First of all, Happy Thanksgiving to all my US readers. But you know what comes after Thanksgiving…Black Friday and there are deals to be had in the genealogy world. Perhaps you might want to share this with your loved ones, along with a hint (perhaps a big red arrow) as to what you want Santa to bring you for Christmas.
Now for a shameless plug. From now until the end of the year, my Irish Quick Reference Guide (digital bundle) is on sale for $10…that’s half price. When you place your order, I’ll email you the three PDFs. I have a limited number of the printed laminated sheets and the Printed bundle will be reduced to $15 while supplies last.
Next, for those looking for your Irish ancestors in Newspapers (here’s a blog I wrote earlier this year), good news. The Irish Newspaper Archives Black Friday Sale is on at 50% off, but act quickly. This offer expires November 28th.
Website subscriptions are also on sale. With the largest collection of Irish Records, Findmypast is offering 25% off on any 1 or 12 Month subscription. If you’ve been thinking about it, now’s the time to check it out with a 1 month subscription. If you let your subscription lapse, you can re-establish your account and check out any new information (Findmypast adds new records, including newspapers every Friday). This one also requires quick action as it expires at midnight (GMT) on November 28th.
There are only two more days to take advantage of Ancestry’s Holiday offer. Are you thinking of giving someone a DNA kit for Christmas? Buy the kit now and get yourself a three month World Explorer subscription. This is good if you’ve let your Ancestry subscription lapse (make sure you use the same User ID when you re-subscribe), but won’t extend existing subscriptions. Like most Ancestry offerings, these are auto-renewing so make sure you read the terms and conditions. Although they got out of the health business, they do offer a product with 36 Personal Traits. If this is your first DNA test, Ancestry has the largest database and you can download your results and then upload them to MyHeritage, FamilyTreeDNA and LivingDNA as well as GedMatch. You cannot move your results into Ancestry (or 23andme) from other test sites, so this is a good place to start.
If you’re interested is a Y-DNA or mtDNA test, FamilyTree DNA has options. This is the only company to offer these two tests. In addition, they currently have the lowest price I’ve seen on their atDNA test…$39 (until I received MyHeritage’s email this afternoon which is also $39). I haven’t found an expiration date on this promotion, but at this price, I wouldn’t wait. I plan to order a few to take with me to Ireland in 2022.
23andme is offering their Ancestry & Traits test, and well as their Ancestry and Health test at a substantial discount. This is the company I originally tested with back in 2009 because I was specifically interested in the Health aspect (see last week’s blog). Their special holiday pricing for their Health & Ancestry service is $99…$100 off. If you’re interested in the health aspects now is the time to jump in. Like Ancestry, you cannot move your results into 23andme, but you can move from 23andme to the other DNA companies.
Since I started writing this earlier this morning, I received an email from MyHeritage announcing “their lowest price ever” at $39 for their atDNA kit. No indication on an end date…the site just says, “Offer ends soon.” Free shipping if you order 2 or more kits.
Finally, LivingDNA, the British company, announced Black Friday pricing beginning at $59. Although LivingDNA doesn’t have all of the tools of the other companies, they do have a large number of UK customers (including Ireland). If your ancestry is in the UK, you should definitely look at their offerings. You can upload your results from other sites to LivingDNA and see your matches, with the option to upgrade for a small fee for full access to the site.
One last item with a Holiday Sale through the end of December is Vivid-Pix. Just think about all those pictures that are in need of some TLC, or even hard to read documents you need to clear up. You can purchase the software for $39.99. on their Holiday Special, or Buy one at $49.99 and get a $25 electronic gift card to give to a friend or relative.
Happy Thanksgiving and Good Shopping.
On Saturday, December 4th at 11:00 EST, I'll be doing two lectures for the
Hamilton County Genealogical Society.
Irish Civil Registration and Church Records: It’s a New World!
Map It Out: Using Maps to Locate your Irish Ancestors
If you are interested you can register for the Zoom Seminar at