Introducing Record Detective™: A breakthrough technology for family history
MyHeritage is excited to announce the launch of Record Detective™. It is the first technology of its kind to automatically extend the paper trail from a single historical record to other related records and family tree connections. 
Record Detective™ generates new leads and discoveries by turning a single record into a door to more. For example, a record discovered in MyHeritage’s digital archive, SuperSearch, will now automatically include a summary of additional records and individuals in family trees relating to it, providing new information and clues to take your research to new directions.
Here's a short video which explains how it works:
Continue reading "Introducing Record Detective™: A breakthrough technology for family history" »
Family History: A box of secrets
Every family historian has at least one story or event on which hours have been spent, trying to unravel the truth.
What would happen if there were a knock on the door, you opened it and a box was delivered into your hands. Inside, you would find documents, photographs (labeled!), journals and other records.
What would you like to see in that box?
For me, that's an easy answer. One of the last family members to arrive in the US from Belarus brought with him a 300-year-old family history. The few people who saw it described it as a sort of book, compiled of different kinds of papers, different calligraphies, many different languages, all bound together. Continue reading "Family History: A box of secrets" »
MyHeritage: All US census records now available!
We're proud to announce that the entire collection of U.S. Federal Censuses is now available on MyHeritage.
These censuses span every decade from 1790-1930 and complement the existing 1940 U.S. Census, which you can search for free on MyHeritage.
The collection is the nation’s largest and most important set of records including a huge searchable index and all scanned images of the original census documents, covering some 520 million names.
Start searching the censuses now
Continue reading "MyHeritage: All US census records now available!" »
NGS 2013: MyHeritage heads to Las Vegas!
MyHeritage is excited to head to the 2013 National Genealogical Society (NGS) conference, taking place next week from May 8-11, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
NGS was established 110 years ago in Washington, DC, to serve and grow the genealogical community through education, training, promoting access to and preserving genealogical records.
The conference is a great opportunity for genealogists and those interested in family history research to meet and share ideas on how to advance family research.
Will you be at NGS? Come visit MyHeritage at booth #431, and meet our team.
Continue reading "NGS 2013: MyHeritage heads to Las Vegas!" »
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" »
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" »
Surname of the Week: KELLY
This week marks the anniversary of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier’s wedding on April 18, 1956. In honor of the couple, we'ill look at the surname KELLY and discover its origins.
KELLY is of Irish origin, and is the second most common name in Ireland, and the 69th most popular name in the United States. There are various origins.
It is an Anglicized form of the patronymic Gaelic name O’Ceallaigh, meaning "descendant of Ceallach," from the Gaelic prefix “O” meaning "descendant of" and the ancient Irish personal name, Ceallach .
Originally a byname meaning ‘"right-headed," it was later understood as "frequenting churches" from the Irish ceall. Several early Irish saints bore the name.
It may also be of English origin, from a place in Devonshire recorded as “Kelli” in the 1194 Pipe Rolls. It may also be of Scottish origin, from the lands of Kelly near Arbroath, Angus.
Along with the different Irish, English or Scottish origins, there are also variant spellings that include KELLEY, KELLIE, O’KELLY, O’KELLEY and KELLI. Continue reading "Surname of the Week: KELLY" »
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.
Family History: Going home again!
An exciting dimension to family history is returning to our ancestors' hometowns, whether overseas in the "old country," or closer to our current home.
Every year, increasing numbers of families walk the streets that their great-grandparents walked in Scotland, view the Greek and Portuguese village buildings their ancestors saw each day, and visit Eastern European houses of worship and cemeteries.
An historic drawing of a street in Mogilev, Belarus, where my family lived
Some geographical areas even promote ancestral or heritage trips - such as Ireland. Trips can be just just quick tourist-type visits to where ancestors might have lived or entail intensive research trips to archives. Go on your own or visit locales with major genealogical societies, such as the New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) which organizes trips to London, Belfast and Dublin.
Thinking about such a trip? Here are some resources to help you plan the trip of a lifetime. Don't forget to bring the kids and the grandparents! Continue reading "Family History: Going home again!" »
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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