VGS News & Events: February 2 through February 8, 2020

Coming Events:

Monday: February 3, 2020
Jewish Genealogy SIG Meeting:
10:00 AM in the MacArthur Room at the Eisenhower Recreation Center

Monday: February 3, 2020
Roots Magic SIG Meeting:
2:30 PM in the New Smyrna Room at the Recreation Center

Tuesday: February 4, 2020

Adoption & Mystery KIN SIG Meeting

9:00 AM in the Tea Room at the Colony Recreation Center

Wednesday: February 5, 2020

French Canadian Genealogy SIG Meeting:

9:00 AM in the Julio Iglesias Room at the La Hacienda Recreation Center

Thursday: February 6, 2020

Eastern European Genealogy SIG Meeting:

1:00 PM in the Daytona Room at the Sea Breeze Recreation Center

Friday: February 7, 2020

British Genealogy SIG Meeting

9:30 AM in the Courageous Room at the Lake Miona Recreation Center

Saturday: February 8, 2020

African American SIG Meeting

2:30 PM in the Jasmine Room at the Hibiscus Recreation Center

Gen News and Announcements:

Our Annual Seminar: Have you registered?

VGS

Blaine Bettinger, Ph.D., J.D., is a professional genealogist specializing in DNA evidence. He is the author of the long-running blog The Genetic Genealogist, and frequently gives presentations and webinars to educate others about the use of DNA to explore their ancestry.  He will be our guest speaker for our Annual Seminar on February 19, 2020.

Download more details here..

Double Dating:

Legacy Family Tree
"In a nutshell, we changed from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar in 1582 but it wasn't officially adopted by England (and its colonies) until 1752. The problem with this is the Julian Calendar used March 25th as the first day of the year and the Gregorian Calendar uses January 1st."
Continue reading...

New Free Historical Records on FamilySearch: Week of 27 January 2020

Family Search
"Over 3.9M records from North Carolina marriages, deaths and burials (1759-1994), 1M Massachusetts marriage records, (1695-1910) and 1.9M New Jersey birth, marriage, and naturalization records were added to FamilySearch.org this week. More records were added from American Samoa, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, England, Guatemala, Iceland, Peru, Puerto Rico, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the United States."
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3 Things to Know About Ancestry’s Hints:

Amy Johnson Crow
"Ancestry’s hints — those shaky leaves that pop up — can be useful to our genealogy research. However, there are some limits to them that can really trip up researchers. Here’s what you need to know to avoid the pitfalls of Ancestry’s hints."
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23andMe is Reducing Staff:

ZDNet
"23andMe is reducing staff numbers by roughly 100 people, or 14 percent of its overall workforce, with its CEO citing privacy concerns as a potential reason for declining sales. "
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Proposed Bill Would Keep Law Enforcement From Probing DNA Data:

The Daily Universe
"A West Valley City Republican is a filing a bill in the 2020 Legislature that will prevent police from accessing at-home DNA tests to perform familial DNA searches."
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Technology:

Ring Cameras Have a Security Problem, and It’s up to the Company to Fix It:

How-To Geek
"Recently, several reports have described disturbing instances of bad actors taking controls of Ring security cameras and harassing the owners. Ring denies any security breach and blames the users for reusing passwords. While that may be true, Ring can and should do more to prevent this from happening."
Continue reading...

Education:

Do You Have Any Shaker Ancestors? Here’s How to Trace Them:

Ancestral Findings
"Do you have Shakers in your family tree? What are the Shakers in the first place? Join me today as we about this unique religious sect and how to find information on any ancestors you had who were part of it."
Listen now...   8.14 minutes

Webinars:

Organizing Your DNA Results (updated!)

Legacy Family Tree
"Now that you have pages of matches and gobs of new information, how do you keep track of it all? We will spend time going over how to create and track correspondence, organization tools within each testing company, as well as strategies for tracking the genealogy information of your matches, including surnames, locations, and genetic relationships. You are bound to walk out of this lecture with a game plan that you can implement right away."
Tuesday, February 4, 2019 at 8:00 p.m. Eastern
Presenter: Diahan Southard
Learn more or Register for this webinar...

Developing a DNA Testing Plan: A Guide For Beginners:

Legacy Family Tree
"You might already create research plans for major projects or repository visits. Plans are also valuable when applying DNA testing to your family history research. This talk answers questions such as:  What is DNA and why should I test it? Which test should I use? Where should I get my test? Who else should I test? Don't hesitate any longer to add this invaluable tool to your genealogy toolbox!"
Wednesday, February 5, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern
Presenter: Debra Renard
Learn more or Register for this webinar...