Interview Series: Kay Radford, Research Centre Manager Central Coast Family History Society Inc
The Central Coast of NSW stretches from the Hawkesbury River north of Sydney, Australia. It is an area with a history of shipbuilding and early settlement and most popular for its orange orchards in the past.
In this interview we meet with Kay Radford, Research Centre Manager and Vice President of the Central Coast Family History Society Inc.
Tell us a bit about yourself Kay - how you got into family history research, why you are so heavily involved with it now etc.
Interview Series: Anne Major, Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies
The Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies (AIGS) is one of Australia's longest running and largest genealogical organisations. AIGS is based in Blackburn, in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria.
This interview is with Anne Major from AGIS.
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Hi Anne. Can you tell us a bit about yourself - how you got into family history research, why you are so heavily involved with it now etc.
Continue reading "Interview Series: Anne Major, Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies" »
Grandson’s namesake sparks family history quest…Scott’s story
Scott has been with MyHeritage.com now for quite a few years. In researching his family history, he has come across a number of amazing stories. His genealogy blog "Onward to Our Past" is focused on Bohemia, the Czech community of Cleveland, Cornwall in the UK, Italy and Italian immigration. He shares a few of his stories with us here.
The author with his grandsons. Bottom fellow is he who started it all, William.
I am Scott Phillips, an avid genealogist and family historian. I have always been interested in my family roots and ties since childhood. I have wonderful memories of gathering with my extended family and trying to understand the differences between my Cornish-rooted family and my Bohemian family members. Always wondered why I love eating pasty and Knedliky so much! Of course, living with my grandmother who often spoke Czech helped a lot to instill in me a wonder for where we all came from.
About two years ago my son came to my wife and me and informed us that we were going to be grandparents again. The icing on this cake was that if it was a boy, he and his wife had decided to name him William after my father. Since my father had passed away the year before, I decided to ‘just write a couple paragraphs’ about my new grandson’s namesake for him. Little did I know how badly the genealogy bug would grab a hold of me! As I have seen written and is certainly true of me: “I used to have a life, then I discovered genealogy”.
Continue reading "Grandson’s namesake sparks family history quest…Scott’s story" »
Interview Series: Jan Koperberg, President of the Blue Mountains Family History Society
The Blue Mountains is a mountainous region just to the west of Sydney, Australia. It is an area that has a rich history and tradition , not only for European settlers but also for the Aboriginal people that have inhabited the area for millennia.
In this interview we meet with Jan Koperberg, the president of the Blue Mountains Family History Society (BMFHS).
Tell us a bit about yourself Jan - how you got into family history research, why you are so heavily involved with it now etc.
Interview Series: MyHeritage Talks to Mark Pearsall from The National Archives, UK
This week we spoke to Mark Pearsall, Principal Records Specialist for Family History at the UK’s National Archives, and author of The Family History Companion, as well as several family history articles.
The National Archives store historical documents for the UK going back 1,000 years, and have a lot to offer the family historian with roots in the UK. Mark talked to us about the archives, as well as about family history more broadly.
MH: A lot of people talk about the growing popularity of family history over recent years. Is that something you’ve noticed at The National Archives?
MP: Oh yes, very much so. I’ve worked at The National Archives for over 20 years, and family history has always played a large part in our work, but the number of family historians coming in has steadily gone up.
The numbers rose in the 1990s, and went sky high in the early years of the 20th Century, mainly because more and more records are accessible now than there were 20 years ago. More and more records have been indexed, digitized and made available online, and it’s much easier now for people to start for that reason. Years ago you sometimes had to take time off work, you had to be prepared to go into records offices and spend days ploughing through records trying to find information. It’s now much quicker to actually get the basics and get started, so it’s much more popular, and much easier to do.
Continue reading "Interview Series: MyHeritage Talks to Mark Pearsall from The National Archives, UK" »
Interview Series: Neil Fraser from Heir Hunters
As part of our interview series, MyHeritage.com recently interviewed Neil Fraser from Fraser & Fraser, the firm best-known for its work on the UK TV series Heir Hunters. The show, which began in 2007, is now on its fifth series, and has become a runaway success - almost always topping the ratings for its morning slot on UK television.
Fraser & Fraser are a team of genealogists and probate researchers in the business of finding heirs and proving their right to an inheritance. If a person dies and leaves an estate but no known relatives, Fraser & Fraser will trace back through their family tree to find that individual’s nearest living relatives, and let them know that they have an inheritance. The relatives may not even know, or only know vaguely, of their distant family member’s very existence.
Continue reading "Interview Series: Neil Fraser from Heir Hunters" »
Smart Match Improvements: Daniel Horowitz Interviewed at Rootstech
Last weekend at the Rootstech Conference, our very own Daniel Horowitz was interviewed by veteran genealogist and blogger Dear Myrtle. The conference was dedicated to the interaction between genealogy and technology, and as a result Daniel spent some time talking about some of our own website developments, and in particular our improved Smart Match facility.
Thanks to Dear Myrtle for conducting this interview. We hope you enjoy the results!
How Genealogy helps Psychotherapy
"Since this family research started, communication with and between my relatives has reopened. I could better understand the distances between relatives. I could even better recognize the similarities and differences I have with some relatives. " Dr Modesto M Alonso.
Modesto is a psychotherapist and lives in Argentina. While working on the identity of his patients he has found that family history can be a very important part of the process. Modesto is a user of MyHeritage.com, and he advises to his patients to use the site as a tool to rebuild their family's history.
We conducted an interview with him and were fascinated with the subject. We believe it is of great interest for everyone because we are all influenced by our family history. Our identity stems from our family history and it is important to understand why and how we are. Personally, it made me think and analyze a lot about myself and how I have been influenced by my family. Here is this fascinating interview:
How did your interest in Genealogy and family history begin?
Continue reading "How Genealogy helps Psychotherapy" »
User Story: Meet Donna Emmons – Great Grandmother and Family Historian
As we got to talking, we soon realized that Donna had a great passion for her family history research and had worked out how to get the most out of her MyHeritage.com account. We asked if Donna would be willing to share some of her experiences with the community, and tell us a bit more about her family story. We hope you enjoy the interview!
User Story: Meet Jean Collen – A Lover of History, Family and a Dog Called Bonnie
I first met Jean Collen when she contacted MyHeritage.com support for some help with her trees.
It didn't take long to realise that Jean had a great passion for family history research and had worked out how to get the most out of her MyHeritage.com account! It also didn't take long for Jean to respond when I asked her if she'd be keen to share her story with our readers.
Below are Jean's open and honest answers to some questions I asked her about her life, family and why she uses MyHeritage.com. I hope you enjoy them.
Hi Jean. Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I am a semi-retired classical musician, teacher and writer, living in Johannesburg, South Africa. I am married with two married grown-up children and two grandsons.
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