Category Archives: Personal

Geneadaddyblogger

Personal,

So a little over a week ago Jennifer Shoer, otherwise known by her nom de blog The Scrappy Genealogist, started a series she called How She Does It, Secrets from the Geneamommybloggers, getting genealogist moms to explain how they juggle being moms and doing genealogy. She gathered a whos-who of genealogist moms to post in the series, including Caroline Pointer, Jennifer Holik-Urban, Kerry Scott, Amy Coffin, Marian Pierre-Louis, and Elizabeth O’Neal.

For those of you who follow genealogy blogging, you probably recognize most if not all of those names. After seeing the series start I jokingly asked Jennifer on Twitter, why no Geneadaddybloggers? To which of course, Jennifer put me on the spot and asked me to write a guest post as well. I don’t think I fit into the list of other bloggers (and not just because of the Y chromosome) but I did write something, which you can read on her blog: Philip Trauring – How He Does It – Secrets from a Geneadaddyblogger. So give it a read and let me know what you think. Post comments to the original article on Jennifer’s site so everyone who reads the article can read them.

Speaking on Genetic Genealogy next week in Modi’in

Personal, , ,

For those in Israel, you are invited to come to a lecture I am giving in Modi’in next week (in English) on June 20 at 7:15pm on the use of DNA for genealogy. This will be at the June meeting of the Israel Genealogical Society (IGS) in Modi’in, and will take place at 51 Yigal Yadin St., in the meeting room at on the first floor (across from the elevators) in what is one of the Dimri Towers buildings. For those who don’t know Modi’in, it is right across the street from the train station (and not far from the mall) in the center of town.

I will be giving an introductory (and practical) lecture on the use of DNA for genealogy (similar to the lecture I gave in Ra’anana last month), followed by Richard Gussow, who will be furthering the theme by discussing the topic:

“The WIRTH Group – or how a “pureblood” Ashkenazi discovered his Sephardic roots – and more!”

It promises to be a very interesting discussion and I welcome everyone to come, listen and ask questions.

As with all meetings in Modi’in of the Israel Genealogical Society, the first meeting is free for interested people, so even if you’re not a member of IGS you can attend this lecture for free. Of course, if you’re interested in joining IGS, we’ll have membership forms available (and you can take advantage of the current membership discount for the rest of the year – 100nis instead of the normal 180nis).

If you think you’re going to be coming, please send me an e-mail to let me know.

My new article series on the JewishGen blog

Personal, , , ,

I’ve started my first ongoing contribution to a blog different than this one, the JewishGen Blog. I will be writing a monthly series there called JewishGen Basics, which will introduce readers to different aspects of the JewishGen website.

I’ve started the series with an expansion of my earlier post here on the JewishGen Family Finder, called JewishGen Basics: The JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF). If you’re doing Jewish Genealogy and are not using the JGFF, you should definitely go read the article and add your information to the JGFF which is a very important resource for Jewish genealogy. If you already use JGFF, but don’t fully understand it, then also read the article which explains a bit about how to optimize your results using the JGFF.

If there are section or features of the JewishGen web site you’d like me to write about in future articles in this series, let me know.

If you don’t know about the JewishGen Blog, make sure to check out the rest of the blog, which has contributors from across the spectrum of Jewish genealogy and in addition to information on the JewishGen site itself, provides all kinds of information of interest to anyone researching their Jewish relatives.

As always, please let me know what you think (either in the comments for the JewishGen Blog article, or in the comments for this post).

Speaking: The ABCs of DNA in Ra’anana, Israel on May 11

Personal, , ,

For those of you in Israel, I will be speaking on May 11th at the Ra’anana (English-speaking) branch of the Israel Genealogical Society (IGS) on the topic:

The ABCs of DNA: An introduction to using DNA tests and their benefits for genealogical research

This will be a basic overview of how DNA testing can be used to supplement your existing genealogical research. I will start with a short overview of the science involved, then discuss the three main types of tests available, Y-DNA, mtDNA and Autosomal DNA tests. If you’re interested in finding out how these tests work, and how you can apply the results to your genealogy research, this will be a good way to learn more about the topic.

The lecture begins at 7:15pm at Beit Fisher, 5 Klausner Street in Ra’anana. Admission is free to IGS members, 20nis for non-members.

For the full schedule of Israel Genealogical Society events in May, see the IGS calendar.