Recent "Whoohoo!" Moments

Rootsquad RoundUp Genealogy Fun New Stuff

WHOOHOO! #1: FamilyTreeDNA collabs with WikiTree

This is another game-changer in cross-over data sharing to help us break down long-standing brick walls. FINALLY, the BigName companies are deciding to work together for our common research good, instead of in competition. Here is latest the wonderful announcement with so much information and step by step instructions on how to set it all up: FamilyTreeDNA blog post I would love to hear any success stories when you start using this!!

Here’s another GREAT post about it from Roberta Estes: DNAeXplained blog post. I could spend days reading her writing. It is now time that I dig deep into using WikiTree and link up all my DNA so that more cousins can find me (and vice versa!)

WHOOHOO! #2: New Research Collection and Another Great Collab!

This was my next big “WHOOHOO” this week - gotta love a new free resource!!! FamilySearch published a news release detailing being part of an expansion of Michigan State University’s online collection: Enslaved: Peoples of the Historical Slave Trade (Enslaved.org), a free resource that collaborates with tools from the BYU Record Linking Lab (rll.byu.edu) to combine machine learning and family history to link families and individuals across historical records. Using the 1900 census data’s potential to identify about 2 million people named who were born before emancipation, and their links to records in the FamilySearch Family Tree. This new dataset, along with record linking, may help descendants and researchers with the exceptional challenges of tracing people from the era of enslavement to the forward generations. Read the press release here

WHOOHOO! #3: How Every New Genealogist Should Start

I often get to help NewGeneas get started. The first thing I tell them is start with your living peeps, but in this article from Marc McDemott at GenealogyExplained.com, he writes it with much better precision and uses a true blend of common sense and urgency. I enjoyed his phrasing and the entire article here: GenealogyExplained.com blog post

WHOHOO! #4: New AI Perspective and a New Project!

I have to admit, I haven’t been using AI much in helping with my genealogy or my writing. I’ve watched the webinars, read the posts and tried out a few things, but just like hiring a live assistant, what I’ve found so far is that it takes me more time to figure out what I want it to do for me than to just do it myself. This post from Denise Allen spoke right to my problem this week, and gave me a good solid suggestion or two on what to do differently. I never thought of asking it to ask me questions to help me figure out a task! Click here to read the post: A Good Denise Allen Chronicle Makers post. She also has a Chronicle Lab cohort that looks interesting and fun. Check it out.

Also this week, I finally got a chance to try out the technique

Randy Seaver

uses for his ABC Ancestor Bios, from this Projectkin Live a few weeks ago with

Barbara at Projectkin

. And I followed his tip to use AI to make a coloring page out of a family photo. Next project: “An ancestor photo and recipe coloring book to hand out at the Ogle family reunion”. Stay tuned!

WHOOHOO! #5: A New Form of CousinBait: Be Gentle

There have been some amazing posts from Genealogy Just Ask - Robin in the past few weeks. I could not figure out how to link any of them, but she does some amazing writing work for genealogists. Check out her Substack page, subscribe and learn lots!

I really loved her points and steps, and her wording for opening phrases. It is so important to foster a sense of collaboration with other researchers. I try hard to remember, everyone is doing the best they can to research and document the family history, and these are not just your ancestors, they belong to a great many others as well. I have been on the receiving end of both painful and grace-filled conversations regarding my own mistakes, especially when I was a little NewGenea, and it makes the world of difference when a mentor takes the time to be gentle. Robin uses the phrase, “Inviting dialogue”. A very good point.

My Personal Research Whoohoo! #5: Planting Alfred Granath in Galena, Kansas

In my search to document my Swedish immigrant great-grandfather Alfred Granath and create a life journey timeline, this popped up in a newly digitized collection this week. Family story reports that his oldest son, Oscar Theodore, was born in Galena, Kansas in July 1879. I found the article below that says Alfred had a letter waiting to be picked up in August 1877. This doesn’t prove anything, except that someone thought Alfred was there and wrote him a letter, but I am thrilled to see his name in print, advertised 8 August 1877. Hmmm. Does this qualify as proof of a Residence Fact? Also, my mind wanders to “Who wrote him a letter?” and “What did they write?” and “Man, I wish that letter had survived somewhere!”

Galena Miner (Galena, Kansas), 11 August 1877, page 3. Accessed 6/25/2025, via newspapers.com.

This Week’s Take-away:

There are an amazing number of fabulous folks out there scanning and posting new materials every day, creating new collabs and processes, offering learning opportunities and writing wonderful tips, stories and fun.

Keep learning and keep havin’ fun roundin’ up your ancestors!