My mother’s people in Lost River are more constant than the river. So I thought I’d try looking them up in the US Censuses at WorldVitalRecords.com.

In the 1930 Census

First, I found them in the 1930 Census. In the image below, in household #8, Ross O. Babcock is my mother’s father. Bertha A. Babcock is her mother. Agnes J. and “Baby” Babcock are her older sister and brother, respectively. My mother isn’t there, because she was born in 1931.

1930 US Census

Look at the record for her mother. Officially, her relationship to the “head of household” is “wife” (column 6).

Ross and Bertha Babcock, in their early married years.

There’s much more to this census record. “Yes” (column 10) in the line above, her husband’s, means the family lived on a farm. Moving right on my grandmother’s line (#27), and consulting the column headings, we see:

• column 11: “F” for female.
• column 12: “W” is for white.
• column 13: 33 is her age.
• column 14: “M” is for married.
• column 15: 30 is her age when married — rather old for that time and place, but that’s another story.
• column 16: No, she hadn’t attended school or college in the last year or two.
• column 17: Yes, she could read and write.
• column 18: Utah is her birthplace.
• column 19: Her father was born in Scotland.
• column 20: Her mother was born in Utah.
• column 24: Yes, she could speak English.
• column 25: “None” is her official occupation, despite the fact that she was constantly working.

This is how I remember my maternal grandparents.

I don’t have to look further for her parents’ family, which lived on a nearby farm. Just above her household is James A. Noble, her brother, with his wife Alice L. Just above them is her parents’ household (#6), including these:

• her father, Alexander R. Noble, a farmer born in Scotland;
• her mother, Selina S. Noble, another of those extraordinarily busy people with “none” for an occupation;
• her sister E. Agnes, a public school teacher;
• two brothers listed as farm laborers; and
• three sisters listed as students.

1930 US Census

Ten years earlier, my grandmother is in her parents’ household.

Looking Back: The 1920 Census

The 1920 Census shows my grandmother living with her parents, in a slightly larger household than they had in 1930 — with my grandmother’s youngest sibling actually on the next page of the census record.

1940 US Census

Note that the image is more faded, and that I had to search for my grandmother by her maiden name, Noble, because this was several years before her marriage.

I’ve also found this grandmother and her family living in the same area in the 1900 and 1910 US Censuses.

Looking Ahead: The 1940 Census

The 1940 Census shows that a lot of changes had occurred in a ten-year span. The families still lived and farmed in Lost River, but the households are much different.

1940 US Census

My grandparents’ household shows all eight children, including “Babcock, Infant” on the next page. The rightmost column in the image below illustrates an interesting feature of the 1940 Census. Many families and individuals moved from one part of the country to another during the depression years of the 1930s. This census asks where each person lived as of April 1, 1935. In the case of my grandmother, her husband, and the children who were born by then, the answer is, “Same House.”

Her parents’ household is dramatically different. Her mother, here listed as Selina Noble, is still alive, but her father has already passed away by this point and is not listed. Three of her siblings still live with her mother, and all of these lived in the “Same House” in 1935.

1940 US Census

Besides the thrill of finding family members listed here, there is something nostalgic about these census pages, especially from the 1940 Census. I wouldn’t come on the scene for about another quarter-century, but many of the names I see in adjacent pages are familiar. They were my ancestors’ neighbors, whom I met when I visited, and who played major roles in my family’s lives and conversations. Several of the neighbor families still live in Lost River, even after many recent years of drought forced some of the farmers to move and seek their fortunes elsewhere.

To be sure, hardly anyone amasses an actual fortune in Lost River, but I know of no better people anywhere.

Someday soon, I’ll trace more ancestors back through more censuses. I’ll do this not for the birth and marriage dates they don’t contain, but for a greater appreciation of who lived where and when, and how and with whom — and for whatever clues they provide to other people in my genealogy.

Search the US Federal Censuses at WorldVitalRecords.com.

We thought you might like to see the new office and its environs and learn a bit about the area, too.

(To see a higher-resolution version of any photo in this post, click on it.)

The company name and logo on the front door, backed by art on the receptionist's wall

Our Habitat: The Wasatch Front

Utah’s Wasatch Front consists of the Salt Lake City metro area, Utah Valley (the Provo-Orem area) to the south, and the Ogden area to the north. Over two million people — roughly 80 percent of Utah’s population — live along the Wasatch Front.

On a normal day you can drive from one end of this concentration of people to the other in less than an hour and a half. In light traffic, and at the prevailing speed on Interstate 15 — at least 10 mph above the legal speed limit — you can do it in an hour, assuming you’re not pulled over.

The Wasatch Mountains, renowned for their skiing, run north and south just east of the cities and valleys; hence the term Wasatch Front. To the west are the smaller Oquirrh Mountains and the Great Salt Lake.

Local leaders like to call the Wasatch Front “Silicon Slopes,” and it’s not just hype. This is now one of the top ten concentrations of the high tech industry in the United States. High tech and financial companies whose names you would recognize just keep moving in, and new start-ups you will someday recognize just keep, well, starting up.

Our old office in north Provo was nestled up against the mountains, a stone’s throw from the Provo River, a favorite destination of fly fishermen. Last December I snapped this photo out my office window, looking east toward the river and the mountains:

Looking from the old office toward the Provo River and the Wasatch Mountains in December

The old location was picturesque, and we could have found more space there to help accommodate MyHeritage’s growth, but our success and Utah’s pose a major challenge. The high-tech job scene here is definitely a seller’s market. In other words, the competition to hire top programming talent (among other things) is keen. The new office at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi is 16 miles and 30 minutes closer to the Salt Lake Valley. It’s just off a major freeway and adjacent to a commuter rail station. This location allows us to compete much more effectively for top talent in the Salt Lake City area.

Outside

Here’s the new building; we’re on the third floor.

View from the northeast corner. See how we got two corner offices in a single corner of the building?

Here’s the sign out front.

The sign out front has been here longer than we have

Inside

Come on in, and I’ll show you some of the things we like about the new office (besides the competitive location I mentioned, and my own shorter commute).

There’s a common area with a park theme, complete with picnic tables, comfortable patio furniture, and a mural very much like you might see on a MyHeritage flier. We have company lunches and some meetings here, but it’s also a good place to relax — and we keep threatening to watch movies here on a big screen borrowed from the large conference room. (So far, we’ve been too busy for that.)

Local artist Kris Cooper painted the mural.

On the other side of the windows is the call center. The two doors at the far end are to my office and a small conference room.

Here’s a detail of the mural:

Mural detail

Inside Looking Out

We like the views out the windows even better. Here is part of what I see out my own office windows, looking west:

FrontRunner currently runs from Ogden in the north to Provo in the south, and it stops near the new office.

The train is called FrontRunner. It’s the Wasatch Front’s commuter rail service, which is new to Utah County. This train is just pulling out of the station. Beyond the tracks is one end of a driving range at Thanksgiving Point’s excellent golf course. Beyond that are farms and some new homes. Just to the right, outside this picture, are the edge of an army base (helicopters!) and a track local police forces use to practice pursuit driving. There may be binoculars in my future.

Here’s what a colleague sees out his office window, looking east:

Just between you and me, I like my trains. But this is nice, too.

It’s the Same Team

I’ve shown you pictures of things and places, but, so far, not people. The team is the same as before the move. Here’s part of it, listening to MyHeritage CEO Gilad Japhet brief us on new features, new products, and the progress of the company.

MyHeritage CEO Gilad Japhet speaks to the WorldVitalRecords team in the new Utah office.

A Bit More Cosmopolitan

There are hotels, museums, theaters, and several places to eat in the neighborhood, with more opening soon, including a Thai restaurant. The newest new arrival at Thanksgiving Point (unless I’ve missed one in the last few days) is Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen. It’s a fried chicken chain I first encountered in New York City and the American South. It’s new to Utah, and, judging by the lines at lunchtime, it’s a very welcome addition to the Wasatch Front.

I’m not including an image because photography simply cannot do justice to mashed potatoes with Cajun gravy. Some of you know what I mean. But just to show I’m serious about Cajun cuisine, here’s one of the art prints I’ve hung on my new office wall. I picked it myself at Art.com.

Can you tell I'm writing this at lunchtime?

Happy Ending

In short, we love the new office. We’re looking forward to showing it off to our families sometime soon, once all the art is hung and a few lingering details are tended to. And we’re excited to keep growing.

Census records document almost everyone who lived in a country when the census was taken. They often include names, ages, addresses, birthplaces, occupation, literacy, and other information. This information can open the door to many additional discoveries about your ancestors.

For more information about the US Censuses, see “What’s in a US Census?” at the WorldVitalRecords blog.

Search the US Censuses at WorldVitalRecords

Every 10 years since 1790, the US government has conducted a nationwide census. Officially, the census’s purpose is to insure each state, based on its population, an equitable allocation of seats in the US House of Representatives (US Constitution, Article I, Section 2). But the census does more than just count heads. The government also gathers other information from each person and household — in fact, a slightly different set of information in each census. This data facilitates various types of research by government, businesses, and other entities. Family historians use it to find ancestors, discover where they lived and when, and to gather clues for further research.

The US Census Bureau publishes many different kinds of information, based on the latest census, but, to protect privacy, the actual census records are not released until 72 years after the census. So the 1940 US Census was released in 2012. (This 72-year rule has not always been in place; see below.)

Here’s a quick survey of the US Censuses which are already available, with notes about what was asked; the reported population; a few morsels of history, politics, and technology; and one big fire.

To see notes about a particular census, skip the proper heading below; they’re in chronological order. To see how the census evolved, start with 1790. If what you really want to do right now is search the censuses for your ancestors, follow this link to the WorldVitalRecords US Census collection.

A page from the 1790 US Census

1790: The First Census

The 1790 US Census recorded the name of each head of household, but only the numbers of other persons in the household, including these categories:

• free white males 16 years and up (to assess military and economical potential)
• free white males under 16 years
• free white females
• all other free persons
• slaves

Completed census lists (schedules) were posted in public places in each community for inspection. People in the 13 original states were counted, plus Kentucky, Maine, Vermont, and the Southwest Territory (Tennessee).

According to this census, the US population was 3,929,326.

1800: The Second Census

The 1800 US Census categorized household members into age groups, but heads of households were still the only persons whose names were recorded. This census included new territories to the northwest of the original states.

According to this census the US Population was 5,308,483, up 35.1% from 1790.

1810: The Third Census

Census takers in the 1810 US Census were required to collection economic data — specifically, about manufacturing — in addition to demographic data. However, there was no standard form for collecting this data, so it was quite erratic and mostly useless.

According to this census, the US Population was 7,239,881, up 36.4% from 1800.

1820: The Fourth Census

For the first time, the 1820 US Census asked if respondents were employed in agriculture, commerce, or manufacturing. Unfortunately, poor training of census-takers (enumerators) compromised the usefulness of this economic data.

According to this census, the US population was 9,638,453, up 33.1% from 1810.

1830: The Fifth Census

Previous censuses had begun in August, but the 1830 US Census began in June, at President Andrew Jackson’s recommendation. It included more detailed age information about household members, grouping them by age with intervals of ten years. This was the first census to use uniform printed “schedules” (forms). In previous censuses, local census marshals produced and bound their own forms. After two failures to collect good economic data (in 1810 and 1820), this census abandoned the effort and focused solely on counting the population.

According to this census, the US population was 12,866,020, up 33.5% from 1820.

1840: The Sixth Census

The 1840 US Census included new questions about school attendance, literacy, and occupation.

According to the 1840 Census, the US population was 17,069,453, up 32.7% from 1830.

1850: The Seventh Census

The 1850 Census included questions about mines, agriculture, commerce, manufacturing, and education, but the most significant innovation was including the names of all free persons, not just heads of household. Some information was also collected about taxes, wages, schools, crime, and property values.

According to this census, the US population was 23,191,876, up 35.9% from 1840.

1860: The Eighth Census

The 1860 Census used essentially the same questions as the 1850 Census, having been authorized by the same law in 1850.

According to this census, the US population was 31,443,321, up 35.6% from 1850.

1870: The Ninth Census

The 1870 Census was the first taken after the US Civil War and the emancipation of all slaves in the United States. Accordingly, it was the first US Census not to count slaves. For the first time, prospective census workers (enumerators) had to prove their qualifications by passing a test. The burden of tallying earlier censuses led the chief clerk of the Census Office, Charles W. Seaton, to invent a rudimentary tallying machine, which was used to count the 1870 census.

According to this census, the US population was 39,818,449, up 26.6% from 1860.

Mary C. Oursler, Official Custodian of Census Records, U.S. Census Bureau, 1937

1880: The Tenth Census

If no one was available at a household, 1880 Census enumerators were authorized to obtain the desired information about that household from its nearest neighbors. Data was also gathered about railroad corporations, telegraph companies, insurance companies, and some other businesses, and fines were authorized if any corporate officer refused to answer any of the questions asked. All untaxed Indians (Native Americans) within the United States were counted, as were the population and resources of Alaska, which would not become a state for several more decades.

As both the population and the census questionnaire grew, the task of tabulating the responses also grew. The 1880 Census took ten years to count.

According to this census, the US population was 50,189,209, up 26.1% from 1870.

1890: The Eleventh Census

The 1890 Census was the most detailed US Census to date, and more detailed than the next few. It asked about the ownership and indebtedness of homes and farms and gathered detailed information about surviving Union soldiers and sailors and their service, as well as the widows of deceased military personnel. A new question asked a person’s race. Married women were asked how many children they had borne and how many were still living. A separate sheet was used for each household’s census responses.

An electric tabulating system was used for the first time; it involved transferring data by hand from handwritten questionnaires to punch cards. Metal pins detected the holes punched in the cards and tabulated the results accordingly.

In 1921 most of the 1890 Census was destroyed in a fire, along with parts of some past censuses. For this story and a brief account of political intrigue involved in the 1890 Census, see Kellee Blake’s “First in the Path of the Firemen: The Fate of the 1890 Population Census.”

According to this census, the US population was 62,947,714, up 25.4% from 1880.

1900: The Twelfth Census

In authorizing the 1900 Census, Congress limited its scope to questions about population, mortality, agriculture, and manufacturing. Separate assessments were authorized on subjects ranging from deafness and blindness to juvenile delinquency, transportation, and religious organizations. Hawaii, which the US annexed in 1898, was included for the first time.

According to this census, the US population was 76,212,168, up 21.1% from 1890.

1910: The Thirteenth Census

The 1910 Census was begun in April instead of June at the suggestion of the head of the Census Bureau, who thought too many city-dwellers would be out of town for vacation during the summer. President Theodore Roosevelt insisted that the census-takers (enumerators) be hired through the civil service system for the first time. Traditionally, these had been patronage positions.

A month before the Census began, Congress required the addition of a question about the nationality or native language of foreign-born residents and their parents. The questionnaires had already been printed, so this information was added in the birthplace column of the forms.

According to this census, the US population was 92,228,496, up 21.0% from 1900.

Taking the 1920 census.

1920: The Fourteenth Census

The 1920 Census began on January 1, 1920, at the request of the Department of Agriculture, which wanted information about the previous harvest to be fresh in farmers’ minds. This innovation did not continue; future censuses would begin on April 1.

The authorizing legislation for this census allowed persons to obtain copies of census records for genealogical research, on the condition that the information not be used to the detriment of the persons listed.

Past questions about the numbers of children born to mothers and how long couples had been married were omitted. Household members who were temporarily away were listed with the household. Enumerators were not authorized to request proof of any information, and individuals were not required to spell out their names. Race was determined by the enumerator’s observation.

Because of changes in some national boundaries in Europe after World War I, persons who reported being born in Austria-Hungary, Germany, Russia, or Turkey were also asked to report the province in which they were born.

Although the US Constitution provides for the decennial census as a means to apportion seats in the House of Representatives among the states, there was no reapportionment based on the 1920 Census. This is not because nothing had changed. In fact, the census showed a major, continuing shift of the US population from rural to urban areas. Fearful of losing power to the cities, representatives from rural districts managed to derail reapportionment legislation. When Congress finally passed a reapportionment bill in 1929, it directed that the next reapportionment be according to the 1930 Census. To avoid similar problems in the future, this legislation authorized automatic reapportionment based on future censuses.

According to this census, the US population was 106,021,537, up 15.0% from 1910.

1930: The Fifteenth Census

The 1930 Census followed shortly after the stock market crashes which began the Great Depression. Urgent needs for unemployment information led the Census Bureau to rush the publication of that data. Congress thought it to be inaccurate — too low — so it authorized a special unemployment census in January 1931. Another followed in 1937. The latter is interesting because it the data was gathered by postal carriers, and because this was the first time the Census Bureau experimented with statistical sampling. Two percent of households were given a special questionnaire, which was used to measure the accuracy of the complete census.

According to this census, the US population was 122,775,046, up 15.8% from 1920.

1940: The Sixteenth Census

The 1940 Census involved the use of sophisticated statistical techniques, not to determine the population, which would arguably be unconstitutional, but to allow the inclusion of additional questions without burdening the tabulation process, and also to allow the publication of preliminary returns several months before the complete results became available.

To assess the ongoing impact of the Great Depression, the 1940 Census added questions about income, employment, unemployment, and internal migration.

According to this census, the US population was 132,164,569, up 7.7% from 1930.

1950 and Beyond: Still Unavailable

Later censuses are still unavailable to the public. The 1950 Census will be released April 1, 2022, 72 years to the day after it began.

Meanwhile, here’s one thing we do know. Based on the 2010 US Census, the Census Bureau estimates the US population in 2010 at almost 309 million. The Bureau estimates that the population has grown to over 315 million since 2010.

Search the WorldVitalRecords US Census collection

The idea of using DNA for genealogy inspires images of digging up old grave sites to procure a sample. But you won’t need a shovel. You yourself are a walking record of your ancestors. Some pieces of your genetic makeup have come from recent ancestors; others have been handed down from generation to generation over hundreds of years.

DNA Double Helix

Your DNA determines the characteristics you inherit from your parents. For genealogy testing, specific markers (snippets of genetic code) on the last chromosome pair have been identified as the most stable markers, that is, they remain most consistent over time. Some of your inherited traits may be obvious; you may have your father’s nose and your grandmother’s toes. But your DNA also contains less obvious traits which come down to you from more distant generations.

This means that your DNA includes a record of long-forgotten ancestors.

There are three main types of DNA tests used in genealogy.

Y-DNA

We all inherit an X chromosome from our mother. Males also receive a Y chromosome from their father.

Testing of the male line includes looking at shared markers on the Y chromosome. Depending on how much detail you want, you may look at 12, 37, or 67 markers.  Because the Y chromosome is only passed through the paternal line, Y-DNA testing can only be administered to a male. The results provide insight into the male ancestors of that individual’s paternal line, including identifying the haplogroup — essentially, your place in the genetic tree of the world.

mtDNA

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is contained in the cytoplasm of the cell, rather than the nucleus. This type of DNA is passed by a mother to both male and female offspring without any mixing, so your mtDNA is the same as your mother’s mtDNA, which is the same as her mother’s mtDNA. mtDNA changes very slowly, so it cannot determine close relationships as well as it can determine general relatedness. If two people have an exact match in their mtDNA, then they share a common maternal ancestor, but it is hard to determine if this is a recent ancestor or one who lived hundreds of years ago. It is important to keep in mind with this test that a male’s mtDNA comes only from his mother and is not passed on to his offspring. Your maternal line haplogroup is identified with an mtDNA test.

The DNA tests that identified the bodies of the Romanovs, the Russian imperial family, utilized mtDNA from a sample provided by Prince Philip, who shares the same maternal line from Queen Victoria.

Autosomal

The newest form of DNA testing for genealogy is called Autosomal testing. Over 700,000 locations on the DNA are tested to identify any shared ancestor within the last five generations. You also will gain insight into your ethnic makeup. If you’ve reached a dead end in your research, to the point that you don’t even know where to look, autosomal DNA testing can give you some direction. It will also help you to connect with living relatives whose DNA is on file for comparison.

At the St George Family History Expo this month, I listened to a wonderful talk given by a representative of The Genetic Genealogy Consultant. She shared a story of connections her own autosomal test results made possible. Getting in touch with a matched relative allowed her family to reconnect with a distant cousin who spent hours and hours with her father in their childhood but had since lost touch.

Picking a test

DNA testing can be both exciting and overwhelming. Whether you are looking for new insights into your existing pedigree, a place to start, or ways to connect with living relatives, there is information in your DNA that will unlock resources and leads for your research.

If you are like me, you don’t readily spend your hard-earned money on the latest, greatest technology. I have yet to switch over to a smart phone, much to my colleagues’ amusement,

Choose a DNA test based on which line you want to explore.

because every year there is something better. In the past much of the benefit of DNA testing was to add to the research and development of the field. In order for results to be meaningful, they must be compared with known markers. Family Tree DNA has the largest database, including DNA information on over 400,000 people. The field of genealogical DNA testing has arrived. It has become a dependable treasure trove of information to expand your traditional research efforts, and it will only get better.

To choose which kit or kits are right for you, look at your pedigree and decide what you would like to find out. For example, I’m stuck in the 1800s on my grandfather’s father’s line. I’m told there is German blood, but the surname is Scottish. The best thing for me to do in this case is to find the oldest living descendant in that line and test their paternal line with a Y-DNA test. If I am interested in my mother’s mother’s Irish roots, I need to administer an mtDNA test to my Mother or a female descendant of that line.  All it takes is a simple and painless cheek swab. (Watch this tutorial.)

Know What to Expect

It is important to know what to expect from your results. The report you receive can be very technical. Don’t despair if your high school biology is a bit rusty. There are many wonderful help articles to help you through the details. For example, this one at the Blair DNA Project gives insight into what a DNA test can do for you. Here is a good list they give of insights you can gain from your results:

1)      Identification that you and another participant share a common ancestor.

2)      Y-DNA and mtDNA results give you an idea of how far back a common ancestor lived and the migration path of that ancestral line through the identification of the maternal or paternal haplogroup.

3)      Evidence of a suspected connection between yourself and another participant.

4)      Prove that the test taker is not related to an individual or family.

5)      Autosomal test results provide an amazing detailed description of your ethnic makeup.

Finally, remember that DNA testing alone is not as meaningful as DNA testing paired with traditional research. To get the most out of your DNA test results, use the information as you would any new development in your search. It will open doors and suggest new connections. Ask for help from a professional, if you are not sure how the results can expand your tree.

William Hyde, my ancestor in the Mormon Battalion

I have never been one who enjoys fiction. Real stories of real people, and getting a picture of how they really lived, always entice me much more. I am very lucky to have rich genealogical records passed down to me. Many of them are filled with the stories of my ancestors, not just their names and dates. From these I begin to assemble the larger stories of the places where they lived and visited, and the people they knew. So my question for you is, Are you just gathering names? Or are you attempting to relate to them by understanding who they really were, based on where they lived, how they lived, and who lived around them?

When we find names, we find more than just names. We find time periods and places where people lived. If we rush on to the next name, we never learn who they were and how they became who they were. If we look further, we find the occupations, politics, and religions of the people there, and even the illnesses they suffered. In the end we better understand how we became who we are.

Not long ago, my husband and I were sitting at home, reading books about our separate family lines. My mother was from Canada and Beverly Hills. My father was a Jew from Manhattan. I had always made fun of my husband for being born and raised in American Fork, Utah. (I said it “Fark,” like some of the natives.) I loved to poke at him because of his family’s provincial Utah background. But on that night, as I was reading the Journal of William Hyde, who spent many years working away from his family and even marched across the West with the Mormon Battalion, I ran across some names that appeared to be very . . . familiar. I started to blush, and I tried to hide what I was reading.

He saw me shifting nervously. “Clare, what’s that you are reading?” he asked.

“Nothing you would be interested in,” I responded. “Just family history stuff.”

“Why do you look so uncomfortable? Let me read what you are reading! It must be heavy stuff.”

I had forgotten for a moment that he is a huge history buff. I tried to keep the book from him, but he quickly pulled it out of my hand, and like a schoolboy, held it just out of my reach.

He opened the book. “Huh,” he said, and turned the page. “Huh.” Another page. “Oh reeeeallllly?”

He had found it: The part of my family history I will never live down, after teasing him for years.

Our families were nearly next-door neighbors in — where else? — American Faark.

My husband, Russ, and I

We looked further and were stunned. Our ancestors had come across the plains in the same groups of pioneers. They fought in the same battalions. They lived in the same cities. They owned land next to each other in multiple states. They were active in politics and served in the judiciary in the same places.

They were not only friends, but business partners. They were neighbors. They attended the same church services. They had children who died of the same diseases along the same pioneer trail.

We always said that the angels must have helped get us together, because we’re “a match made in heaven.” We never realized our paths started to cross almost two centuries ago.

I learned that night to love to relate to the unrelated. Any name we find, related or otherwise, could mean more to us than we ever imagined.

Family Finder DNA Kits - Click to Zoom

WorldVitalRecords DNA Testing

At WorldVitalRecords we are excited to offer DNA Testing to help you take advantage of this revolutionary technology for advancing your family history research.  We are offering DNA testing at very affordable prices for a limited time.  Get more information HERE.

Your ancestors left clues to your family history in you and in other descendants, and you can unlock these clues by testing your DNA.

With our simple cheek swab test you can:

• Discover previously unknown relatives via DNA matches
• Uncover the ethnic and geographical origins of your ancestors
• Prove or disprove whether you and another person are related through a common ancestor
• Break through “brick walls” encountered during your family history research

DNA Test - Click to find our more

DNA tests are useful for identifying the deep ancestral origins of your direct paternal line (Y-DNA), your direct maternal line (mtDNA), finding relatives across all lines via autosomal DNA (Family Finder), and producing a percentage breakdown of your ethnic roots and DNA matching.

WorldVitalRecords has partnered with Family Tree DNA, the global leader in genetic genealogy. Family Tree DNA pioneered the genealogy DNA industry and has amassed the world’s largest DNA database, providing the best capabilities for genealogy DNA matching.

Family Tree DNA is also well known for its work with National Geographic on the Genographic Project, and it operates its state-of-the-art genetic genealogy lab in Houston, Texas. Privacy is strictly maintained and DNA results are not shared with anyone but you.

Female Generations - Click to learn more

DNA tests are available to meet different research objectives and budgets. For an introductory period, all prices are discounted for WorldVitalRecords subscribers, starting as low as $89.10.

Want to learn more? Read the detailed Frequently Asked Questions about DNA on WorldVitalRecords.com.

Order your DNA test now

Are you into family history for the joy of it?

That’s reason enough, but there are other possibilities. You may feel a duty to your ancestors, to help them live on in their descendants’ memories. You may feel a sense of obligation to your posterity, to help them understand who they are and whence they came. For some, it’s a religious duty. Or perhaps you’re driven by a more personal desire, to figure out who you are and whence you came. All of these are perfectly good motives.

I don’t claim that you even need a motive, or that you should report it to me or anyone else. But, for the sake of discussion, let’s assume that you have some discernible reason for engaging in family history.

Let’s also assume that your own involvement is important to you, not just your work product. If only the result matters — if family history to you is like cleaning the oven, replacing the broken sewer line, or having your gall bladder removed — you might hire a professional genealogist and let him or her worry about it. That’s fine; professional genealogists have to eat, too. But this post is for people who want to be involved, not just have the work done.

I’m a fairly busy guy, with family, professional, civic, and religious activities and obligations. But there are a few slices of time in my schedule which I might use to pursue family history. (My family history, that is; in a sense my professional activities focus on your family history.) This only works if the necessary materials are ready at hand when those time slices occur, and if I think to use them productively, rather than watching television or surfing the Web.

My Projects This Year

I have four family history-related projects to advance this year. I’ll use them as my examples. They are:

• Building my family tree somewhere online, where it’s accessible to other members of my immediate and extended family. Given where you’re reading this, you’ll understand why I’ll be using the excellent tree at MyHeritage.com.
• An indexing project which welcomes my participation, whether I index one name per week or a hundred names per day.
• A biography I’ve been researching and now want to start writing. Technically, this is someone else’s family history, not my own, but that doesn’t change the nature of the work, and it’s a useful example.
• Helping a cousin organize the annual reunion of my mother’s family — which I’ve done before, but she hasn’t.

So how will I stick to these enough this year to accomplish something, despite my busy schedule? Thanks for asking. I don’t claim to know all the answers, but here are eight things that might work for me and one that probably won’t.

I sent Julie, our designer, some images from that biography I'm writing and asked her which she liked best. She sent back a collage. Clockwise from top left: John Whitaker in Afghanistan; a news article from the time he was kidnapped at age 18; his graduation photo from US Army jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia; in front of a bunker in Tay Ninh Province, Vietnam, and two school pictures.

1. Daily Electronic Reminders

Lately, I use an iPhone app called Orchestra to keep my to-do list. Last summer I added a task which recurs daily: “Index at least one name.” It worked. I indexed 1242 names last year, because indexing a name is like eating a potato chip: It’s hard to stop at just one. My goal this year is 2500 names, or an average of just under seven names per day, so the new recurring task reads, “Index at least seven names.” The app sends me a reminder e-mail every day and also tells me how long it has been since I completed that task, which facilitates catching up. (I am nothing if not human. I fall behind sometimes.)

2. Have a Regular Time and Place to Work, and a Designated Place for Materials

I have a drawer in my desk dedicated to my materials for the biography I mentioned. I’m protecting part of every Sunday afternoon for the project — which may include turning off my phone, too. But there’s an added difficulty: If my desk isn’t clean — at least usable — I don’t tend to sit at it. I sit in my unconscionably comfortable reading chair instead and fall asleep, and nothing gets done. So in this case I have to have a regular time and place and an orderly desk. For more conventional family history work a briefcase (such as my father uses), a binder (such as I used to use), a room (if you can get one of your children to move out), or a laptop (properly backed up, of course) might be just the right place to keep everything.

3. Keep a Task List for the Project

This has at least three advantages. First, I’m less likely to forget things which need to be done. If I think of something to do later in the project, I simply write it down and get back to what I’m doing. Second, it’s easier to keep working when I complete one task, if the next is already on my list, ready and waiting. Third, if I get stuck on one task, there are probably several others on the list which don’t depend on that one, so I can still be productive.

To my delight, I discovered that MyHeritage.com automatically offers me a list of things I could add to my family tree there. Its automated sense of priorities is close to mine, so I probably won’t keep my own list for that project, at least not at first. Right now, for example, with my tree just beginning, it’s prompting me to enter birth dates for two of my brothers, who died as infants, and for myself (pardon the backhanded Mark Twain reference . . .), who did not.

For the family reunion, which is my fourth example, I’m hoping my task list from last year will be useful to my cousin, who is in charge this year.

4. Have a Front Burner and a Back Burner

If I’m stuck, bored, or losing momentum, I can shift what I’m doing to the back burner and promote another back-burner task to the front burner for a while. This makes the work more interesting, increases my energy and enthusiasm, and builds momentum.

5. Keep a Research Log, Notebook, or Diary

Where did I find that record again? What was I trying to find in that database last week? Where can I write down this good idea for future reference? Is that really how it was spelled? Some sort of a notebook can be the key to all of these questions. There are many different ways to keep it, electronically and otherwise. The way I prefer depends on the project.

6. Use Social Media

Assuming you have some friends on Facebook, Google+, or Twitter, you can find some encouragement there, and perhaps even some help. If others friends are working on the same lines, you may be able to collaborate via social media. In any case, reporting your goals and progress to others tends to help you keep making progress. And if it’s a reunion you’re planning, a little Facebooking goes a long way. Make a group and an event, and start inviting people.

7. Remember the Value of Baby Steps

(Did you notice that we’ve moved from Mark Twain to Bill Murray?) Small things, persisted in, add up to great things. Even a little progress every day or every week quickly adds up to something meaningful. If half an hour every Saturday morning is all the time you have for a family history project, enjoy working at it half an hour every Saturday morning, and don’t feel guilty for not doing more or progressing more quickly.

8. Reward Yourself

This doesn’t work very well for me, for some reason, but a lot of folks recommend it. Plan to celebrate with a Key Lime pie when you’ve entered that 50th name in your family tree, or take yourself to a movie to celebrate finishing that chapter of the history. Or watch What About Bob? (see #7 above) to learn all about “baby steps.” Or reward yourself by reading Mark Twain’s brief story “An Encounter with an Interviewer” (see #3 above).

Reward yourself or not. It’s up to you. I enjoy the work enough to see it as its own reward, and somehow there’s already very nearly enough Key Lime pie in my diet. On second thought, maybe a reward would work for me if the Key Lime pie were at that beachfront place on Key Largo . . .

There's great Key Lime pie a stone's throw from the beach where I took this picture on Key Largo.

9. Make a Habit of Reading Something not Directly Related to Your Work (but still in the same subject area)

I’ve lately been reading US colonial history, which intersects with my genealogy at a couple of points, but is mostly just interesting to me on general principle. Yes, it’s engaging enough to keep me awake even in the aforementioned “unconscionably comfortable reading chair.” Most of the time.

It’s About Momentum

You may have noticed that at least seven of my nine suggestions relate directly to preserving momentum. I can’t speak for others, but that’s a big deal for me, if I want to keep at a task at regular intervals over an extended period of time.

Speaking of momentum, having now told you about my family history projects for the year, I’m eager to finish this blog post and get back to one of them. Baby steps to my home office, baby steps to my desk drawer . . .

Good luck with your own projects!

Same bird, by evening. I'm thinking this reward thing might work after all.

I first encountered a memory quilt at my friend Katie’s house, when I was eight years old. Her guestroom had a bedspread like none I had ever seen. It looked like someone had sewn a blue satin dress right onto the bed. It was covered in sequins and beads, with streams of blue and purple radiating out from the waist. I was enchanted. I remarked that it looked like something a queen would wear. Katie answered, “Yes, my mom used to be a queen, and this is what she wore.” Katie proved it by showing me a large picture of her mom, in the dress, on the wall downstairs. I was a amazed. A real, live queen lived just across the street from me, and she had the bedspread to prove it!

Persona Quilt

A year or so later, I learned that Katie’s mom had been a beauty queen. The dress on the bedspread was the one she wore in the evening gown portion of the Miss Texas pageant. Later, she had made it into a quilt to commemorate the event. Since then I have seen many other memory quilts. They tend to fall into three categories.

Persona Quilt

This type of quilt is usually made as a gift or a means of self expression. It is meant to reflect who a person is. The photo here is one my mom made for my dad. Like this one, persona quilts often include a lot of novelty fabrics, each chosen because it has some special significance for that person. Here some of the squares represent his Eagle Scout award, the universities he attended (Brigham Young University and the University of Utah), and some of his favorite foods (suckers, BBQ, and hot sauce).

Event Quilt

Event Quilts

These are made to commemorate an event or a series of events. My neighbor’s pageant dress bedspread is in this category. Such a quilt might be made from a wedding dress or race t-shirts. Annette, the wife of one of our engineers at MyHeritage, made this one to commemorate her daughter’s accomplishments in high school band. It includes a lot of embroidery and appliqué.

Classic Memory Quilt

These are the most popular memory quilts. They are made from the fabrics that we most associate with a person, usually their clothing. I have seen them made from baby clothes, old jeans, and even neckties. They are usually made in memory of a period of life that is already past (like baby clothes) or, as in this example, in memory of a person who has passed away.

Classic Memory Quilt

My friend Heather Lott was commissioned to make a set of three quilts for a woman whose mother had passed away. The daughter went through her mother’s clothes and pulled out anything that reminded her of her mom. These were mostly things that she wore often, but also things she wore for special events. Heather transformed them into three lovely quilts, one for each of the deceased woman’s children. Now, whenever the children and grandchildren see the fabrics in that quilt, they remember Grandma.

Quilt 1, Quilt 2, Quilt 3

These quilts may be cozy and even beautiful. But what makes them a piece of family history is the story. Who wore this dress? When did that happen? How is this person related to me? I love the idea of putting together a little bit of my family history that is tangible and functional. I imagine myself wrapping up my kids in the blanket someday, pointing to each square and telling them where it came from and why I love it — thus turning a warm, comfy quilt into a bit of history.

I have a little stack of baby clothes, and I plan to make a blanket with them. I sat down the other day to get started so I could share it in this post. My kids are still young, and I cherish those little onesies and jackets. I sat there with my scissors in hand, before a pile of my sons’ old clothes, but I couldn’t bring myself to cut them up. What if I want the baby to wear this? (That’s not likely, since she is a girl and these are boy clothes.) What if my kids want their children to wear this? (I know this possibility is even more remote.) I actually got misty-eyed, sitting there. I know that the whole point of making the quilt is to preserve those memories, but I was unprepared for the emotions. So my step-by-step instructions don’t yet lead to my own finished product.

Step 1: Select and Prepare

Be sure to select items that are meaningful. Remember that, depending on the size of the squares, you may be able to get multiple square from one garment. Cut the clothes along enough seams to make the fabric lie down flat.

Step 2: Interfacing

This is the crucial step. When we sew a quilt, we want even squares, but many of the fabrics you use may be stretchy, like a t-shirt. This can make the squares uneven after they are cut. Buy some lightweight fusible interfacing. Cut that into squares a little larger than your final square size.Then iron it onto the back of the clothing.

Step 3: Cut Your Squares

Make sure you cut all your squares the same size. The easiest way to do this is with a cutting mat, rotary cutter, and ruler. If you don’t have these, you can get good results with a square cardboard template and sharp scissors.

Step 4: Arrange and Sew.

Once all your squares are cut, lay them out on the floor and arrange them any way you like. If you are short a few squares, add in some generic fabric squares where needed. Then sew them together as you would any other quilt. Sew one row at a time, then sew each row to the next.

Step 5: Finish

Finish the quilt in the usual ways. Add a layer of quilt batting and a fabric backing. Then either tie the quilt or have it quilted professionally.

Enjoy the memories.

Sometimes they say the same thing about movies at home — family video night, if you will. But there I disagree. Movies work differently for families at home. Sometimes we do sit quietly at home as we watch them, but that’s not the end of it. The best movies, by which I mean the ones we like best, live on in our conversation. Then we go back and watch them again and again, and they live even longer.

Great Lines

In my family it’s usually not profound themes or moving monologues that enter the family’s language. It’s great lines, and most of them are funny. In just the last few days, these much-loved lines have been quoted aptly in ordinary conversation among members of my family:

• “Truly, you have a dizzying intellect.” (Cary Elwes’ Man in Black in The Princess Bride)
• “I tell you, it’s a whole different sex!” (Jack Lemmon’s Jerry in Some Like It Hot)
• “For what do we live, but to make sport for our neighbours, and laugh at them in our turn?” (Benjamin Whitrow’s Mr. Bennet in Pride and Prejudice)

Some of our movie references require a second participant, which makes them sort of an inside joke. Two of the most common are from the 1993 comedy Dave. Kevin Kline’s title character and Ving Rhames’ Duane have this exchange:

“I can’t say.”
“You mean, you don’t know, or ‘you can’t say’?”
“I can’t say.”

And when relatives come over, especially during the holidays, they’ll wave and call out, as they drive away with their windows down:

“Thanks for doing this, Ellen!”

There are two canonical responses, depending on how naughty we’re feeling, because Dave says this two times in the movie, and his wife (played by Sigourney Weaver) responds differently. One is:

“You never change, do you, Bill?”

The other is:

“Go to h-ll, Bill!”

(For the record, Sigourney Weaver didn’t use the hyphen.)

For full effect, picture my relatively straight-laced family in front of my house on our quiet, Christmas-lit street, as midnight approaches on Christmas Eve. Huge snowflakes fall gently. My brother-in-law and his relatively straight-laced family pull away in their car, headed home. Their windows are open, the horn honks, and they yell out the windows, “Thanks for doing this, Ellen!” I and mine call loudly after them, as if with one voice, “Go to h-ll, Bill!” It’s a beloved ritual.

Scenario: Snowed In

My colleagues here at MyHeritage’s Utah office, the home of WorldVitalRecords, are fun and interesting, so I decided to consult them. I e-mailed them this question, and several replied. (The others, I assume, were too busy working.)

“It’s two days before Christmas. You’re snowed in with the family. The cable, satellite TV, and Internet are out, and you forgot to order anything new from Netflix, but the electricity’s still on. By mutual agreement, it’s video night. The popcorn’s popping, someone has a stash of relatively fresh Junior Mints, and there’s time for two movies. You’re all feeling nostalgic, and the consensus is to watch two family favorites: one that’s related to the season and one that’s not. What movies might you watch? Tell me your short lists. They have to be in your, or the family’s, video collection.”

I told them my short lists, to get them started. (Later I consulted my family and was told I got them mostly right.)

Holiday:

• While You Were Sleeping (1995)
• The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
• Miracle on 34th Street (1947 or 1994, but some of the family strongly prefer the older one)
• It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Non-holiday:

• Some Like It Hot (1959)
• Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
• My Fair Lady (1964) or The Music Man (1962)
• Dave (1993)

For some reason, most of family’s favorites tend to involve a scam or impersonation of some sort. That probably means something.

But to My Colleagues . . .

Richard listed non-holiday flicks Ever After (1998), Harry Potter (2001), and The Count of Monte Cristo (2002), and, for the holidays, ‘Twas the Night before Christmas (1974) and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966).

Will listed, for the holidays, “in order of awesomeness,” It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf (2003), Scrooged (1988), and How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). His non-holiday choices are The Sting (1973), Groundhog Day (1993), and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969).

Clare wrote, “Love my Christmas horror flicks!” She named Santa’s Slay (2005) and Jack Frost (1996), “and then of course the cult classic, Gremlins (1984).”

Randy’s mixed short list includes The Grinch (2000), Dumb and Dumber (1994), and White Chicks (2004).

Roger’s family likes holiday films It’s a Wonderful Life, Elf, and The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), and non-holiday pictures Enchanted (2007), Mary Poppins (1994), and Jungle Book (1967).

Ashley listed these for Christmas: It’s a Wonderful Life, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966), Home Alone (1990), The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993),  The Santa Clause (1994), and Elf. Her non-Christmas choices are Tangled (2010), “any of the 007’s,” the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter series, the Star Wars series, The Expendables (2010), Alien (1979), Predator (1987), and AVP (2004). (Her family may have to be snowed in for several days, not just an evening.)

Mark offered Elf, Miracle on 34th Street (1994), Polar Express (2004), and The Grinch (2000) for the holidays, and also “Harry Potter — all of them” and “Lord of the Rings — all of them.”

Julie listed A Christmas Story (1983) and Mixed Nuts (1994) for the holidays, and Tommy Boy (1995) and Crocodile Dundee (1986) of general interest. She added a story about Crocodile Dundee:

My grandpa had a cabin when I was young. We would go up there at least once a month in the spring andsummer. There was a TV and VCR, but we could never remember to bring movies with us. For years the only tapes left up there were Crocodile Dundee and some 1980s ski movies. We ended up watching Crocodile Dundee every time we were there.

A Thought, a Suggestion, and Two Questions (not necessarily in that order)

Julie’s brief tale of Crocodile Dundee appeals to the family historian in me. Here’s my suggestion:  When the parents or grandparents or uncles or aunts are over for dinner during the holidays, ask them what have been their favorite movies — and when and why they loved them, and with whom they watched them, and how much it cost to get in.

My questions for you are these. First, based on the movies listed above, whose home would you prefer for an impromptu, snowed-in video night? Second, what would you and your family watch if you were snowed in at home?

Finally, the thought may be out of bounds for this blog post, perhaps, but Ashley added this at the bottom of her list, and it belongs at the bottom of mine, too: ”And, of course, we would cozy up and read books.”

Happy holidays, everyone!