WEATHER ALERT! MCGG's Let's Talk...Genealogy Discussion Group Meeting is NOW 100% VIRTUAL TONIGHT

 Take Note!

MCGG Let's Talk...Genealogy discussion group meets tonight Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at 6:30 p.m. Our topic is ... Comparing Our Paper and DNA Ethnicity Results Update.

DUE TO THE LIBRARY CLOSING TODAY BECAUSE OF THE WEATHER, WE WILL NOW BE 100% VIRTUAL ON ZOOM.  

Almost all of the genealogy DNA testing companies have recently updated their ethnicity estimates again. Let’s talk about comparing our Ancestor Birthplace Pedigree Charts/Locality Pedigrees to our new DNA Ethnicity Results and why these may not match up. Are the new results better than in 2024?

There was a pre-meeting assignment for this topic so those attending can more fully participate. This assignment was sent out to our mailing list on December 2. But everyone will be able to participate.

Our plan is that our meetings will be hybrid meaning the meeting will be in-person with a virtual Zoom option. The Zoom meeting link (or registration link) will now be found on our Southeast Michigan Genealogy Events Calendar and our Facebook page. The link will usually be added the night before or morning of the meeting. Members will receive a reminder email with the Zoom invite or a reminder that registration is required for a meeting.

New attendees are always welcome.

See you at our favorite library!
LE

AncestryDNA Lowest Price Ever - $29 - Extended Until Dec. 31, 2025, 6 pm ET

Ancestry.com has extended its sale on AncestryDNA until December 31, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Time. Remember taxes and shipping are extra. The regular price of an AncestryDNA test is $99.

There are three options with this sale.

Just the AncestryDNA test is on sale for $29.*

For new subscribers or those without a current active subscription:

The AncestryDNA test and a World Explorer Membership for $1 has a total sale price of $30.*

The AncestryDNA test and an All-Access Membership for $10 has a total sale price of $39.*

These subscription memberships will renew at regular prices every three months until you cancel.

*Offers end 31 Dec 2025 at 6pm ET. Excludes shipping. Package offers are for new and returning subscribers only and not for renewal of current subscriptions. Limit one $1 subscription per user. Your World Explorer subscription will automatically renew at $99.95 or your All Access subscription will automatically renew at $149 every 3 months until you cancel by visiting your Account Settings or by contacting us. See our Renewal and Cancellation Terms for further details.

See our prior posts on AncestryDNA for the changes in what you can access for your DNA test without an Ancestry member subscription and what you can not. You can also see past sale trends by selecting the topic label in the left column of this blog (for example, AncestryDNA) to see all past posts regarding AncestryDNA.

Good luck finding the sales you need!

See you at our favorite library!
LE

Christmas Sale on Archion.de Passes and Vouchers (Gift Certificates): Save 20%

updated: originally posted December 5, 2025, at 9:33 p.m. Added logo.

If you have ancestors from Germany who were Evangelische in religion, you may have heard of the Archion.de website. It was founded in 2016 by the Evangelischen Kirche in Deutschland with eleven regional Evangelische churches. The website has continued to grow through the years and currently has over 175,000 church books digitized and now over 25 partner archives which include primarily protestant archives as well as archives of dioceses, states, towns and associations.

Archion.de is having its annual Special Christmas Offers -- a 20 percent off sale on 3-month or 1-year passes and vouchers/gutschein. This sale runs from today, December 5, 2025, through Monday, December 8, 2025, 23:59 pm CET which is Monday, December 8, 2025, 5:59 pm ET (our time.) Remember, Germany is six hours ahead of our time.

Passes -- Paid-Access starting from time of purchase.

3-Month Pass is regularly €52.20 now on sale for €41.75 including VAT
This pass allows an individual user to access the digital church book archive for three months (90 days) starting from the date of subscription, as well as up to 150 image (PDF) downloads.

1-Year Pass is regularly €178.80 now on sale for €143 including VAT
This pass allows an individual user to access the digital church book archive for one year (365 days) starting from the date of subscription, as well as up to 600 image (PDF) downloads.

Vouchers/Gutschein -- Pre-paid Coupons/Vouchers/Gift Certificates

3-Month Voucher is regularly €52.20 now on sale for €41.75 including VAT
This voucher allows an individual user to access the digital church book archive for three months (90 days) starting from the date of redemption by the recipient, as well as up to 150 image (PDF) downloads. Vouchers expire two years after their issue date. Except in legally specified cases, vouchers cannot be recharged, re-sold, transferred, or paid out in cash value.

1-Year Voucher is regularly €178.80 now on sale for €143 including VAT
This voucher allows an individual user to access the digital church book archive for one year (365 days) starting from the date of redemption by the recipient, as well as up to 600 image (PDF) downloads. Vouchers expire two years after their issue date. Except in legally specified cases, vouchers cannot be recharged, re-sold, transferred, or paid out in cash value

You must create an account prior to making a purchase. Or be logged in with an existing account. When making your purchase, if you want a pass (which starts immediately) select "Book # Pass Now" but if you want a voucher be sure to scroll down and select "Buy as a Gift Voucher." Purchases can be made using a credit card or PayPal. Passes and Vouchers do not automatically renew.

The Archion website is in German with some English translated website pages. See the DE and EN at the right-side of the top menu bar. You are able to browse the contents of the website for free meaning to see what is available. Uploaded digitized church books are shaded in green. If a location or book is not shaded in green than it is not yet uploaded. The forum boards are also free but you must be logged into the website and have the site in German (DE.)

The church books are organized first by the regional holding archive and the regional division and the parish location where you can then see what records types and time periods are available. At this time the digitized church records are mostly NOT electronically indexed so this is a browse and manually search like you would have done in the days of microfilm. And yes, the record images are in German in that old Schrift handwriting for the most part.

If you know the name of the parish you seek you can search that parish name to see if it comes up. But sometimes spelling matters so a manual search for the parish is suggested on the Archion.de website. Church books are added daily. Generally, in batches from three or so different archives each month. The almost monthly email newsletter usually informs what was recently added, what is currently being added, and what will be added next.

Remember, in Germany records are not centralized so you really need to know your origin village and determine its parish location before jumping across the water to the old country.

Also, remember German time is 6 hours ahead from Eastern Time so take that into account and don't wait for the last minute -- you might be 6 hours late.

See you at our favorite library!
LE