Episode 348 - Dr. Henry Louis Gates on New Episodes of "Finding Your Roots"/ D. Joshua Taylor on Looming Clash Over Licensing Public Records Use!

Host Scott Fisher opens the show with David Allen Lambert, Chief Genealogist of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and AmericanAncestors.org. Fisher opens the dialog talking about how he is using genetic genealogy to help a friend identify a parent of his grandfather. They need to narrow down from TWELVE children! David then shares news of the passing of the grandson of our tenth president, John Tyler! Yes… grandson! (Don't worry, there is still another one living!) David then shares news that if you have an unusually high amount of DNA from Neanderthals, you might be at greater risk for harsh symptoms from Covid-19. A new study is out explaining how the human family is likely more closely related to each other than most realize. Of course, this has everything to do with what is called "pedigree collapse." Hear the guys map this out. And finally, MyHeritage has another great photo tool available for you. Find out what it is.

Next, Fisher catches up with Dr. Henry Louis Gates, host of the PBS series Finding Your Roots. New episodes have resumed and Dr. Gates fills us in on what is soon to come on the show.

Then, D. Joshua Taylor, President of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society joins Fisher to discuss the efforts of those tied to the New York Municipal Archives to license public records! These are records we, generally, paid to create, and taxes pay to maintain. Since they belong to us, "the people," this licensing could become a costly problem, not only in New York, but elsewhere as well.

David then returns for a pair of questions on Ask Us Anything. The first has to do with Civil War pension records, while the second has to do with alternatives to birth certificates.

That's all this week on Extreme Genes, America's Family History Show!