Hi, Reader, Most genealogists eventually end up with more than one subscription. Sometimes it is by accident, and sometimes it is out of frustration. The question is whether it's actually helping your research or just adding to your monthly expenses. Ancestry and MyHeritage both have billions of records. But the difference isn't the number — it's the collections and how they're indexed. I use them differently depending on what I'm trying to solve, and there are specific situations where...

Hi, Reader, There’s a genealogy skill that I don’t see talked about very often. It’s not finding records or learning about new databases. It’s not even about organizing your files. It’s observation. It's stepping back from your research to look at it through a different lens. The past couple of months, I’ve been revisiting one of my own brick wall ancestors - King Elliott. (That really is his name!) I've not made progress on this line for years until now. I expect you have a family line or...

Hi, Reader, Quick genealogy heads-up. The MyHeritage discount I mentioned earlier this week was supposed to end today but they’ve extended it one more day. If you have been thinking about trying MyHeritage, you now have until Thursday, March 12 to use the 50% off Complete Plan offer. One thing that caught my attention at RootsTech is MyHeritage’s new AI transcription tool (Scribe AI). It transcribes and translates handwritten records, documents and photos. My research has stalled more than...