The Shamrock Genealogist

I recently hosted a RootsTech 4-day pass giveaway. It's a great perk I receive as a RootsTech ambassador to give out to my readers. The winner has been selected and the lucky winner is (drum roll please): Charlene Ferris-Kozlowski Charlene participates in historical reenactments and is portraying her great grandmother, a farm/ranch owner in Southern California (circa 1870's) Let's find out more about Charlene: " Who am I?  A  semi-retired busy Southern Californian whose  converted my research from Index Cards to Internet platforms over the past decade.  My family heritage is as a  fourth-generation California gal, with roots back to the early American shores ~ and then further “back” across the ocean!  And my husband’s Mid-West lines have links that take my research into Canada, and European lands as well. Oh, and I’m the proud Mom of a Special Olympian who will be honored in 2019 as Athlete of...

Family History Month is drawing to a close but genealogy continues. Let's face it's a daily part of our lives. One of my favorite genealogy events is attending RootsTech. It will be my third year attending and my second year as an ambassador. One of you lucky readers will have the chance to win the prize valued at $299! It includes the following: • Over 300 classes • Keynote / General sessions • Expo Hall • Evening events Note: It does NOT include any paid lunches or paid labs. Click here to enter the contest Rules: 1. The giveaway will last until November 6th and the winner will be notified on November 7th 2. If you have already registered for RootsTech, we will provide you with instructions to redeem your reward and receive a refund on registration. 3. In addition to no paid lunches or paid labs, prize does not include airfare, hotel, etc. This pass is for the registration to attend RootsTech. Good luck!

New England Historic Genealogical Society aka my second home It has been a whirlwind the last few weeks. I have been busy with work travel and lecture prep. I even started working as an on-call genealogist on weekends at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, MA. It's still a busy time but I'm playing catch up and have a lot of exciting projects in the works. I've been thinking about making some updates to my blog. I want to highlight some of the historical artifacts and buildings in New England I uncover.  As someone who was raised in New York their entire life, everything feels new and wonderful. My new blog series is called "Wicked History" (kudos to my husband for the name). I will blog about some of the interesting things I find throughout New England and include some genealogy about the persons involved. Coincidentally, I live right near Salem so the blog series name has a double meaning.  I will still have my other series ...

It's been over a month since I last blogged and yet it feels longer. A lot has been going on. I recently celebrated my 34th birthday.  I have some upcoming lectures for the next couple of weeks and of course preparing for RootsTech (registration starts 9/20!). The latest BSO (bright shiny object) was the updated ethnicity estimates rolled out by Ancestry, due to an estimated 13,000 reference samples added to the database. I took a few screen shots to the show difference. I'm showing that I "lost" Scandinavia, Iberian Peninsula and a few other trace regions. My Irish/Scotland and European Jewish estimates increased and I gained Baltic States (refined from Europe East). Overall, nothing drastically different but it does line up more with the paper trail. What updates did you notice on your AncestryDNA estimates? Previous AncestryDNA estimate (including percentages) Updated AncestryDNA Estimate (including percentages)

It's that time of year again where registration will soon start for RootsTech, September 20th to be exact. Hotels are filling up quickly so I recommend reserving your place today (the Marriott filled up very quickly). Lots of changing are happening for the 2019 conference , including no badge scanning and faster check ins! I'm pleased to announce that I will serve as an ambassador again. This means that I will be giving away a free registration pass over the next few months of one of my readers. In addition, I will also be giving a lecture "Conducting Research Using Roman Catholic Records" at RootsTech. I'm very excited for this opportunity!  Need more reasons on why you should attend RootsTech? Check out this update from the RootsTech team.  What are you looking forward to about RootsTech? Are you attending in person or watching the streamed sessions and connecting with #NotatRootsTech on social media? Disclaimer: I am an Ambassador for RootsTec...

Folsom Public Library I recently returned from a work trip to Folsom, California. It was a hot one! Over 100 degrees each day. At least no humidity but a bit too hot to stop by a local cemetery. Due to my work and flight schedule, I had only a short amount of time for my next #genealogyontheroad excursion. I visited the Folsom Public Library one afternoon after work. It's a small library and had only two small shelves held the genealogy books (seen below). I love uncovering local history at the public library. You always find some kind of treasure and this trip didn't disappoint. I wandered into one of the reading rooms (which was really beautiful and relaxing). On the wall there were several frames that had a marked up document with lots of edits. I peered closer and noticed a framed note that said "The original copy of President Abraham Lincoln's first Inaugural Speech was presented to the City of Folsom, California on June 7, 2010 in honor of the 1...

Welcome back to Genealogy On the Road! I just returned from another trip to Western New York for work. My latest adventure was doing some shopping at one of the local antique shops in Corning, NY. I've been to a few shops over the last year and bought a few treasures along the way, some of which I'll highlight here. Outside entrance of local antique shop (one of my favorites!) in Corning, NY There are a number of things that you can find in an antique shop that may be of interest to you. 1. Photographs I was amazed at the different types of photographs left "orphaned" in the stores. I even found a wedding picture (below), which made me sad that a family didn't want to keep in their family photo collection. Wedding Picture - Unidentified Couple. Found in Corning, NY Antique Shop.  I plan on starting to date them and hopefully re-unite them with a descendant. I'll be posting these photos on sites like deadfred.com. If you have any clues o...

I've been on the hunt to find out more about my maternal great grandfather Anton Gailunas. If you've been following me on Twitter, I have been sharing some of my recent findings while reviewing ship manifest records. My grandmother has asked me to assist in finding out more about why he left for America and left his mother and father behind, to help fill in his immigration story. Here's what I knew about Anton when I first started researching: He was known to others in the family as "Eddie Gail" and was a jewelry engraver.  He was born on August 23rd. His wife's name was Mollie.  One of the first documents I found was his petition for citizenship.  That's how I found his birth name "Anton Gailunas". He is listed with my great grandmother Mollie (whose birth name was Mathilde Siegel) as well as my grandmother, Dorothy, living at 467 Grand Street, Brooklyn, NY. Anton listed he was born in Riga, Latvia. This has been a subject of debate as ...

Outside of NEHGS Welcome back to my blog series "Genealogy On The Road"! My next trip was to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, which has an on-site library. I spent a full Saturday there from opening last weekend (literally getting there before they open) and leaving just a little bit before closing to make my train. This wasn't my first trip to NEHGS but it was my first full day there. I have ventured off to NEHGS after a few work trips when I was travelling downtown for a client project (back when I was living in Syracuse). Those trips were tough as I came with my big bag (even dragged in the snow) and I only had maybe an hour before having to take my cab to Logan airport to catch my flight back home. Look Familiar? This is the room where "Finding Your Roots" is filmed. I actually left as they were working on setting up for the next series filming. Sadly no Dr. Henry Louis Gates sightings.  Here's My Tips for Working at NEHGS: ...

West High Street Cemetery, Painted Post, NY Copyright 2018: Melanie McComb, The Shamrock Genealogist I have been travelling a lot this past year. One of the most frequent places that I go is to Western New York to assist my company on projects for a specific client in the area. It's where I started to get the inspiration for this new series "Genealogy On the Road". After a long day at work, I wanted to get a genealogy excursion in, to take in what's in the area and see if I can help someone in the process. I previously went to the local library. You can read about my experience here .   Last week I went back to Western New York and my latest excursion was to check out a cemetery in the small town of Painted Post. I specifically went to the West High Street Cemetery. If you're looking for your family in this cemetery, the Painted Hills Genealogical Society has an  index  online. It was an interesting experience. I walked through rows and rows of headst...

I'm happy to announce a new blog series that I'm starting called Genealogy On the Road. So why am I starting this series? I currently work full time as an IT analyst for a human resources company (it's a bit hard to explain sometimes what I do). I regularly travel to client sites as well as to offices in California during the year so I thought it would be interesting to help document some travel tips for how you can do genealogy on the road. Even when it's a work trip, I try to sneak in a little genealogy time before I go to make the best of the area. Sometimes it works out and other times I'm lucky I see something beyond a business park, a hotel, and a restaurant. I have previously shared some posts on some of my travels to California and western New York below: September 2017 -  Local Libraries: An Undiscovered Treasure October 2017 -   California State Archives Trip I'm heading back to Corning, NY today and hope to squeeze in a small adventure before...

I had the honor this past weekend presenting at the Ontario Genealogical Society Conference  held at the University of Guelph, Ontario. This was my first official genealogy conference I lectured at and an international one as well! I gave two lectures, Prince Edward Island Records and Repositories, and How to Incorporate NextGen Tech Into Your Research. I also talked to other genealogists about NextGen Genealogy Network . We hope to grow our Canadian presence as part of our partnership with Ontario Genealogical Society.  It was a great conference and there were rides involved - golf carts were transporting us all over campus. Overall, I received great feedback and had a number of people attend my talks. It felt wonderful to have a lecture hall filled!  Some of the highlights from the conference: 1. Connecting with my dear genealogy friends that I met on Twitter and Facebook in person 2. Helping bring two genealogists together that may share a common ancestor 3. Seei...

Pixabay Image The Shamrock Genealogist has been conducting her lectures this past year, with the most recent one done at the Salina Library in Syracuse, NY this past Monday. I covered how to use NextGen tools to get the younger generation interested in research (such as social media, blogging, mobile applications). I will be giving a variation of this lecture (which will focus more on how to use NextGen tools to further your research ) as well as a new lecture on Prince Edward Island repositories and records at the upcoming Ontario Genealogical Society conference, 6/1 - 6/3  at the University of Guelph. I'm very excited to be presenting at an international conference. Before this conference starts there will be all sorts of tours and events going on starting on that Thursday, May 31st. Do you have ancestors that travelled by train? You may be interested in the Palmerston Railway Heritage Museum Tour . Want to sneak away to do some research? You may want to check out the ...

Pixabay Image I started using GEDMatch a few years ago after I started testing my DNA and wanting to find more cousins and learn how to better analyze my results. Genetic genealogy is an important part of the genealogy tool kit to verify your paper trails. And sometimes you uncover a surprise like an NPE, a non-paternity event (ex. a parent isn't a match to a child). In my case, you find out about a child that you never knew was in the family. Check out  my blog post about Thomas Corcoran.  The process to add your DNA profile is fairly simple. You can register for a free account (or pay $10/month to be a Tier 1 subscriber for some tools). You download your DNA file from the site (usually a commercial one like Ancestry, 23andme, FamilyTree DNA, MyHeritage, etc.) and upload it. Note: GEDMatch has created a generic upload that will work for other kits as well. Then you usually wait a couple of days before you can run the one to many matches to see the DNA cousins you have...

Wikimedia Commons Genealogy is like a long version of a scavenger hunt. You get some clues and you have to figure out what they mean to get to the treasure. Maybe you have an oral history passed down, a document you found at an archive, perhaps a photo without your ancestors labelled. And your next goal is to find out more about your ancestor and then you hit a brick wall. No records found in the location you expect. If your ancestors are like mine, they pick up and can move quite far away. Let's look at my great grandfather, Thomas James Corcoran. He grew up in Dillonstown, County Louth and was then sent off to America at the age of 26 to meet a cousin. The rest of his family stayed behind in Ireland.  You can read up more about why he left here . He never came back to Ireland so the record trail would run cold if I only continued to research him in Ireland. My 3rd great uncle Peter Dougherty also left for America. He was born in Ireland but went with his family as a you...

This past weekend I had the honor to be selected as a presenter for the Michigan In Perspective: Local History Conference in Sterling Heights, Michigan. I'm just starting to lecture and was happy for the opportunity to talk about genealogy. My topic was "Back to the Future: Using New Technologies in Research". I discussed social media, blogging, and mobile applications and how to apply that to your family history research. I shared some stories from my family including great grandfather Thomas Corcoran (who I previously blogged about - see my earlier post) . The audience loved the story I shared about my great grandfather's first love. I felt that my talk made an impact - one couple came up to me and said they visited a cemetery after my talk! And they used the Find a Grave app  that I discussed! This conference was very different than genealogy conferences I've been to. First, there are no major companies like Ancestry, FamilySearch, MyHeritage, etc. in atte...

It's hard to believe that RootsTech was just a week away. It feels like it was just yesterday. What an amazing and fast paced week! I found myself feeling very reflective after coming home from the conference. Here's what I left with: 1. RootsTech is where I connect and reconnect with my genealogy friends. I met up with so many of my Twitter and Facebook friends that I may never have the opportunity to meet. It truly is the genealogy meet up capital. If you're ever on the fence about going to a conference, go to RootsTech. I guarantee you will meet someone that you are friends with online!  2. Further, I have several genealogy friends that I consider my family. They were the ones that checked in on me when they saw me sobbing after a key note speech or looked very overwhelmed and anxious. It seems that a lot of our friends took Brandon Stanton's remarks to heart to reach out. We need to support each other - we're all in the same community ...

Yesterday was the fourth day of RootsTech and sadly the last day. I attended the first MyHeritage Friends breakfast. I gathered with some of the same people that were at the fabulous MyHeritage After party the night prior. Daniel Horowitz from MyHeritage gave a short talk about what's involved in the MyHeritage Friends program. I'm looking forward to partnering with MyHeritage on new features and giving feedback. Next it twas time for the opening presentation with key note speeches by singer Natalia LaFourcade and Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Natalia stunned the audience with her beautiful voice and talked about how her heritage mattered to her. Dr. Gates shared information about his life as well and also talked about how his program The Finding Your Roots: The Seedlings show involves teaching middle school children about science, DNA and genealogy, It's such a beautiful program and I hope more young people are encouraged to start learning about their past. We then ...

Another day wrapped up here at RootsTech. I started off yesterday with the keynote speech by Scott Hamilton. He talked about how his upbringing (adopted at an early age) and how he got into skating. It was a very moving speech. I had the honor of participating in a group interview and asked him if he was going to pursue researching genealogy after receiving more updated information about his ancestry. Here's a link to the interview if you're interested . Below is the photo with my interview group. Next I attended the Find My Past luncheon, I had the opportunity to talk with CEO Tamsin Todd and Executive Vice President of International Business Ben Bennett. I had lovely conversation with both of them and talked about my blog and NextGen Genealogy Network . I attended the following lectures: World War II sacrifice by Jennifer Holik Time For An Ancestor's Death: A Time for Reaping by Curt Witcher Loose Women: Record Search for Female Felon by Janis Minor Forte Usi...

Another day here at RootsTech. Today's day started with a talk by Aaron Godfrey, VP of Marketing at MyHeritage, who announced the launch of http://www.dnaquest.org. This initiative was launched to help adoptees find their birth families. 15,000 DNA kits will be provided free to eligible participants. This is such a beautiful announcement and I'm glad more companies are taking up the charge to lend a hand where they can.  The keynote speech was by Branton Stanton, whose blog is "Humans of New York". He had such a moving speech when he talked about how you need to do what you love and not just focus on the money, the cars, etc. He also talked about how he approaches strangers to interview/photograph them, he asks very deep questions. We need to embrace the hard questions more and reach out to people. Everyone has a story - let's share our stories in our genealogy.  I next attended the lecture " Call to Action: Diversity in Family History Tech" by ...

I'm just wrapping up Day 1 of RootsTech. I've been here since Monday evening as I was completing my annual trip to the Family History Library and the Media dinner for RootsTech ambassadors last night. It's been a day of DNA lectures all day, which comes in handy as more and more people are buying DNA kits looking for their elusive ancestors and finding out more about who they are. Here's a list of the lectures I attended: Real World Examples of the Frustrations of Endogamy - Lara Diamond How Close Are We Really? Evaluating Shared DNA - Paul Woodbury Introduction to Autosomal DNA Chromosome Mapping by Tim Janzen AncestryDNA got in on the fun and were giving out buttons. You had to find your match to win a prize. So far I have not found my exact match. At the end of the day we wrapped up with the opening session with an address by Steve Rockwood, CEO of FamilySearch (who I had the pleasure of meeting with last night). It was a nice heart warmi...