Our Stories: Hidden families and an opera singer
We never know what our unique family histories may reveal, and MyHeritage member Kathleen Whitfield, 60, of the UK, is no exception.
Her childhood was spent in the UK with her parents and older brother, who lived some 250 miles from any blood relatives. Neither of the siblings ever met their father’s family or had any living grandparents they knew about.
Although they occasionally visited their mother’s sister and family in Lancashire and another sister in London, the only details they were told about their father’s family was that his Irish father was an opera singer, their father was born in London, that he had siblings, but he had lost contact with his family. Kathleen was told she was named for her father’s mother. Further, she discovered that her paternal grandmother was really Kate Constance, not Kathleen!
William C. Green, Kathleen’s paternal grandfather (Courtesy Photo)
Kathleen got “into” family history because her husband’s niece conducted fascinating research into his family. Continue reading "Our Stories: Hidden families and an opera singer" »
MyHeritage in 40 languages: Thank you to our translators
MyHeritage knows the importance of connecting family around the globe, no matter the language. We are proud to be a worldwide family network available in 40 languages.
Do you know that to provide our members with all these languages, we have a dedicated group of volunteers?
With this team, most of the language translations are complete.
We want to thank all our hard-working volunteers for their assistance in translating for our web, software and FAQ guides:
Continue reading "MyHeritage in 40 languages: Thank you to our translators" »
Competition: The oldest wedding photo, Part 2
Thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s oldest wedding photo competition. All the entries were fantastic and captured the beauty and significance of the person’s special day. The oldest entry was from 1846!
With over 40 photos received, participation was above our expectations. It was great to see the lives of your families and the rich history brought to life with the stories that accompanied them.
We've selected the top 10 photos and want you to vote for the final winner. Below you can see the top 10 photos in no particular order: Continue reading "Competition: The oldest wedding photo, Part 2" »
Family Heritage: Not just chicken soup!
Many of our female ancestors were healers or midwives.
In the old days, when doctors were few and far between in rural areas, women with knowledge of medicinal herbs, of healing the sick and of midwifery were important community members.
In the American Southwest, among the old Hispanic families, there are many documented curanderas (healers). The older generations still tend gardens of special medicinal herbs and are the keepers, preservers and transmitters of generations of remedies.
In some countries, foods are classified as hot or cold in nature. People with certain ailments are told to eat one and not the other or vice versa. It is something a person is brought up with and never disregarded. Those who have not been raised with this system generally find "the rules" somewhat strange.
So do these remedies really work, or do we just believe that they work because that’s what we’ve been told since we were little children? In any case, this is part of our family history, of our heritage, and the details should be preserved.
Continue reading "Family Heritage: Not just chicken soup!" »
New Release: Family Tree Builder 7.0
We're pleased to announce the release of MyHeritage Family Tree Builder 7.0 - the latest version of the world’s most popular free genealogy software - which combines innovative technologies with easy-to-use features.
Used by millions of people worldwide, Family Tree Builder lets you build your family tree and enhance it with photos, historical records and more. The latest version, 7.0, is packed with exciting new features and improvements.
Download Family Tree Builder 7.0 for free now
We've been working hard for more than a year to enhance Family Tree Builder to make documenting and sharing your family history even easier. We're taken the time to ensure this release is as robust as possible and have just completed a successful two-month beta program with some of our power users. Enthusiastic feedback from the first users to use version 7.0 indicates that this is the best version we've ever released.
The new version now syncs your entire family history in both directions between your computer and your family site on MyHeritage, as well as smart phones and tablets, and opens new channels for discovering relatives and billions of historical records with our advanced matching technologies. This means you can now access your family tree securely not just from your computer but also from your online family site, smart phone or tablet device, and even grow the tree and add more information and photos to it, any time and anywhere. All additions and changes will sync back to your Family Tree Builder software on your computer. Continue reading "New Release: Family Tree Builder 7.0" »
Competition: The oldest wedding photo?
Springtime is here and the wedding season is near.
Wedding photos preserve your unique family legacy and document memories in your family history research.
We want to know the stories behind your ancestors' wedding photos.
In February, our colleague Justyna received a stunning 1932 wedding photograph via the MyHeritage Polish Facebook page, from a member.
Wedding Photo 1932
With that photo’s popularity, we wanted to see more of our members' family memories.
What's your oldest wedding photo of an ancestor?
Share your photos of your ancestors' weddings, a brief description of the people, and the date and place where they were married.
The oldest photos - with the most interesting stories - will be posted on our blog and our Facebook page. Readers will decide the winner.
One lucky winner will receive a one-year Premium subscription and a one-year data subscription.
Send photos by April 22 (with description, date and place) with the subject "Wedding Competition" to stories@myheritage.com.
Good luck!
Note: Do not send photos not your own or those for which you do not have permission to use. MyHeritage is not responsible for photos that may be transferred without the consent of the family. The competition is open to registered users at MyHeritage. Don’t have an account yet? Start your free digital family tree today at www.myheritage.com.
National Siblings Day: Honoring brothers and sisters
When looking at family history, we often first look at who we descend from, our parents, our grandparents and their parents.
Yet some of the most important people who shape our lives are those with whom we grow up every day.
Today, April 10, is National Siblings Day. It celebrates the impact our brothers and sisters had or have on us and how much we appreciate them.
The day was founded by Claudia A. Evart through a non-profit charity, Siblings Day Foundation, in 1998, to honor the memory of her late sister and brother who died in accidents at an early age.
Siblings are our closest family members, other than our parents, with whom we grew up with every day; the bonds we share with them last forever.
Continue reading "National Siblings Day: Honoring brothers and sisters" »
MyHeritage: Australia’s ‘Shake Your Family Tree 2013′
MyHeritage is proud to be the official sponsor of Shake Your Family Tree 2013, presented by the National Archives of Australia.
Set for Tuesday, April 16, from 9.30am to 4pm, the event is taking place at local National Archives offices in Australia's state capitals.
Shake Your Family Tree, the annual family history day, includes a full day of activities to help you get started in your family history research, and celebrate your family heritage.
Many Australians are descendants of immigrants, and this year's theme is immigration. Australians can research records at events held at various state offices to learn their family’s story of arriving and settling in Australia.
Attendees will be able to speak to experts and participate in sessions with guest speakers and panels; resource advice will be available to help discover your ancestral background.
For our Australian MyHeritage users, this is a great day to discover tips for family history research and find records for your ancestors.
Continue reading "MyHeritage: Australia’s ‘Shake Your Family Tree 2013′" »
Heritage Hunt: The results
MyHeritage got into the Spring spirit last week with our own “Heritage Hunt,” an online scavenger hunt through our record collections.
We asked you to identify three people - using our online digital archive, SuperSearch - and find their records and details.
Here are the answers: Continue reading "Heritage Hunt: The results" »
MyHeritage: Making family history research easy!
Want to know all about how MyHeritage can help with your family history research?
MyHeritage makes it easy to discover your family heritage with our many features. Start building your family tree, research your family history, and discover relatives and ancestors with our sophisticated technologies such as Smart Matching™ and Record Matching.
Available in 40 languages, MyHeritage is the largest family history network with over 4 billion records and 1.5 billion profiles. Our online digital archive, SuperSearch, allows you to access billions of historical records and millions of public family trees and newspaper articles.
With all these great features to ease your family history research, we summed it all up in a video (below) showcased in March at our keynote speech during the RootsTech 2013 conference.
We hope you enjoy the video and begin today to discover your family history.
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