access to

• Over 300 classes
• Keynote / General sessions
• Expo hall
• Evening events

This 4-Day Pass DOES NOT include airfare, hotel or the coverage of any other expenses like paid lunches or paid labs.

In order to go into the draw to win you must send an email to jennyjresearch@gmail.com with the answer to the question below:

Who am I?

1.    I was born in 1922 in Grand Rapids, Minnesota.

2.    My show biz career started which I was a child, appearing in vaudeville, and aged 13 I got a movie contract with MGM.

3.    A remake of one of my critically acclaimed movies has just been released.

4.    One of my daughters married Peter Allen.

5.    I starred in the first ever colour movie.

6.    I died age 47

**Please don't enter if you do not intend to attend the conference

All correct entries received by the closing date of 12 noon, Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on Sunday 11^th of November, will go into a draw and one lucky person will win the RootsTech pass.

The winner will be notified by email by Wednesday 14^th of November at the latest. One entry per person.

Time to Plan for RootsTech 2019

The next RootsTech conference is taking place from 27 February to 2 March 2019, so it will be here before you know it. Now is the time to start thinking about your accommodation.

Four Salt Lake City Hotels are now taking reservations at special conference rates. The hotels are

• Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek
• Radisson Hotel Salt Lake City Downtown
• Hilton Salt Lake City Center
• The Salt Lake Plaza Hotel

More details about them are available here. 

Discounted rooms in these hotels usually fill up very fast, so act now. There are, of course, other accommodation options in Salt Lake City, and the Salt Palace Convention Centre is located fairly close to a TRAX stop (called trains by the locals, but more like trams to me).

The conference organizers are always seeking ways to improve the experience, and are making some changes based on feedback from last year. Details of "What's New at RootsTech 2019" are available here.

Although I will not be able to attend next year's conference, I have been to four of them and I highly recommend them. RootsTech is a fantastic experience for every genealogist.