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Forensic Genealogy

One of the areas that Rootstech could improve on is more books. I love buying books about my work and I’m always trying to build my reference library further. This year saw the release of a new book written by Michael S. Ramage & Catherine Becker Wiest Desmarais (amongst others) and published by the National…

Context is key

As an Irish genealogist, I spend a lot of time explaining context. This comes in many forms. In reports, I have paragraphs to help clients understand different sources like Griffith’s Valuation or the Tithe Applotment books. I contextualise census material by explaining that the building a family lived in housed other families in a number…

Is this the end of 23andMe?

As reported by various media outlets today, 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy protection in the USA. Anne Wojcicki has stepped down as CEO but is staying on the board. They’ve also published an open letter to their customers. The current intention is to sell the company. There’s a lot of discussion on social media about…

Review of Rootstech 2025

Well, last week was a whirlwind. I flew to Salt Lake City on Tuesday, arriving mid-evening. Wednesday saw me catching up with various friends new & old, doing a tech-check and attending the speakers dinner, followed by fun with DNA friends. Far too much fun for photos but you know who you are! Thursday we…

The Quest for Annie Moore

As a young genealogist, Megan Smolenyak was one of the first “famous” genealogists I ever heard of. She was involved with the discovery of former US President Barack Obama’s Irish ancestry (now commemorated in that most Irish of ways by a motorway service station!) and the discovery of the real identity of Annie Moore, the…

Rootstech

Secondly, it’s almost time for Rootstech again: the biggest genealogical conference in the world. It takes place in Salt Lake City on 6-8 March and has both in-person and online content available. I’m delighted to be attending for the second time. If you’re not already booked to attend either in-person or virutally, there’s still time. Here’s a…