You may not know this but I’m a music junkie – and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new RootsTech Connect song.

Please listen here.

Doesn’t this make you just want to get up and dance? Go right ahead.

I don’t want to “out” anyone who doesn’t wish to be known, but one of the extremely talented RootsTech team members wrote this song! He just might just be the person speaking in this short video! How cool is this!!! Talk about multi-talented. He’s an integral part of the team that brought you RootsTech 2022. It’s young people like this that give me such hope.

RootsTech opened with a message from Steve Rockwood in this video. I think it’s a message we all need to hear. Especially right now.

Steve is always so inspirational. I met Steve in a situation where pretty much everything had gone wrong, years ago, and trust me, he is every bit the man you see in this video. It’s not an act.

I invite you to view the amazing Paula Madison keynote from 2016. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more moving, inspirational, or pronounced example of “connection.”

What are you doing to #ChooseConnection today?

Sessions

The pre-recorded sessions are available now and you can watch at will. There are hundreds to choose from.

There are still issues with the search functions and PlayList, but you will be able to watch at your convenience now or later.

The live sessions are recorded and will be uploaded after the live session. I know the upload goal was an hour or two, but there were technical gremlins that visited my session, and it’s still not uploaded. I’m not sure what will happen, but I’ll record the session for uploading if need be. Don’t worry, you’ll get to see my session eventually if you couldn’t join us live today.

You can join me tomorrow, live at:

• 10 AM EST for Associating Autosomal Segments With Ancestors
• 2 PM EST for What Can I DO With Ancestral Segments?

I’m compiling a list of DNA-related sessions and I’ll publish that as soon as it’s complete, probably near the end of the conference so that I can include links to the live sessions that are being recorded and uploaded later.

MyHeritage Keynote

MyHeritage always has an interesting keynote and announces something big.

This year, they reviewed their accomplishments since RootsTech a year ago before announcing their newest feature. You can watch the keynote, here.

You know, it’s always good to see my friends from around the world, even if it is virtual. We truly are a worldwide family. Here’s hoping that we can see each other later this year, in person, once again.

Aaron Godfrey and Maya Lerner introduced LiveStory.

LiveStory

Deep Nostagia, announced last year at RootsTech has facilitated 65 million photo animations.

Now, MyHeritage has gone even further.

Imagine what it would be like if your ancestor could tell you their own story. Well, now they can, at least somewhat.

MyHeritage introduced LiveStory today. Here’s a demo.

Your ancestor can tell their own story from their photo using the information you’ve uploaded, entered, or saved from documents at MyHeritage. This link should take you to your Livestory page if you’re a MyHeritage user.

I created a LiveStory for my grandfather.

I was curious to see if the “brothel ownership” from the newspaper records at MyHeritage got incorporated into his LifeStory.

Thankfully, no, especially since the OCR newspaper scan misread brother as brothel. Yea, I know, that’s what they all say, right😊. BrotheR. BrotheR. R.

However, even if it had included the brothel, I could have corrected or removed that juicy tidbit.

You can customize information, select voices and languages as well. My great-grandfather was born in the Netherlands, so maybe I’ll try this with him and “hear” him speak in Dutch. That would be very interesting. For that matter, my maternal great-great-grandparents were born in Germany, so I could select German for them.

This blog article tells you everything you need to know and leads you through the process.

My recommendation is to select someone as an experiment who you did NOT know in real life. If you enjoy that experience, then move on to people you knew.

I’m hopeful that family members will upload photos of my ancestors that I don’t know exist – and LifeStory is a wonderful incentive to do just that.

Date Estimator for Historical Photos

MyHeritage announced that they will be adding a date estimator for historical photos.

I NEED THIS!!!

Do you have photos that you could better utilize if you only knew when they were taken? For example, you know that one candidate person was living elsewhere, or had passed away by a specific date, so if you just knew when the photo was taken, it would provide a HUGE clue about that person’s identity.

I certainly have some of those. Like this one, for example. Is this Barbara Drechsel (1848-1930)? Could it be someone else? When was it taken?

I can’t wait to try this out as soon as it’s available.

Found Families

Some of the most heartwarming stories are the found families. Just get the Kleenex before you watch this keynote that includes two of these incredible stories.

It’s all the feels.

This reminds me so much of when I found my brother, Dave, and then his sisters after Dave had passed.

Day 2 at RootsTech

Tomorrow is Day 2 of 3. Are you ready with your agenda?

What did you watch today that you enjoyed and would recommend for others?

How are you connecting?

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DNA Purchases and Free Uploads

• FamilyTreeDNA – Y, mitochondrial and autosomal DNA testing
• MyHeritage DNA – Autosomal DNA test
• MyHeritage FREE DNA file upload – Upload your DNA file from other vendors free
• AncestryDNA – Autosomal DNA test
• 23andMe Ancestry – Autosomal DNA only, no Health
• 23andMe Ancestry Plus Health

Genealogy Products and Services

• MyHeritage FREE Tree Builder – Genealogy software for your computer
• MyHeritage Subscription with Free Trial
• Legacy Family Tree Webinars – Genealogy and DNA classes, subscription-based, some free
• Legacy Family Tree Software – Genealogy software for your computer
• Newspapers.com – Search newspapers for your ancestors
• NewspaperArchive – Search different newspapers for your ancestors

My Book

• DNA for Native American Genealogy – by Roberta Estes, for those ordering within the United States
• DNA for Native American Genealogy – for those ordering outside the US

Genealogy Books

• Genealogical.com – Lots of wonderful genealogy research books

Genealogy Research

• Legacy Tree Genealogists – Professional genealogy research