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Part One: AI Today and How to Use AI in Genealogy Research

AI technology impacts every area of our lives today and is growing so quickly it can be difficult to keep up, especially with AI in genealogy research when it feels so new and unknown. We were able to spend some time with Steve Little, an expert in the AI and genealogy space, co-host of The Family History AI Show podcast, and AI educator with NGS,  to discuss the future of AI and genealogy.

In part one you will learn about the history of AI, how it has developed to this point, and how to effectively use AI.  

Part two will cover use cases for genealogy and how to save time and research more accurately with AI tools.

woman using ai in genealogy research

LTG: What's your background with AI and how did it catch your attention? 

Steve: 

There's kind of a Day Zero, just about 18 months ago ,when something huge happened. I think we’ll look back in world history and December of 2022 is going to be a date that sticks out. Eighteen months ago, when OpenAI released this product called ChatGPT, it got many people excited, especially if they had peculiar interests. And the three peculiar interests that I have had for more than 40 years are language, technology, and genealogy. When this new tool became available, it captured my attention immediately.  

I grew up loving technology. As a teenager in the 1980s, I had one of the first personal computers, a Commodore 64. And I’ve always loved language.  

I had an aunt who was into genealogy. She was a serious genealogist in the fifties, sixties and seventies, and I started doing data entry for her in the 1980s with a DOS version of Family Tree Maker. And just by osmosis I learned and came to love genealogy and the genealogical database technology.  

When this tool, ChatGPT, became available 18 months ago, it immediately grabbed my attention and the attention of several hundred million other people within a month. OpenAI went from zero users to a hundred million users in one month and no company had ever done anything remotely that fast before. It got a lot of people's attention. 

AI Explained In Basic Terms 

LTG: What exactly is AI, or artificial intelligence? 

Steve: 

Let's start from the big idea and get a bit more specific because the phrase artificial intelligence is an umbrella term. There are about 12 different fields of study that would fit inside artificial intelligence. If you talk to a computer scientist, they've been talking about artificial intelligence for more than 50 years. 

But in the past 18 months, ordinary people who are talking about artificial intelligence are referring to something very specific and new. Within the broader field of artificial intelligence, one aspect deals with language. This field is called natural language processing and involves teaching computers how to talk and listen, read and write. That’s been around for a long time. Over the past 50 years we’ve seen incremental improvements in how computers can just talk and listen.  

But something happened 18 months ago: an incremental change in improvement reached a tipping point such that it wasn't just an incremental improvement, it was as if a light switch had been flipped and it went from darkness to light. And what happened was not just the incremental improvement in how this tool talks and listens, but in its ability to be significantly more useful to everyday people.  

This usefulness is not just due to the technology of language processing, but also due to the interface. For the past 18 months or so, the interface to talk to these new tools most closely resembles sending text messages back and forth. That's why they call it a chatbot. So, under the umbrella of artificial intelligence, you have natural language processing (“NLP”).  

Beneath NLP you have large language models (“LLMs”). These are the newer tools like ChatGPT that have become much more useful. Now, LLMs weren't invented just 18 months ago either. But something significant happened about seven years ago, in 2017. Google – the same Google we all know and love or hate or both – Google invented something new.   

They invented a new way for these natural language processing systems to talk and listen. They developed a new way to make these better, called the transformer. That's the T in GPT. The tool became much better at talking, listening, and processing language. Given a string of words, the transformer is very good at picking – generating – the next word to continue that string.  

Companies like OpenAI took this transformer technology that Google released seven years ago and developed it, and then 18 months ago they released a commercial product called ChatGPT, such that we can chat with it. And behind the chatbot is the large language model, GPT4.  

We use the chatbot called ChatGPT, but the brain behind it is a large language model GPT4 and that's what's so very good at processing language. And now there are other big companies who are also releasing their own large language models.  

  • OpenAI created ChatGPT that most people are quite familiar with.  
  • Google has one called Gemini that is very strong. 
  • Anthropic, former OpenAI folks, has one called Claude that is very good.  
  • Facebook has released META AI in their Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp platforms.   

To answer the question, what is it that is making these AI tools work?

It's a computer algorithm that is exquisitely good at talking and listening. It's not alive, it's not really talking or listening. It's in many ways a computer program like every other you've ever used. But in some other ways, it's unlike any computer tool you've ever used before. It's significantly different.  

It is so good at language that it fools people. Most users will have an experience where they're talking to this machine, conversing with it, typing back and forth to this machine, when it responds in such a humanlike way, it takes your breath away for a moment. Even if you've been using it for a year and a half, it can still surprise you what these new emergent capabilities can produce.  

How AI “Thinks” 

LTG: Where does the LLM get its data to answer prompts? 

Steve: 

When you first use these machines, it almost feels like it might be doing research and looking up something for you, but that's not what it's doing. It is a useful oversimplification to say that it is just picking the next right word. For example, “Old McDonald had a [blank]. What's the next word? 

“Farm”. Now, you are doing that from memory. You had somebody who loved you and read to you nursery rhymes, and you have a memory of having heard that before. Well, computers have memories too, but not exactly like ours. When you hear that nursery rhyme beginning, you may have an image of a grandmother or parent come to mind, someone who read you those rhymes. That's not what's happening with these tools. They do not remember somebody reading them nursery rhymes. But neither are they looking-up the answer.  

Instead, what happened was, these LLMs have been ”trained”, they have read about everything that's ever been written and digitized for the last 6,000 years. Human beings have been writing things down for 6,000 years, and much of that has been digitized such that a computer could access it. And so, these language models have been shown all of that text from the past 6,000 years, and we say they have been “trained”. From all that text, LLMs can determine what words come next to each other, so that sometimes when it hears the phrase “Old McDonald had a [blank],” it knows that near Old McDonald sometimes the word farm comes up. So, it learns the word farm and Old McDonald, and the LLM says, these things come together sometimes, and it assigns relationship between “farm” and “Old McDonald” a number based on how frequently these words are found together. It’s statistics and probability.  

So that if you give it a phrase like “Old McDonald had a farm, and on this farm, he had a [blank].”, what could come next? It could be a cow, a chicken, a sheep, or a goat. It knows it's one of those words but using statistics and probability.  

But it’s bigger than that, too. When you think about what a word is, these tools become much more powerful. Here is a demonstration: I can put an image inside your head right now. If I say the word “elephant”, whether you wanted to or not, you are now imagining an elephant. I transferred an idea from my mind into your mind. Words are ideas, concepts, meaning. This tool simulates the manipulation of ideas, concepts, and abstractions, similar to the way a spreadsheet processes numbers. With a spreadsheet you can put in a bunch of numbers, and it will add, subtract, multiply, and divide the numbers with great precision. This tool – the large language model – is good at manipulating words, which means it's simulating the manipulation of ideas and concepts, so that it can slice and dice words, concepts and ideas the way a spreadsheet uses addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division to manipulate numbers.  

You could also ask the LLM, “What genre of literature is Old McDonald?”. And then it would say, “Oh, she used the word genre. She used the word literature. And it would respond “nursery rhyme.” It has appeared to generalize, reason, or think. As if it says, “Oh, okay, we're talking about something bigger than just Old McDonald. We're talking about genres of literature.” It has now zoomed out and it's “thinking” like a literature professor. But underneath – behind the wizard’s curtain – it's just probabilities, the statistical relationships amond and between words in a string.  

When you ask it a question, it is not just a really good Google that searched for the answer. It's not doing anything remotely like that. It is just choosing the words that are likely to come next given all the words you've previously just spoken to it.  

LTG:  A term that is often heard in reference to AI is hallucination, meaning it is not based in reality and the information or responses coming from the tool are hallucinations. What does this mean?  

Steve: 

In a sense, it's all hallucinated. All the words are generated in its neural network. And the LLMs neural network is totally disconnected from reality. When we say it has a hallucination rate of 30%, or it's accurate 70% of the time, or when we claim it is accurate 97% of the time, what we're claiming is that it's hallucinating only 3% of the time. But if it's actually hallucinating a hundred percent of the time, and 97% of its hallucinations correspond to our reality, then we say it's getting things right in the real world 97% of the time.  

If you learn what the machines can and can't do, you can get the hallucination rate under 1%. There are best practices and if you follow these best practices – if you use these tools the way they're intended to be used within the capabilities that they have today – you can get it to correspond with reality 99% of the time.

The best practices are three:
1) Know your data
2) Know your model
3) Know its limits  

These best practices require bringing data to the machine – knowing what the machine can do and only asking it to do what it can do. “Today’s limits are today’s limits,” as we way. New users, they want the chatbot to be a magic genie. But it takes people about 20 hours of using the tools to learn what they are actually good at doing.  

How To Use AI in Genealogy Research

ai in genealogy

LTG: What should you be asking AI to get the most accurate answers in your genealogy research? 

Steve: 

First off, I encourage people to play. You learn best by playing. And you're not going to break these machines. Play and have fun. That's the best way to learn. But, when you're ready to do fact-based, reality-based, genealogical work, where evidence matters, where facts matter, then you want to pay attention to the limits of the tool and be very conscious and aware of your own expectations and what you're asking the LLM to do.  

A year ago, we would have told genealogists not to use it for research, at all. And last year that was good advice because it wasn't very good at research. Today, it is getting better, but it's still not trustworthy. I encourage beginners to ask themselves each time they use this tool, “Are you doing research? Are you asking this tool to tell you something you didn't already know?” And usually they say, “Well, of course, what else would I use it for?” But – today – they are still stepping onto thin ice.  

There are about 20 million things you can do with AI tools other than research, but that doesn't occur to us. Google has warped our brains. Over the past 20 years we've learned that if we want to learn something we don't know, we go to Google and we type in a short phrase, and it gives us the answer we were looking for. 

And we mistakenly think that's what this tool might be doing. We do the same thing as a Google search and the chatbot seems to respond. We ask it a question and it seems to give us an answer in perfect English. And so, we think maybe the answer is as perfect as its grammar, but it is not. It can get the grammar perfect without getting the reality correct. But there are ways to mitigate that: If you bring to the tool the information you want to work with – instead of asking it to show you something you don't already know – it will slice and dice language very well. You can give it information such as words, language, text, wills, probate files, chapters of a book, an article, and it can help you process that information in lots of different, useful, safe ways.  

That's how you drive the hallucination rate below 1%. You say, “Let's just talk about this right here, this information I’m giving you [the chatbot] right now.” You're not asking it to go out and discover something new. You're bringing information to it. And when you do that, that's how it becomes useful genealogically to process information you've already got.   

And genealogists have boxes, folders, cabinets, shelves, closets, basements, and external hard drives full of information. You've been collecting data for as long as you've been doing genealogy.  

So now you have a very smart intern or assistant to help you process that data and information that you've been collecting for as long as you've been doing family history.  

Now there's somebody to help you make sense of that. 

Now there's somebody to help you find the needle in the haystack.  

Now there's somebody to help you condense 800 pages of information you need distilled into two pithy paragraphs. It'll do that in 20 seconds, and that's hugely powerful. 

LTG: What were some of your initial ideas about how you could use AI for genealogy research?  

Steve: 

Over the past 18 months, I've spent about 700 hours trying to figure that out. I spend about 20 hours a week just trying things. Does this work and does this not work? And I fail 90% of the time, so I discover many, many things that it cannot do today. I've been stunned to see there were things we could not do a year ago or even six months or three months ago that we can do today. That's exciting, seeing how fast these tools are getting better and more useful. But just trying things, seeing what it could do and what it failed to do, and mapping that out, has been what I've spent a huge part of the last 18 months doing. 

 In part two we will discuss use cases for AI in genealogy and how you can save time and become more accurate by using these tools the right way. 

If you'd like help with your genealogy research, contact us to ask your questions and get a free quote!

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Celebrating 20 Years of Professional Genealogy Research

Team Photo 2023

Legacy Tree Genealogists is celebrating 20 years as a professional genealogy research firm. We want to thank all the clients who have trusted us over the years to help them discover more about their families and where they came from. We are honored that so many of you have enlisted us on your journey, and we are the company we are today because of all of you!

Every year, we have the opportunity to help over 1,500 clients living in over 30 countries, whose research is completed by our 70 in-house employees and through our worldwide network of onsite researchers. We've helped people find family in Kazakhstan, meet cousins in China, and find their biological parents.

From days in the library to microfilm to DNA analysis at our fingertips, we've seen the most exciting advancements in the genealogy field, and we can't wait to see what's next.

Legacy Tree began with dial-up Internet and an obsession with genealogy. Read on to hear how Legacy Tree Genealogists has grown into the world's most trusted genealogy firm.

YouTube Video “Legacy Tree Genealogists: Celebrating 20 Years!”

STARTING A GENEALOGY FIRM

When Jessica Taylor, founder of Legacy Tree Genealogists, discovered that a Family History degree was an option at her university over twenty years ago, she did not hesitate to sign up for a field of study that combined English, History, and sleuthing through documents in libraries and archives. She started working in the field as a genealogical library assistant, shifting microfilm and organizing books to ensure that call numbers were accurate for library visitors.

As a fresh college graduate with her Family History degree in hand, Jessica landed herself a dream genealogy job working full-time for two individuals to verify and expand their family trees. After two years that project came to an end, but Jessica found she had a passion for continuing to work as a professional genealogist. She learned how to build a website, recruited a handful of colleagues to join her, and branded the group as “Legacy Tree Genealogy.”   

The new team members spent hours in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City (now known as the FamilySearch Library) before many records were available online. During this period, they made meaningful connections with other professional genealogists and historians worldwide.

REFINING THE GENEALOGY RESEARCH PROCESS

The group quickly learned that it was good practice to always have a second set of eyes on each genealogy report before sending it to the client. They also discovered that some genealogists were better at researching while others were more skilled at communicating with clients, and the distinctions between researcher, editor, and project manager began to unfold.

To keep costs low, the team was remote from day one–renting out filing cabinets of corporate offices in downtown Salt Lake City to store and swap documents. Regular “swap” meetings formed as researchers gathered to discuss clients and research methods as their young children played with Barbies on the floor.

EXPANDING THE GENEALOGY TEAM WORLDWIDE

While things were going along just fine, Jessica knew the company could be refined, and she hired an experienced manager to help her organize and expand Legacy Tree's potential. The timing of this hire was even more valuable as she and her family soon moved to Macau (a Special Administrative Region of China) for two years. This international experience gave Jessica critical insight, and she resolved more than ever to build a reputable genealogy firm that was trusted worldwide.

Through new online tools, they began connecting more than ever with genealogists around the world. They also began attending more industry-related conferences, including RootsTech. Conferences became a great way to attract new customers seeking to find their ancestors and to expand their team with experienced and qualified genealogists as their strong reputation in the industry grew!

LEGACY TREE GENEALOGISTS TODAY

In addition to attracting top-tier talent, Legacy Tree Genealogists is the recommended family history firm for a robust affiliate network that includes MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA, genealogy societies, and professional genealogists worldwide.

Legacy Tree continues to grow with 70 employees in over 23 states and contracts with onsite researchers in over 100 countries worldwide. For the past two years, Legacy Tree Genealogists has received the “Best & Brightest Award” as one of the best companies to work for, and continually strives to provide an environment of growth and excellence.

Legacy Tree Genealogists serves over 1,500 clients annually with over 50,000 project hours.

YouTube Video “What's It Like To Work With a Professional Genealogist”

WHAT'S AHEAD? GENEALOGY CLIENTS ARE OUR PRIORITY!

At Legacy Tree we C.A.R.E. about our clients and treat each other internally with the same spirit of generosity.

C.A.R.E. is a set of core values we practice daily and review at regular staff meetings. It stands for:

Cooperation–the heart of our culture. We build strong relationships and partnerships by listening, mentoring, appreciating, and meeting needs.

Accuracy–the core of our service. We focus on targeted client goals, high-quality genealogical research and documentation, and data-driven decisions.

Respect–in everything we do. We respect our clients, their ancestors, and each other and reflect this by valuing feedback and the need for quality results, timeliness, and connection.

Efficiency–how we tackle challenges. We seek better, faster, and more cost-effective ways to provide best-in-class genealogical services that are inclusive for work-life balance.

So when people ask us if we've ever considered diversifying our product offerings into software development or other deliverables, we always return to what we do best: working with individual clients to deliver the best research possible.

THANK YOU!

Again, we could only have done this with our clients. Thank you for trusting Legacy Tree Genealogists for twenty years! Here's to many more years of assisting you in discovering who you are and where you come from.

We'd love to work with you. Please fill out the form on our website to request a free quote for your family's genealogy project, and one of our client solutions team members will contact you.

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Meet Carol, Project Manager for Legacy Tree Genealogists

Meet Carol, one of Legacy Tree Genealogists talented project managers!

Carol Genung Legacy Tree Genealogists

Genealogy has been a passion of Carol Genung’s for a long time. The genealogy bug first bit her when she was in junior high school and her dad’s aunt shared copies of the family tree she had researched. Carol diligently added the branches that she could at the time. Her passion was reignited a number of years later when she and her husband visited his aunt who had the family bible with entries back to the late 1800s. Carol has not stopped researching since.

Carol earned a bachelor’s degree with a double major in computer science and business administration. She is a former IT professional, who decided to follow her passion a decade ago and launch a new career as a professional genealogist. She has loved every minute of it and has not looked back.

As a professional genealogist, Carol has researched, written, and lectured on a variety of genealogy topics. Helping others throughout their genealogy journeys has become one of her greatest passions. She has over 30 years of genealogical experience and holds a Certificate in Genealogical Research from Boston University. Carol is also a graduate of the 18-month Professional Genealogy Study Program (ProGen) and has earned many certificates from advanced institute courses.

When not working on genealogy, Carol likes to read, garden, and travel. She has a grown son and daughter, and lives near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with her husband, 2 dogs, and cat.

As your Project Manager, Carol looks forward to ensuring you have an excellent experience with Legacy Tree Genealogists as you discover more about your family.

We’d love to help you with your family history, whether we’re breaking down brick wall mysteries, finding your biological parents, or just starting from scratch finding the stories about your ancestors. Contact us today for a free quote.

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Intro to German Genealogy: Practical Tips for Family History Research

German countryside village

Have you arrived at a place in your family history research where you need to learn about your German ancestors and how to find them? If they immigrated from Germany generations ago, where do you start, and what should you look for to make sure you build out an accurate family tree? 

Continue reading. We can help you get started with some tips for German genealogy!

  • How To Find Your German Ancestor’s Home Town or Village
  • Understanding Common German Naming Patterns 
  • Is Google Translate a Reliable German Genealogy Research Tool?
  • What Are the Best German Genealogy Websites?
  • How To Plan A Successful German Heritage Tour 

HOW TO FIND YOUR GERMAN ANCESTOR’S HOME TOWN OR VILLAGE

This is one of the most important questions to answer about your German ancestor’s history–what was their Heimat–their home? 

Start by identifying your ancestor in every American census records during his or her lifetime. These may indicate which German state your ancestor came from–for example, Bavaria or Hamburg. Note every piece of information given there, including their approximate year of birth. Some censuses will indicate the year of immigration and indicate whether the person had naturalized, or became a U.S. citizen. Immigrants naturalized in order to be able to vote or own land.

If your ancestor naturalized, you need to look for their naturalization records. Naturalization law changed over time, but usually involved a petition for naturalization and a certificate of citizenship. These records may provide a lot of information, such as the dates and ports of embarkation and arrival, their hometown, age, place of birth, and sometimes their family members. Using the details gleaned there, try to find their name on a passenger list or ship register. Correlating distinguishing details from these records with American census records can help you verify that you have identified your own ancestor, and not someone else with the same name.

Watch our video here to learn more about the naturalization process in context of your German Genealogy research. 

UNDERSTANDING COMMON GERMAN NAMING PATTERNS

Every culture has its own naming nuances. What do you need to look for when you’re researching your German ancestors to ensure you’re on the right track? Be aware of some common German naming patterns:

• German babies typically have more than one name

It was common for German parents to give their child at least three names–sometimes even four or five! If your ancestor was a boy, there’s a good chance his first name might have been Johann. If your ancestor was a girl, her first name would likely be Anna; often Anna Maria, Anna Margareta, or Anna Magdalena.

• Names often got shortened and were spelled differently in the States

If your ancestors immigrated to the United States, their names would often have been translated, shortened, or spelled phonetically–in other words, “Americanized.” For example, Johann, German for John, would often have simply been replaced with John in the States. Germans sometimes shortened their own names, but not how you might expect. Unlike Americans, who typically cut off the end of the name, Germans often used the ending of the name as a nickname. For example, a German might shorten Nikolaus to Klaus where an American would typically shorten Nicholas to Nick. American spellings were often best-guess phonetic spellings. Since the same letters make different sounds in English and German, this can leave your German ancestor’s name almost unrecognizable. German spelling itself did not begin standardization until the 1870s, and even names were spelled differently by people within the same family.

• Importance of church records

German church records are the bread and butter of German research. If you are lucky enough to trace your immigrant ancestor to their German hometown and locate their parish, you will want to find their baptism record. Typically, it was the only record where their full name was recorded. When they emigrated, the ancestor may have identified themselves using just their first name, their Vorname, or they may have used their Rufname, the name they go by. If you only look for one of their names, you may miss them in both German and American records. 

• Medieval baptismal records

German church records, in some German speaking areas, go back into the 15th century. Beginning in medieval times, it was common for people to name their child after the baptismal sponsors or the godparents. In some German baptismal records, the baby’s name was not even recorded, because it was understood that the baby took the name of the sponsor. In later records, both the baby’s name and the parents’ names were recorded, sometimes even underlined. And coming forward in time, German records became increasingly more informative, often including the baby’s time of birth, the parents’ occupations, and the baby’s legitimacy status.

• How death records can help verify your ancestor’s name

If your German ancestor died in the United States, try to identify their American death record. It may identify the deceased persons’ parents and indicate where they were born. This information can lead to a German family table (Stammtafel), or a town lineage book Ortssippenbuch, records that will often have birth, marriage, and death information for an entire family generation.

Germany woman walking

IS GOOGLE TRANSLATE A RELIABLE GERMAN GENEALOGY RESEARCH TOOL?

Although Google Translate has drastically improved over the last few years, its usefulness for genealogy research is limited. Older German records may contain language and terms that have fallen out of use or be spelled differently in modern German. Also, using the Google Translate camera function to read a page of old German text will not work, as older German documents were recorded in a discontinued script that Google Translate doesn’t recognize–yet.

Familiarize yourself with German words that you’ll most likely see in German church records–such as marriage, baptism, and burial, son, daughter, or parent. Google translate is probably most valuable when communicating with German record keepers at archives and parishes, onsite.

WHAT ARE THE BEST GERMAN GENEALOGY WEBSITES?

Beyond FamilySearch, MyHeritage, and other well-known genealogy databases, there are some great online resources to help you as you research your German ancestry. Here are some of our favorites:

Archion.de

Gives you access to more than 150,000 church books and other historical documents.

Matricula-online.eu/en

Find church registers (mostly books of birth, marriage and death) from various European countries, including Austria, Germany, Poland, Serbia and Slovenia. 

Geogen.stoepel.net

Helps you identify where in Germany your family surname occurs most frequently–which can be a good clue to get your started.

HOW TO PLAN A SUCCESSFUL GERMAN HERITAGE TOUR

Before you go to Germany to see where your ancestors lived, make sure you really do your homework and have first exhausted all the U.S. genealogical sources. You’ll also want to know the ins and outs of the libraries and archives you want to visit. What are their hours? Do you need an appointment? How long will you need to be there? Will you need a translator? 

 

Would you like one-on-one help with your German genealogy research? Start with a 45-minute consultation with one of our German experts to help you on your way! Schedule your consultation here. 

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Meet Colleen, Project Manager for Legacy Tree Genealogists

Meet Colleen, one of Legacy Tree Genealogists talented project managers!

Legacy Tree Genealogists Project Manager

Ever since Colleen Stutz was a little girl, she has had a love for Family History and Genealogy. Even as a child at Thanksgiving with extended family, she was the only one who could keep the relationships straight and explain how everyone was related to each other.

In her own Family History research, Colleen has solved several brick walls that seemed impossible. Her ancestors came from Germany, Norway, Sweden, England, Ireland, and France. She has been actively researching her own Family History for over 27 years and has kept up on all of the digital changes. She loves taking Family History Research trips and trying to see the world through her ancestors’ eyes.

In her professional life, Colleen has a degree in Family History Research from BYU-Idaho. She also earned an Accreditation® in Midwest Research through ICAPGen(SM). This credential requires a rigorous testing process as well as regular renewals. Colleen’s professional experience includes teaching Family History courses for BYU-I, working as a genealogy researcher, and working as a Family History Coach by identifying biological parents for adoptees and breaking down brick walls with clients.

Colleen is skilled at working with people and creating connections with clients. Her warm personality and love for genealogy are two things that clients have loved the most about working with her. She loves people and family history. By combining the two as a Project Manager for Legacy Tree, she gets the best of both worlds!

Colleen and her husband have 6 children (three at home, and three grown) and 2 dogs. She loves Disney, traveling, reading mysteries, and listening to true crime podcasts.

We’d love to help you with your family history, whether we’re breaking down brick wall mysteries, finding your biological parents, or just starting from scratch finding the stories about your ancestors. Contact us today for a free quote.

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Italian Heritage Travel: The My Bella Vita Experience

In this article, we interview founder of My Bella Vita, Cherrye, about their Italian Heritage Travel tours. If you have Italian ancestry and have always dreamed about returning to Italy to feel, taste, and see where your family comes from, continue reading!

I grew up in America, so I understand the American expectation. I know the American traveler in a way that many Italian-based companies might not. But I lived in Italy for a long time. My husband is Italian and grew up in Calabria, and because of our history in Calabria, we can bridge that cultural experience for our guests. We understand what Americans want and expect and appreciate how Calabria works, and we can bridge that for our clients.

What are some cultural differences between Americans and Italians?

There are many cultural differences between Americans and Italians; I even see this with my team sometimes. Italians are just crazy about beaches, and they can't understand why Americans would want to travel to Calabria and not spend three or four full days on the beach because, in their mind, why wouldn't you? Our beaches are beautiful. Most Americans want to see the beach and have lunch near it but don't want to spend much time there. They would feel like they were wasting their vacation if they were lying on a beach somewhere. It is nice to understand the Italian view, but also know that our clients want a different experience.

How Did My Bella Vita Travel Get Started In Italian Heritage Travel? 

I moved to my husband's hometown of Calabria, Italy, in 2006, which was pre-Facebook, pre-Twitter, and pre-social media. And I had a friend who asked me, why don't you have a blog? Then you can tell all of us about your life there. And I'm like, “What's a blog?”

We were sharing name ideas, and I saw that My Bella Vita was available, so the blog began. I remember the first time people I didn't know started commenting and emailing me from the blog, and I was shocked. I was like, oh my gosh, people are reading this. I need to be careful what I write!

At the same time, my husband and I were starting a bed and breakfast in his childhood home. People started asking, “Can we come to stay at the bed and breakfast? We have heritage in such and such place.” The guests who were coming were not Italian speakers, so we would help them.

Maybe we would get a friend to go with them to the city hall, or if one of us were available, we would go with them and help them translate that day.

Then people continued to reach out, saying, “My heritage is a couple of hours away, but I still want to stay in your B&B. I would tell them, “No, that doesn't make sense. You're way better off staying somewhere else.” And they'd say, “Well, where should I stay?”. Over time, I realized this could be a great business. Over time, the blog, the B&B, and helping visitors with their travel plans developed into My Bella Vita.

What Changes Have You Seen In the Heritage Travel Industry Since You Began In 2006?

When we first started, we called our tours heritage, ancestry, or genealogical tours. That segment of tourism has grown and become its own niche. In Italy, they call heritage travel Roots Tourism, and the push for heritage tours is strong right now, with the government supporting heritage travel.

Italians, whether they now live in America, Australia, Canada, or elsewhere, are a proud bunch. Even though they may have lost the language, they kept many Italian or Italian-American traditions. They've heard of their immigrant ancestor's hometown forever, and it is a big deal for them to be where their grandfather or grandmother was born.

Tell us more about Calabria and some unique things you've seen there.

Calabria is what most people think of when we think of old Italy. Clothes hang on the lines, shops close in the middle of the day, and you see the little men in the Piazza with their hats and canes sitting around talking or people sitting at a bar playing cards. Women still dress in black in perpetual mourning after they've lost a loved one.   

Growing up as a non-Italian American, I had this idea of what Italy would look like. We're picturing a lost time, old Italy, the old world. And then, if you go to some prominent touristy places now, it doesn't feel that way anymore. Many famous Italian towns have more Americans than Italians, and the locals speak to the tourists in English.

For many people, travel is about experiencing the local culture. I think a very small group of people travel and want only to see the Instagram spots. But most people travel to experience culture, and that's what you can get in Calabria. They're not going to make food because they think your American palate wants that food. They're making Italian Calabrian food, the type that they eat. Calabria is charming and nostalgic, which is why people want to return.

What tips or suggestions do you have for those planning a heritage tour in Italy, specifically Calabria?

Start by interviewing your family. If possible, find out the dates of birth and location of the person who left Italy. Even better, if you know the names of the immigrant ancestor's parents, this can help you identify the correct village. Sometimes, these records can be challenging to find, or your family might not remember those details. In those situations, I recommend you work with Legacy Tree Genealogists to create an accurate family tree. This information makes your visit much more personalized.

How does My Bella Vita prepare for a client's heritage tour?

Our goal is to show visitors what life was like for their families in their ancestral town and the Calabria region. We are most interested in the person who left Italy, whether their great-grandfather or grandmother. We then focus on that person and try to find the area of town that they lived in.

Before our guests arrive, we go to their ancestral village and visit City Hall, talk to people, find pertinent documents, and look for records their ancestors may have signed and filed with the city. We aim to see the house where they lived, their baptismal church, and maybe where they worked. The better prepared our visitors are ahead of time with their genealogy, the more personalized we can make their visit.

Accuracy of the family tree information is also very important. Sometimes, a guest will go online and Google their last name and the village of their ancestor and then assume all the names that come up are cousins. This leads to a lot of spinning our wheels trying to make connections with incorrect information. We rely on professional genealogists like Legacy Tree to research so we can provide the best possible tour.

We also find things that are unique to that area. For example, there is a town known for its silk production called Cortale near Catanzaro. There is a little bitty silk shop there, and we like to take people and let them see some of the silk that their grandparents may have either worked with or know about since the 1600s.

Sometimes, we can organize for the mayor to come out and meet them, and sometimes, the mayor will give them a mayoral sash and take a photo.

The best part of visiting the actual hometown is the connections it creates to the past. One of the things guests talk about afterward is how much people in that area look like their family. They say, “That man reminded me so much of my great uncle,” or “The woman at the agriturismo who cooked the meal, her meatballs reminded me so much of my grandmother's. I haven't had meatballs like that since my grandmother passed.”

How many days is a heritage tour?

We typically spend one or two days in their ancestral village, but to truly experience the area and its history, we recommend at least a full week. This time allows guests to go away with a deeper connection to their heritage than they had when they came. They get a little window into what it was like when their grandparents lived here, and it can be life-changing.

What are some of the challenges or surprises your guests have experienced?

One family who came to Italy had done much genealogy research before they arrived. Their family tree dates back to the 1700s, and it had nobility. We met with some of their cousins, who had a noble family tree document that had been hand-painted hundreds of years ago. They gave the family a duplicate of that hand-painted tree. It was a beautiful experience for everyone.   

When is the best time of year to plan a trip to Italy?

May, June, September, and October are the best months to visit because it's not too hot or crowded.

July and August are sweltering, so not as good for touring. Additionally, August is when the Italians take their vacations. So many family-owned businesses may close for a week or two, and the city halls may not have a person available to help you view the genealogical documents.

Visitors who are more flexible could travel during their ancestral town's patron saint celebration. It is a unique experience, especially if you're religious or interested in religion because the ceremonies have religious aspects. These events can change at the last minute, so it's best to contact city hall and see when the day is and if they typically celebrate in some manner.

How do you integrate food and culture into your tours?

It's hard to separate the culture and the cuisine because they are connected in Calabria and throughout Italy. While in the ancestral town, we will visit a restaurant serving a traditional dish their ancestors would have eaten. Depending on the area, we can do cooking classes or farmhouse dinners with authentic dishes.

When we have time in Calabria, we like to introduce guests to local artisans. In one area, there is a mulberry orchard where they breed silkworms and provide a hands-on experience spinning silk and eating the mulberry jam made from plant leaves. It is very interactive and a winner for all ages.   

How does heritage travel and being in your ancestral towns impact your visitors?

One way it impacts people is their connections with others in their small group. They share this time and keep it going by communicating after the trip. Some of them have even traveled back to Italy together. They've become good friends from having this emotional journey together.

People who come to Calabria are unique travelers who are so happy to be here that they are positive, no matter the situation. These visitors make up their minds that they will have fun.

People say, “I don't care if we had a detour in the road. I'm finally in Calabria.”

“I'm going to have fun. I'm a vegetarian, and the cook brought me chicken. Well, I sent it back, and they fixed it. It's no big deal because I will have a great time.”

Travelers to Calabria want that collaborative experience. They know it's not going to feel like America. They know that things will be different for them and embrace that.

How can readers get in touch with My Bella Vita Travel for more information?

We love talking about Calabria. You can join us in our Facebook Group – Calabria Travel Guide or email us at [email protected]. If you are planning a trip for 2024 or 2025, we’d love to hop on a call with you – you can schedule a free chat on our calendar here. Ci sentiamo presto!

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How To Plan a Successful Heritage Tour Experience

Copenhagen heritage tour

Have you been considering planning and going on a heritage tour to expand your family history experience and knowledge? Read on for expert tips from our partner at Norfolk Tours to make sure you don't go unprepared!

Tourism and travel have always been essential to the world economy, with tourism reaching record levels in 2023 worldwide. However, a new segment of the travel industry, heritage travel, is considered one of the fastest-growing segments in the industry, equating to a $171 billion annual spend, according to Forbes.  

Heritage travel is also known as cultural or ancestral travel. It refers to a type of tourism where individuals explore and visit places with historical, cultural, or familial significance. The primary motivation for heritage travel is often to connect with one's roots, learn about one's ancestors, visit locations of particular importance to one's family history, and experience the cultural heritage of a specific region or community. 

This form of travel can involve visiting ancestral homes, exploring historical landmarks, attending cultural events, and engaging in activities that help individuals connect with their heritage. Heritage travel helps people better understand their cultural background, traditions, and history, fostering a sense of identity and connection to the past. 

Some common examples of heritage travel include:  

  • Ancestral Visits: Traveling to the birthplaces or ancestral homes of one's family members to explore family history and heritage. 
  • Cultural Festivals and Events: Participating in cultural festivals, ceremonies, or events that celebrate the traditions and customs of a particular community or region. 
  • Museum and Historical Site Visits: Exploring museums, historical sites, and heritage centers to learn more about a specific area's history and cultural contributions. 
  • Genealogical Tours: Conduct research into family genealogy and visiting locations associated with ancestors, such as graveyards, hometowns, or historical records. 
  • Language and Cooking Classes: Engaging in language courses or cooking classes to learn more about traditional languages and cuisines associated with one's heritage. 

Heritage travel provides a meaningful way for individuals to connect with their roots, preserve cultural traditions, and create lasting memories tied to their personal and familial history. 

Many of our clients continue their family history research by adding on a Heritage Tour Package. And now is the perfect time to start planning for a late fall or early spring or summer heritage tour to your ancestral lands.  

Glynn, with Norfolk-Tours in England, shares his insider tips for planning the perfect heritage tour.  

Step 1: Conduct as much research as possible before you go on your heritage tour

The first thing is to conduct as much research as possible before you go. The last thing you want to do is spend all day looking for something on your computer while you are away. You could have done that sitting in your living room on a winter's evening. 

One of the most popular places to visit is always the Church where your ancestors worshipped, and if you want to go and look at a gravestone, check if the graveyard has been indexed already. There are many websites for gravestones, and locating the stone before you arrive will save you hours if not days. Some cemeteries are massive, and if you have no idea where a grave is, you may never find it, even if it is there. Just use a search engine and put in “find a grave,” “locating burial sites,” or “billion graves” and see the sites that come up, but don't just rely on those results.  

If you know where your ancestors lived and died, contact that town or village's historical society and ask if the graveyards and cemeteries have been indexed. Email the organization that administers the cemetery, often the local council. Contact local libraries in the nearest towns and ask if they have any records or indexes.  

In the UK, the County Record Office has many of the indexes. Many of these large libraries and record offices have their catalogues online. This is great research to complete before your trip. 

Step 2: Conduct as much research as possible before you go on your heritage tour

The second thing to do is conduct as much research as possible before you go. Yes, that's number one and two!  

As you will see above, there will be local history societies, history buffs, libraries, etc. When you make contact with these people and places, ask questions.  

You may be looking for gravestones, but the people you contact may have a wealth of information. If they are passionate about their subject, they will love to share their passion with someone who shares their interest. 

Remember, you have information they will also be pleased to add to their files. (As a local and family historian, I love to hear from people connected to my village or families from the area. They often fill in gaps in my information, and to find out what happened to someone I had “lost” is fantastic.) 

Step 3: Conduct as much research as possible before you go on your heritage tour

The third thing to do is conduct as much research as possible before you go. Yes, I can't stress that enough.  

The more you do before your feet hit the ground, the better. Plan, plan, and plan some more.  

See if there is a bed & breakfast in the place you are going. Staying in the same place where your ancestors lived is fantastic and will give you more time to explore and wander.  

Find out where you can park while you are visiting specific places.  

Check to confirm if the Church will be open and, if not, who can help you arrange for access.  

Look for the local pub or cafe, so you have somewhere to eat and for the other obvious comfort needs.  

If you have contacted any local historians, try to arrange your trip so you can meet them and offer to take them out for an evening meal to have a good chat, but not during the day when you could be doing something outside.     

Step 4: Come bearing gifts for your local experts  

The fourth thing to do is take presents for your friendly local experts. (No, I don't mean a bottle of Whisky or a box of chocolates.)  

Take a photocopy of the tree, which shows what happened to the person who left the place you are visiting. If you have any photographs, take copies of those too. If you have written a book about the ancestor, give a copy to the local library or record office and leave them all your contact details. You never know when another relation or like-minded person may turn up in the town, and you want to be able to be contacted if that happens! 

When on vacation, DO NOT TAKE ORIGINALS of anything. Scans, copies, and even photographs on your phone if allowed, but not the originals. Baggage gets lost, and things get forgotten on buses or hotel rooms. Copies are cheap; originals are priceless. 

Step 5: Take as many photographs as you can while onsite  

The fifth thing is to carry out more research……………no, the fifth thing is to take as many photographs of everything as possible while you are there.  

You may not get the chance to go back, but with today's cameras, you can download your pictures on your laptop ten times a day if needed. So take the photos, and when you get home, you can delete the twenty-seven pictures of the floor and keep the two of the grave which show the writing in the best light. (That's another thing. If you find the gravestone is illegible, if you are staying in the town, go at different times when the sun is in a different position. It could be easier to read.)  

Start each bundle of photographs with a handwritten note of where you are and the date. On vacation, you will take thousands of pictures, and sorting them out afterward will be so much easier if the first picture has “Norwich St. Peter Mancroft Church start” and the last has “Norwich St. Peter Mancroft end” at the beginning and end of that batch of photos. 

Other recommendations from Glynn while on your heritage tour:  

Visit the actual house your ancestor lived in. I know that sounds impossible, but I have taken people to see their ancestors' homes on many occasions, and some have been able to go in and look around. It is all about research and preparation. 

Visit the place where your ancestors worked. Many records will tell you where your ancestors worked, so why not visit those places if they still exist? If they do not, learn about what your ancestors did by visiting a local museum and asking about the trades they worked in. There are hundreds of museums in the UK, and they are all happy to help. Again, preparation and contacting these museums before you arrive will mean meeting the right people and looking at the right things. 

Have a drink in the local pub where your ancestors lived. If they lived in a village, visit the local pubs that were operating when your ancestors lived there. Chat with the locals. (You could well be chatting with a cousin!) 

“A warning, though: You may need tissues. I know from experience that being where your ancestors lived, worked, and died can be very emotional, and I know that I have done an excellent job when I make my guests cry, so be warned!,” said Glynn.  

While planning a tour of your ancestral lands can be challenging, the experts at Legacy Tree Genealogists are here to assist. After purchasing a full-service research project, add a Heritage Tour Package, and you'll know all the important places to fit into your itinerary.  

If you are planning a heritage tour to England, contact our partner, Glynn, at Norfolk Tours  for a unique and individualized experience. 

 

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RootsTech 2024 Genealogy Research Conference Recap

RootsTech, the world’s largest genealogy research conference, can be such a blur with all the classes, talks, and conversations. How are you integrating all of the useful information you gathered? We certainly loved getting to know some of you and hearing about what brick walls you’re working on. We’re always here to help you get through that next challenging hurdle.

In the meantime, here’s what we’re taking away with us from such a successful RootsTech genealogy conference:

  1. LTG Facebook Live Interviews
  2. LTG’s favorite Rootstech 2024 classes and lectures
  3. The Future of AI in Genealogy Research: platforms introduce new tools to improve research

LIVE INTERVIEWS: Legacy Tree Genealogists Researchers

We started each day at RoostTech 2024 with a LIVE Facebook interview with one of our researchers to ask them your questions about genealogy research in specific regions: Asia (Ryan Rockwood), France (Paul Woodbury, and Germany (Beccy Martin). Here’s a recap of your questions and their answers:

ASIAN GENEALOGY RESEARCH: RYAN ROCKWOOD

WHAT ARE THE MAIN OBSTACLES OF GENEALOGY RESEARCH?

  • Language barriers: unlike romantic or germanic languages, it’s difficult for many Americans to navigate not only the etymology of words, but also the script nature of the languages. 
  • Records are kept for entire families, not for individuals
  • There are different privacy laws in each region, making it difficult to obtain records without proper documentation

WHERE AND HOW DO YOU BEGIN YOUR ASIAN GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH?

It’s the same first step for everyone: start talking with your family members. This isn’t always the easiest or the most technical, but it can become a great starting point to find out things you never knew.

ARE ASIAN GENEALOGY RECORDS DIGITIZED AND AVAILABLE ONLINE?

Each Asian country handles documents differently. China has a robust system of digitized documents that we often utilize in our research for clients. On the other hand, countries like Japan have very strict privacy laws that require verified-relations and in-person requests for some documents. 

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH RYAN ROCKWOOD HERE

FRENCH FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH: PAUL WOODBURY

WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMONLY UTILIZED RECORD RESOURCES FOR FRENCH GENEALOGY RESEARCH?

Civil registration records are readily available online. Government sponsored civil registration began in France in the 1700s–they were the first country to implement civil registration for births, marriages, and deaths.

Parish registers go back to the 1500s-1600s, and many are available online through commercialized sites like Ancestry and MyHeritage.

DO YOU NEED TO BE A FRENCH CITIZEN TO ACCESS RECORDS?

Not usually. Records are open to the public. Make sure you understand the rules and policies of each archive before you arrive onsite.

DO YOU NEED TO SPEAK FRENCH TO ACCURATELY COMPLETE YOUR FRENCH FAMILY LINES?

You don’t have to be a fluent French speaker to get familiar with language on vital records. FamilySearch has a word list to help you interpret key phrases, and there is a paleography course available from BYU to help you learn how to read handwriting from older records. 

It’s also common to need an understanding of German, Latin, and other languages surrounding France as the borders were more fluid at certain time periods.  

HOW CAN DNA HELP YOU LOCATE AND CONNECT WITH FRENCH RELATIVES?

If you don’t see as much French ethnicity results on your DNA tests, don’t get too worried! French could mean many different things. It could mean you have relatives from Brittany which are associated with Celts and British ancestry, or perhaps related to German or Iberian ancestry. Borders change!

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH PAUL WOODBURY HERE

GERMAN ANCESTOR RESEARCH: BECKY MARTIN

WHAT INFORMATION SHOULD I HAVE BEFORE I GO TO GERMANY TO VISIT ANCESTRAL SITES?

Make sure you really do your homework and have exhausted as many U.S. genealogical sources before you go. You’ll also want to know the in’s and out’s of the libraries and archives you want to visit–what are their hours? Do you need to make an appointment? How long will you need to be there?

ARE THERE DIFFERENT GERMAN NAMING PATTERNS THAT YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF?

It’s very common for German babies to receive multiple names. Furthermore, many German immigrants changed their names throughout their lives as they moved about the world trying to re-create a sense of home and belonging. Be aware that it can be very difficult to trace ancestors who have had multiple names and changed them more than once or twice!

IS GOOGLE TRANSLATE A SUFFICIENT TRANSLATION TOOL FOR GERMAN RECORDS?

As much as Google Translate has improved over the years, it isn’t a sufficient translation tool as you research German family history records that are often handwritten and are in small-village dialects. 

Watch the video to learn more and find out which websites are Beccy’s favorite for German genealogy research:

WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH BECCY MARTIN HERE

LTG’s Favorite RootsTech Genealogy Classes

We asked our researchers to tell us what the highlights of RootsTech 2024 were for them. Here’s what they said:

A discussion about how costumes can help link people to particular regions, and can, therefore, be used as a regional marker.

Physician Gregory Gardner talks about using historical records including death records as well as modern investigations to tell the story of illness and how it impacted the lives of ancestors and how they shaped our modern world.

A panel of Genetic Genealogy pioneers gathered to tell their stories and reflect on their early goals; progress and missteps, lessons learned; and the future of genetic genealogy.

Not available online, this advanced-level class presented a case study that was used in a First Families of Ohio application. Peggy Lauritzen drilled deeper into census research when an ancestor was supposedly missed.

Daniel Taddone explained how family names developed in the Iberian Peninsula and how surname patterns were adopted in Latin American countries. 

  • Our Italian Ancestors: Genealogical Records and the Italian Citizenship Law with Daniel Taddone

A discussion about citizenship laws from 1861-2000–very useful for dual citizenship projects!

This class clarifies the roadmap to successfully begin your Polish genealogical research. Alexandra Kacprzak helps you go step by step to learn the basics of Polish genealogical research.

This lesser-known program of child migration, known as the “Home Children” movement saw nearly 80,000 poor children sent to Canada from Britain during a 70-year period from the 1860s. 

Our genetic genealogists enjoyed listening to announcements about new tools and technologies, networking in the expo hall, and connecting with Legacy Tree Genealogists affiliates. The Family Tree DNA booth presentation on mitochondrial was especially exciting. 

How AI Will Change Genealogy Research

We’ve received many questions from you about AI and how to use it in your genealogy research. This past year, we wrote an article to help get you started that you can read here. At this year’s RootsTech, companies revealed their own set of new AI tools to help you further your research. Here’s the highlights:

MyHeritage unveiled their new platform OldNews.com that will provide access for users to vast historical newspaper pages from around the world. Users can easily search, save, and share articles spanning centuries of history.

FileShadow announced the launch of a new feature for genealogists and family historians: person detection and custom object identification images. This feature enhances the ability of genealogists to identify people in photographs, making them searchable when organizing photos around an individual.

BRICK WALL ANCESTORS? IT TAKES A VILLAGE!

We heard from so many of you who stopped by our booth to talk about genealogy brick walls, DNA test results, and all the great things you learned at RootsTech. At the end of the day,  it takes an entire team to recover those brick wall ancestors, and we were happy to help answer some of your questions–though we couldn’t do the research for you on the spot!

If you’d like to work with us to help you find your brick wall ancestors, fill out a form to begin the conversation here.