9 April 2026 TAG Meeting Notes

NOTE: These meeting notes include some of Zoom's summary info and notes, edited by Janice Moerschel. They will be posted at the EWGS website.

IMPORTANT NOTE AND REMINDER: If, by chance, you do not receive the Zoom meeting link, visit the EWGS website where you'll find the link posted in "Events" area, for The Ancestry Group (TAG): https://ewgsi.org/events. 

Special thanks to Susan Harms for her contributions to our Revolutionary War conversation and info she shared on the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR).

Summary At this meeting we focused on sharing insights from the RootsTech genealogy conference, particularly Crista Cowan's presentation on new Ancestry features and updates. Key announcements included improved date range searching, the addition of 10 million records daily, full-text search capabilities on Fold3, and the new Ancestry Preserve service for digitizing family memories. Several members, including Susan Harms and Julie Rosenoff, shared their Revolutionary War ancestors, with Susan explaining how to research patriots through the DAR website and Julie describing her ancestor Major General David Cobb who served as George Washington's aide-de-camp. The group discussed various genealogy tools and resources, including the card catalog for finding new records and the importance of proper documentation in family trees.

RootsTech 2026: Key Announcements: https://www.ancestry.com/c/discover/education/rootstech-recap or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-S9Nw7LiJo&t=184s Ancestry is now adding an average of 10 million new records daily, supported by a $450 million investment in content over the past 15 years. 10M+Records added daily. $450M Content investment.

• $20 Ancestry's "Preserve" service allows users to send physical items for digitization. Initial cost of $20. Ancestry sends a box for you to fill with video, slides, documents, etc. Then will tell you the full cost to have them processed and uploaded to the Ancestry website.

• Improved search functionality with the ability to add custom date ranges for more precise results

• Full-text search on Fold3 including Revolutionary War pension files, made searchable through handwriting recognition technology

• Enhanced Organize tab for identifying people and improved gallery filtering options

• AI-powered features providing descriptions of documents and images (transcription requires manual input)

• Newspapers.com integration providing insights into ancestors' lives through articles, visits, and other details

• Crista Cowan also highlighted the importance of using the card catalog feature to track new and updated record collections and recommended watching Lisa's presentation on new records and Ann Mitchell's demo on mastering Ancestry Pro Tools.

On the same topic, this is another video done by Crista Cowan (we didn't watch this one in our meeting) that may be of interest. She mentioned that source citations will be easier to add.

What's new at RootsTech2026: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6ogQeuxU88&t=6s

And for folks interested in Ancestry's Digital Preserve service, here are some videos:

Ancestry Education Center, Crista Cowan: The Importance of Professionally Digitizing your Memories - https://www.ancestry.com/c/discover/education/ancestrypreserve-boxing

Ancestry Preserve - Melissa Gilbert at RootsTech2026 - https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/preserve-your-legacy-digitizing-and-sharing-memories-with-ancestry

Save Your Stories/ Master Ancestry Tools for Preserving and Sharing Family Discoveries, Nicka Sewell-Smith at RootsTech2026 - https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/session/save-your-stories-master-ancestry-tools-for-preserving-and-sharing-family-discoveries Revolutionary War genealogy research discussion

Susan Harms recommended using the free DAR genealogy research tools for anyone interested in exploring Revolutionary War ancestors. Revolutionary War families often married within similar political circles due to the danger of associating with loyalists.

John Dexter: Served as a Minuteman and fought at Bunker Hill before becoming a sergeant in the Continental Army. Researched by Susan. 

Minuteman Bunker Hill Major General David Cobb: Served as George Washington's aide-de-camp. Ancestor of Julie. Washington's Aide Zachariah Fortune: DAR patriot discovered by Paula through family research. 

DAR Patriot Captain Thomas Eubank Fortune: Brother of Zachariah Fortune, also verified through DAR records. Captain Captain William Whedon: Ancestor of Janice, served during the Revolutionary War. 

Captain George Doolittle: Another ancestor of Janice who participated in the Revolutionary War. Patriot

Julie Rosenoff will send out information about free local resources for digitizing photos and documents (libraries and family history centers) to the group. The group discussed alternative free options for digitization available at local libraries and family history centers as an alternative to the paid Ancestry Preserve service. 

April TAG attendance (21):  Albert Calderon, Barbara Gumm, Carol Hsu, Charlotte Sullivan, Chris Murphy,  Dianne Bongarts, Don Walter,  Doug Floyd, Janice Moerschel, Juanita McBride, Judy Benson, Julie Rosenhoff,  Karen Lehfeldt (Clarkston), Lola McCreary, Marge Mero,  Patricia Robinson, Paula Davis, Ruth Halligan (Calif.), Susan Harms,  Terri Carstens, Virginia Omoto.

The next meeting of TAG will be on Thursday, May 14.

Janice Moerschel The Ancestry Group (TAG)