Episode 483 - What’s Ahead At Ancestry? The World War 1 / Pandemic Letter Exchange

Host Scott Fisher opens the show with guest host David Allen Lambert from the New England Historic Genealogical Society and AmericanAncestors.org. The guys begin by exchanging stories about discoveries they each made this past week. David then shares the horrible word about a homeless man in Boston who destroyed an array of historic headstones, including that of Paul Revere, this past week. Then, cursive writing is back in schools! Hear what state just made it law. In Georgia, some interesting wills have been found of slave owners who left money for some of their enslaved for a specific purpose. Hear what it is. And, we have a new age record for skydiving. What til you hear this one!

Then, Fisher has an important announcement concerning Extreme Genes.

Next,  Crista Cowan of Ancestry.com comes on to talk about how Ancestry is trying to encourage collective work on family trees. And, no, you don’t need a paid account to be part of it.

Then, in a follow up to a previous episode, JoAnne Jessee talks about her initial find of letters from the pandemic of the late 1910s, and how she tracked down the descendants of the other correspondent to exchange letters back into the family lines. It’s a fascinating story we can all learn from.

David then returns for more of Ask Us Anything.

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