Great news! FamilyTreeDNA has partnered with MyHeritage for tree integration. The purpose is to obsolete the FamilyTreeDNA tree and integrate it as a tree that resides on MyHeritage for FamilyTreeDNA customers. MyHeritage’s tree-building software is much more robust and functional than the FamilyTreeDNA trees, which makes sense because MyHeritage is a “tree” company. No one maintains their primary tree at FamilyTreeDNA, and FamilyTreeDNA never intended their tree to be a “research tree.” The tree at FamilyTreeDNA has always served three primary purposes: So you can view your matches tree ..read more

Many of the families that settled Acadia in the New World in what is now Nova Scotia originated in the Poitou region of France before deciding to embark on a life-altering journey to the New World beginning in the early/mid 1600s and continuing through the first half of the 1700s. The history of the Poitou revolves around the wealthy Charles de Menou d’Aulnay (1604-1650), and his family, specifically his cousin Isaac de Razilly. Both were members of the French nobility De Razilly became governor of Acadia in 1632 and began the settlement of French families in earnest at La Hève, now LaHave, bu ..read more

This is the third article in the Genealogy Proof series, in addition to the introduction. Genealogy Proof Series: Gathering Resources, Leveling Up, Using the Genealogical Proof Standard and DNA Genealogy Proof Series: Gathering Location Resources Genealogy Proof Series: Extracting and Recording Data So That You Can Find It In the article titled Gathering Location Resources, we focused on locations where you know your ancestor lived – but what if you’re looking for books or information about a particular family or surname? Maybe you’d like to know if an article or book has been written about ..read more

Claude Dugas lived more than four score years in Acadia and witnessed a lot of changes during his lifetime. Witnessed is probably far too weak a word. Claude was born about 1649 in Port Royal to Abraham Dugas and Marguerite Doucet. He married twice, the first time to Marie Francoise Bourgeois, daughter of Jacques (dit Jacob) Bourgeois and Jeanne Trahan, about 1673, and the second time, after her death, to Marguerite Bourg, the daughter of Bernard Bourg and Francoise Brun, about 1697. Claude had at least 12 children with his first wife, Marie Francoise, my ancestor, and at least another 10 with ..read more

Ancestry reports that a ProTools subscription is available to all US users now – and with it, access to additional DNA match information. Oh, happy day!! ProTools is Ancestry’s new offering that provides DNA testers with: How you and any selected DNA match are BOTH related to your mutually shared matches How much DNA a selected match and any shared match share with each other Please note that ProTools does NOT include a chromosome browser, and the location of your matching DNA is NOT revealed. Shared matches and shared DNA does NOT equate to triangulation because the matches may be on differ ..read more

Françoise was born about 1679 in Port Royal, the daughter of Claude Dugas and Françoise Bourgeois. The first record we find of Françoise Dugas is the 1686 census, where she is living with her parents and seven siblings on eight arpents of land in Port Royal, on the peninsula of what is now Nova Scotia. They have 25 head of cattle, 9 sheep, and 11 hogs. She is 8 years old. The family is doing well. It looks like they may be living near or even in the Melancon/Melanson Settlement, today a historic site, given that in the census, they are living beside Charles Melancon who has married Marie Duga ..read more

This is the second article in the series, Genealogy Proof Series. The first article is: Genealogy Proof Series: Gathering Location Resources The first article discussed finding location resources for where your ancestor may have lived. Of course, once you find those resources, you’ll want to start searching for your ancestor, your ancestral surname and recording the information. So let me stress one thing now. You’re not searching for your ancestor specifically. You’re searching for everyone with that surname because they all have a role in his or her story. Information Genealogy research an ..read more

Anyone, anyplace, can order the full-color, searchable, e-pub version of The Complete Guide to FamilyTreeDNA – Y-DNA, Mitochondrial, Autosomal and X-DNA from the publisher, Genealogical.com, here. Customers within the US can order the black and white print book from the publisher, here. Customers outside the US can order the print book from their country’s Amazon website. The publisher does not ship print books outside the US due to customs, shipping costs, and associated delays. They arranged to have the book printed by an international printer so that it can be shipped directly to Amazon f ..read more

Martin Aucoin lived in a time of great upheaval in France. Somehow, he survived a religious war, or more precisely stated, wars. He may or may not have made the trip from France to Acadia, today’s Nova Scotia. Whether he died in France, arrived in Acadia, or died trying, he was one of the founding fathers through his two daughters, Michelle and Jeanne Aucoin. Laleu Par Patrick Despoix — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32678016 Martin Aucoin was baptized on August 26, 1595, at Saint-Pierre de Laleu, a church that now lies in ruins. Par Remi Jo ..read more

Just what many of you have been waiting for! The hardcopy print version of the Complete Guide to FamilyTreeDNA has just been released. The e-pub version was previously released, and now, the paperback print version is available too. For US customers, Genealogical.com is providing a discount code (through May 30th) to celebrate Memorial Day. Enter MDS24 at the checkout to save 15% on any purchase. Apologies to my non-US friends, but Genealogical.com does not ship outside the US. However, you can still purchase the book at your country’s Amazon.com site. The UK Amazon site is already listing th ..read more