For %%emailaddr%% Dec. 14, 2006 So we had a glitch in last newsletter's December Family Tree Magazine issue quiz, and I didn't receive most of your responses. I apologize! But on the bright side (and we're all about the bright side), you'll get another chance to win a genealogy book from Family Tree Books. Go to http://www.familytreemagazine.com/newsletter/issuequiz1206.asp to play. When would you most likely participate in an online chat with Family Tree Magazine editors and/or writers? Visit the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum at www.familytreemagazine.com/forum and respond to our poll (look for the thread in the Introductions Forum). You'll receive your next Family Tree Magazine E-mail Update newsletter Jan. 4, 2007. Happy holidays, and we hope all your genealogy wishes come true! —Diane Haddad, Newsletter Editor ftmnews-editor@fwpubs.com P.S. Make sure you don't miss a single issue of your E-mail Update! Add our address (familytree-newsletter@fwpubs.com) to your email-address book—your software will recognize the Update as an e-mail you want to read. Righting Wrongs Bark up the Right Tree GenClass is in Session News From the Front AncestorNews: [Item] Tip of the Week: Beyond Borders Worthwhile Web Sites Identifying Family Photographs: Inked Identity Speakers' Schedule Advertiser Special Offers Righting Wrongs In the Nov. 30 E-mail Update newsletter, we answered a Now What? Online question about correcting wrong information on ancestors’ birth, death and marriage certificates. A couple of newsletter readers chimed in with more information. Rhonda Casler, an employee at a county records center in Ohio, says the issue has come up in her office. “Please let your readers know there is actually a proper legal procedure to file a correction. You may need the assistance of an attorney and very sound evidence, but it can be done.” She cautions the procedure varies by county and changing old records might not be a priority in some places. “I had the same problem,” says Betty Seymour, who reads the E-mail Update in Pennsylvania. “I know the information was incorrect, because I have the birth certificate.  In Pennsylvania, to correct the problem, the funeral director or the person who supplied the information can request a correction, or you can get a court order.” If you’re sure the record you want to change is your ancestor’s, and you have proof of the right information, call the state vital-records office and ask how to have the record corrected.   Bark up the Right Tree Genetic genealogy company Family Tree DNA (http://www.familytreedna.com) has developed an additional DNA test that can assign a haplogroup—which translates to a geographic region for your deep ancestry—even for the 10 percent of samples where traditional testing can’t determine a haplogroup. The new test evaluates slow-mutating SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms), which are a type of variation in DNA sequences. Note what the company calls “guaranteed placement on the correct branch of the tree of mankind” doesn’t help you with your genealogy research: Your haplogroup applies to ancestors who were alive millennia ago. Family Tree DNA president Bennett Greenspan says traditional haplogroup testing has been controversial because companies sometimes draw conclusions from ambiguous test results. “You probably remember the fiasco with [Florida professor] Tom Robinson, who was predicted to be a descendent of Genghis Kahn,” Greenspan says. Further testing concluded Robinson is not a Ghengis Kahn descendant.   Greenspan’s company will remove haplogroup guesswork by performing the SNP test on all samples for which a haplotype can’t be predicted through traditional means. “Additionally, we’ll be going backward and running the SNP test on all our past clients for whom we weren’t able to predict a haplogroup.”   GenClass Is in Session A new Web site called GenClass is offering four-week online genealogy classes for $29.95 per course. After you sign up, you’ll get a password for the class Web site, where you can download two lessons per week, attend class chats and e-mail your instructor. Among topics of classes beginning Jan. 4 are adopted ancestors, getting started, Family Tree Maker 16 and genealogy in the Northeastern United States. (See http://www.genclass.com for a course schedule and curriculum details.) Lecturers include Family Tree Magazine author and genealogist Lisa A. Alzo, professional “missing person” search specialist Linda Rakita and professional genealogist Cindy Rowzee.   News From the Front Library and Archives Canada has posted samplings of interviews with Canadian WWI veterans at http://www.collectionscanada.ca/ first-world-war/interviews. These accounts from about 20 Canadian Expeditionary Force veterans might give you a taste of your veteran ancestor’s experiences. You can listen to or read transcriptions of the one-on-one interviews, which originally aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. radio show “In Flanders Fields” during 1964 and 1965. Click the Further Research tab for more resources on Canadian military history.   Beyond Borders This German research tip comes from the December 2006 Family Tree Magazine: German immigrants from outside Germany may be listed in census records as Austrian, Hungarian or Russian. The language may tip you off: If a German-speaker's country of origin is Hungary or Russia, he could've been from a German enclave in one of those countries. Find out an Austrian's religion—most German enclaves were Protestant, while virtually all German-speakers from the rest of Austria were Roman Catholic. See the December 2006 Family Tree Magazine for a guide to researching German-speakers from outside German borders. Post your genealogy research tips—and get advice from fellow Family Tree Magazine E-mail Update readers—in the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Forum. Overwhelmed by the number of family history-related Web sites popping up? FamilyTreeMagazine.com sorts through them all—whew!—to bring you only the very best. We recently recommended the following as Sites of the Week: • Digital History http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/maps/maps.cfm Find digital images of historical maps on this site, part of the University of Houston's Digital History project. Some US maps date back to the 1700s. • Register of Deeds (North Carolina) http://rodweb01.co.wake.nc.us/books/genext/genextsearch.asp If you have ancestors in Wake County, NC, you may get lucky searching old deed records by grantor, grantee, document type and more. • Old Mersey Times http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk Discover English ancestors from Liverpool and Merseyside in this site's transcriptions, vital records and passenger lists. • German-American History and Heritage http://www.germanheritage.com Read biographies and history articles here. In particular, look over the information on the first German settlers in America. Inked Identity Tracie Rose is determined to find out more about her unusual family name, Bankz. She’s posted online queries, searched databases and looked in public records. Now she owns a photo she suspects is of her great-grandfather Jamel Elvin Bankz, his brother and their parents. The clues may be in the tattoos on one man's arms. Read our expert's analysis at http://www.familytreemagazine. com/photos/current.htm. Expert photo historian Maureen A. Taylor helps readers analyze old family pictures in this Web-exclusive column Identifying Family Photographs. If you have a family photo mystery for Taylor to solve, check out our Submission Guidelines at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/photos/photohelp.htm. New! FamilyTreeMagazine.com Events Calendar Find and post genealogy- and history-related events on the FamilyTreeMagazine.com Calendar! Log on to http://www.familytreemagazine.com/forum/calendar/calendar-list.asp. PRINTING & BINDING:  Archival hardbound books with 4-color ink-based  printing.   Over 53 years experience as bookbinders.  http://www.familyheritagepublishers.com PUBLISH YOUR FAMILY HISTORY. Preserve and share your precious family research. Personal coaching. Many options.  www.GatewayPress.com RootsMagic Genealogy Software - "An excellent choice for any genealogist" says Family Tree Magazine. Get a free trial copy at http://www.RootsMagic.com Genealogy Hotel Rates in Salt Lake-You will love the genealogy rates at the Holiday Inn-Downtown along with the free shuttles to & from the Family History Library.   www.holiday-inn.com/slc-downtown DNA can help your genealogy research. There are good reasons why 9 out of 10 genealogists choose Family Tree DNA: we have the largest database in the world to match your sample with others and resolve your brick wall, and you can call us - we will help you choose the best test, and analyze your results: 713-868-1438. 2006 LIQUIDATION SALE in progress at Genealogical.com.  Choose from 56 books & CDs selling at 6o% or more below retail price.  http://www.genealogical.com/content/update_1.html Get Family Tree Magazine back issues at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/mags. Explore Family Tree Magazine E-mail Update past issues at http://www.familytreemagazine.com/newsletter/archive.html. 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