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Happy DNA Day! Once a year, the scientific community takes time out to recognize some amazing achievements in DNA science. Two keystone events are the discovery of the DNA double helix structure in 1953 by Francis Crick and James Watson and the declaration 50 years later, in 2003, that the Human Genome Project was complete…well, close to complete. Only a few small gaps still remain in sequencing and mapping the entire human genome.

We have some additional reasons to celebrate on DNA Day 2013. Our science team has been hard at work on some breakthroughs of their own that we hope to share later this year. They include an update to the DNA ethnicity predictions available to all AncestryDNA customers, even those who have already taken the test.

AncestryDNA is growing fast

As part of our DNA celebrations, we’d like to share some exciting accomplishments AncestryDNA has made with the support of our members in the past year.

• AncestryDNA has grown its database to more than 120,000 DNA samples since the product’s BETA launch in May 2012.
• 7.7 million ancestors are now available to discover through family trees linked to DNA results.
• More than 3.3 million fourth-cousin DNA matches have been surfaced to customers, meaning they potentially share an ancestor in the mid-1800s.
• Over 1 million people have been connected to each other by AncestryDNA, along with a shared ancestor identified from Ancestry.com family trees. This represents the perfect culmination of DNA science and family history research.

How you can celebrate DNA Day.

Take the AncestryDNA test. Start exploring your family story in your own DNA.

Learn more about AncestryDNA and order your kit today. 

Learn how DNA and family history come together. Check out this recent blog post that discusses how DNA works and some of the challenges we are constantly working on to advance the science.

See what others have discovered using AncestryDNA.

Watch how Katie Couric and AncestryDNA bring an adopted son and mother together after 41 years for a heartfelt reunion.

Learn about powerful discoveries from AncestryDNA customer Renee who confirms some old family stories—and discovers a few new ones.

Show your friends how science savvy you are by sharing this post, inviting them to learn more about DNA Day.

News from around the web.
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• The Online Historical Directories website, which lists links to old city and other
  directories, has been updated with links for Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota,
  Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Check
  out the updates here.

• The National Genealogical Society (NGS), which is gearing up for its annual
  conference in Las Vegas May 8-11, has announced the publication of Mastering
  Genealogical Proof by noted genealogical researcher, writer and lecturer Thomas
  W. Jones. The book explains concepts and techniques involved in the genealogical research
  process, and explains the level of proof appropriate to genealogy. Learn
  more about the book and author on the NGS website.

• Michael Savoca, a college junior from Toms River, NJ, has won a $500 grant for genealogy
  research and education from the Suzanne
  Winsor Freeman Memorial Grant program, as well as registration for the upcoming Southern
  California Genealogical Society Jamboree. Michael has assisted with records for
  the Gente di Mare Italian
  website, been an active member of several online genealogy forums, and volunteered
  at his local FamilySearch Center. He also has researched his Croatian family history
  on site in the village of Zablaće.

  The grant, awarded annually since 2010 to a genealogist aged 18 to 25, is named for
  the mother of The Family Curator blogger
  Denise Levenick.

News from around the web.
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Family tree site Geni.com, acquired
by MyHeritage last November, has now implemented MyHeritage.com‘s
Smart Matching and Record Matching features.

• Smart Matching automatically searches for matches to your Geni.com tree in
  other trees on MyHeritage.com (note that MyHeritage.com trees don’t yet get matches
  in Geni.com trees).

• Record Matching compares the profiles in your Geni.com tree to the historical
  records at MyHeritage, and alerts you when a relevant document is found. It also automatically
  creates a citation when you confirm a record and add it to Geni.com’s World Family
  Tree.

You can see the Record Matches and Smart Matches in the profiles on your Geni.com
tree, as well as in your Merge Center, where you can review and confirm or reject
them.

You must have a MyHeritage.com SuperSearch data subscription to access Smart Matches.
You’ll be able to see some Record Matches for free, but you’ll need to have a SuperSearch
subscription to see full information on records that are included in MyHeritage.com’s
premium record collections.

You’ll
find a detailed how-to for using Smart Matches and Record Matches on the Geni.com
blog.

Learn more about
the different MyHeritage.com subscriptions here.

Here’s MyHeritage.com’s FAQ
about its acquisition of Geni.

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Two—no, make that three—genealogy organizations have reached
milestones this week:

• WikiTree, a genealogy community with a goal
  to build a free worldwide family tree, now has 5 million ancestor profiles. The site’s
  founders say its “slow-growth” approach—encouraging the careful addition of profiles
  over “bulk” uploads—makes this milestone an important one. 

You can hear from WikiTree founder Chris Whitten in the January
2013 Family Tree Magazine Podcast, hosted by Lisa Louise Cooke. 

Browse or search the profiles by surname here.
If you want to build a tree there, start with the “How
WikiTree Works” page.

• The volunteers for FamilySearch Indexing, the effort to index records at the Family
  History Library and make them searchable at the free FamilySearch.org,
  have indexed their one billionth record.

  The volunteers who indexed and arbitrated that record, Kenneth B. of California, Brittney
  S. of Idaho and April R. of Alberta, Canada, get a FamilySearch backpack with goodies
  inside. You can see how the indexing process
  works on FamilySearch.org.

News from around the web.
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News from around the web.
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If you have New England ancestors, or any US ancestors, at least one of these
value packs from Family Tree Magazine will help you discover more about them.

They’re both bargain-priced at ShopFamilyTree.com,
and even better, they both qualify for free shipping:

• The New
  England Genealogy Value Pack gathers tools for researching your family tree
  in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. You’ll
  get webinars, our newly updated State Research Guides, webinars and the Researching
  your Colonial New England Ancestors book.

Get
all the details on the New England Genealogy Value Pack here.

• Want search strategies for hard-to-find relatives in the census? Techniques to go
  beyond your basic names, ages and relationships, and mine census records for clues
  to your ancestors’ everyday lives and which records you should look for next?

Our Census
Research Value Pack has video classes and books to improve your census research
skills. Get
all the details on the Census Research Value Pack here.

Surname Forum Activity
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Try posting your questions on the Facebook group the ‘Munnelly Connection’ (Munnelly is the original of Manley) There are over 200 members – many from the UK and Ireland. Might ring a bell with someone. You can also send you r history to me at katsjay2@bellsouth.net as an attatchment, and I can add it to the histories on my site www.munnellysofcountymayo.com for others to check out.
Kathy Manley Short
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Surname Forum Activity
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In honor of National DNA day, Family Tree DNA is having a sale.

Here is the list of all tests under the promotion:

Full MtDNA Sequence…. $189
Upgrades to FMS….$129
Y-DNA37 (new and add-on)…. $119
Y-DNA67 (new and add-on)…. $199
Y-DNA37 + Full MtDNA Sequence…. $308
Y-DNA12 + FF…. $218
Y-DNA37 + FF…. $288
Y-DNA67 + FF…. $368
Family Finder…. $169
Family Finder + Full MtDNA Sequence…. $358
SuperDNA….$388 (Y-67 + FMS)
Comprehensive DNA…. $557 (Y-67 + FMS + FF)

The sale will begin April 18th, at 6PM CDT and will conclude at 11:59PM CDT on Monday April 22nd. All orders must be placed and paid for by the end of the sale to receive the promotional price.

There will be no need for a coupon – all prices will be automatically adjusted on the website.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT

Marianne Manley Granoff
Volunteer Project Administrator
Munley / Manley Surname Project
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Surname Forum Activity
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Ok – first post did not think about that! My enquiry is for a line of Manley’s originating from St George’s, Southwark, London UK. F. William Manley b abt 1809, Mother Ann, from Hull, b abt 1807/10 – children George b1838 and Walter b1850 are the ones I am interested in to further research my tree. I am getting conflicting tree connections with regards who married Harriet Yelding (which George Manley) and who married Fanny Trapnell (which Walter – if it is the one with Reuben as a middle name – who were his parents?).
Any help would be appreciated!

Jackie
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Surname Forum Activity
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Do you have where they are from/which state?
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