IRISH GROUP SIG MEETING JANUARY 2026 Lead by  Paula Davis

Meeting Overview The EWGS (Eastern Washington Genealogical Society) Irish Special Interest Group held a comprehensive Zoom meeting focused on genealogy research strategies, organizational methods, and educational resources. 

The session brought together genealogy enthusiasts to share experiences, tools, and best practices for Irish ancestry research.

Participant Introductions

• Charlotte joined from Honolulu as a visitor

• Sharon, Janet, and others participated from the Hayden Lake Library study room

• Dick was welcomed as a new EWGS member

• Paula hosted the meeting with assistance from Ron and Julie

Genealogy Resources and Tools FamilyTreeWebinars.com

• Many webinars are free to watch live

• Free resources available in their library

Legacy Family Tree

• Online platform offering genealogy courses • Annual subscription: $50

• Janice shared positive experiences with this platform

American Ancestors

• Dick completed a 5-week genealogy course focusing on New England research ($125)

• Offers valuable resources and free consulting hours

• Particularly useful for tracing Irish and Jewish ancestors

• Features an impressive library in Boston that both Paula and Dick admired

• Paula utilized their resources for a research trip to Ireland

Ancestry Heritage Travel

• Krista Cowan's video about virtual travel options was discussed

• Janice agreed to send out the link to the group

• Paula considering booking a virtual heritage tour

YouTube Educational Content

• Ron uses YouTube to learn from genealogy experts

• Recommended experts: Krista Cowan and Connie Knox

Ancestral Findings Podcast

• Paula shared her positive experience with this resource

• Emphasizes planning and budgeting for genealogical research

Software and Analysis Tools

Family Tree Maker

• Can sync with Ancestry for backup purposes

• standalone database program not dependent on online services

• Dick uses it in conjunction with Ancestry, maintaining individual folders for 32 direct ancestors

• Marge recommended it as a reliable backup solution

Mac Family Tree 11

• Syncs with FamilySearch but not with Ancestry

• Janice shared her experience using this software

Family Tree Analyzer

• Ron uses this tool to identify and correct errors in family trees

• Helps find duplicates and incorrect dates

Ancestry Pro Tools

• Currently on sale

• Ron uses these tools to identify and correct tree errors

My Heritage

• Offers a free tree checker

• Features "My Stories" platform for creating family narratives

• Janice uses this for writing family histories

Organization Methods and Strategies

Digital Filing Systems

Janice's Method

• Uses folders organized by name and record type

• Digital filing system for easy retrieval

Ron's Approach

• Creates surname folders with individual subfolders for each person

• Includes all related documents in each person's folder

• Uses maiden names for women's files

• Relies on Ancestry to track connections between spouses

• Photographs old albums and creates detailed file systems

• Uses detailed naming system for digitized photos

• Stores files in cloud storage

Dick's System

• Syncs Ancestry with Family Tree Maker

• Maintains individual folders for 32 direct ancestors

File Naming Conventions

Julie recommended Thomas McKinty's file naming convention:

• Last name

• First name

• Birth and death dates

• Document type

Research Philosophy

• Ron emphasized focusing on one person at a time to build comprehensive family history

• Paula stressed the importance of creating research plans

• Maintaining organized locality records was highlighted as crucial

Irish Genealogy Specific Resources

Understanding Irish Records

Land Divisions and Record-Keeping

• Paula emphasized the importance of understanding Irish land divisions

• Identifying townlands is crucial for ancestral research

• Paula found her great-grandfather's townland through a baptism index

Townland Atlas of Ulster

• Paula uses this book extensively for genealogical research

• Softcover version will be available in March

• Valuable resource for understanding Irish geography and records

Research Assistance

• Paula offered to assist others in researching their Irish ancestry

• Group agreed to focus on Irish genealogy research in the next meeting

Special Projects and Writing Family Narrative Creation

• Janice uses My Heritage's My Stories platform for creating family narratives

• She researched Dublin during the potato famine for a writing project

Photo Digitization

• Ron described his comprehensive method of digitizing family photos

• Uses detailed naming system for organization

• Stores digitized photos in cloud storage for preservation and accessibility

Upcoming Events and Opportunities RootsTech

• Pam suggested waiting for the event to find discounts

• Offered to collect discount codes for interested members

Research Like a Pro Program

• 14-day mini-challenge available

• Members encouraged to participate and share results at next meeting

Action Items and Next Steps

Individual Assignments

Janice

• Send out link to Ancestry Heritage Travel video by Krista Cowan

Paula

• Inform group if she books a virtual heritage tour

• Select useful resource links from recent email for next meeting discussion

• Organize and facilitate next meeting's agenda including live research examples, resource reviews, and member presentations

Julie

• Share discount code and ordering information for FamilyTreeWebinars.com

• Share group's contact spreadsheet (names and emails) for collaborative research

Group Activities

• All interested members: Consider participating in "Research Like a Pro" 14-day mini-challenge

• All interested members: Prepare 4-5 minute presentation or specific research question for next meeting

• Monthly feature implemented: members can present specific research challenges for group input

Please download the notes from the January 2026 class.  These notes cover topics for February and  March classes.

click here to download

Lead by: Janice Moerschel

 8 Jan. 2026, on Zoom

Ancestry's new AI-Powered Stories

Thomas MacEntee link about Ancestry's stories: https://genealogybargains.com/ancestry-ai-stories

Ancestry had an article describing their new AI-Powered Stories: https://www.ancestry.com/corporate/blog/ancestry-brings-family-history-to-life-with-new-ai-powered-stori"

We viewed Connie Knox's video (abt. 15 min) "It Talks" about the new Story-telling capabilities https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcAEkWvkrjs&t=1s"

What Ancestry AI can do: 1) Transcribe letters and documents

2) Sharpen photos, as well as colorize, identification. May be able to sharpen a short news story.  Sometimes it works well and sometimes it doesn't.

3) You can download or share the AI-generated audio or copy and paste generated text into another document

4) Once you have generated responses, you can ask AI other questions

Records that may have AI stories include (this feature is in BETA and not all will have this capability yet):

some census records

draft cards

FindAGrave records

immigration records

naturalization records

city directories

passports

NOTE: I was able to get an overview of a census record image that I uploaded myself.

DISCUSSION: There were different views about how helpful or harmful the new Ancestry AI features may be. For non-writers, it is helpful and can generate ideas for further development. But it was also noted that the narrratives generated do not match the quality of people's personal narratives.

Memories

New: Tab for "Craft": create photolines - tell stories and create albums (we've discussed these capabilities before), upload audio, create documents

About Image Transcriptions The following Ancestry blog article (see link) says it will translate your documents from a number of languages. Unsure how many but Spanish, French, Italian, and German are included. Let me know if you discover other languages can be done. A member of our group mentioned Swedish.https://www.ancestry.com/c/ancestry-blog/ancestry-news/document-transcription-feature"

New Historical Records Sandi mentioned that in the "Hints" area, there is a category of "new collections." In your hint list, select (on left side of hint page) "New Collections." Currently, these appear to be hints for book references about relatives but may include other records in the future. We also discussed a bit the pluses and minuses of AI in story-telling. It is not perfect and many people are not fans of it but it is here to stay and is of some benefit to non-writers and/or to get background information on a time or place.

At our next meeting, we will discuss investigating and saving tree hints. We'll also look at "Networks" in ProTools. And let us know at our next meeting:  What are your genealogical goals for 2026, the 250th anniversary of our nation's founding? Who are you working on? What problems are you trying to solve? 

In attendance today: TAG had 18 participants today:  Albert Calderon, Dan and May Cotton, Carol Hsu,  Christine Klukkert (in California and new to group), Christine Murphy,  Dianne Bongarts, Janice Moerschel, Juanita McBride, Judy Benson, Karen Kruse Lehfeldt (Clarkston), Kelley Taylor, Linda Shorb,  Marge Mero, Paula Davis, Ron Marvin, Ruth Halligan (California),  and Sandi Gaffney.

Next meeting is Thursday, Feb. 12, on Zoom, 1 PM.

Meeting Leader: Janice Moerschel

Ancestry website: Note that Ancestry now as "custom clusters," for DNA. These groups you can create on your own but also see the standard results that Ancestry creates. Available only for ProTools subscribers.

Janice demonstrated how to add photos to an album in the "Memories" section.

Ron Marvin presented details of searching on Fold3. He showed how to use Fold3 to research military ancestors and how to narrow down results by conflict and location. He discussed strategies for finding specific individuals in this large database and shared tips on using the platform's features to gather information about regiments, battles, and other historical context related to military service. He also showed what is available at the National Park Service website.

Additionally, he shared that records may have spelling and transcription errors. Another way to search is from an Ancestry profile page. He also mentioned that Cheryl Garrison writes detailed stories about World War II veterans from Washington State. One more great tip was to search a service member by their service number, if you have it! I found that my father's draft record for WW II had his number there and will search for him now. Thank you, Ron - great job!

Janice shared that if you create a profile page on Fold3 for a relative, you can add photos, records and stories - and search for records from that profile. At Ancestry, add a "tag" to show a person's military service. Use the card catalog to find military records. Choose "military," location, conflict, etc.  Also note that it is easier to search Ancestry (or FamilySearch) first to see what records may exist. If you find a given record, you may just get one image but, with subscription to Fold3, you may be able to click view to see all images.

Ruth shared that if you place a space after a name in a search bar at Fold3, it may yield more accurate search results, particularly for an unusual surname.

Janice and Ron shared some military veteran stories.

Paula talked about "Wreaths across America." You can contribute money ($17 for a wreath) or you can help lay wreaths on December 13 at the Pines Cemetery. Order wreaths by November 28. Thank you for telling us all about this - what a great way to honor veterans! Learn more here:https://www.wreathsacrossamerica.org

We watched Connie Knox on finding military records (about 13 min. video) https://youtu.be/wRReHd1NFOo?si=-R7d2p4pWaPnMe5M

I also recommend webinars hosted by the LegacyFamilyTree website which has two recent military records videos that you can watch for free. Visit this link. https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar-library/ One is on Colonial ancestors, and another on World War I. Their videos and video library cover a wide variety of genealogical topics. If you want, you can subscribe. Currently, these two videos are free to watch. These are other videos that may be helpful to folks searching for military records. Note that Fold3 is free until Nov. 16 (Sunday).

Crista Cowan on "Finding the Stories of your military ancestors," Ancestry Education: https://www.ancestry.com/c/discover/education/military-ancestors

Ancestry Academy has short videos about using Fold 3 https://www.ancestryacademy.com/browse

Allen County Library video on navigating Fold3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYfde5nt3Qw

Allen County Library: How to Maximize your search at Fold3 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBv7-Zt5YGs

TAG had 16 participants:  Albert Calderon, Brusan Rhoda Wells, Carol Hsu, Charlotte Sullivan,  Dolly Webb,  Janice Moerschel, Juanita McBride, Judy Benson, Karen Kruse Lehfeldt (Clarkston), Kelley Taylor,  Marge Mero, Patricia Robison, Paula Davis, Ron Marvin, Ruth Halligan (Calif.),  and Sandi Gaffney

The next meeting of TAG will be on Thursday, January 8, 2026. I am looking for topic suggestions and/or presenters. This group is here to help you and provide content that interests you

. Meanwhile, thank you, veterans, and have a Happy Thanksgiving and a great holiday season!

Announcements EWGS website (ewgsi.org): We showed where to find Events, Digital Digest, 2025 Contest Stories, Writing Contest 2026 information.

ProTools: DNA list can be searched by "Journey." Using ProTools "Networks" - various research purposes. Nice for organizing, grouping floating trees. 

New service: Ancestry Preserve:  $299 - digital service up to 250 photos. This service will also add those photos to your Ancestry gallery.

Another new service:  Some of you may have received an invitation to "Club 1890," which is for research, support, etc. Cost is $5,000 per year.

And more: "Ancestry Advisor." This service includes one 30-minute session with a pro-genealogist for $149. Or three sessions for $379.

On home page, Ancestry now shows you who you may have common ancestors with, popular hints, and more. Now also shows you hints of just direct ancestors as well.

Ancestry will show you record hints for various times of year, e.g., "wedding season."

DNA traits continue to be updated.

Update on images saved from Newspapers.com to Ancestry.com. Larger newspaper articles not readable. I called Ancestry about this - they are notifying their tech people. Crista Cowan - various videos at the Education Center. https://www.ancestry.com/c/discover/education.  Register in advance of a webinar or watch later if the video gets posted.

Crista Cowan - various videos at the Education Center - Link here  Register in advance of a webinar or watch later if the video gets posted. 

1) PHOTOS Memories tab: Sort photos into albums, if desired. Add details and Ancestry will tell you "Nice work!" when you've added details like type of image/record, date, location, etc. Crista Cowan did a Zoom class on September 3, "Using Ancestry to Identify Individuals in Historic Photographs." Though it was supposed to be posted at the Education Center, at least until the 18th of September, I don't see it there. There were tips on scanning, organizing, uploading - adding details, etc. Also discussed tagging photos and the new "Face matching." 

2) New: View DNA matches by "cluster" in graph form. This is a more advanced way to see shared matches and who may be in each cluster relating to a particular ancestor.  See following link for the information Ancestry has posted. Check this link  and this link 

We watched Connie Knox on this topic. 16:55 minutes  Her link is here

Attendance: TAG had 17 participants today:   Albert Calderon, Ardis Storms, Brusan Wells, Carol Hsu, Charlotte Sullivan, Dan and May Cotton, Dianne Bongarts, Don Walter, Janice Moerschel, Judy Benson, Lola McCreary, Marge Mero, Patricia Robison, Ruth Halligan, Sandi Gaffney, and Susan Harms.

Janice Moerschel, The Ancestry Group (TAG)