"Your DNA Secrets Revealed" Airs Again on January 1, 2023, from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

Some of you may have heard about a new genealogy-related and DNA show, Your DNA Secrets Revealed hosted by Diahan Southard, and may have wondered how to view it.

It is on the Public Broadcasting Service aka PBS so you have to see if your local PBS station has picked it up to air in its broadcasting area. But if you have a PBS Passport subscription you can watch the show at anytime on demand.

No PBS Passport? You can watch for free during the air time for your local PBS station. For Detroit-PBS, we discovered belatedly that the show aired at 3:30 a.m. on December 21. Yep, that is right -- in the middle of late last night/very early this morning. The next scheduled airing on WTVS Detroit's PBS station is 4 p.m. to 6 p.m., January 1, 2023. Mark your calendars everyone.

The show is listed as on the 56.1 WTVS HDTV channel on schedule shown for Detroit on the PBS website. But checking the online schedule for Comcast/Xfinity it does show as airing on Channel 6, the non-HD WTVS channel here in Macomb Township.

You can check when Your DNA Secrets Revealed will air on your local PBS station using the Search Schedule on the PBS website www.pbs.org going to Schedule and the search schedule. Or check your cable/satellite service's schedule.

See you someday soon at our favorite library!
LE

Have a Great Holiday Season!

We hope everyone is having a great holiday season. We are going to focus on home and post a bit less so we will be ready for the holidays too.

If you are looking for a genealogy-related gift for a family member or yourself, remember to check those various websites out there on the internet to see what kinds of sales each are offering. You can select our various blog labels (to the left) to pull up past posts about sales to see if the deal you are seeing is a good one or almost as good (or better?) as a prior sale.

No matter your holiday, have a great one and a Happy New Year too.

See you someday soon at our favorite library!
LE

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

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 120,000 church books digitized and now 23 partner archives which include primarily protestant archives as well as archives of dioceses, states, towns and associations.

From Wednesday December 14, 2022, through Wednesday, December 21, 2022, Archion.de is having a 20 percent off sale on 3-month or 1-year passes and vouchers/gutschein.

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 Order but if you want a voucher be sure to select 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. 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.

See you someday soon at our favorite library!
LE

MCGG December 2022 Meeting Cancelled, We will see You in January 2023

As you know, the MCGG Board decided to delay the release of our Fall 2022 schedule until we learned more about when the renovation of Mount Clemens Public Library will be completed and we can meet in person again at our favorite library.

With this in mind, MCGG has decided to cancel our December 2022 Virtual Meeting. We were hoping we would be in-person for the December meeting but that is not to be and with the busy holiday month, time is short for planning a quality virtual meeting.

MCGG hopes for each holiday you and your family celebrate that it is a great one and that you and your family have a happy new year too!

See you someday soon at our favorite library!
LE

RootsMagic Software Holiday Special Sale, Save Up to 37% until December 31, 2022

Save up to 37% off RootsMagic software during its Holiday Special Sale running through December 31, 2022.

Save on RootsMagic 8, Personal Historian 3 and Family Atlas. A new license for RootsMagic 8 is regularly $39.95, now $29.95. If you have an older version of RootsMagic (such as 7 or earlier) the upgrade pricing sale is $24.95. You can find the sale announcement on the RootsMagic Corporate FaceBook page.

Not sure if RootsMagic is for you? There is a free version called RootsMagic Essentials you can download and install and use to see if RootsMagic will work for you. Here is a list of the differences between the pay and free versions of RootsMagic.

Use the code HOLIDAY2022 to receive your discount.

See you someday soon at our favorite library!
LE

1921 Census for Scotland goes Live November 30 on ScotlandsPeople Website

Got recent ancestors in Scotland? Get ready, tomorrow, Nov. 30, at 9 a.m. (Scotland time) the website Scotlands People is releasing the 1921 census for Scotland.

The website, like many European websites, uses the credits system. See the website's Our Charges tab for an explanation of how that works on this website.

See you someday soon at our favorite library!
LE

Save 50% on Family Tree Webinars and Legacy 9.0 Deluxe until Dec. 2, 2022

Legacy Family Tree Webinars is having a Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale. It is offering a one-year membership to the webinar subscription service (regularly $49.95 per year) for first-time members aka new subscribers for $24.98 -- that is 50 percent off! (Note: This sale can not be combined with other discounts.)

Also 50 percent off is Legacy 9.0 Deluxe genealogy software (windows only) with a PDF manual for PCs. Regularly $34.95 the sale price is $17.47

This sale is thru December 2, 2022, at the Family Tree Webinars Store.

Family Tree Webinars Membership gets you 24/7 access to over 1,000 full-length webinars/classes covering a very wide variety of genealogy-related subjects and the handouts/syllabus to those webinars/classes.

See you someday soon at our favorite library!
LE

AncestryDNA Cyber Sale Update

Note: This updates the notes for pricing at Amazon.

The CYBER SALE is here! Up to 50% OFF! This is usually the best sale of the year.

We will try to highlight what we have found but may not write a post about all we have seen. Our best advice is if you are interested in a website or product, check on that website/product frequently just in case they hold a flash sale.

Please take note, wondering minds can always click the labels/tags in our blog's left-hand column to see the sales in past years to get an idea of the sales trends for prior years. Click on the desired topic or the Savings tag/label.

Ancestry is having a Cyber Sale on AncestryDNA until Monday, November 28, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. ET. Remember taxes and shipping are extra.

The AncestryDNA (autosomal) test regularly $99 is on sale for $49. That is 50% off.

The AncestryDNA + World Explorer Membership (3-Month) is on sale for $50, regular price is $100.

The AncestryDNA Traits + All-Access Membership (3-Month) is on sale for $139, regular price is $199.

But take note that these test+subscription offers are for new and returning subscribers not for renewal of current subscriptions And, the subscription will automatically renew for World Explorer at $79.95 and for All-Access at $119 every three months unless you cancel at least two days before the renewal day using My Account or by contacting customer service.

AncestryDNA test results provide an ethnicity/admixture report, a AncestryDNA match list, shared matches, an internal member messaging system, and automatic updates to results. As well as some basic information from ThruLines which is Ancestry's replacement or next generation of New Ancestor Discoveries and DNA Circles. See the chart below.

Be aware that with an active paid subscription to Ancestry, there is fuller access to some DNA features such as all available information about people is shown in ThruLines; Matches' public family trees are viewable instead of just a preview of five generations; and up to seven generations of surnames instead of up to five surnames are shown for direct ancestor surnames from your matches' trees.

From Ancestry.com, a look at AncestryDNA with and without a data membership/subscription.

 

Access to these extra features end if you discontinue your data subscription. Some of these extra features require a public family tree linked to the AncestryDNA kit.

 

From Ancestry.com

 

AncestryDNA Traits now gives a look at 35+ personal traits. This add-on is regularly $20 and is on sale for $10.

AncestryDNA is the one DNA/genealogy testing site that does not provide a chromosome browser tool which allows you to see the chromosome segments you share in common with a match which is one of the scientific ways to confirm a match is a true match and not a match by chance. To access a chromosome browser you would need to download your kit's DNA data and upload that data to one of the three companies that do provide a chromosome browser: MyHeritageDNA, Family Tree DNA, and the third-party GedMatch.com website.

We are not sure if the FREESHIPDNA code will work on the Ancestry website with this sale but it does not hurt to try it. 

Do you want just the DNA test and do you want to save on shipping costs? Remember AncestryDNA also sells its test kits on Amazon.com and often at sale prices when it is having a sale. Here is the update as of Black Friday. For this sale, as of now when this post was written the AncestryDNA test is listed at $59 a sale but not as good as at the Ancestry.com website. However, the AncestryDNA+Traits test is listed for sale at $49 matching the AncestryDNA sale price at the Ancestry.com website which means you essentially getting the Traits option for free. Or think of it however you want knowing you get two things for the sale price of the one. So, this time the sale price on the Amazon website for AncestryDNA+Traits is as good as the Ancestry website deal for the AncestryDNA test or a bit better because shipping is free. 

Non-Amazon Prime members get free shipping due to the total cost and because it is fulfilled by Amazon while Amazon Prime members just get quicker 2-day shipping for free. But be cautious and make sure the test kit you are buying is "sold by AncestryDNA Official and fulfilled by Amazon" to insure you are buying a genuine test kit. You will find this information just below the price. See the image below.

Look for this before adding your item to your cart.

 

See you soon someday at our favorite library!
LE

FamilyTreeDNA's Black Friday Sale on Tests and Upgrades runs until Nov. 30

The Holiday Season is here! 

We will try to highlight what we have found but may not write a post about all we have seen. Our best advice is if you are interested in a website or product, check on that website/product frequently just in case they hold a flash sale.

Please take note, wondering minds can always click the labels/tags in our blog's left-hand column to see the sales in past years to get an idea of the sales trends for prior years. Click on the desired topic or the Savings tag/label.

Family Tree DNA
The Family Tree DNA's Black Friday/Cyber Monday Sale is underway and goes until November 30, 2022, 11:59 p.m Pacific Time. Shipping and taxes are extra which vary depending on where the test is shipped. There is a lot on sale for this sale.
 

FamilyFinder (autosomal for male or female) regular price $79 ... NOW $39

 

FamilyFinder (autosomal for male or female) + myDNA Wellness regular price $119 ... now $59
Learn more about the myDNA Wellness package and its health insights based on your DNA at the FamilyTreeDNA website.

 

mtDNA full-sequence Test (female or male, mother's direct female line) 

mtDNA Full Sequence test is now $119, regularly $159

 
Y-DNA Test (male-only, father's direct male line) 

Y37 test is now $79, regularly $119

 

Y111 test is now $199, regularly $249

Big Y-700 test is now $379, regularly $449
Expert Level. Note: formerly the Big Y-500 now the Big Y-700 includes the Y111 test which gets added to your cart as part of buying the Big Y-700.

 

Bundles (multiple tests for one person) 

Family Finder + Y37 test is now $109, regularly $198
(male-only test bundle)

Family Finder + mtFull Sequence test is now $149, regularly $238
(male or female test bundle)

Family Finder + Y37 + mtFull Sequence test is now $219, regularly $357
(male-only test bundle)

Family Finder + Y111 + mtFull Sequence test is now $339, regularly $487
(male-only test bundle)

 

Family Finder + BigY700 + mtFull Sequence test is now $519, regularly $687
(male-only test bundle) Expert Level. 

 

There are some upgrades on sale too. Remember, the upgrades available to your DNA tests depends on what you have already tested.  We have added the standard Family Tree DNA Sales Chart for this sale which provides a clearer list of what tests/upgrades are included with a particular sale. Not on the lists below are:

Autosomal Transfer Unlock is now $9, regularly $19

 

mtDNA to mtFull Sequence is now $79, regularly $119

mtPlus to mtFull Sequence is now $79, regularly $119

Below is a list of the sales on upgrades. Your ability to purchase an upgrade depends on what test(s) you have already.

 

Family Tree DNA provides an ethnicity (admixture) report, list of DNA matches, chromosome browser and allows DNA matches to contact a match directly if that match allows it. Once tested, DNA samples are stored so that additional test types (upgrades) can be added if desired. So if you have already have a tested person that you want to add another test type that is on sale, sign into that test's account before adding the sale test to the cart. Family Tree DNA is the only genealogy DNA testing company that offers all three DNA test types: autosomal, Y-DNA and mtDNA. No subscription is needed to see/use all the DNA matching features. See our previous post containing some Reminders and Cautions regarding changes with Family Tree DNA.

warnings.

As a reminder, Family Tree DNA sometimes sells its autosomal DNAtest kits (called FamilyFinder) on Amazon.com and often at sale prices when it is having a sale. (If you need mtDNA or Y-DNA tests, use the Family Tree DNA website.) For this sale the price at Amazon matches the sale prices at the Family Tree DNA's website so buying from Amazon eliminates the shipping costs. (Make sure the seller shown is FamilyTreeDNA fulfilled by Amazon and not sold by a third-party unauthorized seller.) But be careful, when selecting the visit the Family Tree DNA store, you need to select either the FamilyFinder or FamilyFinder + MyDNA from the store's menu bar under the store's logo. Non-Amazon Prime members get free shipping due to the total cost and because it is fulfilled by Amazon; prime members just get quicker 2-day shipping for free.

 

Look for this before adding your item to your cart.

 

See you soon someday at our favorite library!
LE

 

Other DNA Sales We have Posted About

Just a reminder, some previously posted sales are ending tonight or still continue. Here are some links to our previous posts.

MyHeritageDNA's lowest price ever ($36) sale ends tonight, Friday, November 25.

LivingDNA's sale continues today though its website does not always say when its sales end.

See you someday soon at our favorite library!
LE

23andMe's Black Friday Sale is Here until November 27, Save Up to 50%

The Holiday Season is here! 

We will try to highlight what we have found but may not write a post about all we have seen. Our best advice is if you are interested in a website or product, check on that website/product frequently just in case they hold a flash sale.

Please take note, wondering minds can always click the labels/tags in our blog's left-hand column to see the sales in past years to get an idea of the sales trends for prior years. Click on the desired topic or the Savings tag/label.

23andMe

23andMe is running its Black Friday sale until November 27, 2022, and there is a limit of three test kits for this sale. You'll need to supply your email on the website's homepage to receive the offer. Remember taxes and shipping are extra.

23andMe's Ancestry + Traits DNA test is $99 at its regular price, for this sale it is $79.

23andMe's Health + Ancestry Service is $199 at its regular price, for this sale it is $99.

You can also get the 23andMe Health + Ancestry Service test kit plus one year of the 23andMe Membership now labeled the 23andMe+ Membership. As above the Health+Ancestry test is regularly $199 but on sale for $99 when purchased as a bundle with the $29 one year prepaid membership which is not on sale, the total price about $128 or $129.

23andMe Ancestry Service (autosomal DNA) provides an ethnicity (admixture) report, list of DNA matches, chromosome browser and an internal member messaging system. 23andMe also provides a general look at your Y-DNA haplogroup (if male) and a general look at your mtDNA haplogroup. Some DNA matching features/tools are now part of the subscription service. A newer feature is the Family Tree feature which is automatically built from your DNA relationships. See the 23andMe website to learn more about the Health service features which includes 65+ health reports including Health Predisposition reports, Wellness reports, Carrier Status reports, includes FDA-authorized reports.

23andMe made some changes to its service in 2019 without any announcements to its customers before the changes happened. Be aware that with the recent ethnicity update it was learned that testers on the earlier testing chips would not receive any ethnicity updates at that time, only those on the V5 Chip. Also, a few months prior testers' DNA matches were reduced down to just 1,500 matches. (That leaves most testers with matches related at the furthest in the 4th to 5th cousin range.) The search capabilities were restricted from what it had been capable of before. 23andMe implemented a yearly subscription ($29/year) for customers on the V5 Chip who also have tested their Health too. Those that subscribe get access to three times the DNA matches, advanced search capabilities (like those that were there before and some other ways to filter matches), and a new series of health reports related to genetics and medicines as well as some predisposition reports. Unfortunately, that means existing customers not on the V5 chip would need to retest (yes, pay) so their DNA is on the V5 chip. But if an early tester is deceased there is no way to re-test that person on the V5 Chip.

With these changes, 23andMe reduces it usability for most genealogists to use DNA to aid their research. For adoptees, donor conceived and others searching for mis-attributed parentage (not parent expected) situations, you still never know where that someone tested and so at a good sale price the 23andMe Ancestry Only test or really good sale price for the 23andMe Ancestry+Health test it might be worthwhile. But there may be limitations if that someone they seek is tested on a V4 or earlier chip. 

As a reminder, 23andMe also sells its test kits on Amazon.com and often at sale prices when it is having a sale. At this time, 23andMe DNA tests are on sale at Amazon at the same sale prices ($79, $99, and $129 and though the entries link to a 23andMe Store the seller is given as Woot which is apparently a company owned by Amazon.) Non-Amazon Prime members get free shipping due to the total cost and because it is fulfilled by Amazon while Amazon Prime members just get quicker 2-day shipping for free. Usually, be cautious and make sure the test kit you are buying is "sold by 23andMe, Inc and fulfilled by Amazon" to insure you are buying a genuine test kit. You will find this information just below the price. See the image below. 

Look for this before adding your item to your cart.

 

See you soon someday at our favorite library!
LE

Cyber Sale for Ancestry Gift Subscriptions Starts Today, Ends Monday, Get 50% Off

The Cyber Sale is Here! Get 50% Off! This is usually the best sale of the year.

We will try to highlight what we have found but may not write a post about all we have seen. Our best advice is if you are interested in a website or product, check on that website/product frequently just in case they hold a flash sale.

Please take note, wondering minds can always click the labels/tags in our blog's left-hand column to see the sales in past years to get an idea of the sales trends for prior years. Click on the desired topic or the Savings tag/label.

This Cyber Sale at Ancestry.com is usually the lowest price on Gift Subscriptions each year! Ancestry.com is having a its 50 percent sale on its Gift Subscription Memberships from today through Monday, November 28, 2022, 11:59 p.m. ET. Gift memberships are one-time, non-renewing memberships. You pick the start date of the gift membership and it arrives in the recipient's email on that date. Recipients are not supposed to have active, paid subscription. See the Questions and Answers towards the bottom of the gift membership page.

Remember that since this time last year, Ancestry has raised its regular pricing on subscriptions.

U.S. Discovery GIFT Membership
Access to U.S. records
6-months reg. $119 ... sale $59
12-months reg. $229 ... sale $114

World Explorer GIFT Membership
Access to records across the globe.
6-months reg. $169 ... sale $84
12-months reg. $319 ... sale $159

All-Access GIFT Membership
Access to records across the globe; plus military records on Fold3.com; and articles on Newspapers.com Basic.
6-months reg. $259 ... sale $129
12-months reg. $479 ... sale $239

Just be sure you read and understand the terms of the purchase so you and your gift recipient (which could even be yourself or your spouse if you do not already have an Ancestry subscription) understand when the gift subscription starts.

See you soon someday at our favorite library!
LE