family history

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Genealogy through genetics:

To the delight of genealogy buffs like me, scientists recently announced in the journal Nature that they can trace European ancestry to within 192 miles by analyzing tiny inherited markers in DNA. That means someday we’ll need look no further than our own genes to locate our motherlands.

[via Instapundit]

I’ve been hearing about the new FamilySearch as it has been gradually rolled out by temple districts but was never familiar enough to understand the changes. Hieing to Kolob gives a nice and simple intro for family history novices like me.

New familysearch is set up like a wiki, and you can combine the names which have been duplicated, find people who will share information, and share your own research. If someone has submitted information you disagree with, there is a place to dispute their findings.

It sounds like a vast improvement and it’s exciting that it will finally be accessible for everyone, including Mac users.

Vatican blocks Mormon access to records:

In an effort to block posthumous rebaptisms by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Catholic dioceses throughout the world have been directed by the Vatican not to give information in parish registers to the Mormons’ Genealogical Society of Utah . . .

The letter is dated 10 days before Pope Benedict XVI’s April 15-20 U.S. visit, during which he presided over an ecumenical prayer service attended by two Mormon leaders. It marked the first time Mormons had participated in a papal prayer service.

Effectively, this may not be anything new, but it is curious why now and why the LDS Church is the focus of the directive.

Msgr. J. Terrence Fitzgerald — vicar general of the Diocese of Salt Lake City — said he didn’t understand why the Latter-day Saints church was singled out in this latest Vatican policy regarding parish records.

“We have a policy not to give out baptismal records to anyone unless they are entitled to have them,” Msgr. Fitzgerald said of his diocese. “That isn’t just for the Church of the Latter-day Saints [sic]. That is for all groups.

[Via Mormonism News.]

I realize that many have problems with the Church’s genealogical records for Jewish ancestors, but there’s a plus to it as well.

We were having trouble finding information about my grandparents who were killed in the Holocaust.

But that’s when Elder Christofferson and his team at the LDS Family History Library came to our rescue.

PAF is dead! LDS Tech: Official statement on the future of Personal Ancestral File (PAF)

FamilySearch has been developing a web-based genealogy system that will allow the general public to create, search, manage, and share their family histories completely online. This online system will also replace TempleReady, a software program used exclusively by Latter-day Saints to prepare records for temple ordinances. The first phase of the new system (referred to as New.FamilySearch) is being rolled out to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Once the system is complete, it will be available for free to the general public and in multiple languages.

Now Mac users can finally do their family history at home.