Episode 346 - Mayflower Ancestor Research Gets New Boon / Workin' On the Railroad… Records

Host Scott Fisher opens the show with David Allen Lambert, Chief Genealogist of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and AmericanAncestors.org. The guys begin Family Histoire News with a host of interesting information. First, FamilyTreeDNA has joined Ancestry.com in updating their ethnicity estimates. Fold3 has released a new collection of amazing military materials from Phan Rang Air Base in Vietnam. Plus, the oldest Roman body armor ever found has been dug up in Germany. It dates back to 9 AD! David then explains a recent court ruling that will allow a dive on the Titanic to recover some very important equipment. Hear what it is. Next, a log from a slave ship from 1796 reveals the horrors of the slave trade as an officer kept a detailed day-to-day account of life on the vessel. Find out where you can catch the highlights. Then, imagine having up to 600 half siblings around the world. There is such a family! Hear how this came to be.

Next, Fisher visits with Don LeClair from NEHGS. Don explains the near completion of an important Mayflower project three years in the making involving a partnership with two other important genealogical organizations. Researching your possible Mayflower ties has never been easier as we recognize the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the ship.

Melanie McComb, another researcher with NEHGS then visits with Fisher about railroad records. So many families have railroad workers in their lines. Find out what you can learn about them and where.

Then, David returns for Ask Us Anything as the guys answer a pair of questions about ship embarkations and fundamental genetic genealogy.

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